friday’s lately have become a time to attack the mohican mountain bike trail with some guys from the outpost. this past week our crew was my colleague, rob and myself. i wasn’t up to full ride so we headed back on the short loop. good thing we did…as we arrived at the trail head, the cannondale factory trailer went cruising by. Turns out they were in town for a demo show over the week. thanks to Providence, we met up with Graham and his compatriot, Jason and had a chance to show them the short loop. what made it an amazing experience was Graham outfitting us with their amazing machines. yep…the equipment matters. thanks cannondale. thanks graham and jason.
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finding cannondale
setting out on another adventure-Freedom Tour
So…more details to come, but 60 days from now, myself, two of my students – Clay Sloan and Mitch Weber will join 20 other individuals to ride 500 miles from Cincinnati to Washington DC to raise awareness for human trafficking as part of the IJM Freedom Tour. More to come here on the blog. We’ve got to raise about $9,000. And i’m confident we’ll get there. Stay tuned…more details and stories will be posted here. Til then this video will tell the basic story of “why”.
its been a year – remembering Alabama
Oct 1, 2011 - a couple of the Present:Hope tour team watch the sun set after having toured the devastation of tornadoes in the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham, AL area.
click the image to see this
I am mindful these past couple of days that it was just a year ago that almost 300 tornadoes ripped through Alabama and left almost that many people dead. according to the weather channel, it was one of the largest outbreaks of tornadoes in history.. the destruction path was over 18 states.
It was only seven months ago that i rode with 12 others as part of Venture Expeditions the Present Hope Tour through that area to help bring awareness of the good work that Convoy of Hope was championing to help rebuild peoples lives and their homes. just watched a report of the Gov. of Alabama reminding all that the recovery and rebuilding is still continuing. it will be years yet til all is restored.
questions from 4th graders…wow.
continuing to think alot about the impact of our culture on our teens. i spent the weekend at an incredible overnite event called “changers” with a group of 150 middlesschoolers. they had amazing energy and an even more amazing desire to find their place in the larger Story. in one of our final “family”sessions we had the students write letters to themselves that will be mailed in the future to them. the letters were to be an “ebenezeer” of sorts to remind them of what ways they think they can impact the world. cool stuff…they took a long time…and it was cool to watch them turn over their paper to write on the back. lots of impact for sure.
but there’s a tension that becomes apparent when one studies the list in the photo of questions recently submitted by the 4th graders at a local elementary school of questions they want answers to that they are afraid to ask their parents about. wow.
in a recent email from a Kingdom ally the following thots were posed…
What is our generation’s legacy? What do we want it to be? As a generalization we’ve given to the world:
Divorce is an easy, acceptable, pragmatic even preferred option.
The family structure as optional, “Hey, the kids are strong. They can handle it.” Right.
Selfishness justifies anything.
Science trumps wisdom (when in truth it validates it).
Godlessness trumps truth.
Youth, ripped, endless sex, rock and roll, and money are our Gods.
Self-indulgence is foundational: It is our right.
Abortion is an assumed right. It is the foundation of any compassionate, rational human being.
Abstinence is impractical, foolish, it is downright uncool. Holiness is ridiculous.
The world is to be worshipped (mother earth) as infants are murdered.
Terrorists are terrorists unless they kill Christians, then it is not newsworthy.
We deserve everything. We are accountable for nothing.
We wil never age, nor lose our sex appeal, nor die.
It is better to know more about the Khardasians, Survivor and other reality shows than it is to know our God.
Good is bad, and bad is good.
my friend goes on to ask:
Why are the kids the way they are? Who has guided them? Who will guide them?
and then offers this word from God:
“He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” [Rev 21:7-8]
and then states
The “cowardly” . . . Thanks to all that have turned and are walking with Christ to make a difference. Forgive me for when I don’t. Who will stand and say, “The legacy must change!” Who is still so trapped by the world that they are no earthly good because they are too encumbered by this earth? I am not throwing stones; I am letting you see the questions exploding in my own heart.
wondering now in my own mind where to chart the course to helping 4th graders ask different questions. your thoughts?
stopping to think – turning the culture
today’s wall st journal has a notable op-ed by peggy noonan entitled:
update: the link only goes to a teaser paragraph. you can access the full article by getting a free subscription.)
America’s Crisis of Character
The nation seems to be on the wrong track, and not just economically.
her writing captured some thoughts i’ve been having these past couple of weeks. Noonan walks through the last week and the messiness of the headlines…
- a tourist beaten up in baltimore while students stand around and video
- a frightening trend: flash ROBS
- the GSA scandal
- the secret service scandal
- LA Times publishing of photos of soliders with insurgents’ bodies
and there’s several more that she lists out…but the brilliance of her writing is these thoughts…
In isolation, these stories may sound like the usual sins and scandals, but in the aggregate they seem like something more disturbing, more laden with implication, don’t they? And again, these are only from the past week.
The leveling or deterioration of public behavior has got to be worrying people who have enough years on them to judge with some perspective.
Something seems to be going terribly wrong.
Maybe we have to stop and think about this.
Indeed, there is much behind where we are going culturally…we need to be praying for clarity on how to turn the cultural tide.
check this out
