We are counting
Our many blessings today... and
Praising our God
For HE has blessed us
With incalculable riches
In and through the person of Jesus Christ!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes from us to you and yours.

My weekday routine gets me up around 5:30 AM for an early bike ride. A quick glance at the thermometer outside the kitchen window this morning affirmed it was only 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Hmmmm, a bit colder than I expected! (That pic is a bike-ride sunrise I saw earlier this fall. Cool huh.)

I'm generally hesitant to get on the bike below 20 degrees--it's a matter of keeping my fingers warm!! But just yesterday I'd purchased a new pair of winter (actually ski) gloves planning to use them for riding. A ride in this weather would tell the tale. So, in part for the sake of discovery and in part just because "it's what I do," I rode east along Clear Creek into central Arvada (CO, from Golden) to meet a good friend for coffee--a super idea. As it turned out my fingers were pretty cozy inside those glove's Thinsulate(d) finger tubes; not a disappointment.

Coming down a tall hill separating the Clear Creek and Ralston Creek Valleys, I avoid a busy intersection to meander through feeder streets of a large apartment complex. Today they were curiously clogged with tenants' cars set in crazy configurations--many double and triple parked right on the street. "What's this about; were the drivers all drunk last night?"

Woops! There's yellow caution tape stretched across the street! Beyond that point there wasn't a car on in sight--anywhere! I guessed the street had been treated with a new topcoat, now dry, so I stopped, dismounted, and carefully ducked myself and pulled my bike under the tape, remounted, and coasted the final two blocks before ducking, again, and crossing Kipling to Starbucks.

The experience was an interesting reminder. Stopping to duck under the tape was uncomfortably inconvenient--especially given the speed I generate coming down the hill! Yes, I was talking to myself. But life is like that. Interruptions, discomfort, departures from our " plan," curious surprises that make no sense,...all part of a day's mosaic. So today's reminder is probably something I've said to my boys a time or two: "Don't get your underwear in a wad!" God is in charge--whether it's construction tape across the street or precious Princesses (click here) laying in a coma in the hospital. Life has meaning because GOD IS. Because of what He's done historically through Jesus Christ we know he loves us. John 3:16. Trust him; praise him! "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart...(Ps. 19:14)" do exactly that today and every day.

Here's a compelling little love story:

Once upon a time there was this handsome young Prince. His name is Nathan. OK, like I said, he's a young Prince trying to find and make his way in life and (just like the rest of us) figuring much of it out as he goes. Not unlike his brothers, he aspired to leave his own personal signature on both the people and the things he touched inside his family's kingdom--BUT also beyond the boundaries of his parent's influence. He chose to measure himself and to, in-turn, be measured by the every-day challenges that many "commoners" face. So, he modestly albeit understandably discounted the privileges reserved just for "royalty."

Nathan soon took a job. He juggled it with college--for a while--and in the course of his own ongoing self-discovery displayed good people skills, strong management abilities, good self-discipline, and an inquisitive mind with natural business savvy. He was promoted to leadership (management) and soon decided it was an appropriate time to leave the family's castle.

Oh, yes, I said this was a love story....
In the meantime an insightful first cousin introduced him to a "friend"--a young woman named, Laura. Laura is a beautiful young Princess from yet another royal family and a distant land (but not too distant). As his cousin suspected, Nathan was soon and predictably smitten by Laura's graciousness, intrigued with her charm, and captivated by her beauty and brilliance.

So, as this story goes, passing months have warmly embraced them. Their relationship has matured and deepened. "She is radiant sunshine when it's dark," he explains, and those relatives and friends who know her well--but even people who have merely just met her!--are quick to agree.

Despite the predictable surprises that accompany romance's heart-knitting efforts (...and who really knows...maybe it's because of them?!...), these two have become closest friends..."soul mates" they say. To their friends and family members alike I understand they have rehearsed a shared love with a deepening respect for one another. They have voiced the possibility of a united life in a shared and dream-fulfilling future. I, for one, only know that a loving and faithful God is the One who can design and decide where this fun relationship may in fact take these two. Ahaa...we'll wait and see.

Last Friday (November 4th) Nathan and Laura arranged to spend a fun early afternoon together in what turned out to be a warm, sun-kissed downtown Denver. He later described those moments with words like, "Some of the most fun we've ever shared"...or something to that effect. Then, around 3:45 PM they embraced and parted so each could get to different work sites--Laura turned and walked across the downtown after she helped Nathan board a bus for his ride back to Arvada.

Nathan got a call while he was at his workplace. Laura had been struck by a Light Rail Train as she crossed the street near Spear Blvd at Stout Avenue in downtown Denver. She was alive(!!) and had been rushed to the hospital in critical but stable condition. The news rocked him to his knees.

Please follow this developing story (click here) ....(then also click here)...then please pray with us for Laura, her family, her friends, and for God's gracious healing hand on Laura...our Princess...and all these lives. "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God...Romans 11: 33-36.

Dick

PS: Yes, Nathan is my (our) youngest son.

Ode to Grapes and a Happy Harvest

When it's time, it's time!

I remember how well that was really true of pregnancy. Our six sons are a dramatic testimonial to the statement's accuracy. As it was--six times--Judi would be in her ninth month, and as the days counted by our schedules were increasingly punctuated by thoughts like, "Is today the day?" There was "that window" in which the blessed event was most likely to happen. Generally each of our sons--with one notable exception--was born in his anxiously anticipated "frame of time."

Having become a dedicated vintner over the past 13 years, I've learned how grapes can similarly introduce some of those anxious moments about, "When it's time, it's time." I've been out there harvesting the grapes from our vines in snowstorms, in bright warm sunshine, when it's raining, and sometimes in the dark! I've been crushing them inside a cold 35-gallon plastic garbage can when the temperature on our back porch was only in the 20's Fahrenheit--it gives the term "dumpster diving" a whole new range of meaning. (No, I have no video's of that event...so far.)

This year the harvest has been comparatively pleasant. The weather has offered me generally warm temperatures and sunny skies. Through September I'd been watching the grapes quite closely both in an effort to monitor their maturing readiness, but also to prevent any of the other grape-loving creatures from becoming too interested in them. (I've lost whole crops of our grapes in years past simply because I wasn't paying close enough attention! A Mule Deer herd, for example, can pick the vines clean overnight, but there's squirrels, birds, skunks, and, and...) The critters know exactly when the grapes are ready to be harvested, and they come calling to sample what's available--unless I intervene.

However, this year's harvest has not come without it's own special challenges. This year the grapes are not ripening in unison or uniformly. Practically, that means some clusters are ripe here and there, but the rest are not ready. Some are even still green! When Judi and I visited Willamette Valley Vineyards in Oregon (in September) they were experiencing the same thing. Apparently it's a national phenom. Interesting.

So, I'm driven by the ripeness of these clusters, and those, and those; the ones that are ripe. I've been forced to pick them staggered by one and two week intervals. Ugh. It means the process of picking, crushing and gathering up the must, and all the other necessary post-picking processes must be done right after each harvest. It's a demanding 12-hour proposition. Then I wait a week or two and do it all again. Ugh, ugh. The promise of the final product--a beautiful, crystal clear white or amber wine--makes it all worth while. But it's the grapes that drive the activities going 0n around them since, "When it's time, it's time."

Another Turtle....on a Post!?

Yesterday I came across another article documenting the apparent gradual demise of marriage. I find this stuff both interesting and ironic. When I read something like this--and please believe me when I say that I don't doubt it's accuracy at all--I am reminded of the "turtle on a post" phenomenon.

Humor me. Just suppose for a minute that you are out in a field some bright and shiny morning having fun. You're getting your morning walk in the open air...just hiking along. Suddenly, you spy this very curious site, and you hardly believe your eyes: Yup, IT'S A TURTLE RIGHT THERE, BIG AS LIFE IN FRONT OF YOU, SITTING ON TOP OF A FENCE POST!

Sure, you're understandably surprised. It's sitting there curiously staring at you and you're returning it's startled gaze right back. You think to yourself, and maybe you even express your thoughts out loud in the turtle's hearing, "Hey little turtle gal, what on earth are you doing setting here on this post? How on earth did you get here?" Of course you don't expect the turtle to answer you back.

But, if she does, and she opens her little mouth to speak...she tells you she's been training for this exercise for many months. She reports how she's been training and practicing by climbing rocks and graduating to progressively higher and more difficult outcroppings to develop her technical climbing skill and confidence toward this, her ultimate challenge. Today, this morning, was THE big event--the opportunity to face and embrace her destiny...climb this post. And as you can obviously see, SHE WAS SUCCESSFUL!!!

So, if she does open her little turtle mouth to speak...DON'T BELIEVE THE TURTLE (but do help her gently down), because turtles don't climb posts. PEOPLE PUT TURTLES ON POSTS.

So what's the problem in reporting how 40% of a large sample of Americans think marriage is obsolete? Actually nothing. There's no problem in the reporting...none at all. But there is a problem in the interpretation of that information; in the interpretation of that data. So, what should we conclude from it?

Consider this example:
If I were to tell you that our society is in a war with fat; that 40% of the American population is overweight and many in that percentage are actually obese. Then I also told you that medical technology offers amazingly effective means for removing or controlling body fat, and that these methods make the need for dieting obsolete...what would you think? What would you say to me?

Would you say something like, "Wow, it appears we've got a really sick society, one that has forgotten how to eat properly, that fails to discipline itself, and one that often actually looks for excuses to be indulgent?

Of course, yes, that's exactly how you should respond if you are really THINKING--exactly what you should say back to me. Any other explanation flies indulgently in the face of our personal, family, and societal health. It SHOULD be obvious to just about everybody that any other kind of reasoning is just plain wrong..."The Turtle Climbed this Fence Post!" Not!

The Bible clearly tells us about Satan, that he is a liar, a deceiver, and a destroyer (Rev. 12:9; IICor.11:3). Most major societies have historically risen or eventually deteriorated on the strength of their truth-telling and character. In this situation, the idea of marriage being obsolete, or not, is of course not really about marriage per se or at all. The issue is really one that's about angry rebelliousness and sensual indulgence . It's all about finding license for convenient passions and self-gratification without accountability (Romans 1:18-32).

So if and when you read or hear discussion like this about marriage...pleeeez remember the turtle!

Tuesday, Judi and I returned from a fun vacation. We've arrived home feeling good--emotionally, spiritually, and physically! That's a sharp contrast to vacations we've done in the past where we got home exhausted and needed a l-o-n-g nap just to catch-up before we returned to work.

It's always nice to renew relationships, especially those that have been seasoned with the spices of shared experience and common history. We were privileged to spend our time hosted in the home of two people who know us probably about as well as anybody. 

My friend Derald was a fellow engineering (Mechanical/Metallurgical) student and lived right next door to me and my (Electrical) engineer roomie . Derald was my best man in our wedding in 1970. Now he and his lovely wife, Andrea, continue to live in that community, Corvallis, OR, a place we moved away from several years after we were married.

It was the late spring of 1973. I had just taken a job as a field engineer with an up-and-coming consulting firm,  CH2M-Hill, based (at that time) in Corvallis, . I had accepted a role with them and they immediately moved us north to Portland--Judi and me and our first, new son, Mark. At that time the company was a fledgling consulting firm. It's a huge understatement to say that they've grown a bit since then.

So, we're back home and we're already well into this week. I've got a lot of pleasant vacation-specific thoughts, and they're like the pleasant sensations of a satisfying meal, wafting around in my mind. They've become tangled-up with and sweetly christen this week's responsibilities, including a home-related "to do" list. Among other stuff it includes things like protecting my maturing grapes, harvesting our apples from the backyard tree, prepping for some Friday counseling work, winterizing efforts in the shop, note prep and outline development for an upcoming men's seminar, strategic business development planning and execution,...and of course, blogging.

But these things are "up front" on a stage against a backdrop of competitive sights and sounds. But you've probably seen or are seeing and hearing them, too--some BIG deterioration in the past two days for the Dow, Doomsday prognostications about a "double dip" recession, rumblings in the Middle East about Palestinian statehood, and another speech from President Obama.... Then, too, on the home front I empathize with Judi's stepping back into the demanding work-day and week themes she faces; a whirl-wind administrative "full-time role masquerading as part-time." It seems to characterize so many contemporary business situations. And this morning we woke-up to a nearly dead battery in our car. Aha. For sure we are home; life is normal again!?...and the message of Proverbs 3:5,6 never wears out.

 

"Pick Up the End of the String!"

Yah. Right. Lots of times I feel exactly like that, like someone has handed me a task more complicated for the moment than I'm prepared to do. It's not that the task is beyond me, "impossible," but that there are so many little pesky demands being made on me, right now in this moment, that finding and "picking up the end of the string"  is just more than I've got the time, emotional energy, and the attention span to do. The word "exasperation" comes to mind.

When my sister and I were kids at home and in the midst of  "circumstances," I can remember my mom saying, "Tie a knot in your (circumstantial) rope and hang on." I think it was her way of encouraging us to slow down and carefully evaluate our options. Another famous saying that we heard often, "Life by the yard is apt to be hard, but life by the inch is more of cinch."Again, it was her way of encouraging us to "slow the train" to give ourselves opportunity for evaluation and clarity before we "jumped." A good look at any situation at hand sure seems to be the more intelligent response to what can feel like overwhelming circumstances.

As a counselor often working with married couples one of the biggest challenges partners routinely face has to do with communication and problem solving.  When I was a neophyte counselor studying at the University of Denver, two of my mentors were Doctors Howard Markman and Scott Stanley. I remember so vividly their words explaining how one of the greatest confounding contributors to couples conflict is in their failure to really understand the problem they are trying to solve together. Of course that starts with their really working to understand one another, first. Howard and Scott would say, "You can't solve a problem that you really don't yet understand!" 

I remember reading the little booklet, "The Tyranny of The Urgent." Perhaps you've read it too. It's been a while, but one of the things I remember about it's wisdom is in this question: What's really urgent?" Insight is discovered in one's ability effectively prioritize where and how I can best use and focus my obviously limited energies and time. Yes!

So, maybe "picking up the string" isn't what's most important right now. In fact, maybe it's not really important at all given the other stuff going on. It'll just lay there for now; I won't give it another thought (Matthew 6:31-34). Ha. When I think about it that way I realize it's just a stupid little out of place string.

What's your "string" today?

Have a super day...I think I will!