Let it rain!

Rain is a fact of life here, but it's been wet enough that the locals are starting to apologize for the weather. Thursday was market day in Delft and it was a "normal" market (as we've come to call it) so the market was smaller and the town was less busy. As you can see, the rain came to visit, but business pretty much went on as usual.

The sun did eventually come out.

One of our favorite spots/views in Delft. It's a quiet canal about a block from the main square. Knotten is the first store you see on the left.

There seems to often be one of these street organs at the market in Delft. It caught my ear this time because it was playing a tune we'd heard on the radio "Stay Up All Night to Get Lucky". I found it amusing that this was juxtaposed with the bells of the carillon.

Transitioning

The first Sunday that we visited Church of the Resurrection, I told Pastor Bob that we weren’t sure where God was calling us to serve Him – we just knew that he had made it clear that it was time to move on. We could hardly know then what blessings He had in mind for us as He made it clear that COR was the place he was calling us to serve.

This week God made it clear that it was time for another transition in our lives. I’ve been the entire computer support team at the Museum of Northern Arizona for almost 11 years, but the museum made the decision that IT support needed to be outsourced as a cost-saving measure. I’ll leave it to others to judge the soundness of that decision for MNA, but what is clear is that God is saying it’s time to serve in some other capacity.

This morning we went to worship through the first real snow storm of the season. I knew it would be good to be in God’s house, but I was unprepared for just how good it would be. The genuine compassion and caring of this congregation is just amazing. Even more amazing is the resources that God has put there which fit so well with our need. One member is an expert in resume preparation at the university and is reviewing my resume. A couple of other members have contacts that they have already spoken with on my behalf. How could we have known all those months ago that God was putting us into just the right place at the right time for what was coming?

Today was “Thanksgiving Sunday” and I was asked to offer the prayer of thanks during the service. God game me words that I didn’t know I had to offer thanks for his incredible goodness. After the service, He demonstrated that with the words of encouragement and offers of assistance that we received.

Do we know yet where I’m supposed to serve next? No, but we have confidence that the God who loves us so much that he sacrificed his own Son, and who knows us so well that he counts the hairs on our head, will show us the way and provide for our needs.

It's Coming...

Last night, as I drove home from Praise Team practice, I had the radio on to our local NPR station. They replay a couple of BBC news shows in the evening, complete with the announcements between programs from the time they were originally aired.

So I hear the announcer say some general stuff about the weather and the change of seasons, followed by "and there's no mention of any moisture in the forecast for the foreseeable future"... as I'm watching a pouring rain storm through my windshield wipers ;-)

This morning we saw the first dusting of snow on the top of the San Francisco Peaks.

Winter is coming!

"Bike to Work Week" - Well Sorta

Every Spring, Flagstaff has an official "Bike to Work Week". That's a great idea, and last year I managed to participate (on one day), but there's one little problem with it. The way you can tell it is Spring in Flagstaff is that it is windy. I'm talking 40mph with higher gusts kinda windy.

When the wind finally slows down, we have summer, and it's great except for the beastly hot days we get in June because there is no wind. (Yes, I know it sounds like I'm whining.)

So then July gets here and brings with it cooler temperatures from the monsoons... and rain. Oh, the rain is just a glorious thing, but not necessarily for bicycling. (And this July had over 5 inches above normal for rainfall, and just .01 inch less than the record for the month.)

So today, finally, everything cooperated and I was able to bike to work. It was a lovely 61F this morning with light winds and a predicted high of 81F with only a 10% chance of precipitation. So here's what I managed to do:

This morning's ride brought back memories of riding around Zevenhuizen last year. As beautiful a day as it was for riding, it really brought home how unfriendly Flagstaff is for bicyclists compared to the Netherlands. This is a town that is clearly built for cars compared to bicycles. The bike paths that have been built are a much needed improvement, but they are not nearly as good as you'll find in the Netherlands (or the ones we have experienced in Oregon). Intersections are particularly bad.

After we were in the Netherlands on our last trip, I ran across this video on how the Dutch make their intersections so friendly for bicycles as well as autos. I sent an e-mail about it to our mayor and the city traffic engineer - not one response was received. Considering how easy it is to implement what the Dutch have done, I'm pretty appalled that it didn't even get an acknowledgment.

Oh, in case you are wondering, my "Bike to Work Week" will probably end up being just one day again this year. Between weather and my schedule, that's probably all I can fit in this week. But we'll see about next week...

Father's Day

I received a very special gift from my daughter for Father's Day. She made me a card – she's very creative and always makes cards instead of buying them. She wrote some very nice things in the card about how glad she was that I was her Dad. On paper, they probably look just like the words you might expect to see on thousands of other Father's Day cards.

It was the words she said as I read the card that got me. Years ago (I don't even remember what year) we went on a backpacking trip through the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon. Somewhere along the trip, she left her kool-aid container behind and realized it later. I went back to retrieve it. I didn't even remember it until she mentioned that this was on her mind as she wrote the card. It reminded me how true it is that the important things for our children are not so much taught by us, but caught by them as they watch us live our lives.

Was I a perfect father? No. Did I experience anger or frustration with my kids? You bet. Did I spank them? Yep, but always as a measured response and never in anger if I could help it. Even then, the most important thing was the hugs and expressions of love and care that came afterward.

For me the highest priorities in my life are:

1. My relationship with God

2. My relationship with my wife

3. My relationship with my children & grandchildren.

The priorities are so close for me that I dare you to find any real space between them.

For me, my relationship with God has always meant that I am to be a servant as far as the other priorities are concerned. If one of them needs me for something – or for nothing in particular – I'm there. I love my 914 and I enjoy solving the challenges associated with my career in computers, but nothing is more important to me than my family. No car event, car project, PC repair, or activity to learn a new programming language - no other activity in my life ever gets top priority over serving them.

The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Paul is really just restating the “Golden Rule” to treat others as you wish to be treated. It has always seemed to me that it's just the way you should live.

I'm not an eloquent writer. I can't come up with witty ways to say this stuff. But my heart is overflowing to think that something so seemingly insignificant made such a deep and positive impression on someone that I love more than life itself. I'm all too ready to see my imperfections and mistakes. It's so wonderful to be reminded that God has used me to model Him more often than I often think and it's a reminder of how important it is to maintain that focus. It's my daily prayer that my every action will show His incredible love.

Pentecost - Moving

I do a lot of online research about a variety technical subjects as part of my job. A recent article about an iPhone user who switched to an Android phone yielded this:

"One thing strikes me about this list: each item is something positive about Android, instead of something negative about the iPhone. That’s often a sign that a decision is the correct one. If you’re moving toward something, it means you know what you want and you think this other thing will deliver it to you. If you’re moving away from something, you’re headed towards… what, exactly? You don’t know where you’re going but you know it must be better than the situation you’re fleeing from.

Are you moving away, or moving toward? Life is a much less nervous undertaking when you travel with a destination in mind."

I never can guess where I'm going to hear God's voice. This was on my mind as I was thinking about Pentecost coming this Sunday. This was the Sunday for Linda and I to become members of Church of the Resurrection. This was a long, and unexpected, journey for us, but as I reflected on making this change it really felt like what the above author was describing. Joining COR was about moving toward something. This is a congregation that has embraced us, challenged us, and encouraged us in our walk with Christ. It is exciting to get up on Sunday morning, knowing that we get to worship there. Even getting out of the house by 8:30 a.m., to get there for Praise Team practice, is a joy.

Pentecost is traditionally a day for receiving new church members since it celebrates the event that began the Christian church. We had quite a group of new members today.

Unfortunately, today was also the last day for our friend Bruce to sing with me in the COR-tet. Bruce & Janet are moving to Clarkdale and will be sorely missed. It was Bruce that invited me to be part of the music ministry at COR and I'm very grateful.

Our song this morning is "I'll Fly Away".

The COR-tet this morning was (L-R) Bill Norris, Bruce McLaughlin, Butch Gross, and Ernie deVries.

Spring

How can you tell that it's Spring in Flagstaff? There are tulips coming up in the yard, and we had such strong winds today that there was dirt blowing across Route 66 as I drove home from work.

Yep, first day of Spring, and the weather looked at the calendar so the wind picked up.

Years ago a member of our church said, "When is the wind going to stop and it will be Spring?" Our answer, "The wind is how you can tell that it is Spring!"

Deja Vu

This week Linda and I celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary. It is amazing to look back on it and think that it was 41 years ago, not 21. "Time flies when you are having fun" is the old saying. Maybe time just flies, but it is so much better when God has given you a partner that is so precious.

On the evening of our anniversary, we went out for dinner to a new Italian restaurant called "Fat Olives". Everything is made in their huge wood-fired oven and it's all wonderful. We even got chocolate mousse for dessert (on the house) for the event. Until a few months ago, the building had been a veterinary hospital for as long as we can remember.

On our honeymoon, 41 years ago, we came to Flagstaff for a couple of days. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant on old Route 66 that was no longer in business by the time we moved here in 1980. The building had been remodeled to become a veterinary hospital.

Sea Vegetables?

I saw this today on the shelf of the lunchroom at work. Does it make it more desirable to call seaweed "sea vegetables"?

I'm imagining wild kelp parties off the coast of Maine.