Slow down you move too fast

Good Morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

I am a morning person.

I was up and this song came into my head. Simon and Garfunkel wrote it years ago and yet it just popped into my head.

Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy
Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy
Hello lamppost, what'cha knowing
I've come to watch your flowers growin'
Ain't you got no rhymes for me?
Doo-ait-n-doo-doo, feeling groovy
Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy
I got no deeds to do, no promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me
Life, I love you, all is groovy

At first I was happy and singing then;
As I ruminated on the words to the song I began to think, "All is not groovy"

Then I saw my neighbor's lambpost and I thought, "Hello lamppost what'cha knowing? I've come to watch your flowers growin."

I was grappling with the song and the times we live in when that still small voice whispered, "Don't you remember, I said the same thing many years ago to a group of people."

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

I didn't say wait for the world to change to get happy.

Don't wait for your circumstances to change to get happy.

You are blessed right now,right where you are at.

Look at the end of the song again.

Let the morning time drop all its petals on me
Life, I love you, all is groovy

If you need prayer, please ask.
If you have time to pray, pray.
If you can help someone out, help them out.
If you need help, ask.
In all we do, love God. He loves you.

Blessings,
Roger

To worship God means to serve Him

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

I read the following during my quite time:

To worship God means to serve Him. There are two ways to do it. One way is to do things for Him the He needs to have done—run errands for Him, carry messages for Him, fight on His side, feed His lambs, and so on. The other thing to do things for Him that you need to do—sing songs for Him, create beautiful things for Him, give things up for Him, tell Him what is on your mind and in your heart, in general rejoice in Him and make a fool of yourself for Him the way lovers have always made fools of themselves for the one they love…Unless there is an element of joy and foolishness in the proceedings, the time would be better spent doing something useful.Northumbria Community, Celtic Daily Prayer, (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishing Company, 2002), 630.

After I read this I went, "Wow, I am ordered to shelter-in-place, what should I do?"

So I started singing. It wasn't long before my wife said, "Please find some other way to serve Him."

It isn't hard for me to be a fool for Christ. Those that know me, know that I play the part of the fool really well.

Some you know I have a medical condition, others may not. This condition causes me to have a lowered immune system. In other words I cannot leave the house during this time. So how do I serve Him? I thought about this a lot actually over the past little while.

I wrote my doctors, nurses and staff a thank you letter telling them that I appreciate them very much and to know that someone is out there praying for them.

I call staff, volunteers and members of the YMCA and check in with them, pray with them when asked to do so, and let them know someone cares.

If I cannot physically be there I can at least share Christ's love with them via the phone.

To be honest it would be easy for me to dwell on the negative. It takes intentionality to be positive and be there as a listening ear for others.

Let's read this again:
To worship God means to serve Him. There are two ways to do it. One way is to do things for Him the He needs to have done—run errands for Him, carry messages for Him, fight on His side, feed His lambs, and so on. The other thing to do things for Him that you need to do—sing songs for Him, create beautiful things for Him, give things up for Him, tell Him what is on your mind and in your heart, in general rejoice in Him and make a fool of yourself for Him the way lovers have always made fools of themselves for the one they love…Unless there is an element of joy and foolishness in the proceedings, the time would be better spent doing something useful.Northumbria Community, Celtic Daily Prayer, (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishing Company, 2002), 630.

Is there anything you can do to Serve Him?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,
Roger

It's not the challenge that defines you

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

Holy Moly, what the heck, did not see that one coming, all the things we say when something comes at us out of nowhere.

This virus (Covid-19), definitely fits into the Holy Moly, what the heck, did not see that one coming category.

As I talk with people I find that they are really trying to keep their chins up and putting on a strong face; at the same time they are anxious, worried and a bit scared.

Truth be told they are not alone, and alone makes the anxiety even worse.

As more and more of us begin to shelter in place and practice social distancing the loneliness aspect can mount.

I am reminded of something a really smart guy once said, "3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."(Col 3:1-2)

So often if we are being honest with ourselves. Something comes at us that is a challenge and we tend to let our thoughts go down and not up. We think of the negative not the positive. Let us set our gaze on Christ during the midst of these troubling tough times.

I do not know about you, but for me it is the only way I get through times like this. I ask the simple question of, "What would you have me do Lord?" and then wait for His quite response.

You see, it is not the challenge that defines us, it is our response.

My YMCA is asking that same question, and waiting for His response.

I won't blather on about looking for the good during troubling times, just do your best and know that there are people that care, like the YMCA.

Blessings,
Roger

The River and the YMCA

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

It has been hot, really hot.

I came home from the YMCA and the river was calling my name. I am blessed to live by a river. In the mornings I sit out by it and drink my coffee. This is the time that God and I have our best conversations.

As I looked at the river I had a hard time seeing anything in it. The water is crystal clear and the bottom is rocky, a typical mountain river. I can see the bottom clearly, but unless the salmon are running I don't see any fish. I always knew they were there, but just couldn't see them.

My kids, and grandkids were at the house they other day and my oldest son Brandon bought a snorkel mask. We had a great time in the river that day.

I came home from the YMCA the other day and the temperature was 109. I got into my swim suit, grabbed the facemask and headed for the river.

I got in, put the facemask on and went for a swim. When I looked under the water with the facemask I was immediately struck by the amount of life in the river. Fish were all around me, crayfish wandering on the bottom.

The river was full of life.

I was struck by the fact of when I would sit on the bank of the river I couldn't see much. But, once I dove in, looked beneath surface, I was surrounded by life.

Then God said, "That is the way life is. So often people sit on the bank of life and complain that I am not doing anything, or worse, I don't exist. All they have to do is get in the river of life, take a look around and see everything that is going on."

A couple of thousand years ago, when talking of the things of God, a guy named Paul said, "We see through a glass darkly."

Much in the same way we cannot see beneath the surface of a river. The fact that we cannot see all the life in a river while we sit on the bank does not mean it isn't there.

My thoughts turned toward the YMCA.

Now I am not going to say that all "Y's" are this way, I can only speak to the "Y" were I live.

When people come in, or drive by, They can see we have a gym; it is a place were they could workout, they could even go swimming. What they cannot see is all the other things that are going on. In a way they look at our "Y" much the same as I had been looking at the river by my house.

It is only when a person takes the time to look under the surface of our "Y" do they get a chance to see the "life" going on in our YMCA.

People being healed from depression and anxiety.
Kids at risk for hunger being fed, everyday.
Kids healing from abuse through swim lessons.
Homeless people getting help.

People getting a glimpse of God in a place that they would not expect to find it.

I love our YMCA, it is a good place.

A place where the hurt find healing and the hopeless find hope.

Blessings,

Roger

My tent never looked better

My tent never looked better, is still in it's bag.

Chuck and I are sitting in an airstream RV with a front porch, awning, and little airstream-trout lights strung across the front. There is a mountain thunderstorm going on, lightning is flashing across the sky. Yet, we are safe and sound sitting on our front porch watching the action.

We left Grand Junction yesterday, stayed the night in Cotopaxi, Colorado, then headed to Crystal River, Colorado. Tonight, we are relaxing in style. When we called and there were no tent sites available we almost did not come this direction, but then they said we have this old RV you can use. It didn't sound too appealing but we thought we would give it a try. We are so glad we did.

We rode through some of the most beautiful country that we had ever been in. We crossed mountain ranges and summits. We rode into Aspen and saw the huge homes, the airport stacked with private jets. Of course this got me to thinking.

We don't have any members at our YMCA that have a private jet, I doubt if we have any that have a home like the ones I saw in Aspen. I thought about the staff that has forgone this kind of life for one that give back to those that have virtually nothing.

I started thinking about our Youth Development team.

They do things like, After school enrichment or ASE. ASE is a program that works with kids after school in the schools. They do things like Lego Engineering, cooking, and other life skill training. They work with the kids that others don't have time for. They provide programming that schools have dropped due to budget cuts.

These people could do just anything, they have degrees they are people of capacity, yet they spend their days working with underprivileged kids.

I began to think about how at first I wasn't too thrilled about sleeping in an old RV. But, when Chuck and I arrived we saw that the KOA had worked with it and turned it into a great place. They had taken something somebody else did not want and made it beautiful. Our Youth Development Department does the same thing everyday. They take a kid that somebody else does have time for and works with them. They make beautiful people.

I'd rather spend my life with them then ten minutes with somebody who would rather spend money on themselves. Aspen is a beautiful place.

The Clark County Family YMCA is a beautiful place filled with beautiful people.

I just thought you should know.

Blessings,

Roger

We stopped at the junction and it as Grand

Good Morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

Yes, we made it to Grand Junction Colorado.

We left Twin Falls Idaho Yesterday and rode into Grand Junction Colorado last night.

We rode through Salt Lake City and hung a left at Spanish Fork Utah. Once again I was left wondering, what is a Spanish fork? I guess I will have to wait for Demi, my admin assistant to tell me. After all she told me what Biggs Junction was. I sat there on my bike wondering, "What is a Spanish fork and how is that different from a German fork, or an Irish fork, or even a dutch oven? Hmmmm, things to ponder.

We saw many beautiful things in God's creation along the way. By the time we arrived at Grand Junction we were rode worn and very tired. It struck me how many people come into our YMCA feeling the same way. Life has a way of wearing you out at times.

People come into our "Y" and want to join. They say the want to get into better shape or lose a few pounds. The membership desk will ask them some open ended questions and many times these same people end up in my office. You see, there is a reason they ended up in their current in the first place.

Life has a way of wearing you out.

A homeless couple came in a while back. Life had been very hard on them. All they wanted was a shower. I came into relationship with them and before long I had offered them a 3-month membership, chaplaincy footing the bill. I introduced them to one of our healthy living people, her name is Mattie.

Mattie runs a program called "adaptive fitness." This is a program that was the brainchild of my friend Randy Scheel. He was a board member and owned a rehabilitation center for those that needed physical rehabilitation. We dreamed of the YMCA being the third space for people that needed extra help. Life is hard, people get hurt. People go to hospitals and hospitals do a good job of patching them up. Then, they send them to a rehab center. The rehab center works with them until the insurance runs out and then gives these people some exercises to do at home. Many times this is not enough. Randy and I dreamed of sending these people to the "Y" so they could completely heal, Mind, Spirit, Body.

Randy passed away last year. He never saw this come to fruition.

After Randy passed a young lady by the name of Mattie showed up. She had a special gift for people that needed adaptations to their fitness goals. Needless to say, Adaptive Fitness was born.

So I buy this homeless couple, their names are Loyd and Falon, a membership. I introduce them to Mattie. Mattie starts working with them.

Falon left my this note a few days ago, "Chaplain Roger, thank you so much for your help.I feel so blessed. For the first time I feel like a beautiful wife for my husband.. God Bless you and the YMCA."

I contemplated this note as we rode through Utah. I looked around and saw landscape that at first looked barren and hard. As I continued to look I saw how God was molding and shaping His creation. I thought about all the people that come to the "Y". I thought about how Mattie works with these people and helps God mold them. Seeing a girl come into the "Y" in a wheelchair and walking out all of her own accord a short time later is an amazing thing to see.

God is doing great things, all we have to do is have our eyes open to Him to see them.

Blessings,

We both fell at the same time

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

That's right Chuck and I made it to Twin Falls Idaho!

It was a short jaunt, a quick 500 miles.

I started the day saying goodbye to the river by my house. I gave Abe a pet, then gave Laurie a hug and a kiss. I told her I loved her and missed her already, then rode away.

We traveled highway 14 down the Gorge, or is it up? I'm never quite sure. Had breakfast in Bingen, went over the Biggs junction Bridge, I always wonder why places get their names, I will have to look that up one of these days. Then rode I-84 all the way to Twin Falls.

I spent the day contemplating the Ignatius prayer of examen. The prayer goes something like this, "Lord show me where I have loved today, show me where I failed to love."

The best thing about the ride is I spend my days alone with God and every evening Chuck and I share what He showed us that day.

As I listened to my Father gently show me ways I could do a better job loving, while at the same time giving me praise for the love I did well. I started to think about our Child Watch department and how they spend their days loving kids. Just like the rest of us they have their personal problems, some more than others. Many have the problem of trying to live on minimum wage. None of this matters when they are with the kids, their focus is on loving them. They know that the time the kids spend with them may be the only time they are shown unconditional love. They do a great job. A person could learn a lot about loving just by being with them in Child Watch.

The person in charge of them is Allyce. It is her leadership and teachings that make them who they are. Allyce could be anywhere but she is at the YMCA. It is her passion, her mission.

Her whole team is on the "transformation Team," I will talk more about that later, but it is pretty cool.

As I wander down the rode of life I am glad that I know a person like Allyce. She makes us all try a bit harder.

Thank you Allyce for all you do.

Blessings,