Unfortunate Event

I was all ready to go race on this past Saturday; I was even in the car driving to the race site. I took my Dad along to man the GT tent and mentally I was already racing. (Physically may have turned out differently.) The unfortunate part of the day is that we got to the race at a little after 8 a.m. and we were the first ones. The registration was to open at 8. We entered a ghost town. All ready to go, but nothing to do...phone calls to the sponsoring shop told me that they decided the day before to post-pone the race for a couple of weeks. Nice to know. Apparently, the the rain since oh, I don't know May, closed all the trails we were going to use. I was so worked up and ready to go, it took me all day to get over my disappointment.
I know I should not be so upset, but I needed to have my pity party and I thought what better place than on the Internet for all to see (Okay I know my readership is not that widespread, but let me have this one).
So, as part of my season I am going to run a 5K this weekend. Yeah, I know running? Let me explain. The Baileyville Reform Church (in Baileyville, IL) has a raises funds to send their youth on missions trips and this is one of them. This will be the second time I will run in the race. I love to run, but had to give it up many years ago, because it really hurt my knees so I turned to bikes. Worked out better for me anyway. Being in the Army, I have to keep up with running. To do that I give you the Baileyville 5K. It is for a good cause, and just between you and I, I like the looks I get when people find out a pastor is running in the race.
I am working on a sermon series from the Book of Micah. I know it was a prophet from almost 3,000 years ago preaching to the Israelites, but his warnings to them sound so much like our world today and what we put up with. Micah was preaching to God's chosen people about sin and they were telling him (Micah) to be quiet and don't be such a downer. Just tell us the good things and forget about the bad, because God isn't really going to judge us. All of that judgment stuff is for the bad people. It sounds a lot like our Nation today. People tell me, "Don't be so closed minded by telling me Jesus is the only way to heaven. I am a good person and God sees that and won't send me to hell." Well I have to ask, "Whose standards do you base your "goodness" on?" I base mine on the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. I believe God says what is good and what is not, and since He created humanity, then I think he does have the right. Now I have to follow that up; God doesn't send people to hell, we send ourselves by not following His ways through His Son Jesus Christ. Check out John chapter 14.

Cool Video

I had to share this video. I found it on the Chicago Cyclocross website. Enjoy as I did.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I got many disbelieving looks when I told people I was going to be 39. Probably because most people reach the age of 39 and never admit to any more, but really 39. I don't feel any older, but I can tell when I have gone a little over board the day before. I got the neatest question from Hope yesterday. After she said that 39 was really old, she asked if I could still be her Daddy? I had to laugh then cry just a bit. It was really one of those awe moments.
Birthdays are those things that I used to get depressed about. Holidays were never any fun, but now I have a different perspective. I grew up pretty angry and depressed and did not really care about the future. Things got different when Christ entered my life and gave me a purpose. It is a pretty gloomy day out today, but I just got off of riding 7 days in a row. I can't remember the last time I did that. Yah, I know I am supposed to be racing bikes and all, but full time family and job it does get tough to get all of that in. My son's birthday is this weekend and we are having an Army party as per his request. It makes me smile. The house will be all decked out in camo. I will be so cool. For those that are interested, my wife got me the new Skillet for my b-day and just got done listening to it...very cool. I have been given permission to race this weekend, so I will be doing a bit of cyclocross in Janesville, WI. For those who don't get what cyclocross is check out www.cyclocrossworld.com It has everything you would ever want to know.

Raining Blues

It seems like the weather is never going to get better. I feel very sorry for all of the farmers in this area who cannot get out into the field because of the moist nature of our October. Along with that, it has been a chore to get out on the bike more than one day a week with all the rain.
The season is winding down, but still have at least one race to go. The picture above is from the last race I did in Madison, WI where I finally got to see my name on the Cyclingnews.com website. In the Cat 2/3 race I finished 69th. That to me was pretty good, with all the other stresses going on in life at the present time. I took my dad to the race and it was his first cyclocross race. He did not realize the size of what was going on. It was one of the stops of the USGP race series, which is pretty big. 4 former world champions to include Erwin Vervecken. It was very cool. The picture added here is not me, it is of Ryan Tebron the current reigning US national champion.
I have just recently gone to my 20th class reunion from high school. What a blast. No one new who I was. It is always good to hear that from people, it shows that God has really changed me from the inside out. I was not really sure what I was going to feel like going, but it did turn out pretty good. Those that I wanted to see, I talked to and the others well, I did not.