Katie, Kim, Ruth Mark, Beverly and a full belly

Good morning,
I pray the day is finding you well.

Chuck and I are in Rapid City South Dakota.

I ran out of time yesterday morning so I did not get the chance to talk with you.

The day before yesterday...I guess that's two days ago...we woke up to a wonderful breakfast and amazing coffee. Thank you, Sandy!

I went outside into Jim and Sandy's back yard to relax for a bit, but it did not exactly turn out to be as relaxing as I hoped it would be. I was sitting there contemplating their cottonwood tree that is almost two-hundred years old, and very big. I began to wonder if there was a bee-hive somewhere in the midst of the tree, or worse yet, a hornet's nest.

Just then as I was taking another sip from my coffee cup, a lone hornet, the size of a humming bird, decided to say hello. I have found that the only way to get rid of a hornet is to do the go-away-hornet indian dance. The hornet came right up to my nose, so I didn't waste any time. I jumped up, with my coffee cup still in my hand, and started doing the go-away-hornet indian dance.

To begin with, I was never a very good dancer, and this particular dance has many intricate moves and gyrations to it. I knocked over the chair, spilled my coffee, and finally gave up and ran into the house. I don't think I was doing the right dance. The hornet liked the dance and was dancing with me. In retrospect I think I confused the go-away-hornet indian dance with the very dangerous and invitational dance, come-thou-hither-thine-wonderful-hornet indian dance. The hornet continued to buzz around my head until I was in the house. Sandy said, "Do you need more coffee?" I replied, "No, there is a hornet out there." She said, "yes, we have hornets." I said, "I know."

After a bit we packed up to go. We met dad at the Mankato YMCA and took a tour. It is an amazing YMCA. John Kind, the executive director is an amazing guy and they are doing many wonderful things. Cheryl, the program director for Social Responsibility and I had a great conversation. We will be talking more once I get home.

Our next stop was to see my sister and brother, Katie and Kim. They recently downsized to a nice home in Sioux Falls South, Dakota. Kim is Katie's husband and not my biological brother. I just didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea and think we drove straight through to Arkansas.

We got there just in time for me to go work at the mobile food pantry that Katie directs. I met many wonderful people that are having a hard time feeding their families. I met Mark and Beverly. I carried a box of groceries to their house and sat with Mark and Beverly for a while. I prayed for them and gave a blessing before I went back to the pantry. Back at the pantry I met Ruth. Ruth is an elderly lady who is taking care of her granddaughters.

Ruth is a hoot.

I got into trouble with Ruth.

Ruth and I were shopping.

The food pantry is arranged in a horseshoe configuration.

All the food is set on the table and you walk through getting your food.

Ruth and I were holding up the entire line as we shopped. Picture nobody in front of us and a pile of people stacked up behind us as we debate the different kinds of onions Ruth would like.

Katie finally came up and said, "Let's get a move on!"

I said, "Backer on down a minute missy, Ruth and I are shopping."

"Backer on down" is an old Kansas saying. Well I guess "missy" is an old saying as well. I was pretty proud of myself for combining the two old-Kansas sayings." Katie did not seem as amused. Hmmm...wonder why?

The food pantry has cakes donated to it...wonderful cakes! Katie said, "If a kid is having a birthday, give them a cake."

Well, I do not know how it happened, but every kid I helped that day was having a birthday!

I'm not saying that as we got to the pastry table I made up a story about the kid having a birthday or anything like that. I would never do that... :)

By the end of the night I am not sure I was as much help as Katie thought I would be. That is what you get when you ask your brother to come see what you do.

I am very proud of Katie, she is being the hands and feet of Christ in her community.

Good job, sis!

Kim wanted to give me his Harley for the ride home and thought he could come get it later. It was a wonderful, very generous, offer. We did not take him up on it.

I love you, Kim! I hope this isn't too touchy-feely for you.

We left Sioux Falls around 11am yesterday morning. I called Katie from our first gas stop and found out I that I left my pocket Bible at the house. I will not see it again until I get home. I'm kind of bummed about that.

As we made our way to Rapid City, South Dakota, I started ruminating about Ruth, Katie, Kim and Christ.

I started thinking about the apostle Paul.

How he tells us to take care of widows and children.

I was watching this in action at the food pantry.

It is always fun, and if I am to be honest, very humbling to watch Christ in action.

I will ruminate on, "The hands and feet of Christ today."

Blessings,

The best stop ever!

Good morning,
I pray the day is finding you well.

"This is the best stop ever!"

The words of my friend Chuck after he found out that the Harley Shop that we stopped at had everything he needed to fix his bike:
A new headlight.
An allen wrench that he could borrow to get the cover off the motor and adjust the ignition.
A bolt for his air-cleaner cover to replace the one he lost on the road.
He has "a vintage" 1993 Harley with an S&S motor, so most places don't have these things.

"This is the best stop ever!"

We had ridden from Duluth, Minnesota to Mankato, Minnesota. It was a hot day and humid. I was pretty rung out by the time we got to Mankato. Chuck had no idea just how good the stop was going to get.

After we fixed the bike, we rode over to Jim and Sandy's house. Jim and Sandy are my brother and sister. Actually, Jim is married to Sandy and they are my brother- and sister in-law, which means that Jim is my wife's brother. I consider them my brother and sister, not my brother- and sister in-law. Having an in-law would suggest that somewhere you have an out-law. I am not much into having an out-law, so why would I like having an in-law?

I have family: mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters, grandson and granddaughter.

When we got to the house, my father and mother were there...same mindset. I will let you figure out the details.

My dad, Jim, is an amazing guy. I will write about him one of these days. Today I am focusing on "the best stop ever."

We got to the house and Sandy met us at the door. She gave me a hug, even though I was sweaty and dirty from a long day's ride. Family will still hug you even when you are sweaty and dirty. Dad and Bea were already at the house and we settled in. I tried to help Sandy make the guest bed. She was gracious, but I was more in the way than helping...so she asked me not to help her anymore.

We had a nice dinner, a dinner that was more balanced than Chuck and I have been used to on this ride. If you are wondering what I am talking about, read my post, "I have been to Helena and Back."

Dad and Bea went home. Chuck and I got into the pool. Yes, Jim and Sandy have a pool. We stayed in the pool until we were well shriveled.

We ended the night with a great conversation, sitting on these amazing leather couches that recline with a push of the button.

This morning I am sitting in the backyard looking at a 150-year-old Cottonwood tree. There are three squirrels running around the tree, doing what squirrels do. I guess they were squirreling around. One squirrel is lying on the top of the fence with its legs on either side, head flat on the rail, tail lazily off to one side. I have never seen a squirrel that relaxed before. Pretty cool.

Sandy left for a meeting and we ran out of coffee. She had made us a pot of coffee before she left. There we were, three men: Jim, Chuck, and me...staring at an empty coffee carafe. "We are grown men," we thought. "We can figure this out."

I hate to admit that it took three men to figure out how to make one pot of coffee. I made sure that the mess was cleaned up before Sandy got home.

When Sandy returned home, she asked, "Who made the coffee?"

"We did," we said.

She asked, "Ok, who cleaned up the mess."

We said, "We did."

How did she know we would make a mess? Girls...men never will figure them out.

It really has been the best stop ever. I am completely decompressed and relaxed.

It is good to be with people that love you and care about you.

I will think about this stop for a long time.

Blessings,

Okie Dokie and You Betcha

Good morning,
I pray the day is finding you well.

Okie Dokie and You Betcha.

We made it to Duluth Minnesota.

We left Fargo yesterday morning and within five minutes we were in the middle of construction gridlock. As I sat there looking at all the people headed in the same direction at the speed of nothing, I could not help but think about lemmings. Lemmings are an interesting creature that once every few years all head out together in a mass and end up jumping off a cliff. I thought about how we all looked like a bunch of lemmings. A massive sea of vehicles and people. I hoped there wasn't a cliff at the end.

I often wonder about lemmings.

Do the ones in the middle of the lemming gridlock know there is a cliff at the end? Or are they just going along with the flow with a great big surprise at the end.

Somehow I do not think there is a big a difference between us and lemmings.

After a bit traffic opened up. There wasn't a cliff after all. Before we knew it, we were in Minnesota.

You know you are in the North Woods when you see a wolverine on the side of the road. I know you are asking yourself, "Wolverine! I wonder how many wolverines it takes to make Roger nervous?"

The answer is just one.

One wolverine is all it takes to make me think, "Hey, there is a wolverine on the side of the road and my leg is hanging out right there for him/her to chomp on."

We didn't have wolverines in Kansas, but we did have badgers.

Once a badger made a nice little home near our house in Kansas. I learned that it takes more than one cup of coffee in the morning for a badger to get rid of the morning grumps. It would come out of its hole when I would walk by, kind of like a bullet, and do its waddle-run. (If you had ever seen a badger run, you would know what I am talking about.) Of course, this would make me run and I would be yelling over my shoulder, "Stop badgering me!"

I am convinced that is where the saying came from.

Wolverines and badgers.

Don't mess with them.

We passed the wolverine. I am sure I was quite the sight, Chuck in front, me in the back with my legs over my head. Chuck never saw the wolverine. Good thing, it is hard to drive a motorcycle with your legs over your head.

Minnesota is a beautiful state, we rode along driving past towns like Baxter, Brainard, Deer Lodge...

We came over the top of a hill and all of a sudden there is Lake Superior.

Chuck says, "It looks like the ocean."

I reply, "I told you so."

When Chuck had mentioned that he had never been to the Great Lakes I said, "It looks like the ocean."

Chuck said, "Really?"

I said, "Really, it does."

Somehow it feels good to say, "I told you so." Must be my humanness coming out.

We checked into our room and went for a walk. We stopped by the YMCA that was close to us and took a tour. It's a "Y" thing. We "Y'rs" tend to tour other "Y's" when we see them. I guess it makes us feel more at home somehow.

I told them that I work for the "Y" in Washington and they said they needed to check to see if it was true. It made me think, "Do a lot of people come to their "Y" and say, "Hey, I work for the Y, let me in."

They checked on me, found out that I was a chaplain at YMCA. They were curious as to how that worked out. They had the typical concerns about inclusiveness and not being pigeonholed. We had a great conversation about not beating people over their heads with a Bible and how chaplaincy is about right relationships and being there for people during times of need. When I shared what chaplaincy is all about, it made them wish they had a faith component too.

The YMCA in Duluth is a great place, doing many great things.

After our tour I could not help but think of my YMCA. I called my home "Y" just to make sure that everything was okay. When I left for the trip we had a elderly woman in ICU. A lifeguard saved her life when she had a stroke in our pool. A family worried about their mother. We also have people with no place to live, people out of work...our "Y" helps lots of people.

Later Chuck and I took a walk on the boardwalk. As we walked along, a woman came up and asked if I had any spare change. I reached into my pocket and gave her some change. A person walking behind us, more Lemming visuals, came up and asked, "Why did you give her money?" I said, "I did for one what I wished I could do for all."

That baffled him.

Sometimes, when Christ nudges me to something, it doesn't make sense to people right away. Maybe this person will get it someday.

Or maybe, he will be like a wolverine, trying to chomp on a leg when it presents itself.

I don't want to be a wolverine.

I know I don't want to be a lemming.

Lemmings and wolverines: two creatures that are wonderful in their own right...but not for me.

Blessings,

Why did you put him in the chipper?

Good morning,
I pray the day is finding you well.

"Why did you put him in the chipper?"

That's right, Chuck and I are in Fargo, North Dakota.

Did I mention that my wife is a travel agent? She has many beautiful and wonderful qualities. I have found on this particular trip that her being a travel agent is just another quality on that list. I simply tell her where I plan to be at the end of the day and she has a hotel room waiting for us. This is much better than getting to a town and hoping for a place to rest my head. This is much better than my spending time searching for hotels during the day as we ride.

It's one thing I do not have to worry about.

We left Helena on Sunday.

We rode out Highway 12, a beautiful Montana road filled with old towns, pickup trucks and cowboy hats.

Did you ever watch the movie "Dumb and Dumber?"

Being an old rider and being used to riding my own bike, I was feeling a bit like the scene in the movie where they are riding a mini-bike two-up. I was in the middle of this self-loathing when I see something I have never seen before. We were just outside of Sulfur Springs, Montana when we passed a minibike with two full-grow men on it. I could not believe my eyes. We stopped in Sulfur Springs for gas and they pulled up shortly thereafter. Two young guys from Fremantle Australia were going around the country. They had been hitch-hiking when someone gave them a minibike, which they are now they riding.

I did not feel so bad about being a passenger on an Ultra Classic anymore.

We rolled into Miles City, Montana, that evening. Miles City is a pleasant town out on the Montana prairie. We pulled in to the hotel that Laurie had reserved for us and settled in. Just outside the hotel was a pasture, complete with cattle.

Chuck grew up in San Diego, California, a city boy.

I had grown up in St. Francis, Kansas, a country kid.

We walked outside and the cattle intrigued Chuck.

I said, "Just go up to the fence and call them."

Chuck looked at me and says, "really?"

I said, "Really, all you have to do is go; Moo Cow, Moo Cow, Here Cow, Moo Cow, and they will come running."

I couldn't hold it together. I broke a smile.

Chuck says, "You're making this up."

In the words of Tom Swayer, I thought, "Huck knew I was joshing him."

I said, "Yes."

I did preface it with you never know it might work.

Chuck, never one to miss an opportunity said, "I'll give it a try."

There is nothing funnier to a country kid than watching a city boy stand at a fence calling, "Moo Cow, Moo Cow, Here Cow, Moo Cow."

The cattle never came. One old cow did lift her head and give Chuck a look before going back to her meal of grass.

The next morning we loaded our gear and headed to Fargo.

There is a lot to learn about being the passenger on a motorcycle.

Just getting on in the back seat took me a while to master. Other things I learned the first time. One thing is to make sure that you are out of the way when the driver forgets you are there and clears a sinus.

I learned that one on the first try.

Kind of like when I was a kid and my dad got me to pee on an electric fence. He got me to do that over forty years ago and to this day I stay clear of electric fences.

North Dakota has a lot of interesting country to it and a lot of interesting people.

As I sit there riding along looking at the country rolling under us, I do a lot of thinking.

I think about all the blessings that God has given me.

I think about the work that He has called me to do.

Yes, life can and does throw curve balls at me.

I am reminded of the parable:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)

I think to myself, "Lord, today is a good day. I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but today is a good day."

As I go through life I know that I will have some pretty bad days. I know some days will be horrific, almost unbearable.

I also know that God is with me everyday.

He will never leave me or forsake me.

This is one thing that this country kid will never forget.

Blessings,

I have been to Helena and back

Good morning,
I pray the day is finding you well.

I have been to Helena and back.

After my bike blew up, Chuck and I had some decisions to make. We decided to go two-up on his bike, which meant that we had to scale down and ship all the items that we deemed unnecessary home. Lone Wolf Harley graciously agreed to do this for us. I was very grateful for this, but it still meant that we had decisions to make.

Do we just go home?

Do we continue on?

If we continue on where do we go?

Our trip was up in the air.

We decided to go to Missoula, Montana, stay the night, and decide whether to continue beyond that. In all honesty we were thinking we would ride down through Idaho, a ride that we have down before, hit the southern end of Idaho, and then ride home.

A much shorter ride, but a ride nonetheless.

We took off for Missoula.

When we got to Missoula we went to a hotel to check in, but...they were booked up.

We quickly found out that there were no rooms available anywhere.

In fact, we quickly found out that there were no rooms available anywhere in the area for 100 miles.

There was a marathon going on in Missoula, a big event that filled all the rooms even in the surrounding towns.

There was a "Testicle Festival" going on in Butte, Montana, which filled up every room in Butte and the surrounding towns. I am giving Butte the benefit of the doubt, thinking that it has something to do with cattle and the leavings of the neutering process that turns bulls into steers. I am hoping that is what it is. I do not know for sure. Either way, a Testicle Festival does not intrigue me, and for the life of me I do not know why it would be such a big draw that all Butte's hotel rooms would be filled up because of it. To be honest it sounds a little off-putting.

We finally found a hotel room in Helena, Montana. We booked the room and headed for Helena.
It was 6:40 pm when we left Missoula. I was still grieving the loss of my bike, I was emotionally drained. Chuck was tired. It had been a full day already.

On the ride to Helena, a pickup truck went passed us and kicked up a rock, which broke out the headlight on Chuck's bike. This was the cherry on the cake of our day.

Needless to say Chuck was not happy.

There we were on the side of the highway. I was looking at the broken headlight and Chuck was doing an indian dance and chanting.

I am not sure what he was chanting, I do not speak indian. Chuck is not Native American, but I am assuming it was an indian headlight dance he was doing. His face was really red at the time.

We rolled into Helena around 8:30 pm.

We were tired, frustrated, and pretty rung out.

I checked in.

This is when I find out that there was a State championship softball tournament going on, a rodeo, and an antique auto show going on.

When I called the hotel from Missoula, I got the second-to-the-last room available in the whole town.

Was our luck changing?

We put our stuff in our room and went to dinner at the hotel's restaurant.

We sat down and looked over the menu.

Everything was fine at this point.

We both ordered the chicken fried steak meal with baked potato. The meal comes with a choice of salad or soup. Our waitress suggested their taco soup saying, "It is really good." We followed her advice.

Then Chuck asked an innocent question, "How about an appetizer?"

It had been a day and evidently we were stress eating. I said, "Sure."

Chuck order the Jalapeño poppers and I ordered the chicken wings.

This was our mistake.
The meal went like this:

First came a bread plate, with hot bread and a huge bowl of celery and carrots.

We ate the bread and veggies.

Then came the poppers.

We ate the poppers.

Then came the wings.

We ate wings.

Then came the taco soup (complete with Frito chips in the soup).

We ate the soup.

Then came the platter-size plate of Chicken Fried steak, baked potato, and corn.

Not to be deterred, we dug into our platters.

I got halfway through my plate when I hit the wall. My stomach looked like I was hiding a basketball. My temperature started to rise. I began to feel bad.

I was in Helena.

The cook came out to see us. He had never had anyone order that much food from him before and he was concerned, and a little amused.

I went back to the room and laid down. Needless to say, I did not sleep well that night.

The next morning I felt much better and was in a much better place.

Chuck looked at me and said, "We are halfway through Montana, why not go to Duluth?"

I said, "Why not?"

We are on our way to see Lake Superior, two up on a bike. Seeing country we have not seen, meeting people we never would have met. I get to see more of God's creation and spend more time listening to Him.

We never would have made this decision if we would have found a room in Missoula.

We never would have made this decision if there had not been a marathon, rodeo...and Testicle Festival...going on. These things forced us to go farther than we had planned just to put a roof over our heads for a night.

I am starting to decompress.

I am starting to relax.

I am starting to fill up again.

As I go through the road trip of life, I cannot see God's plan as I look through the windshield of life. It is only when I glance in the rearview mirror that I get to see a glimpse of what He is doing. I cannot spend a lot of time looking in the mirror without risking running into a tree, so I am forced to look forward and live in the mystery of what He is up to.

I am glad I have a rearview mirror. It gives me moments of perspective.

I am in Him and He is in me.

It is a good place to be.

Blessings,

My Zipper Broke

Good morning,
I pray the day is finding you well.

My zipper broke.

Every year my friend Chuck and I take a motorcycle trip. We block out two weeks every summer to ride our bikes...going to new places and going to places we have been before. We tend to have our phones off and go places that do not have reception. We do all this to force ourselves to detach, giving us the opportunity to decompress. We load our bikes up with everything that we will need to be out on the road for the duration: tents, sleeping bags, clothing...needless to say we take a lot of stuff.

The course of the year takes a toll on us. Chuck has a high pressure job and my work takes a toll on me in terms of emotional availability. We look forward to this time away as it affords us time to heal, contemplate life at a deeper level, and return to our work presenting our best selves. For me, this time allows me to spend copious amounts of time with God. I spend much more time listening to Him than talking to Him. I always come back rested, at peace, and with a renewed sense of calling.

It is amazing what God shows me during my trips.

My zipper broke.

My zipper broke on my saddle bag that holds many things that I thought I would need for this ride. It broke as I was making my last pre-departure check right before I left the house. It forced me to rearrange a few things. I came up with a temporary solution and was ready to go.

Chuck and his wife Dianne spent the night before the ride at our house and the last thing we did was come together and pray over our ride. I kissed Laurie goodbye, told her how much I loved her and we were off.

It was at our first stop that I realized that I had forgotten a couple of things. With the zipper breaking I had broken my pre-ride routine and left some things at the house. Oh well...that is life.

Chuck and I were just pulling into the gas station in Sprague Washington when our ride took a turn that neither of us saw coming. There is an old saying: "Life is what happens while you are busy planning for life." I did remember to bring my pocket Bible It was in its usual place in my back pocket.

My engine made a very bad sound, a very bad sound.

I called for a tow to the nearest Harley shop, which was in Spokane Washington.

The driver showed up about an hour later. He was not in a good mood, and did not look very happy. We got the bike loaded up on to the truck and I rode with him. Chuck followed us.

The driver's name was Brian. He noticed my Bible and said, "At least you have the Good Book with you."

I was not in a good place mentally, I just looked at him and smiled.

He started asking about Christ and God.

He talked about how he wants to believe, but TV evangelists do not seem authentic to him and while the words they say sound good they seem like salesmen.

He said that he tried to read the Bible a few times but never got through Genesis.

We talked during the entire ride.

I told him that I too have a problem with TV evangelists.

I suggested that he find a Bible that he can read, explaining that there are many translations...and I am sure that there will be one he can understand. I suggested that he start by reading James, then go to John, then Galatians, then Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

He asked about Heaven. It seems that everybody ends up asking about Heaven.

I responded that actually all I know is that Heaven will be bigger and better than we can possibly imagine and I am excited to find out.

He said, "I'm a good person, but I do not go to church. Will I get to Heaven?"

I said, "You don't get to Heaven by the number of times you go to church, and you do not get into Heaven just by being a good person. In the Christian faith, we believe that you must accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior."

He did.

When we got to the Harley shop Brian walked past Chuck and said, smiling, "This is all part of God's plan."

Chuck walked over to me smiling. he said, "What did you do?"

I said, "Brian and I had a nice conversation and he is a new man."

The mechanics took one look at my bike and said, "You have a blown engine."
I said, "Can it be fixed?"

They said, "Yes, it will take two weeks and $5,000."

This was a shock, not something that I expected.

Plans changed.

I was introduced to many new people.

I met Paul, Sasha, Sandy, and eventually I met Beth.

Paul and Sasha were trying to get me to buy a new bike.

Sandy wanted to see my credit.

I spent a couple of hours with Paul, Sasha, and Sandy.

My bike was done, there was no fixing it.

I called Laurie and told her the news. She cried.

As I said earlier, I eventually met Beth. Beth is the owner of the Lone Wolf Harley Davidson dealership.

It turns out that Beth is a good Christian lady. We had a great conversation and she invited us to eat dinner at the Harley shop, they were having a closed party but invited Chuck and me to join them.

After dinner Sandy gave me a ride, with all my stuff to a KOA camp so I could sleep for the night.

The next morning, Chuck and I returned to the dealership. I was met with hugs and my new friends telling me how sorry they were for my loss. Paul said, "Roger this really sucks." I said, "Paul, while this is unfortunate, nobody got hurt; there are many worse things that are happening to people. I know, I work with them daily.' He said, "I know you do and now I know how important this ride is to you and I feel terrible.'

I replied, "Paul, it is not the challenge that defines you. It is your response to the challenge that defines you."

Paul looked at me and said, "I am going to remember that."

Beth came up and asked, "What are you going to do?"

I said, "I am turning the bike over to you."

She replied, "Do you really want to do that?"

I said, "Beth, maybe you can get some money for it and if it is in your heart, maybe you could donate the money to someone in need."

Beth just looked at me for a moment and then said, "Roger, I will do that, we will be in touch."

Sandy said, "We will Ship your stuff home for you."

Sasha was glad that I was going to wait and get a bike that I really wanted and not make an emotional buy.

I felt they truly cared about us and did not see us as a possible sale.

Chuck and I are two up on his bike now.

God taught me many things this day.

I learned that if you have your eyes open you can see His miracles even in the midst of your loss. Make no mistake, I am grieving the loss of something that I loved. But even in the demise of my bike I know that someone will be helped by it.

Who knows, maybe I would have gotten in a bad accident if this would not have happened. Maybe not. I am not in charge of God's plans for me.

Through this I was able to be a witness for Christ to a number of people. I also say His compassion and care for me as I went through this.

My zipper broke

My bike died.

Brian has new life.

Beth called us disciples.

Paul, Sasha and Sandy all gave us blessings as we left.

If I cannot see God in this, I would never be able to see God at all.

Blessings,

Roger

A life lived well

Good morning,
I pray the day is finding you well.

I was at a breakfast meeting the other day, wondering to myself, “Is this really something I should be at or will I be wasting valuable time that I could be using to help one of the many people that come to me for help? I was up in the air with the whole thing. I was sitting there watching people network; watching people make plans.

Then the speaker got up and said the following quote.

“I see clearly that I achieved practically nothing. The world today and the history of the human anthill during the last 57 years would be exactly the same as it is if I’d played ping pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books and memorandums. I have therefore to make the rather useless confession to myself and anyone who reads this book that I must in my long life ground through between 150,000 – 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.”
-Sir Leonard Wolfe

He went on to explain the during his lifetime, Sir Leonard Wolfe had been in Parliament, a friend to kings and queens, A prolific writer, made lots of money; by all accounts he was a success . Yet at the end of his life, as he looked back, he could not shake the feeling that instead of doing the things that he had done, his life would have been more impactful if he had done something else.

The speaker then asked the question,”What makes work matter?”

The speaker did not stop there, he went on to say that many people throughout the years had criticized him, pointing out things he could have done differently or better; in essence playing “Monday morning quarterback.” He talked about how sometimes he felt that it would be better to do nothing at all then to try, sometimes fail, and then listen to the critics.

He then shared the following,

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

“Citizenship in a Republic”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris – April 23, 1910
Theodore Roosevelt

He then asked this question, “What is the story I am writing with my life? And is it a good one?”

The two questions,

”What makes work matter?”

“What is the story I am writing with my life? And is it a good one?”

Causes one to pause and wonder" "Am I living a life lived well?

Blessings,