Sundays are wonderful!

Sundays are wonderful!

Well, except the very beginning of this one. I'm up, showered, eating breakfast, and look at the clock and think, "why is it 6:15?" The super-smart alarm clock that sets beside my bed automatically adjusts to a daylight savings time, resets if unplugged, well, I guess it decided to live in someone else's time zone for a bit. Came back upstairs, and sure enough, it was an hour off!

Sundays are great because we meet to pray at 9:00 before the official church day starts. Today was the Going Away lunch/program for the Goodsons. They have been a part of the church family for 27 years! Wow. They will be missed. The Lord really blessed the afternoon meal and program. Your Dad was the emcee.

The morning service was powerful -- looking at David, that powerful man in high places, who deliberately compromised and sinned over and over, but God did not let him go. Though David truly deserved God's wrath, judgement, death, God lavished His forgiveness, grace, and mercy, and David's life continued to be a "work of art" in the hands of God.

The other six days of the week, it's easy to hear lots of other messages about what makes life meaningful. On Sundays, it's so good to be reminded corprately of what is really important.

So, in heaven will it always feel like it's a Sunday?

Do not call 9 1 1

Well after an uneventful ride to Ashland, KY (although the GPS did not do a great job for the last two minutes in the residential area), a tour of Rick's apartment, meeting Rick, having lunch at Ruby Tuesday's (good grief, those two eat super healthy! The more broccoli the better? 'Cause they are 'good carbs'), a leisurely slow meal and sitting around with good conversation, then a tour of Fun Sign Company Warehouse (aka a rented section of storage building), meeting Marshall, it was time . . .

We drove to the MU campus, checked in at the MU Fitness Center, signed legal waivers (which we did not read -- I guess they said something like, "you won't sue us if you get hurt, will you?"), rented climbing shoes (since when do I wear a size 9 in shoes?), get straps attached -- red for the right leg, green for the other leg, next the waist. This does not look comfortable!

"Okay, David, you're the pro. You go first." He does. He makes it look easy. Even though he says he's out of practice, he easily and quickly made it up the first mountain area.

So, now it's my turn. Second thoughts? Nah! Fortunately, this was not a busy day at the Rock Wall. The two employees were there to "blay" (sp?) us.
And just in case we did not know, David was a "blayer" too. Although, since he's not a current student (in summer school), his "blay-ability" was not recognized today.

Okay, my turn . . . Grab. Grip. Step. Lather. Rinse. Repeat -- and all with the knowledge that you really can't hurt yourself, since someone is down there holding your rope.

So, at times, it's easy. Other times, it's not. I guess it really depends on how tall you are and your wingspan (so to speak.) The first wall challenge has a ledge near the top. "No problem, it's like climbing out of the pool and sitting on the edge," they inform me. I did not think that this was the time to confess to the three guys down below, "easy for you to say. I never learned how to swim." So, I slowly came down. Smiled, looked at my smiling son and said, "what's next?"

Ah, the power of encouraging words! If I had tried to do this alone (um, what would be the point of that? Who would have believed it?), I really don't think I would have made it up very high. There really was such a source of strength and encouragement in hearing what I should do next, and how close I was, and that I couldn't give up now!

After he did the second wall, I was ready to tackle it. Okay, this one was quite a bit more challenging. So, why don't they make each of the grips rounded so that you can really hold on? Why don't they make more areas for your feet to rest? Why are my arms burning so much? There was "one brief shinging moment that was known as (not Camelot, but) I think it's quitting time for this ol' man. But thanks to the encouragement of his son, and the reminder that I really can't hurt myself, I pressed on. Near the top, it really got harder to keep going. Had to stop twice. The forearms really ached. Later in the day when I was paying for dinner, it was noticeably 'different' to separate the bills to give to the cashier. Wow, hands ache, too. Right now, I can sense just a bit of tenseness here and there. I think Aleve is calling me.

Okay, I made it -- TO THE TOP. David has a picture to prove it. Yay! The 53 year-old-man who has never done this before made it. What a neat feeling of accomplishment. Really it is. I climbed the mountain!

What a great ending to a great father/son day with my Maniac.

Thank you Lord that the paramedics did not have to be called to scrape the first-timer off the green floor of the Fitness Center.

So, I guess the next question is, when am I going back for Round Two? You know, the Racket Ball Court looked fun . . .

Thank you David for such a fun day!

Let's start with shoes and spiders.

Adam and Eve did not wear shoes. There were no shoes in the Garden of Eden. Hence, wearing shoes now is a sad thing for fallen man to have to do on a regular basis.
 Rainbows (flipflops) are a good thing! 
Going barefoot is a good thing.
Summertime is a good thing.

Tomorrow, I am headed to the MU campus to face the Rock Wall , and I am super-excited about spending the day with my Marshall Maniac, aka David.  Okay, but what to wear? Certainly not the flip-flops. Do I really have to wear the not-so-comfortable New Balance shoes (that are really old)? Nah, according to the Rock Wall expert, aka David, I can rent climbing shoes there. Yay! For two bucks, I can put my "five fingers" in something made to attack the terrain. (And David will get his belated birthday present -- his new pair of five fingers -- to try out as he instructs his 'Ol Man as to how to get off the ground.

So, why am I so excited about climbing this wall? Well, think about it. "So, Mr. Pelts, what did you do on your summer vacation?"  How cool it will be to say, "I went rock climbing with my son!"  Now I don't have to immediately tell them that it was inside, in a very safe environment, that my teacher, aka my son, did not let me venture too far up the wall for my own good.

But, it will be an adventure, and part of the joy of life is "the adventure."

My recent adventures include, but are not limited to --
learning and accepting that I will teach two Civics classes next year,
hearing my wonderful daughter describe for me the Vehicle (that starts with the letter "V") that she plans to purchase,
reading letters from my youngest who is away for five weeks, living among the bugs and munchkins as he works at camp,
hearing  wedding details from my oldest, and thinking -- is it really possible that one of "our" children is getting married?
driving to Huntington tomorrow (with a gps) to spend the day with my Maniac, who will try not to laugh at me too much as I defy gravity,
listening and looking at the most beautiful woman in the world, aka as "your Mom," as she loves and understands and affirms me . . .
and in the midst of it all, the glue that holds it all together . . . experiencing God in a newer, fresher way than I ever have in my life.

During the time when we were expecting Isaac, and when we were adjusting/thinking/ responding to the surprise of it all, I often said out loud, to myself, "Life is an adventure."  And with the Lord, it really is.

Okay, this is my first blog entry. I think I've written way too much. But as people who know me know, I tend to be wordy.

Okay, and what about spiders?  Bev recently discovered that my crocks (those ugly shoes that I wore at least four times) in the basement have happy spiders living in them. I'm glad somebody is getting some use out of 'em. If I were a spider, I think living in a crock would be a pretty good thing.