A Slower Pace

Our worship services for the last few weeks have been focused on the number 7. It is a biblical number that depicts perfection and is used in many parts of Scripture. For example, in Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth and all of creation, He rested on the 7th day. There are other instances of 7 — forgiveness of debts every 7 years in the Old Testament, forgiveness of sins 7 times 70. But the one that was recently focused on that we were trying to practice was resting on the 7th day.

The sermon was very impactful — link here — http://www.southeastchristian.org/default.aspx?page=3476&project=102904&program=446276. I would highly encourage you to go watch or listen to the sermon.

So fast forward to today when my wife and I were taking a nice leisurely ride around the property this afternoon. As we went around the front, I asked my wife if she was going to have my son D mow the front. She replied “Yes, I’ll have him do that tomorrow. I was going to have him do that today, but I wanted to follow our day of rest instead”.

Atta girl! I was so happy for her answer. We all need down time to worship, just rest, and grow closer in our walk with our Creator. And we did lots of that today.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

A friend shared this with my wife on Facebook and I figured I’d share it with you.

1. Just one God.
2. Put nuttin’ before God.
3. Watch yer mouth….
4. Git yourself to Sunday meetin’.
5. Honor yer Ma & Pa.
6. No killin’.
7. No foolin’ around with another feller’s gal (or ‘nother gal’s feller).
8. Don’t take what ain’t yers.
9. No tellin’ tales or gossipin’.
10. Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff.

Now that’s plain an’ simple. And bless your little cotton pickin’ heart!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Already today I have been blessed. It is not yet 8am and I have only been up a few hours but God has already made my day. Below is a quick bullet list of wonderful blessings.

• a warm shower
• my morning devotions accompanied by made-with-love pancakes from my wife
• worship and praise music on my iPhone during breakfast
• a fawn eating meadow grass with its mother in the morning mist
• a gorgeous sunrise with yellows and oranges and reds rising across a deep green field of soybeans against a baby blue sky
• an inspiring “Focus On The Family” podcast on Sacred Marriage — go download their mobile apps so you can hear and enjoy too!
• a beautiful broad winged hawk perched atop a freeway light pole searching for breakfast
• 11 geese flying in formation above my car
• my favorite Tenth Avenue North song on KLOVE as I came into my office at work

And I still have the whole day in front of me to enjoy God’s blessings and serve His kingdom.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I spent quite a lot of time in the garage yesterday after church worship. It was nice and organized and calling for me to mess it up with a project. So I switched on the NASCAR race and proceeded to recycle some EPS — more commonly known by its brand name Styrofoam — panels that we get at work for shipments but then just throw away, into insulation panels for my naked, metal garage doors. Now, here in August it won’t make that much of a difference, but come Dec, Jan or Feb, I am hoping that I will still be able to work on stuff out there even though it’s freezing outside.

Unfortunately, the NASCAR race was rained out. But fortunately, the NFL and players have hammered out a contract and are actively cramming as many pre-season football games as they can before the real season starts. The NFL Network is playing them all back to back. So the Cowboys/Broncos and Bears/someone else I forgot, were on my garage TV.

Later in the afternoon, a cold front came down. I use the term loosely because only last week did we break from an almost-record three week streak of above 90 and triple digit heat index days. Last week was downright gorgeous with little humidity and in the 80’s — California weather if I were to order it on the internet. But this cold front brought some rain torrents and dropped us down into the low 70’s — downright cold for August in Kentucky. My wife and I grabbed chairs and sat in the garage looking out watching the rain and listening to the forest reflect the sound. It was very soothing and enjoyable. And we both agreed that, with the football game in the background, it totally felt like Fall. It was a very weird feeling knowing that it was August but had all the hallmarks of Autumn. We are looking forward to the next season but still want Summer to last a big longer.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I have the next two days off so I can go camping with my son and the Scouts. With last night’s wild storms passed (there were confirmed tornado touchdowns in metro Louisville), the weather appears to be cooperating with little chance of rain through the weekend and temps in the 80’s. And while this is different than the outback camping I did back in CA — the difference being that this is an established campsite and has “amenities” — it has lots of activities for the boys and should provide an adequate amount of relaxing time for me. And I get home Sunday in time for the race. And because it is my son’s b-day on Saturday, we will celebrate with the Scouts as well as with the family when we return.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Not only is it my wife’s b-day and I have the day off work, but the online order I submitted for the weather actually came through. It is a beautiful Kentucky country day with nice puffy white cotton ball clouds suspended against a clear blue sky, a slight enjoyable breeze, and a perfect temperature of 79F. And last night’s sunset was colorful and marvelous.

I can’t wait to see what the weekend holds. Until then, I am gonna soak all this up!

…..Dan

Today was quite challenging at work. My boss is in Europe and there was quite a big issue that came up that went up the food chain. I ended up in a meeting with my boss’s boss’s boss working on an issue that had significant ramifications. Luckily, everyone focused on the facts at hand, gaps and risks, and possible solutions. There were no witch hunts or people thrown under the bus — quite a bit different than previous environments I’ve been exposed to.

But the day was challenging none-the-less. Multiple emergency meetings, efforts to keep everyone informed, documentation, and more communication. So when my last meeting ended at 8pm (luckily I called in from home — remember, Life-Work balance) I was ready to spend time with the family and decompress.

So pool time and splashing were the cure. I played in the pool for about an hour with K and D. And then spontaneously, I asked if anyone wanted to do a “field trip” to our favorite ice cream stop — Graeter’s Ice Cream.

Almost any day — hard, difficult, challenging, bad or just downright suckie — can be turned around with a little swimming and some ice cream.

And to top it off, I paused while swimming to watch a lone heron flap his wings slowly into the sunset. It was a scene of beauty that allowed me to just slow down and smell the roses. This evening, “a slower pace” really meant it.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This morning, rather than working at work, I was on “vacation” working at home. I was determined to finish the last mile of our 4 year basement finishing project. The basement has been very functional however one last section of it is cluttered, has become a dumping group, and needs finishing touches like paint, trim, and a ceiling.

So I started by hitting our local Walmart/Lowes center. While at Walmart picking up a few things I decided to ask the clerk how her Christmas was. She was talkative and said she really enjoyed it with family. It was her little neice’s first Christmas which made it special. She is very close to “Daisy” and it seems like she has a larger, close family.

The next stop was Lowe’s for paint. After several grueling rounds with my wife on paint color which included negotiation, paint swatches, paint samples, and wall painting, we had come to an agreeable color. They say opposites attract and it is clearly evident in our selection of decor and choices. If she said black, I would say white. If she said plaid, I would say solid. If she said light, I would say dark. Need I say more? So it was a victory for both of us that I was even standing at the paint counter with an agreed-upon selection.

While at the paint counter, I chatted with the countergirl. As at Walmart, I asked how her Christmas was. She was not so positive as the Walmart cashier. She just said “Uh, it was tolerable”.

I asked her what would have made it better. She replied that if members of her family would stop alienating each other and picking fights, it might be a nice time. It seems her dad passed away 2 years ago and there is still a lot of pain and anger. Her family is not dealing with it well and is taking it out on each other.

I told her that I would pray for her family and for healing. She thanked me as she gave me my paint cans. As I was walking to the cashier, the Lowes and Walmart employee stories reminded me of a video I posted a few weeks ago where the guy starts his day with a bad attitude and is grumpy but gets a pair of “compassion” glasses and sees labels on everyone he sees about what they are going through. While we can’t wear those glasses literally, we can definitely take a few moments throughout our day to talk with folks and possibly learn what labels they have, what burdens they are carrying, and how we might be able to love them. If you haven’t seen the video, go check it out — http://www.aslowerpace.net/?p=1012.

Upon exiting Lowes, the sliding doors separated to reveal a glorious crisp new day with the sun just peeking over the horizon bathing the area with orange light. I had lots to accomplish but already the day was off to a great start. I ended up getting all the painting and trim work completed thanks to help from my middle daughter K who stuck with me in the basement all day. It was hard work but I treated her to her favorite — Graeter’s Ice Cream, after my wife and I took her to dinner at our local BBQ Mark’s Feed Store.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Well, today is our 6 year anniversary in Kentucky. So much has happened and we have come so far. And while there are still things that come up that are “new”, this whole experience has now become our day to day routine. Kentucky is home and we truly have acclimated — to the changes in weather, to the people, to the state, to the slower pace, and to the not slower pace.

It is interesting because when we arrived in the state 6 years ago, it also was on a Friday. Below are each of my anniversary posts. Again, I am a person that likes to look back on milestones and admire the progress and growth — the lessons and experiences.

2005 – 1 year

2006 – 2 year

2007 – 3 year (no post)

2008 – 4 year

2009 – 5 year (no post)

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Now that Fall is officially here (as assessed by the falling leaves, not the calendar or weather) our family has been in full swing of our daily, weekly and monthly calendars. We have had so much going on lately that my wife made the comment today that we were not doing a slower pace. And her observation is very accurate. Below was what was on tap each day last week.

Monday – wife’s Bible study and evening Emmaus Formation (she is preparing for the October women’s walk where she is on the agape team)
Tuesday – Scouts
Wednesday – church youth group
Thursday – football practice
Friday – football game

And this last Saturday we had a college visit for R to Georgetown College, had to drop off my son for an overnight Scout campout at Taylorsville Lake, and the wife and I had the Ohio dinner cruise that I posted pictures from. And this pace doesn’t look like it will be letting up through Thanksgiving.

What do y’all think — do I need to look into getting the “notaslowerpace” internet domain?

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net