Dee's House

Saturday, after the convention, Nancy and I went to Dee's house. Tyler had been there a couple of days, except for a trip to the Gaylord Hotel to hear General Powell. We went to lunch at Cantina Laredo's (a favorite Mexican place) and back to Dee's for dip in the pool.

I guess I stayed in too long...er...well...fell asleep is a better description. It's pretty amazing how red you can get in such a short period of time. It's a good thing the clouds rolled in or I would've been a piece of toast. Well, I enjoyed the swim and didn't really pay for it until the next day and now I just itch.

The Power of Prayer

This morning at the convention, we held our 5th annual prayer breakfast. Barry Sullivan and I have been planning and organizing this since the beginning. This year we had Shane Battier (NBA basketball player) as our speaker who gave his testimony of faith. He did a very good job and talked about the parable of the talents and how he found purpose in his life. "To whom much is given, much is expected." It was a very good and positive time. We had about 250 people there. Not bad considering it's a business convention and being held at 6:30a.

I sometimes think I'm a little shallow though. Afterwards, I asked Shane how he felt about guarding Carmelo and I invited him to my house for dinner the next time he's in Denver. You would think he has plenty to do when he comes to Denver to play the Nuggets. I did get to know him a little. I had a long conference call with him a month ago about his talk and then we reviewed the morning's events at 6:00a. So, I kinda knew him...right? Anyway, he's a nice guy.

The real joy for me though was praying with Barry after the breakfast. We took several hundred prayer cards everyone had turned in, and we went out onto a private balcony at the hotel and prayed for each request on the cards. This is where we asked God to intervene in the lives of hundreds of people. Here I realized how many difficult and seemingly impossible things there are, which people go through. That is one purpose of prayer. It's God's way of allowing man to intervene in the events of the world. What a privilege.

The General

This morning I was at our company convention in Dallas. Our keynote speaker was General Colin Powell. I had the privilege of speaking before him to honor one of our franchise owners (a great guy I work with). Of course this meant I was back stage in the green room with the General for quite some time. He seemed like a regular guy, personable, and not any different back stage than on stage.

Tyler flying home

I'm waiting for Tyler's flight to arrive in Denver. Yes, he's finally coming home. I've been watching it on RLM Software. It shows a little plane flying over the map, so you can see just exactly where he is. It gives the altitude, ground speed, and estimated arrival time. I watched him arrive in San Francisco and now he's delayed. Can you imagine that!! After all those hours flying from Japan, and now he's delayed. So close and yet so far.

Workout

This morning I went to the Y to workout. I spent 45 minutes in the weight room going through my routine. There was hardly anyone in the gym so it made things a lot easier. After that I went to the cycling class and got my aerobic workout for about an hour. This was a good class. The instructor played music I liked (no smashing pumpkins and Rage Against the Machine), and she forced everyone to work hard, no cheating allowed! Then I spent 15 minutes doing sit ups and stretching. A great workout. Now if I could just do this everyday and back away from the table...well a little too much dreaming I guess. But, I set the standard high and continue to work at it. I am feeling better, stronger and more energetic.

What is man in nature?

For me, being in the outdoors and in God's creation is extremely satisfying. Not only do I see things working together (orderly), but there is harmony with everything you see and peace is everywhere. Unlike the city which is chaotic and often in disorder (the 5:00p rush on I-70 with all its accidents as an example). In some way it makes me long for God.


Moments before I photographed this Columbine flower a bumblebee was mining the nectar. Such a small thing busy with the details of life and feasting at God's table. Am I much more than this compared to the world, the universe?


Looking up from the flower I see the rocks and the moon and it's like you can see into infinity. At least in my mind I can imagine that. While I only captured the moon going down over the rocks with my camera, a few hours before the morning sky was filled with stars. What a world we live in! God gave us the ability to imagine all this and more. We can even imagine God in some way. The bumblebees and animals can't do this, but we see them work in an orderly way and we see the peace and harmony. Pascal writes, "What is man in Nature? Let man re-awake and consider what he is compared with the reality of things; regard himself lost in this remote corner of Nature; and from the tiny cell where he lodges, to wit the Universe, weigh at their true worth earth, kingdoms, towns, himself. What is a man face to face with infinity?"

Serving Two Masters?

According to Bill Pollard, in his book Serving Two Masters, Reflections on God and Profit, there is a standard within our company which says, “Leaders are to put the interest of those they lead ahead of their own personal interest, even when it results in the loss of an economic benefit.” Bill Pollard was our CEO and President for many years.

Bill asks the question, “Where does the standard of right and wrong or the restraint of evil and greed come from in a business environment?” and “How do we define integrity or an ethic of right behavior for the business leader?” With ServiceMaster it’s always been our first objective TO HONOR GOD IN ALL WE DO. This is put into action by the way in which we treat people, namely the people we lead.

Now that our company is being sold, the question is, “will the standards remain?” Will it remain with the new leadership being installed?” “Will it remain with those who report to the new leadership?” Or, will people rob from each other for personal gain, turf protect, and have expectations of lavish golden parachutes? Will leadership walk the talk? It's easy to treat people well when your business unit is doing reasonably well. Now the pressure's really on. Will it be so easy?

Politics

I have to admit, I am a fan of Ronald Reagan. At one point in his career as President he said, "Depression is when you're out of work. A recession is when your neighbor is out of work. Recovery is when Carter's out of work."

Politics has changed though. Now we would say, "morality is when you're at work. Amorality is when your neighbor is doing nothing. Immorality is when Clinton is at work." Wait ten years. It might be worse.

Good for me

Nancy's been gone for a couple of days and rattling around the house is non-productive. I did the dishes, some laundry, made lunch for work tomorrow, and cleaned up my mess. That didn't take too long. I decided that with all this extra time I should do something constructive. I worked out, and probably too hard. Now I'm a little sore. Hiking, biking, and lifting weights all in one day! It's good for me though.

Concert at Red Rocks

Last night Nancy and I went to see Lyle Lovett at Red Rocks. It was a great concert and lots of fun. The problem was we didn't get home until almost midnight. She had to get up at 3:00a to catch a 5:30a flight to see Noelle in Lexington. 5:30a?? Ugh. At any rate, I drove her there and got home about 5:00a. On weekdays, I usually get up at 5:30a and sometimes earlier if I'm working out. On the way to the airport I said to Nancy, "did you enjoy the concert last night, I mean a few hours ago?" She did.

Why be different?

Someone asked the question, "What difference does God's love make in your life?" I sometimes think we are taught that good character and responsible living will somehow obligate God to us. I don't see it that way. In fact, I think the higher our awareness of God's love toward us, the more it changes us on the inside. We simply live differently then.

I believe things happen to us in life which have nothing to do with our character or how responsible we are. What makes us different should be our love relationship to God. At times I've had to ask myself during times of pain and great disappointment, "Is there a joy underneath all this to the extent that God will one day bury the pain and completely overwhelm all the bad things in life?" I think so.

Friends in Memphis

I found out today that Brian Pound, the 24 year old son of Doug and Cathy Pound in Memphis, died last week in a swimming accident. Doug and Cathy are friends of ours and I have worked with Doug in different capacities for 26 years at ServiceMaster. Nancy and I are grieved and greatly distressed by this. It reminded me of how my parents were so terribly crushed when my older brother died in a freak accident. I can't imagine how difficult this is for the Pounds.

Last week I hiked on a path with friends through the mountains in Colorado. The Bible refers to a path and going through a narrow gate that opens the route to God. This is the gate that many Christians think they've already walked through but never really have. Larry Crabb, in his book Finding God talks about an idea so simple we probably miss it's force, "You know you're finding God when you believe that God is good no matter what happens."

Larry Crabb reminds us in his book that no one will conclude that God is good by studying life. The evidence moves us to a different conclusion. He says, "When God ushers us into the presence of ultimate goodness, when our darkest tragedy is pierced by one glimpse of invisible glory, then faith is born."

Our thoughts and prayers are with Doug and Cathy and their family.

39 feet?

I enjoyed our trip into Lost Creek. Below Scott is in the campsite getting ready to conquer the trail. I have never in my life seen anyone drink so much water. After a while he just put my water filter in his pack. Good thing too, it's pretty heavy.


On the way back to the car from our campsite on Wigwam Creek, after Harrall and I had hiked for about an hour, we stopped to rest. I asked Harrall how far we had gone. He looked on his trusty GPS and it said 39 feet. I asked him if my "aura" had somehow affected it. He said absolutely not, but he would talk with Doug Pound about it (see Wednesday's post). For some odd reason GPS units don't work around me. Why?


Harrall worked hard to find an answer. The only thing he could suggest was that there weren't enough satellites when we started the trip and it only measured the last 39 feet we walked.


My camera seemed to work pretty good though. I took this photo today of a Columbine in full bloom on Wigwam Trail. There is something about this flower that just captures one's imagination. Perhaps it's the three different colors and the different shapes of the petals, I don't know. But it is a beautiful flower.


I also captured this butterfly on granite rock about 39 feet from the Columbine pictured above. It's a good thing too, because taking your backpack off and then finding your camera in your backpack twice in 39 feet is just too much to bear.

Harrall had a rough day

Here is our camp at the junction of Wigwam Trail and Goose Creek Trail. Notice Harrall's sleeping bag hanging on my tarp. Scott's Camelback leaked inside his pack on the trail. It was a rough day for Harrall.


Scott tended the fire while I took a bath in Wigwam Creek. Scott likes fire.




Here

Blisters bumps and hail

Today we (Scott and Harrall and I) hiked into Lost Park with the intent of going to Goose Creek Campground via the valley below. This valley connects Lost Park with McCurdy Park Trail. It's also one of the places that Lost Creek gets lost. It goes underground for about 400 yards and then mysteriously reappears. It does this very often. On the way however, Harrall got blisters, Scott fell into the creek on his rear, and we got hailed on most of the afternoon. We decided to take the long route around instead of tackling the difficulties in this canyon with no trail.

Going back up the canyon the next day meant 800 feet up with a full pack. This wasn't too much fun since it was mostly scrambling over large boulders and up steep slopes. It was a beautiful place though. For those of you contemplating a trip through this canyon, don't do it unless you are prepared for difficult conditions.


Scott and Harrall wait out the storm in our camp at the bottom of the canyon. It's a good thing I brought my handy tarp.

GPS's

Today I went for a short hike on Two Brands Trail with Harrall. We started just 180 feet from the front door of my house. The reason I know this? Harrall has a new GPS unit. It's top of the line.

We got about half a mile from the house and Harrall had put it in his pocket. I asked him if it showed us where we were and when he pulled it out, it showed us at home!! We couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. He said it was because it was in his pocket and the view to the satellites was blocked. "You mean the stars?" I said.

Last January I was in Virginia with Doug Pound for a funeral. Doug had a GPS and wanted to use it in the rental car on the way to the funeral home. We got lost three times in two days. And, I mean we were really lost. We even got lost going back to Reagan National Airport, and there are plenty of signs. He said, "this has never happened before!!" I told Harrall today it was probably just my "aura" interfering with the device. I suggested he talk with Doug when he gets home and tell him my "aura" caused the problem for him too, and since Doug is from California, he would somehow understand that.

To Pray is to be Human

Tennyson says that one is not human unless he can pray to God. Jesus teaches his disciples to pray. What does that mean? According to Bonhoeffer it means that "prayer is by no means an obvious or natural activity. It is the expression of a universal human instinct." Jesus promises that God will hear us. And, it is God's way of permitting us to intervene in the outcome of the world around us.

"Christian prayer presupposes faith, that is, adherence to Christ." Says Bonhoeffer, "He is the one and only Mediator of our prayers. We pray at his command, and to that word Christian prayer is always bound." And, "We are privileged to know that he knows our needs before we ask him."

God answers our prayers in ways we can't imagine. Keep praying and keep the faith.

Waste not the teachable days.

Dr. Shelley (a member of our Church and a good friend) writes in his book Church History in Plain Language that Charlemagne had brought about a revival of learning and the arts in the middle ages. Dr. Shelley writes, "In 789 Charlemagne decreed that every monastery must have a school for the education of boys in singing, arithmetic, and grammar."

An Anglo-Saxon scholar in charge of a school, Alcuin wrote textbooks and said, "Ye lads, whose age is fitted for reading, learn! The years go by like running water. Waste not the teachable days in idleness!"

I am proud of my son Tyler who's been a teacher for the last 3 years in Japan and is continuing his teaching career in Kuwait this fall. Teaching is one of the most noble professions of all. I think it contributes more to social improvement than just about anything. Unfortunately, our society places less value on it than NBA basketball or the NFL. Just look at the salary differences.