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!!

I went skydiving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went...

Last weekend was our Father's Day celebration. I know, you are thinking, "Father's Day was last month!" True, but my family had to go out of town and we celebrated Mother's Day with our friends the Condellos and the Unwins. Perhaps I will write about that another day. It was fun...for the guys.

Anyhow, the girls decided we should celebrate together again. So the first time we would all be together was last weekend. I was told to wear nice clothes and a tie; to bring a sleeping bag, matches and a spoon. Steve had to bring (I can't remember) and Brian had to wear a swimsuit under his jogging pants. This was all a rouse as I walked outside to see everyone and they were not wearing what I was wearing. The girls had a great laugh about that one. Then the three guys were blindfolded.

We jumped into the car and drove off. I told Jeanne-Ann that I have an amazing sense of direction and that I would figure out where we were going. I figured out that we were in Mollala. Not bad, huh? We got out of our vehicles and were lead up to a wall where the girls took our pictures and then we turned around and took off our blindfolds. We were at Oregon Skydiving!!!!!!!

For EIGHT years I have been saying, "This is the year." Well, this is the year. We went in for training and waited...and waited...and waited. The clouds were out in full force and they don't dive when you can't see the ground. They were hoping it would happen, but not hugely optimistic. We set a new date for yesterday.

Now I had all week to get mentally ready for this great event in my life. Well, we woke up to clouds again after a week full of sun. We got there and it was still cloudy. We waited...and waited...and waited. We went to get lunch late and said if nothing by 12:30 we would jet. We waited a little bit longer and at 1:15 there was some blue spots and some activity inside. Finally the first group (from 9AM...we were at 10AM)went up.

Then it was our turn.

I realize this a bit longer than normal...but what an amazing day!


We went in and got our straps all set, put on our "really cool hats" and walked out on to the airstrip. The plane pulled up and we began the boarding process. I went in first, which meant that I would dive last. The plane went down the runway and turned around for take off. The engines roared and we began...then we slowed down. I was upfront, basically next to the pilot, and heard him tell my guide that the front tire felt flat. That was fine for take-off, but not landing. We all got out while they put air back in the tire.

Then, finally, we got back in. With roaring engines we took off. There was not a lot of wiggle room and the windows were pretty low, but we got a pretty good view of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood. We climbed and climbed and climbed. It was not like taking off in a 747. The climb process was pretty slow, but it built our anticipation up a lot. Steve, Brian and I kept high fiving and knuckling each other. We were so EXCITED!!! Out of the 3 of us, Steve went first. When Steve stood at the door and I saw his face, my stomach really started to tumble around.


If you know me, you know I love to be scared and thrilled. This was THE moment. Steve went, and then Brian was up. He rollwed out with a gorgeous view behind him and then it was my turn. Looking at the propeller in front of us and the ground below my heart was elated! Then we rocked...left, right, roll! Yahoooooooooo!!! I was flying. I did it.

I was in the air. 13,100 feet above the ground. I told Kirk, my guide, to have fun and spin all he wanted. I was thinking when the chute had deployed. He started to spin moments after we jumped. Faster and faster. It was like when you are on one of those playground "merry-go-rounds" and you look up, but you are looking down. Then he kicked his legs to the other side and he spun us the other way. I wondered if I would get queasy, but I never did. One more spin on both sides and then suddenly YANK! He opened the chute and we began to float. Wow!

We had a very serene floating moment and then he asked if I wanted to steer. Of course! So he told me to pull down on the one side and we began to spin. Haha! More spinning. It was crazy cool. We went all the way flat in a spin. Then he had me pull the other side and we spun the other way. Then I pulled both. Weightlessness. When we would spin, there was an intense amount of pressure on my legs. They began to lose circulation but it didn't matter. It was like the pain I enjoyed from the sunburns I would get on my college spring break trips to Florida. I didn't care that it hurt, I was just glad I got color.

Steve landed first and Brian and I landed at almost the exact same time.

It is hard to explain the feelings I had. Excitement, thrill, joy, bits of momentary fear, smile, trust, weightlessness, bodily stress, stomach whirl. If there were a word for that combination, that's what it would be.

You gotta go.

Seriously, I mean it. You must go skydiving. this is your sign!

One Pound of Meat!!!

Today was Karston's birthday. I can't believe he is SIX! We went to the beach in the morning and then to Heather's for a pool party and cake. This evening we went to a place called Cheeseburgersandmore. They used to be called Cheeburger, Cheeburger. It's still the same place. They have video games and win tickets to buy worthless junk games too. They also have the 1 and 2 pound burger challenge. Finish one and they take a Polaroid pic of u and hang it up on their wall. I did it in college, but didn't spend enough time to find that pic and I got another pic up today. Ahh, the glory. Is it really worth it? I say yes! My stomach feels full and satisfied and I don't want to puke. That is good. Every now and then I need to have a little feast.

They used to give away a mug too, but I guess not anymore.

Happy birthday Karston!!!

LIFE Surprise!!!

Yesterday I did at seminar at the LIFE conference (www.life2007.org). The seminar was a purity one for girls only. It was awesome. The max capacity for the room was 244 and we had about 500 in there. I had a tiny corner on the stage as there were a bunch on the stage with me.

That night a youth leader told me that in their church huddle times they got into a huge conversation as a result of the time their girls had in the seminar. As a result of that one girl realized her need for Jesus and began a relationship with Him!

Wow!