Thought Provoking Moments

Today I was at a restaurant with my wife when a guy walked by with a t-shirt that had a skeleton praying in its knees. It struck me hard. Death, wishing...praying to be rescued. rescued from what he has now seen in his death.

Too late.
No turning back.
A lifetime filled with chances and opportunities.
A lifetime filled with nos.
Nos to God.
Perhaps not audible nos.
But every yes to something else is a no to God.
"I just want to have fun in this life. I don't want anyone telling me what to do."
There is so much more to it then that.

Then we went to church and we had communion. Reminders of what Jesus did for us all...for me. Huge!

Then I was reading some pages in a book I am reading right now Retribution: City of God Series by Randall Ingermanson. It is a fictional period piece. The time was shortly after Jesus was killed on the cross and rose again. There were people being crucified. The Roman governor was out to make some examples of people so he could get the people to fear him more.
The detail offered up on the crucifixion process reminded me of Jesus' complete selfless move of His death on the cross. For us. For me.

How do I respond daily to that sacrifice?
How do I live my life?
Why am I so judgmental of people?
Why don't I look at people with the perspective of Christ?
Love.
Compassion.
Pure heart.

I need to constantly release my hold of my life, my future, my "stuff." Every day. I need to let go and let God.

What was lost has been found!

My dear readers...Thank you for your kind words. Over the last 18 hours or so I have been releasing my hold on this material possession. I know it is just a "thing" and I should not get so worked up over it. I think the biggest part was the violating feeling I felt thinking about how it could possibly have been taken in those 15 minutes.

Now, about my last statement. "Would you pray that whoever took it (assuming I didn't "lose" it) would by guilt ridden and turn it in to the lodge desk? I say "lose" because there is always that chance that it is siting in the room (even though we asked at the desk) or something like that, but I don't think so."
So, I called back to the lodge we stayed at and I talked to the lady at the front desk and then to one of the house keepers. She talked to the other 3 ladies and no one had seen it. There were even other people who had stayed in our first room (we moved after the 1st night).

I left my number and described the ipod and the cool cover.

I got a voicemail later saying they had found it in the room!!!
Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I am sooo excited. But I am holding on loosely. :)

I got robbed!!!

I went out to Maupin, Oregon Sunday night after a loooong day of driving back from Whidby Island, Washington (up in the San juan Islands north of Seattle). We were up visiting our friends the Lynchs and I did the installation service for a new youth pastor at their church. We drove home, got some clean clothes and headed to Maupin. (about 8-9 hours on the road that day.)

I was going to guide a rafting trip for a group from our church the next day and then another group from Bellvue, WA the next day. We got into Maupin about 12:30AM. We unpacked the car, Jeanne-Ann and the kids went to bed and I went out to watch the meteor shower till 2AM!!! I know, I know...idiot! haha. Oh well, it was amazing!

In all of that I don't remember bringing in my ipod and the next morning I thought about it and figured it was in the car. Then I didn't think about it till we left 2 days later.

We searched everything and I hoped it would show up in our stuff when we got home. It didn't. The only thing I can figure is that it was taken out of my car between the time we checked in to our room and when I left to see the meteor show. That was about 10-15 minutes. There is a camp ground connected to the lodge we stayed at and I can only assume someone was walking by and looked in our car.

"Didn't you lock the car Erik?" you say. I rarely forget to lock my car. Jeanne-Ann even said, "Did you lock the car?" and I thought I did with my little beeper button thing. It doesn't actually beep unless I do it twice and it was late so I didn't want to wake anyone. It may not have locked. that is all I can figure.

This was my going away gift from Salem Alliance when I left. I have all my music on there and tons of videos and photos of my family. I listen to many sermons on podcasts and so I use my ipod all the time! This is so frustrating!!! I feel so violated and I feel so stupid cuz I rarely forget to lock the car and almost never leave my iopd in the car.

Nothing else was taken that we know of thankfully.

Would you pray that whoever took it (assuming I didn't "lose" it) would by guilt ridden and turn it in to the lodge desk? I say "lose" because there is always that chance that it is siting in the room (even though we asked at the desk) or somehting like that, but I don't think so.

13 Years Baby!!!

Monday Jeanne-Ann and I celebrated 13 years of wonderful marriage! I am truly the most blessed man on the planet. To have a woman like this in my life. How she treats me; how she loves me; how she raises my our kids with me...unbelievable.

So I set up our evening and was very excited. Jeanne-Ann has been dropping oh so subtle hints about this Italian restaurant for quite a long time. Keizer, Oregon has a fine dining Italian establishment! Can you believe it? If you aren't from here, you need to know that we don't have these kinds of places. It is family owned and that is pretty cool too.

I also knew that I have wanted to go to dance lessons for a long time. Jeanne-Ann was ok with it every time I would bring it up, but she has never had the best rhythm. :)



We went to RJ Dance Studios and learned how to do the Fox Trot. It was so fun. Jeanne-Ann was awesome! There were 2 other couples and we just had a blast. After 90 minutes of dancing, we headed up to Caruso's for dinner. It is a great restaurant with a wonderful atmosphere.

Then every 5 - 10 minutes a different friend of ours showed up with a rose for Jeanne-Ann and said, "Happy Anniversary." It was so cool. All the people around us were looking to see what was going on and there was a couple there for their 2nd anniversary and they thought it was so cool. I hope the guy didn't feel bad but "learned some stuff." haha.

13 people in all came by and delivered roses. Thanx to Paige, Paul, Sean, Duane, Becca, Josh, Maria, Patrick, Jim, Tifani, Michelle, Steve and Chele.

Unbelievable night!!