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Tuesday, April 14, 2020

I was in a virtual meeting with my colleagues

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

Yesterday I was in a virtual meeting with my colleagues.

Virtual meeting you say, what is that?

Well, according to the definition I found on the computer it is:

virtual
[ˈvərCH(o͞o)əl]

ADJECTIVE
almost or nearly as described, but not completely or according to strict definition.

So according to my computer, which by the way I don't truly understand, I mean I get that it is made up of a bunch of little tiny parts, and uses little tiny electric thingy's and there is this cloud that I can't see; at least when I ask my computer programming kids if that is "the cloud" when I look in the sky they say, "Really dad, your not funny." And I am thinking, "I wasn't being funny, I was truly asking.", but I don't want to appear dumb so I say, "I thought it was funny." all the while wondering where this cloud is.

Anyway, I was in this virtual meeting which I guess was:
-nearly a meeting
-almost a meeting
-not completely a meeting

At least not according to strict definition.

About how we continue to love on people during this time of social distancing. One of the things we came up with was doing virtual classrooms, virtual camps, virtual workouts...

So these would be:
-nearly a classroom
-almost a camp
-not completely a workout

We actually talked about this in our "almost a meeting".

How do we truly connect with one another in this platform that can feel like, "Well, that was almost good or almost the real thing."

I was contemplating this during my quite time this morning when a still soft voice said, "Welcome to the club son." I realized that often times we treat God as if He was a virtual god and not the relational Father that He really is.

We treat Him like:
-nearly real
-Almost there
-Not completely God

Yet, we know:
-He is there
-He is real
-He is completely God

This is what I know of my colleagues:

We will create camps that are relational.
We will create classrooms that are interactive.
We will create workouts that make you sweat and cry (at least they make me cry, I guess I'm a woos).

We will do this , not simply to do this, but so you can have a real, a complete, a life that is really there.

This is why I work with the "Y".

Last thought.

As we go through our day. let us not have a virtual life, a life that is:
-nearly real
-Almost there
-Not completely complete

Let us love God, love man, serve both!

Blessings,
Roger

Monday, April 13, 2020

The Never Ending Easter Egg Hunt

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

Another day of social distancing.

We held our first and hopefully only Covid-19 Never Ending Easter Egg Hunt yesterday.

One might ask their selves', "What is a Covid-19 Never Ending Easter Egg Hunt?

Good question; a Covid-19 Easter Egg Hunt is a social distancing experiment.

My neighbor has 3-acres. Laurie (my wife) and I took survey flags (the little sticks with orange material that flaps in the wind) and put them in the ground. We didn't put them just anywhere, no we were more intentional than that. We marked out specific plots of land (Much in the same way as the Sooners did it in Oklahoma back in the late 1800's when they raced across the Kansas border and said, "I take this land that nobody was on." Even though Native Americans had lived there for years, but that is another story.)

Our plots were good sized between 1/4 and 1/2 an acre each. The plots were spaced at least 20 yards apart and there were 3-plots.

One might ask, "Why 3-plots?"

Another great question; We made 3-plots because there was going to be 3-families that were partaking in the festivities.

We separated the plots so that families could social distance.

One might say, "that is all well and good, but what about cross contamination of the eggs and candy?"

Another great thought.

We had the families be responsible for bringing their own plastic eggs and candy so there would be no cross contamination.

One might say, "What? Plastic eggs, why not real ones?"

Once again, another fabulous question.

Plastic eggs are the key ingredient to a Never Ending Easter Egg Hunt.

Many years ago in a state just across the river in a town around 40-miles away from here there was a shy little girl. This little girl went to an Easter Egg Hunt at a YMCA. After the hunt the little girl's mother told me that her daughter did not get one egg. When she would go for an egg another kid would always get there first and take it. I told the mother that would never happen again and the Never Ending Easter Egg Hunt was born.

I bought 2,500 plastic eggs. and buckets full of candy. I did not put the candy n the eggs. I had a redemption center. This is how it worked:
1. Take a section of ground and mark it out
2. Place a bunch of eggs in the section.
3. Have a redemption Center.
a. Redemption center has candy and a bucket
4. Kids pick up the eggs, take them to the redemption center and trade their egg for a piece of candy.
5. Throw the eggs back into the plotted field.
6. Kids pick up the eggs and repeat the whole process until they are tired of hunting eggs.

The Never Ending Easter Egg Hunt was born! The hunt where every kid gets as many Easter Eggs as they want.

For the Covid-19 Never Ending Easter Egg Hunt families remained socially distant but they could all see one another and be together.

A few days ago I wrote about different ways to communicate during this time. Well, this was the standing far apart and yelling option.

Our new CEO Trevor (Not his real name, but like I am fond of saying, "A story is always much better with a name attached.) Really likes this option.

By the end of the afternoon the people were thanking me for putting this together. The ability to have fun together while still social distancing was important for them. I got to watch my grandkids have a great time with their parents, thus I got to have a great time with my kids. We used our cell phone like walkie-talkie's.

We had fun.

I know that once we get through this time. Things may (Oh let's face it), things will be different. Things will present challenges.

But as that famous philosopher once said, "It is not the challenge that defines you, it is your response." Regor Nottub

Let us respond well; with love, respect, honesty responsibility and service.

Maybe, just maybe we can teach an entire community what it is to truly love their neighbor.

Blessings,
Roger

Friday, April 10, 2020

Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

Bonnie, (you know, the one that uses an English accent to say Roger) sent this to me yesterday. It is so good that I thought I would share it and leave it at that. I do not know the original author, if I did I would give the person the credit they so richly deserve.

Here you go, and thank you Bonnie.

You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you, or shakes your arm, making you spill coffee everywhere.

Why did you spill the coffee?

"because someone bumped into me!"

Wrong answer.

You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup. Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.

"Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out."

Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you is what will come out. It's easy to fake it, until you get rattled.

So we have to ask ourselves, "what's in my cup?"

When life gets tough, what spills over?

Joy, gratefulness, peace, and humility?

Anger, bitterness, harsh words, and reactions?

Life provides the cup. You choose how to fill it.

Today, let's work towards filling our cup with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmations, and kindness, gentleness, and love towards others.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Is day old bread still good, or is it moldy?

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

With all this social distancing going on we are continually finding new ways connect.

Virtual meetings, FaceTime, standing far apart and yelling...

I was in one of our new ways of connecting yesterday; I was in a virtual meeting. We were discussing things of the YMCA, the "Y".

Things like:
-How do we continue to serve our community during these troubling times.
-Things are different, how do we adapt.
-What does coming out the other side of this look like.

These are all great questions. Then our Healthy Living Director (I will call her Bonnie, it might not be her real name, but a story always goes much better with a name attached) said, "Roger (please use an English accent when saying "Roger", she does) I didn't see a Daily Bread for today."

I replied, "Yes, I didn't write one for today."

Then Bonnie said, (and you can quit using the English accent she only does when she says "Roger") "Well I wonder."

I asked, "You wonder what?"

Bonnie quipped, "I wonder if day old bread is still good, or is it moldy?"

I thought, "Wow, now that is the question of the day."

Is day old bread not good, hmmm?

Well I suppose it could still be good if the ingredients were good.

I remember somebody telling a story about yeast and bread once. He said, "A little yeast leavens the whole bread."

This made me wonder.

If the yeast is bad, then it only takes a little yeast to ruin the whole bread (you know the one bad apple ruins the whole bunch thing).

But, if the yeast is good the whole bread is good and will last for days!

I have a friend who is an amazing baker (I will call him Matt). He makes amazing breads and they are really good even the next day, which if you are good at math makes them a day old.

As you can see I have been pondering Bonnie's question.

This is what I came up with:

It depends on what I put into my heart.

When I put God's word into my heart, it is the yeast that leavens my thoughts, my bread and makes it good.

Thank you Bonnie for causing me to ponder.

By the way, our "Y" is coming up with new and exciting ways to serve our community. I know that the program directors will be sprinkling the yeast of love, respect, honesty, responsibility and service throughout our programs so our community will not become moldy bread.

My prayer is that this old bread caused you to ponder too.

Blessings,

Monday, April 6, 2020

God in the Mudpuddles

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

Well there is no getting around it, we are in dark times.

We are in the middle of a global pandemic. As I look at the screen I see we have more than 1.3 million cases worldwide with 71,000 confirmed deaths. As bad as this sounds the death rate will go up as the rate is underreported so far. The United States alone has just gone over 10,000 confirmed deaths.

As I said earlier, there is no getting around it, we are in dark times.

It would be easy to go down a dark path.

It would be easy to be all gloom and doom.

For those of you that have lost a loved one to this terrible disease, I grieve with you. Never hear that I am discounting your loss. It is in these times where it will be hard, very hard, nay I say, near impossible to see and hear God.

Even though you/we may not be able to hear or see God in this moment, please know that He hears and sees us.

Even though we may refuse to be comforted, He is here to comfort us. God is working in the darkness.

Even though the noise of our grief deafens us, He is here to talk with us; more importantly listen to us. God is a miracle worker.

Even though our pain blinds us to seeing Him, He sees us and sits with us. God is light in the darkness.

These are dark times.

I often wonder how much darker these times would be if God wasn't here to help me through it.

I have often said, "If God is in the puffy clouds and blue sky of a sunny day, then He is also in the mudpuddles of a rainy one."

For me it is easy to see God in the puffy clouds and blue sky of a sunny day. What I must continually do is look for Him in the mudpuddles too.

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Thursday, April 2, 2020

The question is not what you look at, but what you see

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

My world has shrunk lately. I do not get out as much as I used to. As I have talked about, I walk around the property that surrounds my house. It would be easy to become accustomed to seeing the same thing over and over again.

The same mudpuddle.

The same blades of grass.

Trees, shrubs, birds, bugs, neighbors (at a distance of course)…

As I walked around the property, sometimes with my canoe for a hat. I would look around.

Another Henry David Thoreau quote came to mind; it seems as if I perseverate (A friend taught me that word) on Thoreau lately.

"The question is not what you look at but what you see."

What is it that you see?

Sometimes, I wonder what I am not seeing that God would like me to see.

I do love Dr. Seuss!

"Even though you can't see or hear them all, a person's a person no matter how small."

When I put Thoreau and Seuss together I get, “If at first you don’t see anything, keep looking. God may show you something big, no matter how small it is.”

I will continue to walk around the property, sometimes wearing my canoe for a hat, keeping my eyes open to see things that God wants to show me.

What has God been showing you?

Something to think about.

Blessings,
Roger

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Taking my canoe for a walk

Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.

People have been asking me, "Other than going to the Dairy Farm what have you been doing during this Covid-19 Pandemic? Other than working from home I have been taking my canoe for a walk.

Normally, or should I say before the Covid-19 Pandemic I would take my wife and my dog and canoe on one of the lakes we have. But with the new normal of not leaving your house, or in our case property, I have been taking my canoe for a walk.

Taking a canoe for a walk is an old tradition, it arose from the Native Americans and then first explorers to this New World. In Canada it is called Portaging. In America it is called Portaging. I can see there needs to be a bit of explanation. In Canada it is called Poortajing in Webster's it is pronounced pȯr-ˈtäzh. In America it is called Portadging in Webster's it is pronounced pȯr-tij . You could ask, "Why the difference?" but it would be much the same as why a person from Kansas, (remember I am from Kansas) asking a person in California the directions to La Jolla, and the Californian would respond with disgust, "You mean La Hoya, California? the "J" is silent and the two "LL's" are sounded as a "Y". when I asked they said, "I don't know, it is a Spanish thing." So my answer to the portaging question is, "I don't know, it is a Canadian/French thing.

I looked up the word "Portage" and it literally means, "Man/person who walks with a canoe on their head." Or in other words, "Man/person who wears a canoe for a hat."

In all actuality, I am walking around my property with my canoe as a hat for two reasons:
1. I am doing this to stay in shape. It, as my wife would say, "Is a practical way to work out."
2. It keeps the rain off my head.

Henry David Thoreau once said, "If you are lucky enough to paddle, you are lucky enough."
Regor Nottub once said, "If you are lucky enough to Portage, you ran out of water and must find more."

Portaging is part of canoeing, so being in shape to portage just makes sense, my wife's wisdom is sound.

As I walk around my property wearing my canoe as a hat I have plenty of time to think. Things I tend to think about:
1. This sucks.
2. I wonder how God is using this experience to mold me? I actually think about that a lot.

The Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 will change us. The real question is how will it change us?

My hope, and I know it is possible, "Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) that we can come out of this being better, a better version of ourselves.

I am not exactly sure what that will look like. Hopefully, we will do less finger pointing, less blaming, less victimizing. Hopefully we will show much more love, respect, honesty, responsibility and service toward each other.

As I said before, "As I go through this journey, I don't get wrapped around the axle about stuff anymore. The things that I once thought of as important aren't as important to me anymore.

Things I find important:
Showing love to each other.
Being respectful to each other.
Being honest with each other.
Being responsible for our actions, and thoughts.
Providing service to each other.

I think if we concentrate on those things we will be a better version of ourselves.

That I what God is working on with me as I take my canoe for a walk.

Blessings,
Roger