The White Valley

Meow.

2008-12-18T13:31:00.006-05:00

Yes, that is a heaping pile of catnip.

Falling into Fall

2008-09-17T10:29:00.003-04:00

I've noticed some trees are starting to get some color...summer is apparently giving way to fall. But I love fall, so saying goodbye to summer isn't all that tough.

So Veronica and I attended a few concerts this summer:
Eddie Money-So lame we left way before it was over-give it up dude!
Lucinda Williams & John Mellencamp-I just wanted to see Lucinda but was very impressed with the Mellencamp show-overall a VERY good concert.
Doobie Brothers & Chicago-waste of time-the Doobies need to hang it up.
Jack Johnson-Excellent! pavilion seating was worth it, the place was packed.
Los Lobos & Los Lonely Boys-Don't laugh! I love Los Lobos last 5-6 albums-Great show, highly recommend Los Lobos live.
Chris Issak-We've seen Chris many times and still have a great time, one of our favorites.
Counting Crows & Maroon5-We really did NOT like either of these bands-what can I say?
Jill Jack-We saw her in Charlevoix-too country for me.
I may be forgetting a couple of show so I'll add them later.

Roughing it up north.

2008-08-05T15:53:00.000-04:00

It's up!

2007-09-25T16:05:00.000-04:00

Well the tipi is finally up! I've been bringing all the elements together since late April when I purchased the new cover and liner. The majority of time was spent on the poles. I harvested them from our property in Norwood (south of Charleviox) on Mother's Day weekend with my son's Ben and Nathaniel. We cut balsam firs, peeled the bark and cut all the branches off that weekend and left the poles to dry up north for 5-6 weeks before Veronica and I returned to bring them back home. It then took me about 2 months to do the final trimming of the branch stubs, sand them and apply an oil finish to them. They turned out very nice. I had a blacksmith friend of mine up in Norwood hammer out the stakes for me. They are about 12" long and are made from 7/16" bar stock. The lace pins (all the little sticks you see above the door were carved by Ben, Nathaniel and I around the campfire on mothers Day weekend out of ash branches. I have a double thick floor this time around. I put a heavy duty polytarp on the ground and then covered it with some nice outdoor carpet. I will now start to assemble hides and rugs to cover the carpet. I cut a 3' hole in the floor for the fire pit and lined it completely in medium to small stones. All in all I'm pretty happy with the set-up and look forward to many nights out there just hanging around. I will start inviting friends and family over as soon as I get it furnished.

Allman Brothers Band & Robert Randolph @ DTE

2007-08-28T14:42:00.000-04:00

Well, Veronica and I have been to quite a few concerts this summer but this was probably my personal favorite. I am a Robert Randolph fan and a "Southern Rock" fan in general so it would have been fun even on the lawn but Sam Castillo hooked us up with 3rd row center seats! It was a blast , and the company was great. Sam was very generous to us and I would like to thank him again. Veronica and Kristie had a great time too.

Derek Trucks

Robert Randolph

Warren Haynes & Derek Trucks

Warren Haynes

Warren Haynes & Gregg Allman

Kristie & Veronica

Sam Castillo

Some Thai personalities...and a few of us too!

2007-08-16T08:27:00.000-04:00

If you haven't seen my FlickR! page of Thailand pictures you should stroll on over. Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/larrywhitcomb/

I thought it would be cool to post pics of some of the "personalities" we saw along the way.

Thailand Photos are on my flickr! page.

2007-08-10T10:30:00.000-04:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/larrywhitcomb/
Follow this link to the photos.

I still have a blog!

2007-06-29T15:57:00.000-04:00

I need to start keeping up with this thing. I guess it would be ok to just rattle off some highlights eh? Here goes...

Kids stuff: Nathaniel landed a job at a full service ad agency as a web designer. Not too shabby. He is bidding farwell to his Caribou Coffee career of many years. His girlfriend, Val will be starting her last year of Med school in the fall and will start looking for an internship somewhere in a major city. Probably NYC or Chicago.

Naomi and Jeph are engaged. The ring is on her hand. They are looking for a house. She is still supernanny but less-so in the summer (she nannies for a couple of teachers). The wedding may be a small affair of direct family only. Not really sure what they have in mind. Jeph is working towards managing one of Prestige Photography's locations as well as his freelance work.

Katie and Noel now have 14 pets! Noel's brother and sister-in-law have moved in with them to help each party financially and to assist with Debbies soon to be born baby. They all seem to be adjusting very well together.

Ben continues to amaze us with just how little someone can actually do. There's not much to say here.

Nathaniel and I are going to Thailand in July to hang with a missionary friend of our pastor. 12 of us in total are going to coach english and do some construction. Did someone say "real" Thai food? O ya'

Veronica and I have been to Pine Knob (DTE Energy theater) 3 times already to take in the perfect weekend nights and hear loud and live music. So far we've seen The Barenaked Ladies, The Fray and believe it or not Ted Nugent. The BNL's are NOT my type of music so I admit I simply endured the show, but the night was perfect and Veronica enjoyed them. The Fray was actually quite cool. I listen to indie/college rock almost exclusively right now and they fit the bill for me that night, we both had a great time. Now Ted...that was interesting. When I was a kid I saw The Nuge 6 times and thought he was the greatest guitar player ever. So I thought, what the heck it's been 28 years since I last saw him (and it was cheap). So can he still play?...Dang, can he ever! He's an old potty mouth machine gun slingin' riff monster. Let's just say I'm satisfied to have seen him again and while I respect his playing, I don't feel compelled to see him again anytime soon. Ask me in three years.

I bought another Tipi a couple months back and cut my own poles on our property. I still haven't been back up there to retrieve the poles but hope to have it set-up in August. I'll post lots of photos once it's up. I got it new from a different tent builder then the one who made my first one. This company has made 20,000 tipi's in the last 36 years. They made the tipi's in "dances with wolves" and "the last samuri".

I've done a little recording of original music on and off over the last 6 months. Having fun with it.

Veronica has been taking great care of the gardens around the house. We now have a large raspberry patch too. She's been working a little less lately so she can enjoy the outdoors. We spend alot of time in and around the pool lately. The pool seems to attract everyone in the family and we've had several spontaneous parties break-out over the past few weeks.

Peace out!

25th Anniversary Hawaiian Update

2007-02-20T15:52:00.000-05:00

In the event you didn't know, Veronica and I recently traveled to Hawaii to celebrate our 25th anniversary. What a place! Honestly, if I had discovered the Hawaiian islands 25 years ago I would have stayed there. Perfect weather, awesome natural beauty and friendly people. If you have never been...get there! We stayed in a rental house for 3 days just east of the North Shore of Oahu, the fabled mecca of surfing. From there we caught our cruise ship and sailed from Oahu to the "big island" of Hawaii over to Maui, then back to the other side of Hawaii and on to Kauai. We rented cars on all the islands and did a lot of cruising, beach hopping, snorkeling and yes...surfing. Also went to two luau's. We went four-wheeling in an Austrian pinzguaer up to a couple of somewhat hidden craters on a private ranch. Saw humpback whales almost every day. I snorkled with a 3-4' sea turtle as well. We were more than blessed in every aspect of our trip. It's nice to be home, but man it's tempting to find a way to move there! Probably never happen:(

Studio is shaping up!

2007-01-24T21:20:00.000-05:00

As soon as I can get around to it I'll find a place to host the songs I'm working on. I thought you could host them here on blogspot but it looks like I'll have to create a link to somewhere else. Anyway, When Katie got married and moved out, Veronica and I started to figure out how we could best utilize the extra space. We moved our bedroom into Kate's room and used our old room as a den (which is what it was originally). Katie also had a pottery studio/art room in the basement which I decided for some reason or another to turn into a recording studio. I haven't had a home studio since the early 90's and thought it might be nice to get back into it. So pictured here is what it has evolved into to date. I'm pretty satisfied with the progress of the room and feel the music production is moving along. I hope to have a simple 8 song cd by summer. So far, so good. Of course I have a dozen other things to yack about but at the moment find my brain void of much else (probably the voga I did before dinner). Oh yeh, Veronica and I have been putting an exercise room together in the basement too.

2007 Debut

2007-01-05T13:45:00.000-05:00

Myah Says "Happy new year"

What's up?

2006-06-26T10:18:00.000-04:00

Hello, hello! Time for a little catch-up I believe. The map you see is a GPS overlay that my friend Lloyd produced from our Saturday ride. He mounted the GPS on his bike and got what looks to be a really accurate representation of the ride. It turned out to be around 67 miles and what a beautiful day it was. We rode with fellow teammate Pete Kresmery. Pete works with Lloyd and he’s a strong rider. Pete actually rode to Lloyd’s house in the morning and logged about 8 more miles than Lloyd and myself. It took approximately 6 hours to complete. We are racing in a 42 mile marathon on Saturday the 1st at Stony Creek. I’ll be racing against Lloyd and Pete that day (this puts me in at least 3rd!). I don’t plan on finishing anywhere near the front of the pack but Lloyd and Pete do have a good chance.

Sunday turned out to be quite a whirlwind day too. Sunday morning I drove to Detroit and was given the opportunity to lead worship in a church/mission/homeless shelter. (If you follow my link to “the core” you can see some photos posted by Pastor Ed). Several Wesleyan churches have adopted the work and are having a 5 day youth mission trip there. So we had a nice crowd and a very good time of music and preaching. I really enjoyed it. I did however lose my voice. I haven’t been singing at all since Easter Sunday and I really gave it all yesterday. On top of that I went to see Nine Inch Nails at Pine Knob (DTE energy) last night and spent the rest of my voice trying to talk over the music and probably screaming a little. I went with Naomi and her friends Jeff and Aaron. I really didn’t know too much about NIN but I do now. They rock very hard. I liked it a lot. I’ve been in a hard rock kind of mood the last few months for whatever reason.

Last weekend was awesome too. Veronica and I went to Petoskey and did some riding and paddling. It’s probably too long a story to elaborate on here so I’ll simply state we had a VERY nice weekend. We rode our bikes on the Boyne Mountain trails and the Little Traverse Wheelway. We put the kayaks in Lake Michigan for a bit and then drove over to a launch on the Jordan River. We paddled upstream and then back down. I do not recommend this! The Jordan has a stiff current and we worked our butts off getting up it.

That’s a small slice of what we’ve been up to lately.

Nathaniel and Val went to see Chad and Regan in Manhattan over the weekend. Haven’t heard from him yet but I’m sure they had a blast. Chad and Regan are great hosts and I’m sure there was never a dull moment. Naomi stayed at Nathaniel’s house for a couple of day and watched their cat. Katie is working long hours on the weekends but has weekdays and weekday evenings off. Ben is glued to the laptop.

Quick pics from Sunday

2006-06-12T22:16:00.000-04:00

This is our second trip to Proud Lake recreation area with Jim and Deanna. Last time out we paddled downstream and then back up. This trip we did in reverse and saw a different part of the river. The weather was A+ and the company was great. We really enjoyed the day. We loaded the boats and gear Saturday night and headed out to Brightmoor Church at 7:30am which is pretty early for us. After the 9am church service we had some lunch at Jim and Deanna's then hit the water. It was followed by Bison and Lamb burgers over an open wood fire. It's rough...but this is how I choose to live! God is a master at capturing our attention with his creations. A day like yesterday keeps the trials of life at bay long enough to clear your head; and God knows my head needs constant clearing. Next weekend we go to Petoskey and do it all over again. We found an Inn overlooking the bay that just so happened to have an opening do to a cancellation this weekend...pity eh? We plan on biking mostly; off-road at Boyne Mountain, The Mackanac trail between Petoskey & Charlevoix and then over and around Mackinac Island. If all goes to plan we can do some paddleing on the bay one evening.

Peace

I'm back!

2006-06-10T19:42:00.000-04:00

I haven't had time to blog lately for many reasons...they're called excuses, so I'll spare the planet from mine for now.

We finally replaced the computer at home so it's easier to hop on the information superhighway from here now. We decided to give Ben a laptop for his 17th birthday (June 2) and in doing so knew we would have to install the wireless router thats been sitting around here collecting dust. So as the ball got rolling and the reality of my current (5 year old) computer state set-in, we had to do it. So two new computers later our home is now a broadband wi-fi hotspot. This has come to the attention of Katie and Noami's friends and we have had even more frequent visits by various laptop carrying americans. Veronica seem a little more interested in all-things computer too and that's progress folks.

We didn't actually buy a laptop for Ben's birthday specifically, it's part of a "Headstart" program we instituted a few years back. Each of them over the course of their teen years is alloted a certain sum of money to use towards things like cars, etc. For Ben...it's a computer. He's showing promise with his FlashMX skills and hopefully this can help catapult him in a positive direction.

So a few days of last week were spent tweaking the PC and all that kind of stuff.

Nathaniel and I just got back from Toronto this afternoon. We scored tickets to Radiohead about a month ago and saw them Thursday night. The North by Northeast music festival was going on at the same time so we stayed an extra night and caught a few indedpendent Canadian bands as well, 400 of them were in town at 33 venues. We had a great time together. We laughed ourselves to tears a few times on the way home listening to blue-collar comedy on sirius satellite.

Veronica and I are going to Brightmoor Tabernacle in Novi tommorrow to visit her sister and see Jim play in the band there. I haven't been to a pentecostal service in years; it should be fun. Afterwords we are going kayaking with them on the Huron river. It'll be a full day.

Next weekend I'm taking Veronica mountain biking on the trails at Boyne mountain:) She's gunna hate me! But I'll make it up to her somehow. We'll ride there for a while and then ride the paved trail that runs between Charlevoix and Petosky. The next day we will ride Mackinac Island and finish with some Lake Michigan kayaking. It should be a full weekend. We are lovin' the (almost) empty nest. Believe it or not by September...3 of the 4 kids will be in their 20's. Seems like only yesterday.

Other than that not much is going on.

Killer Weekend (the good kind of killer!)

2006-05-30T10:38:00.000-04:00

This weekend being my first round-the-clock 24 Hour event I was able to gain some valuable experience. Firstly, forget getting rest, little sleep can be had and you generally don't much feel like eating to renew you strength. Second, Boyne has the hardest trails I have yet to ride in Michigan. There's 1250 ft. of climbing in one loop of 9 miles, some fast technical downhill single-track and more sand than I typically like. The final decent included a smokin' fast 1/8 mile of super deep sand that I found extremely hairy. And thirdly, I'm not in the kind of shape I would like to be in, this place kicked my behind!

We started the weekend by arriving early Friday afternoon, checking-in and moving-into the condo. We set-up our pit (two tents, chairs, gear, etc,) then hit the course for a pre-race ride. This was an important thing to do as none of us has ever rode the course but it took quite a bit out of us and knowing what we know now we most likely wouldn't waste our energy on a pre-ride again.

The race was started with what's called a Lemand start; basically you take the front wheel off of your bike and at the whistle run approximately 100 yards with your wheel in hand to where your bike is set-up. You then put the wheel back on and race away. Kind of an odd start to a 24hr race in my opinion but it was fun anyway. Lloyd raced the first lap so he was the one that had the pleasure of the foot race.

After Lloyd's first lap, he tagged me for the second lap, then Drew, Pete, back to Lloyd and so on. Our lap times were fairly consistent at 63-75 minutes per lap (mine being the slowest, for the record) during the daytime hours. We rode a bit slower in the dark (for obvious reasons). We raced pretty hard the first two laps and generally started to fatigue a bit by night.

The race got rained-out at 6:30am. Nasty thunderstorms rolled in and we quit riding after our first 4 laps each, so we ended up with 16 laps. Had it not rained we would have finished with 22 laps. I was disappointed we couldn't finish on one hand and thankful on the other, I was beat. My 4th lap (2nd night lap) was pretty hard on me. I was so fatigued that I was finding it hard to control the bike on the faster downhill sections as I was loosing upper body and arm strength. This proved to be dangerous as I nearly creamed a few trees at high speed in the dark. But harder yet was the climbing! This place goes up, up, up; so much so that there were a couple of hills I just had to walk up. There is a section called "the grinder" that just kept going up. It felt like I was climbing for 10 minutes straight, just to get to an even steeper climb later. All in all, 4 laps seemed about right for me. 5 would have been really tough and 6...well who knows...I'd have done it but would have probably paid dearly for it.

But it was a lot fun and my race partners were great company. These guys love bikes, riding them and riding them hard. I really do enjoy hanging out with them; they have great attitudes and lots of spirit.

Unfortunately, I didn't take many pics. I thought I would have lots of time between laps to walk the course and take some photos but I was just too tired and needed to catch some rest between laps. Time flew by. I did get a couple though and as others post photos on the MMBA forum I'll snag a few.

Also, if you didn't catch the hail storm on Thursday night I have included a shot from my front porch, it was pretty cool.

I drove over to our property in Charlevoix Friday night after dinner and got a couple of sunset shots too.

24 Hours of Boyne Race this Weekend

2006-05-25T14:28:00.000-04:00

Well after the "mudfest" at the 12 hours of Addison race, the bike needed a serious cleaning and the follwing list of parts:
New Cassette
New Chain
New Rear Derailleur
New Cable and Housing for Derailleur
Derailleur Hanger
New spoke and Skewer
It's cleaned up and ready to go. Lloyd and I are rolling out in the morning to Boyne Highland for the 24 Hours of pain. Should be fun.

Guess where? It's easy!

2006-05-23T15:17:00.000-04:00

Here are the choices:

1.Sparta Tennesee
2.Tahquamenon Falls
3.Udell Hills, near Wellston, MI
4.Loch Drunkie
5.Jordan River
6.Meads Bay
7.Lake Superior
8.Magoon Creek, Manistee, MI
9.Paradise, MI

Getting the boats wet

2006-05-22T13:01:00.000-04:00

Saturday brought some decent weather for a change so Veronica and I headed up to a section of the Lapeer State Game Area to do some paddling.

The lake had two distinct sections that were separated by a levee. The opening was just a bit wider than the kayaks. One side was just covered in lily pads and the other was open water.

The lake has about a 3-4 acre island worth exploring too. We hiked around it for a spell and then fought the wind back to the truck.

The Cross was Built to Save

2006-05-16T09:43:00.000-04:00

The features that I see

carved into the cross

span the globe a thousand times

encompassing the lost

the sum of populations

will someday coincide

with the depth of Gods great love

that draws us by his side

these timeless deep impressions

so honestly concede

the frail human condition

found in Adams seed

believing in the savior

who opened up His grave

will pass us into glory

through the cross God built to save

planted in the earthen mound

this simple wooden frame

gave freedom to humanity

who lived their lives in shame

the stripes, the nails, the crown the cries

left marks from sea to sea

for all who will embrace his name

and the cross God built to save

12 hour race takes me out in 5

2006-05-15T08:38:00.000-04:00

Should have stayed in bed. I knew the trails would be bad but hadn't really thought about what would happen when 100 or so riders pushed through the mud for 12 hours non-stop. Many people had debilitating mechanical failures, sadly myself included. On my third lap the mud had completely siezed up my drivetrain (for the ? time!) and pulled my (very expensive) XTR rear derailleur up and over into my spokes. The derailleur and the hanger were destroyed. I had to hike back to the pits about a mile and a half where I hosed the bike down and had it converted into a single speed. We took the broken parts off and put a new chain on just one cog, this left me in only one gear to ride in. Well...about a mile into the next lap in one gear took me over the edge, so I walked back to the tent and hung it up. My partner Lloyd had a cold and really wasn't all that pumped to be there anyway so we decided to just go home 5 hours into the day.

The photos of me and my bike are after the first lap only. I couldn't begin to explain how much worse we all looked later in the day. On my breakdown lap there was almost a football sized chunk of mud on the back of my bike where the rear wheel, chainstay and seatstay meet. Did I have fun? Sure. Would I do it again? No.

Details

2006-05-09T15:32:00.000-04:00

As I enjoyed lunch on the patio at home yesterday it seemed that everywhere I looked there was some kind of flower in bloom. Many of the flowers go quite un-noticed. Some are very small and insignificant. It was those that drew me in. The smallest of them very often had insects on them collecting nectar. They were tough to photograph, but I did get a few decent shots of the little buggers at work (or play).

So many joys in life are found in seemingly insignificant places and moments. Overlooked and often undervalued, they cycle through life contributing to the big picture in ways we may never really understand.

Lets try to look closer at life's details. I'm convinced we are missing so much of the beauty in this world. We all have different places we will be drawn into. With many of us it will be the natural world and others may look more closely at their own lifestyle...the details, the small often neglected aspects.

The Lyric

2006-05-08T12:52:00.000-04:00

The illusive lyric

how DOES it get away?

simple thoughts

in the flicker of an eye

vanish

only a ready pen will tighten the noose

around the wings of this art.

Superimposed against our lives

the lyric lies in wait

will I see this frail whisper

before it fades from site?

I'll write because I'm chosen

to give someone this word

some things I've remembered

others from the sword.

Race season is here!

2006-05-05T09:44:00.000-04:00

Well, next Saturday I'll start racing. I've already skipped a few cross country races because I've decided to compete much less than last season. I'm probably not going to race any time-trials at all. Conditioning has become much tougher this spring, mostly because of very little exercise and too much food this past winter. I managed to add 15lbs to my mid-section and hey, it's slowing me down!

Last night I cranked-out a 28 mile trek of backroads and a couple of laps through the Addison Oaks race loop. It's regretably the only reasonably long ride I've been able to fit in this spring.

The first race is a 12 hour epic at Addison Oaks County Park on May 13 from 10am-10pm consisting of a nice mix of single track in heavy woods and a bit of two track (service road). The trail only has a few midsize climbs, some minor technical features (log piles, rock/boulder beds) and all-in-all is pretty fast. The flow is very enjoyable, quite a few sections on the course allow for "recovery" which I use without reservation. My brain wants to ride full-out the whole race but hey...it's 12 hours, you need to recover.

In case your wondering, I have a team mate. We alternate laps over the 12 hours. He is the faster and stronger of the team and an all-around great guy. His name is Lloyd Lind. Two years ago he was the NORBA state champion in the 40 over beginner class. He won 12 races in a row his first year racing. Not a bad guy to have on your team eh? I managed 3rd in state last year in the same division. We both race sport division now and it's the most competitive of all the classes. Many ex-elite/expert riders eventually end up in the sport class in their 40's. I can only hope to not finish last this season. I feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it.

Veronica and I ride together about 3-5 days a week. We have an 11 mile loop we like alot with some very tough climbs or an 8.5 mile slightly abbreviated loop. She rides a 6 mile loop solo on the nights I go on training rides (the painful days). I've tried to convince her to compete (just for the fun of it) but she's been a tough nut to crack. It really is a great way to do something together that's healthy and challenging. I just think it would be cool if we could go to the races together and both push it to the limits!

Memorial Day weekend our 4 man team will take on the 24 hours of Boyne race...but that will be another story. God Bless.

Love is the mortar

2006-05-04T15:05:00.000-04:00

Come together, arm in arm
Brave the weather, face the storm
Equal judgment, steady mind
Singular in purpose, walking the line

With and not against you, blended flowing streams
Parallel intentions quick to animate the team

Planning the work, working the plan
Keeping in step, with our fellow man
Love is the mortar, fusion the key
To keep our feet steady, and our motion free

With and not against you, blended flowing streams
Parallel intentions quick to animate the team
United we stand, divided we fall
Unless the Lord has built the house
Why labor at all

With and not against you, blended flowing streams
Parallel intentions quick to animate the team

Noise from an empty heart

2006-05-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

Amos 5:21-23 The Contemporary English version:

I, the Lord, hate and despise your religious celebrations and your times of worship. I won’t accept your offerings or animal sacrifices—not even your very best. No more of your noisy songs! I won’t listen when you play your harps.

Amos 8:11-12, the Lord, also promises you terrible shortage, but not of food and water. You will hunger and thirst to hear my message. You will search everywhere—from north to south, from east to west. You will go all over the earth, seeking a message from me, the Lord. But you won’t find one.

Why? Amos prophesies during a period of national optimism in Israel. Business is booming and boundaries are bulging. But below the surface, greed and injustice are festering. Hypocritical religious motions have replaced true worship, creating a false sense of security and a growing callousness to God’s disciplining hand. Famine, drought, plagues, death, destruction—nothing can force the people to their knees. Israel had tension between their heart condition and their actions. Noise from an empty heart!

Psalms 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Growing & Going

2006-05-02T09:35:00.000-04:00

Build us up and send us out
four walls we cannot see
make our vision greater Lord
to look outside of me
Pour compassion on my heart
and swiftness to my feet
our world is slowly choking
on it's tasteless temporal meat
We glide past many people
throughout our selfish days
not even glancing round us
to see their hollow gaze
Lord build us up and send us out
we'll rise up like a flood
prepare the way before us
to share your endless love.

Pride

2006-05-01T09:19:00.000-04:00

Pride lies awake at night burning its fire

Gathering heat to inject your desire

Pride stokes competition that flames up in greed

Pitting man against man to see who will succeed

Pride breeds in our mind it sings tunes in our heart

Preaching total control of our world as we start

To believe we are better or bigger or not

Till we are pierced through with its well placed shot

Pride is the mother of all other sins

If you’re fed on her milk there is no way to win

You'll be bloated so fast by consuming the lie

Then burst with contention to snap every tie

Give pride an inch it’ll drag you for miles

Spin you out of control; leave your value in piles

From shore to shore to peak to pungent alley

Dig in your heels it’s the devils road rally

Struck by Your Leaving

2006-05-01T08:46:00.000-04:00

I’m touched by your love
Struck by your leaving
I’m flooded with hope
You are the reason
The shade by your side
Keeps me from burning
And I’m touched by your love
Struck by your leaving.

I’m touched by your love
Struck by your leaving
I’m impelled by your tug
Stirred by your pity
The shade by your side
Keeps me from burning
And I’m touched by your love
Struck by your leaving.

I’m submerged in the sounds
Sounds of your witness
I fear not the thorns
Deep in the thicket
The shade by your side
Keeps me from burning
And I’m touched by your love
Struck by your leaving.

Veronica & Naomi Take Road Trip

2006-04-28T16:24:00.000-04:00

Naomi and Veronica decided to take a quick shot over to Niagara Falls last week. It was their first "spontaneous road trip" together. Don't they look happy?

Katie painted this mural on our kitchen wall last week. She's been doing murals here and there on the side. She and Veronica decided to have some fun with the kitchen and help promote her work. The Setting is Meads Bay on the island of Anguilla just off St. Martin. National Geographic calls it the 5th most beautiful beach in the world. It was stunning...and now it's in our kitchen.

Unity

2006-04-28T08:52:00.000-04:00

Here are some verses on unity for today:

Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Romans 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

Romans 15:5,6 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Philippians 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Philippians 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Philippians 3:16,17 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous

Horizons

2006-04-27T13:09:00.000-04:00

You can't pin down a winter breeze
his shoulders are too wide
we reach to the horizon
where the landscape is his bride

they seem to move in unison
the sun sets, then they hide
beneath the vale of darkness
as the moon brings in the tide

by morning the vale is lifted
we wake from tuffled dreams
the warmth of day arouses us
white light is cast in beams

we reach once more to earths great edge
new horizons have arrived
this is the day our master made
and in it we will thrive.