Life on the mountain

As per always, my exercising schedule is erratic.  Okay these days it's sporatic.  But I still enjoy riding my bike, and I've started doing a little bit of trail riding.  There are some privately owned trails that intersect with our neighborhood.  These trails are owned by my boss, who doesn't mind me riding them.  The main trail is about .75 miles long and has an elevation increase of about 160 feet.  Makes for a tough ride going up but very fun coming back.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that the trail ends up at a frontier cabin owned by my boss.  At that cabin there is a well that you can drop a bucket into and draw cool clean water from.  I usually refill my water bottle there.  Also, this cabin has a beautiful bluff view overlooking the Arkansas River.

When Betsy and Andrew came to visit us a few weeks ago we all three rode up the trail and hung out for a bit at the cabin. (see picture of Betsy in the swing)  Tess and I have also biked it while the boys drove it in their Power Wheels, a good time was had by all.  Recently this little trail has been expanded, and I'm not sure I'm all that  happy about it.  Portions of the trail have been bulldozed into a road, suitable for just about any vehicle.  I liked it better when it was mostly just a walking/biking trail but hey, it's not my land.  Anyway, I'll include some pictures of the trail, and a few before/after shots.

News...

Well I'll just get right to it.  Despite our (almost) best efforts, we're gonna have another baby.  We're about 9 weeks in...hopefully for Tessa's sake we're through most of the sickness part.  In case any of you are wondering we don't plan on having enough kids to start our own reality TV show.  We plan to make absolutely sure that this isn't going to happen again.

We have always kind of flip flopped on whether we wanted 3 or 4, well we're excited that God has decided to make the decision for us.

A minute in the life...

Southside Church

For those of you who do not yet know, Southside Baptist Church was hit by a tornado last Friday.  This is the church that I grew up in, the aisle that I walked as a youth to accept Christ as my Saviour, the baptistry where I was immersed, even the clock on the wall that I used to closely watch during services waiting for noon.  That clock now sits on 8:32, and heaven only knows if and when it will move again.  I helped on Friday and Saturday to salvage that which we could. Even standing in the sanctuary looking at the sky, it was hard to believe. It should here be said that Brother Stephens showed his true heart in the midst of the storm. When his scanner went off he ran to the new sanctuary, where 6 men were working on a scaffolding and brought them to safety. If you saw the scaffolding, you'd know that it would not have been a pleasant place to be during the storm. I can't imagine that any of them would have survived. In that situation, faced with your own safety and that of almost complete strangers, what would you have done?

There's really not much else to say, the "old" sanctuary has considerable water damage and has lost half the roof.  The fellowship hall is missing at least half of one of its walls.  The "new" sanctuary and classrooms which were not yet completed were the hardest hit, most of it now flattened.  The parsonage lost the second floor and was severely damaged.  Much work is to be done.  Thanks to the miracle of modern insurance, the Church will likely have a chance to make a fresh start.  Please pray for the Church and those who have lost homes and loved ones in these tornados.  I have included some pictures of the damage, for those of you who remember. (notice the scaffolding in the second to last photo)

To the blogging faithful...

Man I can't believe the comments on my last post.  I figured that my audience had given up on me, I know I had.  Good to know there are still a few out there reading. 

I'm not sure how many of you know but I'm a very sentimental guy.  Often I look to the past and remember how great things were, sometimes to the detriment of the present.  Well I'm not about to say I'm through reminiscing, but I'm definitely through living in the past.  Now I begin living in the now.  These are the best times of my life and I'm not going to miss out on them by wondering about decisions I've made or roads not taken.

Even if I tried to return to a previous phase of my life I'm sure I would soon find out that it isn't possible.  As Thomas Wolfe said "You can't go home again".  Nothing would be as it were when you were last there.  If I went back to college, or a previous job, it wouldn't be the same, even those things have changed.  I'm bad to cling on to what I know in fear of the unknown when the truth is, it's the unknown that should give us hope.  It's the unknown that should be exciting, not scary. :-)

To the people who share my past, I love you all.  Let's go out and make a beautiful future for ourselves.  God bless you and thanks for your friendship.
(and comments)