Sage Ranch Loop Trail

Les and I are traveling to Flagstaff for Thanksgiving.  We are planning to take our bikes, but we're also planning a day at the Grand Canyon.  We are renting a townhouse, so if the weather is "frightful" we'll just hunker down by the fire!

 

The only time I've been to the Grand Canyon was Christmas 1996.  Les' mom and dad, Lance, Monica, Les and I hiked down on Christmas Eve.  We spent the night at Phantom Ranch and hiked back out on Christmas day.  It was quite the adventure!

 

Les and I are only planning a day hike this time.  We've done lots of hiking through the years, especially at Yosemite.  Les is part mountain goat and never seems to have trouble while my short legs often slow us down.  

 

In anticipation of our trip, I asked Les to go hiking with me.  We've hiked twice now.  Our most recent hike was the Sage Ranch Loop Trail.  We hiked this on Sunday morning (our only Sunday service has been Sunday evening in the parking lot.)  It was a beautiful morning, cool and overcast, even a little misty.

Later in the day on Sunday a package arrived for me.  I am now the proud owner of hiking poles.  In all our years of hiking I've never owned any, but I'm hopeful that these will give me more confidence in  tougher terrain.

Anyone else enjoy hiking?  Poles or no poles?

McBroken

With the continuing saga of COVID-19 and just a little over a week until the election, it's rare to find a news article that brings a smile. But this one definitely caught my attention:

Engineer makes website to check on status of McDonald's ice cream machines

 

Les has an engineering degree, so does his brother Lance.  Their dad taught engineering.  So click bait or not, I clicked on the link.  Here's what I found out:

Twenty-four-year-old German software engineer Rashiq Zahid created McBroken, a website that checks every McDonald's location in the US to see if they have a working ice cream machine using a bot.

According to The Verge, Zahid was inspired to build the bot after a trip to a Berlin McDonald's. He attempted to order a McSundae from both the touchscreen kiosk and the mobile app to no avail.

I love how Rashiq did his research, "Zahid first tested his bot by focusing on German locations of the fast food franchise and biked to every location in Berlin to manually order McSundaes to check if his bot was correct. Once he discovered that the bot was correct with the Berlin locations, he expanded it to US McDonalds."

That's what I call a good use of time!  How many times have you gone to the McDonald's drive thru only to be told the ice cream machine wasn't working?  Les and I use to enjoy grabbing a cone on the way home from church from time to time, but that turned in to a frustrating experience. 

I went to McBroken.com and the site is fully functional.  One of the four McDonald's in our town currently has a broken machine.  We may not be able to enjoy mask free lives, our mailboxes are overflowing with election propaganda, but at least now we can order ice cream with confidence!

Election Thoughts

On November 6, 2012, I posted "Election Day Thoughts."  Hard to believe that it's been eight years since President Obama was running for re-election against Mitt Romney.  Here is part of what I wrote:

Les and I had a great discussion about today's outcome while driving to church on Sunday.  We had already cast our votes, we vote my mail.  Les pointed out that as Bible believing Christians who are waiting for the return of Christ, there will come a time when our country will not embrace Christianity.  In order for Biblical prophecy to be fulfilled, our rights as Christians will weaken.  In order for a one world government to be in place, America will need to be weaker.

If the candidate who wins today takes us in that direction, we can rest assured that God allowed it.  His timeline is known only to Him.  As we see the day approaching, we can only pray "Come, Lord Jesus."

 

Now that does not mean as a Christian we should change how we vote. We should still pray and vote with a clear conscience.  If the candidate who will take us down the road of moral decline is elected, that will be "because iniquity shall abound." (Matthew 24:12)  The last days aren't going to be about religious freedom, but "perilous times shall come." (2 Timothy 3:1) 

I returned to 2 Timothy chapter 3 last night and again this morning.  The first five verses sound like 2020:

 

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.  

 

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (written over 200 years ago) is one of my favorite commentaries because it breaks verses down, phrase by phrase.  Here is a description of those who are living in perilous times:

 

Lovers of their own selves -  Selfish, studious of their own interest, and regardless of the welfare of all mankind.  *I could just stop right here.  Turn to any news site and count the number of people looking out for their own interests, regardless of the welfare of anyone else.
 

Covetous - Lovers of money, because of the influence which riches can procure.
 

Boasters -  Vain glorious: self-assuming; valuing themselves beyond all others.
 

Proud -  Airy, light, trifling persons; those who love to make a show - who are all outside.
 

Blasphemers - Those who speak impiously of God and sacred things, and injuriously of men.
 

Disobedient to parents -  Headstrong children, whom their parents cannot persuade.

Unthankful - Persons without grace, or gracefulness; who think they have a right to the services of all men, yet feel no obligation, and consequently no gratitude.
 

Unholy - Without piety; having no heart reverence for God. 

 

Without natural affection -  Without that affection which parents bear to their young, and which the young bear to their parents. An affection which is common to every class of animals; consequently, men without it are worse than brutes.
 

Truce-breakers -  Those who are bound by no promise, held by no engagement, obliged by no oath; persons who readily promise any thing, because they never intend to perform.
 

False accusers -  Devils; but properly enough rendered false accusers, for this is a principal work of the devil. Slanderers; striving ever to ruin the characters of others.
 

Incontinent -  Those who, having sinned away their power of self-government, want strength to govern their appetites; especially those who are slaves to uncleanness.

 

Fierce - Wild, impetuous, whatever is contrary to pliability and gentleness.

Despisers of those that are good - Not lovers of good men. Here is a remarkable advantage of the Greek over the English tongue, one word of the former expressing five or six of the latter. Those who do not love the good must be radically bad themselves.
 

Traitors - Those who deliver up to an enemy the person who has put his life in their hands; such as the Scots of 1648, who delivered up into the hands of his enemies their unfortunate countryman and king, Charles the First; a stain which no lapse of ages can wipe out.
 

Heady - Headstrong, precipitate, rash, inconsiderate.
 

High-minded - The frivolously aspiring; those who are full of themselves, and empty of all good.
 

Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God -  pleasure, sensual gratification, is their god; and this they love and serve; God they do not.

 

Having a form of godliness - The original word μορφωσις signifies a draught, sketch, or summary, and will apply well to those who have all their religion in their creed, confession of faith, catechism, bodies of divinity, etc., while destitute of the life of God in their souls; and are not only destitute of this life, but deny that such life or power is here to be experienced or known. They have religion in their creed, but none in their hearts. And perhaps to their summary they add a decent round of religious observances. 

 

From such turn away - not only do not imitate them, but have no kind of fellowship with them; they are a dangerous people, and but seldom suspected, because their outside is fair.

There have been so many things that have happened in 2020 that seem almost unbelievable.  A worldwide pandemic that has shut down businesses, schools, and churches.  Social unrest.  Political upheaval.  We don't know what we will face tomorrow.  The thought of further persecution is not something I want, but there are promises for those who endure to the end:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

 

Revelation 21:1-4,  "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.   And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

 

It's gonna be worth it all!

62 Years

Today, October 3rd, would have been my Mom and Dad's 62nd wedding anniversary.   I wrote about them two years ago - This young couple was married on a Friday evening in Visalia, California:

They did not always agree, but they didn't fight in front of us kids. Any time two people marry, there will be disagreements, but how those disagreements are handled makes all the difference. I never heard my parents yell at each other. Dad once said, "Marriage is a lot of work" - and they kept working at it.

They did the best they could for all four of their children. We weren't wealthy, but we always had enough. I never went to bed hungry - even if Mom fixed something I didn't like, she would fix something else to make sure I ate something. I always had a roof over my head, clean clothes on my back, and shoes on my feet.

Mom stayed home with us kids so the majority of the discipline fell on her shoulders. Dad never tried to change whatever punishment was handed out.  "Go ask your mother," was a common reply when we were trying to get away with something - Dad definitely had us figured out! Whether they agreed or not, they supported each other in those decisions. None of us kids have spent time in jail, so I guess it worked!

They took time for each other. I remember Grandma Luella (Mom's mom) staying with us on more than one occasion when we were young, so Mom and Dad could go away for their anniversary.

Dad was completely in tune with Mom during her last months. I was in their home the night before she passed away. Mom was in bed in their bedroom. More times than I can remember, Dad would jump up, go down the hall, and back to their room. HE heard Mom calling him, while Kim and I didn't hear a thing. His care for her was amazing until her last breath.

If they were both still alive today, I have no doubt that they would have still been married.  I'm so thankful for these two and miss them so much!

Imposter Syndrome

The Tour de France is one of the many things that has been canceled or delayed this year.  The three week race usually happens in July, but the 2020 edition happened in September.  Irishman, Sam Bennett, won the green sprinter's jersey.  (You can read all about the Tour and the various jerseys in my Lessons from the Peloton here and here.)

 

In an article from Cycling News, Sam talked about his emotions.  From teary eyed to joyful.  But this statement is what really caught my attention, "sometimes you can have a little bit of imposter syndrome that you don’t know if you’re good enough to be in this position."

 

Imposter Syndrome.  I've been chewing on those two words for several days now.  We notice when someone is puffed up with pride, but what about those who never accomplish anything because they don't feel they're good enough?  An article from Unlocking the Bible addressed Imposter Syndrome and Christianity.  The writer describes Imposter Syndrome:

The imposter syndrome is the name our culture has given to the constant feeling that you do not belong to your own community or that your accomplishments are illegitimate. Far from humility, this is an irrational state of paranoia that causes us to think of ourselves more as we think less of ourselves.  (source)

My Bible reading this week took me to the book of 1 Corinthians. Chapter 12 contains an interesting passage about the body of Christ and its members. Paul gives a clear illustration in verses 15 through 21:

15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

It's interesting that Paul spends more time talking about the parts comparing themselves to another part. Only verse 21 talks about an eye or a head saying they don't need another part. How often do people get discouraged because they compare themselves to someone else? "Because I'm not the preacher, I'm not important to the body." "Because I'm not the head usher, I'm not important to the body." "Because I'm not..."

 

It would be an awfully strange looking body if it was entirely made up of eyes. God is the Designer. Just as He designed our bodies to function, so He designed each of us to function within the body of Christ. Be who God called you to be.  Grow your talent.  You are God's child and that's all you need to know to know that you do belong.