Sunday 7s: Oct 18

1) Just left a congregational meeting at the church. Our pastor is resigning. Everyone is heartbroken. Some are angry. Dave Desforge has taught me so much about the Gospel. He's one of the reasons I love Grace and keep coming back. It will be strange not have him giving the sermon, but I am reminded that Jesus is bigger than one man. Or one church.

2) Jesus + nothing.

3) This experience has made me contemplative. I understand the inability to manage people and the constant risk of burnout. I wonder if or how long my heart can continue to pursue this passion (teaching) with the energy, commitment and love that I need to for my students and co-workers. It's tough to admit that you might be in over your head. I often feel that way.

4) Today's sermon was by my good friend Brian Land. He spoke on Hebrews 12:1-3, which is one of my favorite passages.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

• Jesus runs with us. It's an endurance race and we're not alone.
• I love that not only does he "author" our faith, he also is the "perfecter:
• I made it into the sermon today. Me, Reese Witherspoon, Liam Neeson & Robert De Niro, King Leonidas and Neo (the Matrix) all make their way into the sermon. Obviously, I was the star...
• Brian used my bike journeys to illustrate the endurance aspect of the race that must be endured. Also, he said that if he were to ride the Great Divide, he has a reference that he can trust-- a wealth of knowledge. Jesus provides that for all our races.
• Talked to two friends who recently moved. They both commented on how much stuff they have and they are trying to lighten the load. Ironically, that's one of the messages in the sermon: we carry heavy burdens that make our race harder. Reese Witherspoon in "Wild" had too much stuff and she couldn't hike the Pacific Coast Trail. Robert De Niro's character in "The Mission"-- he literally carried his burdens and was trapped by them until they were cast into the river. Both my friends are at a point where they are realizing that the stuff the accumulate to make their lives more comfortable only burden them and weigh them down. But getting rid of stuff and lightening the load is difficult. In one friend's words, "It takes radical heart change."

5) Went to Columbia yesterday. We had a party for my older brother, Chhay, who is being deployed to the Middle East for 6 months with the Air National Guard. His brother in law, La, who is the only person I know with a hibachi grill on his porch, cooked up dinner. We played with the kids, ate and celebrated a great brother, dad and husband who will be missed while deployed. 

6) Rode Spencer Branch Trail today. It was the last run down Spencer as we know it. Tomorrow, they are closing it and the new re-route will be the only way down from Spencer Gap. The old trail was technical, with lots of roots, rocks and decent drops off water bars. I'm not a great technical rider, but I love to ride this trail and have no shame in walking when necessary. It will be greatly missed. I hope the new one is as fun and challenging.

7) Another crazy week in College Football. Michigan-Michigan St was nuts! Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech look bad. Ole Miss lost to Memphis. 

• Overrated in this week's Poll: Florida St (9), Houston (21)-- I know they are undefeated, but I still haven't seen a Top 10 performance from the Noles. Houston is beneficiaries of a soft schedule (though they did beat Louisville).
• Under rated: Oklahoma (17)-- they are better than Iowa and Florida in my opinion and that throttling of K-State was impressive. The Texas lost, while not pretty, might be an anomaly. North Carolina (NR)-- shows the lack of respect the ACC gets. And the ACC deserves no respect, even though Clemson is really good and UNC isn't bad.
• Top 7: 1) Utah 2) Baylor 3) Ohio St 4) LSU 5) TCU 6) Clemson 7) Michigan St.

Eye on the goal; Eyes on the prize

"Obstacles are the frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal."
-Henry Ford

Everyday, I write a new quote of the day in my classroom and my students have to write it in their journals. The quote above was today's quote. It made me think of mountain biking.

One of the most common mistakes by new mountain bikers is "object fixation". This is when the rider focuses on an obstacle such as a rock or root rather than the trail ahead. The general rule is "look where you want to go." If you focus on the obstacle, you inevitably will hit that object. If you look ahead on the trail to where you want to be, your bike will go there while avoiding those dreaded roots and rocks.

When learning to ride my Ducati this summer, the books I consulted and Jim, my riding instructor, emphasized "looking through" a curve. Look where you want to be and you and your bike will lean and be there. Fixate on a pothole or a car heading towards you and you will likely lead your motorcycle straight towards that you are trying to avoid. If ever you feel like you are not going to make it through a curve, just look through and lean because your bike will lean further than you believe it can. Just trust it.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14

The only thing that I did wrong
Was staying in the wilderness too long
Keep your eyes on the prize, Hold on
"Eyes on the Prize"

What the derailleur!?

I had my worst bike damage today. And the sad thing is, there's no cool story to go with it. I wasn't jumping a ledge, I did not bunny hop a Sasquatch or anything like that. I was rolling slowly, waiting on some friends, when I hear a crack and my rear tire comes to a quick stop.

Apparently, a small stick (really just a skinny twig) got kicked into my rear derailleur. The stick got caught in the spokes which pulled the derailleur up and into the spokes also. The derailleur got caught in the spokes and was yanked around about 180 degrees from its normal position.

Luckily John had his tool kit. We broke the chain, making my bike a single speed. We did not have a knife to cut the derailleur cable, so used Wendy's watch strap to secure the derailleur to the frame so I could ride out. Wow, in all the years I owned this bike, this was the single worse incident to the bike (there have been several incidents the bike came out better than the rider).

In all, I'll have to replace the derailleur hanger, purchase a new chain and true that back wheel. I think the derailleur might be salvagable. If not, that's a new derailleur. Really, it could have been a lot worse. Now, here's a great photo of John at Grassy Creek Falls studying the map of Dupont.

In Bend

Sitting at Townshend's Teahouse. Drinking Kashmiri Chai... yum. This is my fourth day in the Pacific Northwest. Arrived three days ago, where Kate picked me up at the Portland airport. The flight from Seattle to Portland was short, but very cool. The pilot made a fly around of Mt St Helens. Not just a flyby, "Hey look out the window", but he actually circled the caldera and you could look down into the volcano from several different angles.

Kate lives in Northwest Portland in a great neighborhood. Her apartment is less than a block from a great park where we read and napped. On the recommendations of my friends, Lindsay and James, I am reading Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven". The book is really enlightening me to a lot of things I never considered regarding not just Mormonism, but faith in general. No matter what religion you are, fanaticism has a lot of the same characteristics.

I have had some good grub. I love food when I travel. We ate at Sushiville, near Kate's place where the sushi comes around on conveyers. I haven't been to one of those in years. Someone needs to open one in Asheville. Breakfast Tuesday was also near Kate's where Kate was being imparted Vulcan wisdom by a dangling Mr. Spock. This teahouse rocks. Another thing I need in Asheville. Breakfast at the Victorian in west Bend was delicious. Get the Warsaw, it has eggs, potatoes, sauerkraut, Polish sausage and is loads of yummy. Had an elk burger at the Deschutes Brewery last night. Parilla's across the street from Victorian's has funky burritos. It's like the Lucky Otter with more tatoos and one dollar PBRs.
Bend is a very good town. Mountain biking is first class and close to town. I rode Tumelo Falls Trail yesterday, about 16 miles round trip. The uphill took me pass no fewer than seven waterfalls and the downhill was fast and fun. The city is very bike friendly and has good restaurants and shopping. You are close to all sorts of things: volcanic stuff (Newberry National Volcanic Monument), skiing and snowboarding at Mt Bachelor, rafting on the Deschutes River, hiking and camping and, of course, endless miles of mountain and road biking. Portland is only 3 hours away and Eugene is about 2. And there are great towns nearby like Sisters, Redmond and Sunriver.
Last night, I was walking downtown looking for dinner and a girl walks by and says "Hi." I say "Hi" back and then we both turn and look at each other. It was obvious that we both knew each other. Turns out Kathy and I played Ultimate together in the Asheville League and she had moved to Bend last winter. It's funny how 2,500 miles away, in a city of nearly 80,000 people, I can randomly run into someone I know. We ended up going to meet some of her friends for dinner. Small world...

The Gain of Pain

So yesterday, my friend Matthew and I went for a mountain bike ride in Bent Creek. We ended up deciding to ride the Greenslick trail, especially since they had just done some maintenance on it the previous weekend. We rode Laurel Branch Rd until it connected with Sidehill Trail. Laurel Branch, though double track, is quite a spin to get to the intersection of Sidehill and Greenslick. From there, Sidehill is a long, continuous climb to Ingles Field Gap and Boundary Road and then another 1.2 miles uphill to the top of Greenslick Trail.

The climb was quite a workout and Matthew is a much better endurance athlete than I am. Needless to say, on this hot and humid afternoon, my legs and lungs were burning climbing up the mountain. But I love the downhill. My reward was a fast and fun descent that made all the climbing worth it. Without the effort of the climb, there is no reward.

Another favorite of mine is riding my bike from my house to the top of Jump Off Rock in Laurel Park. It takes me about 30 minutes to get to the top (23 is my record), but only 12 minutes to come back down in a fury of pavement. Again, the reward of speeding down Laurel Park Highway does not happen unless I suffer my way up that steep grade to Echo Mountain Inn and beyond.

I think that one of the mistakes we make a lot as a society is we try to make everything "safe". No one gets hurt, everyone wins. But with that there is no reward and no growth. The more I suffer going up the mountains, the easier the climbs gradually become. It's the growth that comes with the pain in which we truly benefit. When we sanitize everything so no one gets "hurt", we've neutered the very means by which we blossom as individual and a society.

My friend Rachel brought me some little tomato plants to plant at my house. Since I have no green thumb, she was giving me tips. She said that you have to be "brutal" to the plant, clipping its leaves to the stalk and planting the stalk. Though it may seem like to are murdering the plant, where you cut will actually take root stronger and better than if you never cut them before.

Last year, my neighbor Don and I pruned the azaleas in my back yard. They were over four feet high and he pruned them down to stumps. He said "trust me, they'll grow back". Gradually, those stumps became shoots. They endured the drought and the winter. This spring, they had the prettiest blossoms in years.

The struggle up the mountain is good; it will yield a reward if we are persistent. The pruning of the leaves and branches is worthwhile; it will result in growth and bloom if we are patient.