Family

Run Good with Wood

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Yesterday I ran a 10k race over in Titusville, FL. Hats off to the folks at Christ Community Church for hosting the first annual “Get Up and Go 5k and 10k.”  All the pre-race, during race and post race details were handled quite nicely – especially for a first time event.  It was a really nice course too.  Although it was muggy (typical central Florida morning) this race was very enjoyable.

My good friend David Wood came along as well.  In fact, he volunteered to be my “personal pacer” for the day to help push me on towards a decent goal.  Actually he did such a good job I now bestow upon him the title P.P.P. = “Professional Personal Pacer.”  We negotiated the contract to include 50% of my race awards – which meant he was entitled to half of my post race banana.
runners
I’ve gotta hand it to Mr. Wood.  He kept me on a consistent pace and pushed me pretty good in mile 4 and 5.  He definitely had it in him to leave me in the dust after mile . . . oh, .05 or so.  But he graciously held back and stuck by my side for the encouragement and pacing.  And it worked!

I would have most likely posted a finishing time 90 seconds to 2 minutes slower than I did without my PPP pulling me along.  Good testimony to the power of encouragement and personal motivation through pursuing goals together with a friend.

So we made it in 47:59 (ok well perhaps the race clock showed 48 flat but I was going by Mr. Wood’s watch which, since I paid him the big bucks, I am certain he synchronized perfectly with the race clock).  This wasn’t a PR for me but came in the neighborhood of it – 40 seconds or so slower.  However, 48 was the goal and we nailed it.  So, all in all, not bad.

I enjoy running and the 10k distance (6.2 miles) is probably my favorite.  Now I’ll probably have to re-negotiate my contract with Mr. PPP to get him to pull me along again.  Next time a bagel too, Mr. Wood?

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General

Looky Here: a WWII Bomb in our Back Yard!

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Just a few miles down the road from our neighborhood was once the site of practice range for the old Army air base in Orlando.  Training aircraft would drop bombs and all kinds of ordinance across this swampy area.  Back in the 40’s this wasn’t a big problem – the area’s only inhabitants were aligators and a few cattle.

Flash forward 60+ years and the bombing range is now covered with neighborhoods, a shopping plaza and a middle school!

Apparently the boundary areas for the range were never clearly marked on a map.  Or if they were, that map has become long lost to the Air Force and the city of Orlando.

Back in the spring some kids playing in the woods behind the local middle school literally stumbled across a half buried bomb.  The Army Corp of Engineers was contacted and the bomb was soon detonated safely on site.  At first it appeared that this was very much a stray bomb, but more searches have uncovered quite a bit of ordinance.  Mind you the bombs haven’t exploded in over 60 years, but most do in fact have live detonators attached to them.

The middle school was even closed and sectioned off for a brief time during the summer.  See CNN’s story on the bombs

Needless to say, public reaction to having bombs in their back yard hasn’t been too cheerie.  The media has had a hay day with this one.

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Cru Digital Ministry

Soularium – a Visual Route to Discuss God

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Soularium

“The soul never thinks without a mental picture” – Aristotle

MySoularium.com  Check out this very creative approach to dialogue with spiritual seekers via a set of photos. Campus Crusade developed this new outreach about a year and a half ago.

Many students are responding and asking to “see” more of the gospel. Check out what my friend and fellow staff member Jerry blogged about it here on the Eministry Notes site:  Soularium – A Great Way to Connect.

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Family

The Drip and the Seep

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“Mommy, some of my stuffed animals are wet,” Toby said as he crawled up on to his bed to go to sleep Wednesday night.  Sure enough, upon close inspection of the bottom corner of his bedspread and a few stuffed animals, we discovered that Toby’s bed – very close to a window – had experienced several “drips” from a small leak in the window frame.

“When did you first notice this place was wet?” we asked Toby.  “Hmmm.  This morning when I woke up!” he replied.  “Oh, so this has been dripping all day.  So did you just forget to mention it this morning?”  Since such things are of minimal importance to a 4 year old, Toby shrugged his shoulders and said, “Hmm.  I forgot.”

This sealed the case.  I had to break out the ladder and go out on the roof to inspect.  Mind you this was during a mild and brief reprieve in the driving rain we’ve had since early Tuesday – some 10 or 11 inches in all.

This story is really a continuation of the report I gave Wednesday afternoon – OK after Storm Fay.  Now it seems that more events have unfolded and we haven’t escaped the storm entirely unscathed.  Toby’s window leaked.  Another upstairs window leaked through the wall down onto the ceiling in the foyer.  And then just yesterday – after four solid days of wind and rain – we discovered two small areas of our carpet in the living room were soaked.  No leak from windows or up above to blame on this one.  It’s still a mystery of exactly how “the seep” allowed water intrusion into our carpet but I’ve gotta guess the wind blowing rain at 40mph into the west exterior wall (good ol’ semi-porous Florida stucco wall at that!) had something to do with it.

We’re making repairs today and finally are drying out.  Definitely we’re thankful this was not a serious flooding issue nor even a big inconvenience.  But it does make us have greater respect for these types of storms.  . . . And we’ll be querying Toby for a report more often after rain.

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