Great Basketball Steal!

#10 Blue was determined to steal that basketball!

Ripstickin' Old Man

This took a little time to get the hang of, but once I'm balanced, it moves pretty well. I need a larger, custom ripstick that can push me uphill a little better than those small castors will do. Thank you to my daughter for sharing her ripstick with me.

March Madness!

We had front row seats for the Championship of Chester this afternoon! March madness was invoked, and we had a thriller. The game was tied at half, and up into the 4th quarter at 21 to 21. Our opponents, the Turtles, hit some near three-pointers, and pulled away to 28. We were on the verge of tears, when it was obvious there wasn't enough time to catch up. Congratulations to the team who played like a team. They came up short but carried away the runner up trophy. My daughter had one assist; she caught the ball, found the open player, passed it, shoot - 2 points! Thanks, Coach Dan, and Chester Presbyterian Church!!! We can't wait until next year.

Two Stringed Kite - Happy March

Self Portrait.

I've always enjoyed flying kites. I made box kites as a kid that would fly real high, and in the North Dakota wind, I'd use every foot of fishing string that my dad had in his tackle box.

This kite, however, is my favorite one so far - the two string. It's an incredibly windy day today, so we went out to relieve a little stress. The two strings allow the kite to fly back and forth, up and down, and to do loops. A little tug on the right string, and it turns to the right. A hard tug on the left and hold, with a strong wind and it loops to the left. The weather report says that current wind gusts are up to 37 mph!

I first used this one at the beach last summer. I had to get there early in the morning before lots of people arrived because of my lack of experience - as I didn't want to hit anyone. I did, however, like to have fun with the seagulls. The trick is to fly casually to the right, and let the seagulls gather within reach. After the gulls come in, and are feeling secure with it, quickly pull to the left and swoop down - and watch them jump! It's fun also to catch them by surprise in mid-air. One gull looked like he was putting both wings forward to break and get out of the way.

Just a word of caution, always watch out for where the power lines are. The two strings are short, and dont' allow the kite to fly very high.

March is here and springtime is coming, I'm glad to have my kite in my van. Oh, just last week, I was stopped by a Chesterfield police officer, as the light on my license plate was burned out. He was just doing a routine check, when he saw my kite bag, and asked 'what is that?' I had a smile on my face and quickly replied, 'my kite' as last Saturday was also a windy day.

Chester Cotillion - 50th Year

Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Phillips for their dedication to our kids. We've been there for 5 of the 50 years! It's been a pleasure seeing my precious girls grow up and enjoy learning how to dance. Someday I'll learn a 2-step, 3-step or a hop to dance one formal dance without stepping on their toes.

Friends

I'm glad to have photos of friends in my photo album. This spot is dedicated to this precious couple seen here at their anniversary celebration. Occasionally on the photos I take when I travel, I capture a random person passing by the sights that I'm shooting - someone asks, who's that? I say just a random person. Tom and Elaine, however, are not a random couple caught by chance in a picture, they are long time friends. They were at our wedding. They have sat with our kids. They invited us over for a ski party when we were newlyweds. We have their old refrigerator - still works. We've celebrated Thanksgiving together. We've shared many dinner nights out together. They were friends of my wife's parents before we were married. Elaine is my wife's friend, Tom is my friend, together as couples we're friends - a unique, God given friendship. We have missed them since they moved to Colorado awhile ago.

I was reading Matthew chapter 20 this past week, where Jesus compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. He hired more workers at 9am, noon, 3 pm, and 5 pm, before making payroll at 6 pm. All of the workers received the same pay. Jesus was quoted as saying, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Tom died this past week. He had suffered with cancer for 6 months. Tom was always respectful of us and our faith, but was a nearly lifelong skeptic in his own faith. Throughout his life he was a good man. He worked hard, he designed and operated his own car wash and car repair business. He raised a family.

We prayed for Tom's salvation through the years, and more fervently these past 6 months since hearing the diagnosis. The best thing that I was privileged to hear from Elaine was that Tom had placed his trust in the Lord. Tom was a worker who went into the vineyard at 5 pm. It's now 6 pm, and he's on the receiving end of the payroll. He made payrolls throughout his business career, sometimes cutting his own pay as small business owners do. This payroll was not of his own making. Tom didn't trust in himself for salvation - he trusted in his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It was no coincidence that Elaine was impressed by the Lord to have Matthew 20 read at Tom's memorial service - it's a witness of the truth of the gospel! It was a blessing to me to have just read those words - now impressed deeper on my heart by love of the Lord for His people.

This message is for Elaine, Aron, Adam and Holly: We know that you grieve your loss right now of your husband and your father. We grieve the loss of a friend. We celebrate together the knowledge that he has been changed. He's experiencing the words of the song,

No more night,

And no more pain,

No more fears,

Never crying again.

And praises to,

The Great I Am,

We will live in the light,

Of the Risen Lamb.

God Bless You!

Hikers - 2008 to Doyles River

12 Men! A snowy morning, but no lions or pits to fall into! These men where brave, and we enjoyed the right of fellowship for 48 hours - on the trail and in the cabin. This is the 6th annual hike that I've been on with the core group of these guys, and I look forward to several more. This year I carried my diamond willow walking stick, that you can see leaning against the post of the cabin as I shot the photo.

The highlight for me spiritually was reading the first chapter of the book, In a Pit with a Lion, on a Snowy Day. The guys beared with my reading, and I think we could all relate with the challenges we face every day - seems like we're fighting lions. Hopefully, we gained some courage to face the lions, and be better servants of Christ in doing so.