Three Months Coming Up

It's the nature of technology to change and improve over time.

Laura worked for three days this week to qualify for a bonus recently passed by the electorate. She enjoyed helping all the staff in a stress free way and will be working next week in a testing capacity. Ms. Laura is not suited to the leisurely life and I expect her to be looking for continued involvement in education.

I, however, am naturally suited to leisurely life, and have found many ways to pass the time in the soon three months of early retirement. I have been questioning whether I should be giving up on teaching, in fact, I know I must get back involved. But not in the same context and with the same restraints of traditional evangelical practice.

We are road tripping next week to downtown Denver to gather with others in the grace movement at the Forgotten Gospel Conference. Just getting on the road will be fun for me although Laura has professed a loss of the joy of car travel. I hope to revive her appreciation for sight seeing next week, or at least work on it. Coming home through western Colorado and Monument Valley will be fun. Anything less that today's 113 will be a relief. Bring on the mile high city.

After an anguished three months of TV supplied by rabbit ears, and tossing the options back and forth about the three major package providers I finally decided today to cut the dish/cable and try the world of streaming service. Got a new high speed modem and contract coming, a Roku 3 receiver, and am studying the streaming packages that mimic the high priced world of Satellite but allow you to choose most of your favorite channels for less money. We decided we could live without a steady diet of Fox News, and for me, The Golf Channel. Truth be told we only watched a handful of the 200 channels we plowed through to find something to watch. I will keep you updated on this experience. Don't get me started about the constant price upward creep over the years. If only I could find a way to cut the smart phone, but we are pretty addicted to the news feeds, travel services, and facebook connections to let that go.

Always rebuilding and ramping up after the crash

World Trade Center One, rebuilt and ready for business.

This world of computing is fragile. My three year old Toshiba laptop had a hard drive crash and I am remembering passwords, reinstalling programs with long key codes, and finding little quearks in the system I though were gone. Sheesh.

Its kind of like life. Takes a lot of maintenance, memory, and repair.

Bachelor Trip.....sort of

Parts of the Big Island are so new geologically speaking that the coastlines are more barren than lush. Whittington park is like that, and this shoreline shows and abandoned and broken pier.

In 2005 I was invited to spend five days in a remote camp on the Salmon River. I combined that prayer retreat with a Conference in Denver, and the Bachelor Trip tradition began.

Laura has a very short six week summer, and that time away for me served many purposes. Spiritual refreshment and seeing someplace different. Planning for the next years ministry, and purposely seeking out and listening to Christians outside my own tradition to expand my understanding of different traditions within the Christian Community.

I learned about spiritual formation from Renovare Ministry in Denver, Presence and ermerging Christianity in Colorado Springs and Little Rock, Fathers Day Conference in Missouri, Christian and Missiaonary Alliance Camp Meeting in Idaho. A lecture series in Northern California by Oz Guiness. Lots of mind and heart expanding times. Lots of interesting scenery and sites to photograph for fun.

Last year I was urged to stop traveling alone for health and safety reasons, so next week I am hitching a ride with dear friends for a roadtrip north and some extended time of solitude and prayer. More later.

Thoughts for August

Since my health history has been so fragile, I am always ready for a quick exit. But I find that for the first time I must be planning for future retirement. We know Laura's date, mine is negotiable and dependent on health and other issues. But at least I have some figures to toss around and timelines to consider. I know this, it involves living on less than you are living on now with two incomes, so you have to find out what bills can shrink, or go away and when. So thats a fun project for thought.

All summer things are slow here with so many gone for the summer and vacationing, but August is even a bit slower, a good time for me to gear up for fall with subjects and ideas for helping people grow.

For the first time in many years, my August man trip is not going to happen. I have really enjoyed a week by myself at a conference or a specific area. Last summers Corn Belt trip was so awesome and relaxing and fulfilling, but after spending all that time on the road alone, it was spooky to come home, and in just a few days, experience a heart blockage that probably would have done me in if i was in the middle of Kansas or Iowa. So, no batchelor trip.

I have however decided that an instate short trip is OK, an overnighter to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, something not done in my 24 years here. It will not be planned until the repair to my favorite zoom lens at the Canon facility, which is happening as we speak.

I heard the road to the north rim contains a detour since a section of the hwy to Page, AZ collapsed in an earthquake last year. Very cool.

So, August, slow, and hot, time for preparation for the fall, time to continue eating right, exercising, and living in the present.

Fun Trip

\These Mexican shopping cities are really something to experience. A major boon to the economy of Mexico and a major help to the retirees of the southwest who can get perscriptions, glasses, and dental work, plus a million decorative and leather goods type items.

The numbers are dropping and the salefolks are getting desperate, which makes navigating the streets and marketplaces an exercise in saying a polite no thank you.

The border guard was incredulous that I left without declaring any purchases, I should have told him I was sporting a new silver band that was hand made by a jeweler near our lunch spot. A great day of travel and new glasses for my friends.

Passing by Tattooine

Matching Power boats, one larger than the other. I am wondering how much expendable income it takes to enjoy a few trips a year in one of those sleek weekenders?

360 miles is just too long to run to San Diego for the weekend. Its six long hot hours of driving....sad. For my far away readers there is a massive sand dune called Imperial Dunes as you enter California that played the backdrop for the sand scenes in Star Wars. It feels like driving through Arabia.

The first time you exit the vehicle to gas up after leaving the coast you hit a blanket of steamy, windy, strength sapping heat that makes you want to risk homelessness on the streets of the coast rather than head home. But....I am home.

Over the years I have so enjoyed exposing myself to different faith families in my summer studies. The Nazarene faith began by one Pastors decision to make church a welcome place for the working poor in LA. I like their emphasis on Jesus as a servant leader and how we cannot be haughty when we follow one who reached down to our level and washed feet.

I love San Diego

What a great city. In three days I have seen it from all sides and the beauty of this oceanside property is breathtaking, not to mention the fresh cool mornings and evenings.

PLNU Seminar by the Sea was surprisingly challenging. The depth of spirituality in this tradition is impressive, not for its power but for Christlike simplicity. I have been moving in the direction that these men pioneered for living a life of love for all people, rich and poor, and especially the poor for the Nazarenes. These leaders love scripture, the Christ of scripture and the life emptied in service. One of the things I want to do that they have modeled is the memorization of whole passages of scripture. When you live and relive a test, it lives in you.

If I had another life I would find a home here and enjoy it for dedades, since I don't, I will resolve to come here as often as I can to see the fog roll off the ocean, to hear seagulls making a racket, and to be enchanted by the flowers, trees, and climate.

Bedrooms and Playgrounds

San Diego is surrounded by communities that are different in so many ways. Point Loma is an Isthmus, Coronado is really a land bridge. Yesterday my battery died again on Harbor Blvd at the center of tourism. I was dining at Anthony's on the Pier with old friends and was given a jump by the kindness of strangers.

I saw one city when dealing with the Kia, and my friends church and home in another. So many beautiful places to live here. My home in Sun Lakes is the same size and cost half of the price he paid for his.

I parked a mile or so from the Dell in Coronado late in the day and walked the beach and the grounds of that historic and popular resort. Beach goers and vacationers everywhere this week.

Todays lectures and discussions were wonderful. I feel like I met a true mentor in the man who was the University Chaplain for decades. A heart for scripture.

Point Loma

PLNU has a very notable outdoor amphatheatre overlooking the ocean.

It is easy to envy the folks in a city that bustles with activity and beauty and a climate that is near perfect. We counter with traffic issues and high costs which would make this a difficult place to prosper and relax. A vacationer has the free run of the town and the sensitivity to realized he is in a really beautiful place.

The college is a bustle of group meetings and is in full preparation for the return of classmates. Our study time was interesting and worthwhile. Having an issue with my battery. They never last more than two years in the desert.

What a fabulous climate

I am loving the cool morning air at Humphries Half Moon Inn, San Diegos most Hawaiian style resort. Walking the grounds and enjoying the flowers and the Polynesian themed resort.

Several thousand chairs set out for a Chicago Concert tonight. A huge marina out the back side. I am going to enjoy exploring this part of San Diego.

Sleeping in San Diego

I really love this home in the willow district.

Almost 350 miles this afternoon and I have arrived in El Cajon, a bedroom community of the big city. I will catch some ZZZz and drive to the conference and my other motel on Point Loma Harbor.

Bible Study Thoughts

Shannon and Charlotte built a huge tent home in Grandma Fran's living room this week.

The Pharisees were very upset with Jesus for healing a man's hand on the Sabbath, and thus breaking the fourth commandment, so they met together to plot his murder, thus breaking the commandment not to kill....does this make any sense to you?

I have enjoyed sitting each week with some of the resident's at a local retirement home discussing the Book of Matthew.

I am building a little trip excitement for a study seminar in San Diego. I am going to hang with the Nazarene pastors at Point Loma University to study for four days...and to breath ocean air, and stare at the ocean, and eat a fish taco or two.

Mall Walking Practice

Since the Rec center was closed, I spent 2 hours at Arizona Mills Shopping mall exercising yesterday. It is a large rectangle that can be walked in 18 to 20 minutes plus or minus weaving in and out of strollers and teens who insist on walking side by side down the walkway.

On this holiday weekend I saw Arizona normies out in force of every ethnic background, physical stature, size, and dress. Tall Muslim women with flowing robes, wheelchair bound people with disabilities, a huge slice of the hoi poloi. (people in mass).

I tried to see these people as Jesus saw the needy crowds during his ministry. I tried to simply love and accept the diversity of clothing styles, body shapes, and jewelry or tattoo adornments without judgement or condescension.

As a believer, I am not of them in a sense, but I am an ambassador to them, not trying to instantly demand that their culture fit and conform to mine. Could I see the real people behind the clothing and ornaments. Which is what missionaries have been taught to do since Christ came.

The sad tale of the English missionaries stopping the Hawaiians from being themselves and forcing them to dress and act like proper Englishman is one of the low points of evangelical history. And its a mistake that keeps many young people from entering the doors of a church everyday. There is a pharisee in me, and I need to tell him he is not in control of my eyes and the compassion needed to reach another alienated generation.

Travel Anniversary

We left for Hawaii a year ago today. Usual bad start by going to the right terminal and thinking it was the wrong terminal and leaving and then returning. We have a long term problem with the signage at Sky Harbor, but it also reflects lack of attention to details.

Returning to Maui after two decades was so interesting. Things we remembered and yet so much time had passed. This is the Sheraton Maui, same location but completely torn down and rebuilt, including the mandatory massive pool structure. I already have a hankering to return to paradise.

Vacation withdrawal

Now that it is June I find myself longing for some out of town scenery. We made a personal commitment to remodel instead of travel this summer. I am totally with that decision, and the joy of our new eating space is deep and satisfying.

It does not however, extinguish my desire to hear the ocean crash the shore, to see what kind of stores occupy the downtown of a new place. Until this desire passes, I shall look at pictures of old vacations, create some staycations around town.

If I had the resources, I would visit Dixie again, see my sisters up in Minnesota and New York, wet my toes in San Diego, and find someplace cool enough for a jacket.

How can I top this view of town called Hanalei.

A 500 mile travel day

Icons of San Francisco

We left the Church service at 10:30am and have checked into a Super8 in Beaumont, CA.
at 7:30pm. We are tired. Back about 10 miles the traffic came to a virtual standstill and crept along until we found firemen fighting a fire in the grass that had filled more than an acre on our side of the road.

Having never driven the I-5 I learned several interesting things. One is a stretch called "the grapevine" which crawls over a mountain range and causes all the trucks to go very slowly.

The other is a terrible result of having too many trucks and cars on a two lane interstate. If you got in the right lane after passing a truck, you could not get into the left again, or people kept jumping into that lane to pass most of the cars on the right and then forcing themselves back in and causing a big braking reaction and making the drive very nerve racking.

I enjoyed traveling with my golfing buddy Larry as we made fun of each other and enjoyed the whole week. We stopped at Costco to eat and Larry, of Hispanic origin, entered in the exit. When I stopped him he showed me another family entering through the exit, see he said, they are Hispanic also, we are just used to entering places illegally!!!!!

Bridges on the Bay

We took a side trip to San Francisco today. Crowds and traffic very heavy. Cold wind chilling our Arizona bodies to the bone. I had been here once before 15 years ago at night so it was nice to be there during daylight.

A low cloud set in as we arrived so the pictures were affected. I enjoyed coming in from Marin County and crossing the bridge, which costs $6 by the way, plus two more bridges at $5.

Saw trolleys, hills, the wharf shops at Pier 39, Alcatraz Island, China Town, the Pyramid Building. Fun to visit, would not want to live there.

Interstate 80 parking lot

This is a beautiful part of the country. The northern suburbs of Sacramento, yet I feel trapped....going and coming from the conference the Interstate is moving like a parking lot, and these poor folks with expensive homes have to deal with impossible traffic day in and out, until they move, like my friend Larry did. He just could not take it anymore.

Still thankful for this week of travel, missing wife and home, but experiencing something good and wonderful.

The conference is dealing with the reality of our old faith and our changing culture. The speakers have followed Francis Shaeffer by creating Shelter places for searching people looking for answers. They are good speakers because they are good students and listeners.

Roseville California Labri Conference

Half Dome peak from Glacier Point, Wow, people having been climbing that since 1875.

We have arrived at the conference location. We enjoyed a very chilly round of golf at Mare Island, a closed WWII Naval Base, the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi River. Lots of fun.

Looking forward to hearing Dr. Os Guiness tonight.

A Bucket List Day

Seeing the Giant Sequoia groves in the park was very special. They look so different, almost like someone made them of paper mache, until you realize the massive weight and height of these beautiful trees. We drove 90 miles inside the park and saw so many beautiful overlooks and breathtaking giants.

There is an long wait to get through an area of construction that we were not expecting but the crowds were very managable and pleasant. It was a great day.

I uploaded abouot 60 shots to a set called Sequoia on my Flickr account. Enjoy.