Words from Colorado

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25). ESV Starting the race is easy. It’s finishing the race that is difficult! My new favorite writer is Washington D.C. Pastor Mark Batterson . Insightful, inspiring, and challenging that's Mark. Here are just a few of his book titles: Wild Goose Chase: Reclaiming the Adventure of Pursuing God The Id: True you Primal: A quest for the lost soul of Christianity In a Pit with a lion on a snowy day. When I think of the challenge of " Finishing Strong", I am reminded of something Mark wrote, and his thinking as always takes the reader to a place of contemplation, where one must face squarely the decision to remain where you are or believe God for something more: Here is a challenge from the heart of this writer: There ar...

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:16). Will you pray for me? In my life I have had so many people ask me to do just that . As a minister that is to be expected. Do the folks that ask, think I have an in with God that they don’t have? Are the prayers of ordained clergy more effective? I think the vast majority of people who have asked me to pray for them do so, because they truly just want someone, to care enough to walk with them in a difficult time, to join their thorny journey by sharing a burden, and audibly seeking the ear of the only one who can relieve stress, change a life situation and open a new door. Just today I have had two different people ask me to pray for concerns that are weighing them down . I paused during the writing of this blog entry to pray for them. When people ask you to pray for them, do you? I try to pray immediately...

It was expensive. I knew it would be. Travel always is. Even “Got to get away” airline packages add up. Then there is the hassle of traffic, where did these people all come from? Don’t they have to work somewhere? They probably are thinking the same thing about me! When you take last minute trips, the expenses pile up like line-backers on a slow running back! When you factor in the cost of airport parking, gas, snacks (An essential part of the American traveling experience) restaurants, movie tickets and shopping sprees, you,… well, you face certain financial modifications…definite check book shock, serious... fiscal accountability ….bottom line… you just might be eating variations of spam! For me it was all worth it! Just where did I go you wonder? I, spent four wonderful days with a woman! That’s right a woman…that has been my wife since August of 1981! She flew via United Airlines, to Salt Lake City, Utah. We drove back to Wyoming (170 miles away) where we worshiped at the ...

I love spring. Birds tweeting, bee's buzzing, flowers blooming , and young and not so young men and women are receiving diplomas! Academic rigors give way to academic accomplishment! And life beckons, inviting them to step out into the unknown , and move toward adult years! Relatives of graduates sit row upon row in auditoriums and stadium bleachers to hear their loved one's name called, those few seconds of verbal recognition belong to the graduate, but for those who love them, they are also a part of that small segment of time that separates the student from the graduate...and we applaud! Much like a baby bird who faces the uncertainty of flight , our young men and women will test their wings. In the flying and near flying (Think hard landings, and life hurts) they will stabilize and soar. Looking back from the vantage point of my own life experience I would, if I could remind them: 1.Continuing education is important, keep reaching, believing there is no limit but the sky...

*The invention of the modern piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) of Padua, Italy, who was employed by Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, as the Keeper of the Instruments. He was an expert harpsichord maker and was well acquainted with the previous body of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments. It is not known exactly when Cristofori first built a piano. An inventory made by his employers, the Medici family, indicates the existence of a piano by the year 1700; another document of doubtful authenticity indicates a date of 1698!* Wikpedia Of all the instruments in the world, for me nothing beats the piano! I can't read music , but God has given me the ability to play , and I do often. I find the piano.. relaxing, soothing, inspiring, and comforting . I could go on...but you get the idea. My piano tastes run from classical,to the gospel style of the late Anthony Burger . What may surprise many people is... I have played Piano at some of the la...

It is time to come clean, to pull aside the curtain, to shine a light, to let the skeleton out of my closet! I am addicted. There I said it! I have an insatiable craving, desire if you will. I have spent thousands paying for my addiction...and I not only can not stop...I refuse to! Don't try to plan an intervention, I will walk out on you! I am addicted to...Books! Bound if you really want to know (Pardon the pun). I have an insatiable craving and compulsion to read. I love it! I do I really do! I have been known to read a book while watching my sons play sports ....baseball....man you can really get some reading in watching that sport! Football, the time in between plays oh baby ....several paragraphs can be yours for the taking! Basketball....yep, that's harder but if the teams are in a fouling mood....I am good to go! I have often told my sons "Readers are Leaders" I believe it! In fact may I tell you something? Your...

* Antony Flew , an academic philosopher who expounded atheism for most of his life but made a late conversion to belief in a creator, has died at age 87, his family said in a notice published Wednesday . Flew died on April 8 2010 following a long illness, according to the notice in The Times (London) newspaper. The son of a Methodist minister, Flew abandoned belief as a teenager because of the problem of evil. "It just seemed flatly inconsistent to say that the universe was created by an omnipotent and perfectly good being . Yet there were evils in abundance which could not be put down to a consequence of human sin," he was quoted as saying in a 2004 interview with The Sunday Times. In the last decade of his life, scientific discoveries about the complexity of DNA led him to believe there was an intelligent creator. Flew's belief was in deism, in a remote creator who takes no interest in human affairs, unlike the Christian concept. H...