Bike to the Bay 2008 is History!

Well, it's over for this year! The Pike Creek Bible Church team are (left to right): John Jobes, Dan Weber (captain), Reed Potecha, Phil McNeil, Mark Legere and myself. It was even raining when we took the picture as it did for much of the two days.

Thanks to the many of you who prayed for us as there were no significant accidents or injuries. Thanks as well to the many who supported each of us by giving to Bike MS in our names. If you pledged and haven't sent in the money yet (or if you haven't pledged yet) there's still time. The cut off is late in October.

That's all for now

Still me... still here

No, contrary to the appearance of this blog, I am not dead. Although these days I find myself quoting Dolly Parton's Nine to Five character "I'm as busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest"

Yes, family are all well. Yes, my work, like yours, is busy but good. I have seen the blessing of answered prayer in my requests for effectiveness and wisdom in my use of time.

In an apparent attempt to compound my busy-ness to near insane levels, I have signed up to ride the Bike to the Bay MS150 to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. It is scheduled to be a 150 mile, two day ride from Dover, DE to Rehobeth, DE on Saturday, Sept 27, 2008 and back on Sunday.

To move me toward a completing a personal goal to ride 200 miles in one day (sometime next Spring, maybe), I am planning to begin at first light (0-dark thirty, Fred) Saturday in Rehobeth and ride to Dover and back. Then I expect to join a number of friends for the 75 mile return trip Sunday.

This is the third or fourth time I've ridden in this event or one like it (City to Shore). Each time it seems I become aware of more people I know personally that are affected by MS. The training is going well, though the lo-o-ong distance experts I am reading are a little grim in their outlook.

Read up on my trip if you like here or ask me how I did (or if I am able to sit down yet (haha))

Bye for now...
ksk<><<

I've started a picture board

In order to help me pray for you more effectively, I have started a picture board here at my desk. It has pictures of many of you as well as pictures that remind me of others. I fear that as things continue to be busy, I could overlook my commitment to hold you up before our Abba (our heavenly daddy). At the same time,
I'm memorizing I Sam 12:23 Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you...

To that end, keep me up to date as to how you'd like me to pray

yours and His
ksk<><

Anxious mind?

Listen to this quote and tell me, sounds like Old Testament or New?

There, the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.

It may have been a bad way to ask the question... it is old testament (Deuteronomy 28:65b-66), but it made me think that I sometimes feel like this.

It comes from a section near the end of Moses life when he is re-telling Israel about the blessings of obeying God's Law and the curses for disobeying. A few verses previous, he lays out the way to avoid the foreign captivity that brings about the above desperate mental situation: (58) "...carefully follow all the words of this law..." and "...revere this glorious and awesome name -- the Lord your God..."

I feel al little like I am a foreign captive of sin... longing and pining for the righteousness of Heaven, the eternal joy of worship unhindered by my own sin, the relief of being forever freed of the consequences of my bad choices and those of others.

Should it be this way? God has given us all things freely to enjoy... there are blessings to be had here... am I being too far-sighted?

Thanks for sharing this thought with me...

Daddy, what does "Maundy" mean?

Yesterday, as my family and I worshipped together, during the announcements both kids, almost in unison turned and asked nearly the same question.

I remember looking it up before, and I remember being surprised at its meaning, but I could not remember what it meant. Turns out the word maundy means command. According to Wikipedia,

The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet.

So we are commanded by Jesus word and example to love one another at the level of washing one anothers' feet: intimate, humble and self-deprecating.

I am praying you'll have a blessed and transformational Holy Week

A little Friday thought... ask for help

Today, I'm taking time off from work to seek wise advice from a friend. I am anxious that perhaps a decision I've made is unachievably ambitious and I am asking him to look at it with his "fresh eyes" (an expression I learned while working for a Japanese company) and give me his unvarnished opinion. To even have such a friend is priceless to me.

You've read that e mail about people coming into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime? I did not seek to meet this guy, we just happen to share membership at the same church. Yet his very nature is open and available. I wonder if I am that way?

I encourage you today. If you have a problem, ask for advice from a wise friend. If you don't, then build friendships with wise people or seek to be available for those in need. My favorite Book is peppered with quotables about how plans succeed when wise counsel is sought, when many counsellors are employed, and when the Wonderful Counsellor is besought (beseached?)

Thank you for being a friend to me... I trust I can be one to you as well.

A summary of parts 2-6

Hitchiker said he would love to see parts 2-6. I don't have the time or ambition to flesh those out retrospectively, but I can give you the outline:
1 be grateful see How to celebrate Christmas *properly* pt 1
2 be content. This flows naturally out of the first and sets you up for the rest. Contentment is not complacency. Contentment says 'God is good all the time and all the time God is good'. It is a wilful choice to accept what is yours. If you've ever been around a person that's content, you know what I mean. They're like a big comfy couch: welcoming, comforting, refreshing and encouraging all at the same time
3 be generous. If you haven't done 1 and 2, you're stuck. Go back. Like our words are the overflow of the content of our heart, so generosity is the overflow of our stuff... our material blessings. This is easy for a few of us whose love language is giving and receiving gifts, but for the rest of us it falls somewhere between almost like work and downright impossible.
4 be creative as a way of being generous with who you are instead of just what you have. These are the gifts you really remember. Like the time your kids gave you coupons for them to do things for you.
5 be thoughtful - the gift that is most desired or needed may be a couple hours of your time, your listening ear, a hug or the like
6 be patient and don't overschedule - it helps you savor the joys and gives you time to do the others without exhausting yourself
and 7 be extensive... don't stop celebrating just because the calendar says to. see How to Celebrate Christmas *properly* part 7

A reason, a season, a lifetime

You've gotten that e mail, I'm sure stating that friends come for:
- a reason: either you have a need they can meet or they have one you can meet
- a season: a period of time which seems to start and end at the Lord's discretion
- a lifetime: obvious

We'll I've just had a ministry that left me. It seems it's season was over... at least for now. This ending has been bitter-sweet to me. Bitter in the sense that I hate to stop doing something I enjoy which also helps men and women get to know my Lord or get to know Him better. But sweet in the way it happened.

I have been asking for wisdom in the use of my time for a long time and a month or so ago, a friend said, "Maybe it's time to let something go..."

I talked to my wife Karen at length and she said "Maybe you should let it go..." Then there were my two accountability partners, Brent and Craig. Each of them counselled the same. Then there was my Thursday morning mens group: Dave, Rusty and Joe who said the same kinds of things.

Seems like sometimes the best thing I can "do" is to stop doing something that's season is past.

PS You know it's been too long since your last post when you forget your blogger password. my apologies.

How to celebrate Christmas *properly* - Part 7

No, part 7 has nothing to do with Independence Day... There was a well planned series intended to occupy the space between part 1 and 7. None the less here is part 7: Extend your moderated celebrations (part 2) as long as possible.

You see I have the good fortune of having a January birthday. If you
don't, fret not as there is yet much hope for you. See, on average, one in twelve people has a January birthday. Therefore collect friends and acquaintences until you find one.

Here are photos of a birthday fondue celebration at the Melting Pot Restaurant in Independence Mall in Wilmington DE. with (clockwise from left) my wife Karen Kohler, Betsy Burton, Anita Rafetto, Rod Rafetto, Kevin Kohler and our host, Steven Kohler It just so happens that Rod's wife Anita's birthday and mine fall on the same day.

The point of Part 7 is plainly this: The most important thing about Christmas is that we celebrate Jesus Christ's birth. But we could do no worse dis-service to His mission and legacy than to end our celebrations there. His mission was most broadly seen as He walked among common folk and met needs. The coup d'etat of His mission is celebrated the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, which a few of us call only Resurrection Day. Therefore, in my opinion, the more our celebrations focus on meeting the needs of people around us and remembering His death and resurrection, the more deeply satisfying they will be.

On the above pictured day, we met our own needs (and a whole lot more) and I suppose no one elses... but we did relish the Resurrection and what it meant to each of us and at least in part because of that, I really enjoyed myself.