Headed out again
Once more work will have me leaving Cedar Rapids for a few days. I leave at 6:50 tomorrow morning from CID to travel to Seattle for 3 days. I will get to add Washington to the list of states I've visited, but there won't be time for sightseeing - 3 days of meetings will have me ready to come home on Thursday night late.
What A Difference the Shoes Make
I bought a new pair of Asics running shoes over the weekend and wow, what a difference they make! Beside the fact that they don't tear up my heel like the old ones did, they also have a much greater amount of padding and bounce when I run. What a nice change! Here's to hoping I stay disciplined with the running so that I wear this pair out sooner than the last pair. 
The Beauty of Baptism
We had a baptismal "service", if you can call it that, last night at Pleasant Creek Park in Palo. I love the fact that we have our baptisms on a public beach which is otherwise populated by lots of families with children noisily splashing and swimming. Three were baptized last night; a young girl from a family recently attending our church, and then a father and son. It is an amazing and beautiful thing to hear a 45-year-old man stand up and say that God has worked in his life and he and his son are being baptized to publicly say that "we're followers of Jesus Christ."
Praise God and Amen!
I love used CDs
Last night, FYE at Coral Ridge Mall. Hem's Rabbit Songs. Used. Price: $4.99. But wait, there's 20% off on all used CDs today. Final price $4.00. W00t!
A quick update: this is a terrific album. Beautiful music. Wowza.
quote for the morning
Every generation has cooler music than the generation that came before it. Unless you're two generations before and then it's "hey, that's kinda cool, let's use that..."
-- Josh Harris, talking about church music while preaching on Humble Orthodoxy
Chance Meetings with Friends
It has been a nice morning thus far. I got up at my usual early hour, got motivated enough to go run (woohoo! it feels good.) and then decided somewhat on a whim (and also influenced by the absence of any milk in the house for my cereal) to go grab a light breakfast at the little restaurant in the Hy-Vee grocery store. I took my Bible along to read a little, and figured it'd be a nice way to get the morning started.
Not two minutes after I walked in, Sam walked in behind me. He and I used to have breakfast there on a regular basis, but my busy schedule put an end to that a couple of months ago. So it was really serendipitous this morning to have him show up and join me for breakfast. We got to chat for a bit, mostly about work and stuff, but still just good to catch up.
So Lord, I hope You're not too put off that I didn't read like I was planning to; that one Psalm was good stuff, though. I will assume that You decided it was more important that I visit with Sam this morning. And I'm OK with that. Thanks.
Holiday and Vacation
It's now been 10 days since I've actually set foot in my office. Last week was the conference to Atlanta, and then I took Friday off. Now it's Monday, and I get today and then tomorrow off for Independence Day. It's gonna feel weird to actually go back to work... but there will be a lot to be done.
This weekend we have the whole family here at the house; Ryan came in from Chicago, Aaron is back from Panama, Andrew and Dad and Mom came down from Wisconsin, and Rebecca is now in Cedar Rapids but she came over here to spend the night with the family. Good times. Aaron has become a total Caedmon's Call fanatic and has become very, very good on the guitar. It's fun to be able to just sit down and sing Caedmon's or Derek Webb songs with all the harmony and stuff.
This morning after breakfast I went on a long bike ride - probably 15 miles or so. It's been too long since I've been out for a good ride. It feels good; I need to be more active. I gained 5 pounds on my business trip last week; too much good food and too much sitting on my backside.
This afternoon we'll grill out and then I dunno what we'll do tonight - Rebecca's gotta work, but the rest of us will still be here until tomorrow.
