A Slower Pace

The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie “Bambi” and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is natural. The coyote then bites the Governor.

2. He calls animal control. Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.

3. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases.

4. The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.

5. The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of dangerous animals.

6. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a “coyote awareness program” for residents of the area.

7. The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world.

8. The Governor’s security agent is fired for not stopping the attack. The State spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with additional special training RE: the nature of coyotes.

9. PETA protests the coyote’s relocation and files a $5 million suit against the State.

Montana :
The Governor of Montana is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor shoots the coyote with his State-issued pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge.

2. The buzzards eat the dead coyote.

And that, my friends, is why California is broke and Montana is not.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

At my men’s group this morning, two statements really hit me this morning. I think one was a church sign I saw many moons ago.

Do not put a period where God has placed a comma.

The next time Satan reminds you of your past,
remind him of his future.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I subscribe to a daily email from Parenting Today’s Teens. It is a great daily reminder with relevant tips and I highly recommend it for any parent. Below is the one from March 9th and it was a very nice story that I thought hit home. Take a quick read of it.

The story of Olympic runner Eric Liddell offers a compelling example of God honoring those who honor Him.

Liddell, who later became a missionary, was a shoe-in to win the 100 meter dash in the 1924 Olympics. But when the day for qualifying for the race was changed to Sunday, he refused to run. A few days later, however, he was given the chance to run a longer race he hadn’t prepared for, and still won the gold. Clutched in his hand was a note with the scriptural words “Them that honor Me, I will honor.”

Like Liddell, don’t give up as a parent. It’s your most important role in life. God will honor you for holding to doing what is right for your children, no matter what.

Because this resonated with me, I sent a forward email of the message to many of the God-serving men in my circle who are fathers. Again, it is a nice reminder for each of us on where our focus should be.

But the story doesn’t stop there. Soon after, I received a reply email that I am including below. I’m sure my friend won’t mind. And it truly underlines the WOW God uses in our lives.

You have no idea how timely this is. Funny enough, not for a parenting issue, but a “me” issue. I was considering running a half-marathon on May 1, which is the day our next new member church class was tentatively scheduled to begin. I was considering pushing out the class schedule, figuring it was no big deal. Turns out that would mess up classroom assignments for another church class and potentially impact our classroom situation. Less than an hour after I found out about that, I got your email – which immediately erased any remaining doubt about whether or not I should run that day! I’ll find another race, another day 🙂

It’s it amazing how God works?

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

In some areas of my life I can be very sentimental. I have saved various items from events that have had great impact to me. For example, I have some birthday cards from my grandmas that are no longer alive. I have my grandpa’s hat and pastor stole. I have numerous cards from my wife and kids for many occasions. I even have the plastic hospital bracelet that I had to wear when I brought my daughter K home.

I occasionally break out the cards to read and reminisce. They not only bring me back to the event, but bring back the emotion and feeling of that close time with whom I was sharing the moment. Those cards also help me know that person more. They put their heart into it — whether it was a note on the bottom of a store bought card the specifically selected for me or it was the crayon drawing a creative picture. These allow me a connection with the one who gave me the card. And the card giver gave it out of love.

Those thoughts came to me recently during one of my devotions. And isn’t the Bible like a giant Hallmark card of love from God to us? Scripture can inspire us. It can get us to share a moment. It can bring back an occasion or event. And it can definitely help us to know God better. The words of Scripture provide an insight to the character of God because, after all, He inspired its writing. And with us reading it over and over, much like a favorite card from a loved one, it brings us closer to Him.

So get your Bible and open up God’s card to you. He loves you and He signed it with the cross.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Today is the only date that is a command.

March fourth

It reminds me of Matthew 28:19 — Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I saw this during my Emmaus walk last year and am sharing it in honor of this week’s Emmaus Men’s Walk #131 which starts tomorrow.

“How well traveled is the path to your God?”

Here is hoping that our journey with Christ is changing from a dirt footpath to an eight lane superhighway.

…..Dan aslowerpace dot net

I haven’t blogged in over a week — and it’s not because I don’t have anything to blog about. Quite the opposite. But all of these things take up time when they actually happen and blogging has been pushed to the side, unfortunately.

In short, we have had R’s 18th birthday celebratory dinner, a minor 2″ basement flood, a weekend visit to R’s college at IWU, and some severe weather including a tornado one county away.

This morning I found my long lost prayer journal. I knew it was not readily locatable, but I hadn’t prescribed it as “lost” yet. I also was not looking diligently for it either. It was a good habit I had in 2009 and some of 2010 but I became a slave to the act of detailing my prayers. In essence, “checking the box” rather than allowing the journal to be a result or inspiration for prayer. Consequently, I slowly stopped using it in an effort to focus on prayer. However, I have spent some of the morning going back over my entries and can see God’s wonderful providence and involvement in my life and the many others I pray for. It is just spectacularly wonderful when you can look back and the painting God has created for our life and see the picture after the paint has dried. That is what I have done this morning. And my intent is to pick that prayer journal back up and integrate it back into my prayer and devotional life.

One entry I made in the first hours of my Emmaus walk struck me as interesting…..and still relevant today.

“Where am I today?
I am a confident disciple knowing history that I have always grown, but always smaller than the day to come. That does not lessen where I was yesterday nor where I need to go tomorrow.”

Here’s hoping my blog writing will increase along with my prayer journal use.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Because I was traveling most of last week, I spent Friday and the weekend with the family. After a 15 hour, multi-state drive, there is nothing like just hanging out, doing a few chores and not having much on the agenda. So that’s what I did Friday.

Saturday was another story and shaped up to be a father/son day. Which, interestingly, turned into a father/son weekend.

It started out with my routine Saturday morning men’s accountability group. My son, for some reason, wanted to join me early. I think it was the hot chocolate at Starbuck’s that motivated him. So we were off at 6:30am. All the guys were there and we were able to cover a lot of ground in the short hour we had together. There are times we can go long but today we had to be out of there at 8am sharp so we could make D’s Cub Scout “God and Family” class at 9am.

—– Tangeant on —–
It is challenging navigating our world today. Today’s society and media provide plenty of distractions and temptations to wander from the narrow path (check out Matthew 7:13-14) and we need all the support we can get to ensure we are doing what God has called us to do. Therefore, I find it important that you surround yourself with Godly men or women who can encourage, uplift, and correct you in a loving and Scripturally sound way. In essence, people that know you well enough and love you enough to call you on your crap. And we all have crap, and unless checked, we can end up believing the lies we tell ourselves — reading our own press. Having an accountability group provides the anchors for our tent when the wind blows.
—–Tangeant off —–

With accountability done, D and I headed to his Cub Scouts “God and Family” class. This is a 6 week class given by the Scout sponsor church youth pastor that deepens their understanding and importance of God as the foundation of the family. The youth pastor has a good rapport with the Scouts and they are engaged and have fun.

After that, D and I headed home to put the final touches on our pinewood derby cars. The Scout Pinewood Derby Races were Saturday evening and we had a few minor adjustments to make which included a stop by the Scout Shop to pick up a few things. It was nice to spend some time in the garage with D hanging out and watching the Speed Channel cover the NASCAR Daytona activities.

Our cars complete and tested, D went over to a friend’s house while I caught a catnap — literally. The cat sat on top of me in the sun while we both napped. It provided me the rest I needed to make it through the rest of the day.

The pinewood derby races were fun. Our cars were definitely more competitive than last year. D even said “I didn’t come in last every time”. Pretty cool lesson to learn because he was getting rewarded by the fruits of his labor. We worked hard on sanding and polishing each axle and wheel to reduce friction. He ended up getting 2nd place among all the Webelos 1 and 2s. I was proud of him.

Because of the pinewood derby, D and I missed joining my wife and the girls at Saturday service. So we attended the late Sunday service — a first for both of us. But it worked out nicely because it allowed us to leave afterwards to grab some lunch at our favorite Mark’s Feed Store and then come back at 2pm for a father/son activity. Our church is having a father/son learning session once a month for the next year. It will teach the sons man skills like tying knots, navigating, emergency car repairs, rock climbing, and archery. They combine those practical skills with Bible verses and applicable lessons like is called upon in Deuteronomy 6:7-9. I think it is a great idea and I hope we can make time for each one. In fact, I might add a few additional ones with my son.

After returning home, I put on the last laps of the NASCAR Daytona 500 in the garage and D hung out with me while we worked on his bike and cleaned up a few things. All in all, it was a great guy weekend and we both really enjoyed all the time and male bonding together.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

The 2011 season of NASCAR has officially started with the running of the 53rd Daytona 500 today. I recorded it due to some church stuff going on, but I made it home with about 75 laps to go so I watched it in the garage while getting some stuff done. My son hung out with me and we did some guy stuff along with working on his bike as the laps ticked off.

As it got down to the few remaining laps left, things started getting crazy — as they normally do at the end of the 500. I have had the Daytona speed week on TV while in the garage this last week and caught interviews and summaries. One kid that caught my eye was Trevor Bayne. He is a Sprint Cup rookie and hails from down the street in Tennessee. In his interview he brought up his Christian faith which immediately bubbled him up on my list of favorite NASCAR drivers. It would be interesting to watch this new 20 year old in this highly competitive sport of stock car racing.

So fast forward to the last handful of laps of the Daytona 500. Trevor and another favorite of mine, David Ragan, were paired up helping each other, at times, leading the race. It was cool to see two young racers with zero cup wins between them lead a pack of hungry veterans who have won before. On a restart, David Regan dropped down low and broke a NASCAR rule I didn’t know existed and he was black flagged a lap. Couple this with a wreck and you had Trevor leading for a green, white, checker finish. He was able to fend off some awesome drivers to cross the finish line first making him the youngest Daytona 500 driver. He didn’t even know how to get to victory lane which was pretty funny. But the best thing was his post-race interview and acknowledgement of God.

Fox interviewer — You are a Daytona 500 winner. Has it sunk in?

Trevor Bayne — No. I keep thinking I’m dreaming; I really do. I mean, I, man, we said a prayer before, you know, we pray a lot, and we expect a lot of things but this just shows how powerful God is. Man, I am so thankful for the job that these guys did on this race car because its unbelievable. I mean, this thing is….our first 500, are you kidding me? To win our first one, our second ever cup race. I mean this is just incredible. I can’t thank the guys that worked with me all day enough. I mean, there were 10, 15 different drivers that pushed us. Carl helped us there to get across the line. I don’t know what happened with David there that one point but, wow, this is unbelievable! I mean, these guys, Ford, Ford Motorcraft, the Wood Brothers. How cool is it to see the Wood Brothers back in victory lane. You got Leonard over here, he is the man. And, uh, you know, I just, it’s unbelievable. Thanks to Sprint and everybody for the series. Thanks for the fans that are out here. I mean, I’ve never been to a racetrack with this many people here and to win on this kind of platform is just incredible.”

And to also hear Carl Edwards commend Trevor as a really good guy was cool. Looks like I need to go get some #21 Trevor Bayne stuff.

Congratulations, Trevor! What an exciting Cinderella story.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I am on the road — first for business travel Monday and Tuesday, and yesterday and today for personal business. Between yesterday and today I will have driven 20 hours and over 1000 miles.

I enjoy road tripping and was able to spend all yesterday with a dear friend of mine in wonderful conversation while seeing our great country. Today I am on the way home and currently at a Chick-Fil-A in Arkansas. I love this company not only because of their great food, but because of their values and their unashamed claim of Jesus. Because I was road tripping, in each Chick-Fil-A men’s room I have been in I have heard Christian music. What a simple way to reach those who need the message and encouragement (which is all of us). Additionally, I have been listening to K-LOVE. If you don’t know, KLOVE is a Christian radio station that is nationwide through a network of local radio stations. Throughout my driving I have been able to jump from radio station to radio station listening to encouraging words and uplifting music. Again, what a simple wonderful way to get the message out to those who need it. Go check it out yourself at www.klove.com — you can even stream what I will be listening to for the next 10 hours and 3 states.

THANKS Chick-Fil-A and K-LOVE for being lights to our dark world!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net