Wiped Out!

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People have "worship" strengths. The same way that people have learning strengths- like "Math" smart people, or "Kinetic" learners who learn by handling things. I tend to be drawn to God through nature. I love the rugged outdoors- mountains, boulders, clear streams. I feel close to God in places like that.

Today I biked an 11 mile Trail Loop in the Bankhead National Forest. I stopped no less than 4 times to lie down and catch my breath (my heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest!).

The trail is the Flint Creek Multi-Use Area. It's open to motorcycles, ATV's, Hikers, Bikers and Horses. But not to Jeeps apparently! It was so far back in the woods I could hear Banjo music!














The experience gave me a whole new perspective on "being close to God" in nature. I felt close to Him alright...like I was going to DIE any second!

Seriously, it wasn't that bad. It was an amazing trail- expertly layed out along a ridge that minimized the ups and downs. It was horrid going uphill, but the payoff- going downhill was amazing (except the near collision with the motorcycle). To make matters worse, I forgot my handy GPS. I would have loved to know where I was and how far I had to go. It only took 2 hours and 40 minutes though. Longer than I thought it would, but not bad for 4-5 episodes of cardiac arrest.

Speaking of nature. I missed most of the snowy weather as I had to go to NC for an Uncle's funeral last week. But when I finally got back, I was greeted with icicles in the backyard. Cool!














I was also greeted by a broken blower unit in the furnace....so...no heat in the house right now. I'm doing my morning devotion time standing next to the oven with the two big burners turned on!

Committed

Commitment is hard. It takes, well, commitment, right?

I don't mind making commitments. I generally think I'm good for the commitments I make. Most of the time. Some of the time.

Then there's another kind of commitment...or maybe just another use of the word, I suppose. It's when you make a decision that locks you into a certain action. It creates accountability. It eliminates options so that you don't have to worry about what's behind door #1, door # 2 or door #3.

That's what I did just now. I made a commitment that locks me into a certain course for at least a few months. I booked round-trip tickets to Athens, Greece for March 13-May 20th. Of course, I realize that locking into this course will obviously open up myriad other options once I get to Europe! I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I'll tentatively spend the first week working with International World Changers in Athens. I'll spend a few days thereafter touring Greece with an old friend that will also be at the Athens project. After that I'll work my way up the Balkan Coast and eventually end up in Ukraine. I plan to spend about a month in Ukraine. Between now and then I'll be trying to get in contact with a number of missionaries throughout the area. I want to see firsthand what some of them are doing; I want to help some of them. Hopefully I'll find a ministry to plug into while I'm in Ukraine in particular.

I'll come home in time to get my legs underneath me before officiating a friend's wedding on May 24.

So there. I'm committed.

Another day another Triathlon!

Ok, maybe a Triathlon is stretching it a bit but it kind of felt that way at the time.

Triathlon Phase 1: I pulled, toted, dragged, carried, crawled my kayak from the boathouse at the bottom of the bluff to my Jeep in the driveway (maybe 250 vertical feet and nearly that many steps!)

I started at the top of the map at the Brushy Creek Bridge- kayaked down the lake to the High's Boathouse and then rode my bike back to the bridge.








Triathlon Phase 2: I drove up to the Brushy Creek Bridge (maybe 3 miles as the crow flies and 5 miles as the Alabama Dept. of Transportation measures it). I put my Kayak in at the bridge and paddled back to the house. Oh, and then had to walk those stinkin' steps back to the top to the house again.




















Triathlon Phase 3: I rode my bike back to my Jeep.














Grand total of almost 10 miles roundtrip. 2.84 miles on water and the rest either climbing the mountain in the backyard or biking across Winston County. My top speed on water was 4.0 mph and my top speed on bike was 30 mph (I love 1/2 the hills around here...of course, the other half of those same hills had me doubting this whole idea!)



















Finally, here are a couple shots from the SNOW day yesterday. It snowed really hard ALL day long. I was hoping for a blizzard. I can't think of anything cooler while I'm here than to kayak down the Sipsey Fork River with snow drifts all over the boulders and cliffs. But alas, it melted almost as soon as it hit the ground.

Not a bad way to spend a day!

(Day 1 was Saturday, I arrived at the “big” house just after dark, set the TV up in the Master Bathroom and watched a movie while sitting in the whirlpool bath!)

(Day 2 was a lazy Sunday. I missed morning church because I was too late. Bought a newspaper and sat around the house most of the day. I did explore the backyard and the boat dock/pier and went to church last night.)

Day 3- Off to a nice start. I woke up about 9:00 this morning and enjoyed a relatively healthy bowl of Cheerios and an orange (not nearly as good as ANY orange I had around the world last year!) My routine includes a brief Bible study at the breakfast table overlooking the lake followed by some additional Bible Reading and guitar playing/worship from the downstairs room overlooking the lake (the acoustics are awesome in the basement.) I drove over to FBC Arley to visit with the Pastor (Bart- a young guy…we discovered we have a few mutual friends). Anyway, they are exploring a mission partnership with a people group in Peru and I wanted to know more about that and I needed to get permission from them to receive some mail from the IMB at their office later this week.

I got back to the “cabin” about noon and since it was a little breezy and chilly outside I had a nice bowl of Ramen soup for lunch (how’s that for reverting back to World Race cuisine). After lunch I managed to get my Kayak down the hill behind the house and did one hour of paddling in Smith Lake. I plan to kayak and/or hike EVERYDAY while I’m here until I leave on Feb. 8^th or 9^th. I also lifted weights a little last night before bed (that will take a little more “easing” into since I dislike weightlifting almost as much as I do running).

For the rest of the day- hmm, I need to go into Jasper and find some wireless internet (if you’re reading this, that means I was successful). In addition to blogging every few days, I’m also sort of taking an online class and I need to watch the corresponding video every other day.

This evening I’ll eat leftovers (I cooked my amazing Lemon Chicken Pasta last night) and study my Garmin GPS Instructional DVD so I can become an expert with my GPS which will allow me to not only NEVER get lost (despite the wishes of those who dare tell me to do so!), but I’ll be able to log how far I paddle or hike which will be kinda cool.

What follows are a few pics from today. The front of the house!

From my Kayak in Smith Lake looking to the back of the house.

Random ½ million dollar houses. Notice that the water is about 20 feet below normal.

ME in my Kayak on the lake.

Sicko

I actually didn't see the Michael Moore movie and I probably don't want to but wow! I went to the doctor today and I am not happy.

Actually I had an appointment this morning for a CT Scan at the hospital to look for kidney stones. My Urologist referred me. Anyway, I started 3 doses of some sort of little nasty cocktail last night and then I had to drink a quart of some sort of coconut flavored drink the consistency of mucus all before I reported to the outpatient office at the hospital this morning. When I got there I discovered that the two X-Rays that had been ordered for me were going to cost in excess of $5000.00. I was sort of prepared for it to cost around a $1000.00. Yes, I am one of America's uninsured adults (goes well with being unemployed and homeless!)

I told the Admission person thanks but no thanks. I can fly to Bangkok and get better service and have kidney stones (if I have one) treated for a lot less than it costs to get 2 stinkin' x-rays. So, I went back to the Urologist (of course I didn't get to see him because I didn't have an appointment)... I told his receptionist to tell him to make his diagnosis the old-fashioned way- based on my office visit last week.

Why does this matter? My application with the International Mission Board is not complete until all my medical stuff is complete and getting a status report on my kidney stones is part of that.

In related medical news: I also had to have blood work done for the application and apparently I have high(er) cholesterol than I've ever had. I didn't get the numbers, just that it was higher than it has been before. Home Cooking is killing me!

I'm going to be driving a lot for the next few days. I'm on my way to Amory from the Coast tonight to pick-up some of my furniture to deliver to my niece and her family in Alexandria, Louisiana. I'm hoping to make it to Smith Lake in N. Alabama by the end of this weekend where I'll live at my friends lakehouse for at least a month. My plans include daily kayaking and hiking, reading and writing, short trips to Birmingham and Atlanta and Starkville and that's about it. I'll have to do my own cooking. I'm thinking: Toast and instant coffee at breakfast, peanut butter at lunch and something with rice for dinner. Every day. That should get me back to my World Race weight and cholesterol levels. Oh, and I'll drink a lot of water too- gotta watch out for those kidney stones!