Lessons From The Tour: The Long Road Ahead July 26, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News , add a commentFROM AP --After an arduous 20 stages, Floyd Landis vaulted into the annals of cycling lore with Sunday’s win in the 103rd Tour, crowning a stunning comeback. All but written off after cracking in the final climb last Wednesday, the Phonak team leader managed a stunning rebound on Thursday on the the last mountain stage, pedaling like a madman to move up from 11th to third (only 30 seconds behind the yellow jersey) to put himself back in contention.
“It was the Hail Mary pass,” Floyd Landis said. “To my way of thinking, 11th place was the same as 80th place — I didn’t care, I wanted to win, so I took a risk.” In Saturday’s final time trial, Landis finished third but outpaced race leader Oscar Pereiro of Spain to gain a 59-second advantage and reclaim the race leader’s yellow jersey and win the Tour de France.
I am a Tour de France nut and a Christian on a continuous journey to grow in my relationship with Christ and to glorify him in everything I do. So having spent the good part of three weeks watching with complete fascination at the punishment, tactics and final bursts to win a stage, I sit back and realize there are many lessons one can learn from the Tour de France.
What lessons as Christians can we learn from such a spectacle, such as test of endurance…more than 2,200 miles of pounding pavement?
The first lesson is that there is the long road ahead. Most of the stages of the Tour de France were 100+ miles each day — day after day, up mountains and the pain of the climb, other times descending the mountain with complete exhilaration, then other times long stretches of nothing.
Learning who Jesus is and what He did for us is like getting to the starters booth for the prologue…..but the Christian life is a long road, filled with highs and lows and long dry stretches. Each day we need to crawl off after the long day and get massaged, filled with nourishment (time in the Word), talk to the coach (Prayer) and map out a plan for the next day. We need to pace ourselves and we need to have balance so that we don’t fizzle out early — we need to run the race set before us…..
Lake Michigan Baptism July 23, 2006
Posted by Steve in : The City, Church, Inside Park, Urban Church , add a comment
Today, more than 75 people got out of bed early, went down to Lake Michigan and in cold water and in front of more than 300 people, publicly professed their faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized in Lake Michigan. The annual ceremony took place at 7 a.m. at North Avenue Beach, and was followed by an awsome annual baptism celebration services at Germania Place. For those that joined us, this was a day of exclamation and celebration for the entire church — it’s probably the biggest day each year in the life of Park Community Church!
Landis: Another American Star is Born July 22, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News , add a commentSoft-spoken Floyd Landis let his heart, courage and legs do the talking in the final time trial, know as the “Race of Truth”, and came out a winner, gaining 59 seconds on his friend and old teammate, Oscar Pereiro. And with the herculean effort on stage 17, (see this writeup), Floyd Landis has exploded into the living rooms of millions of Tour de France viewers as the next American hero.
I watched with baited breathed today to see if Floyd could do it and he did not disappoint! Tomorrow’s ride will be bittersweet for Landis, who will have complete hip replacement surgery in three weeks.
Vivas le Landis and Vivi Le Tour!
Landis on YouTube July 21, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News , add a commentFloyd Landis’ Miracle 17th stage Effort on YouTube
Tour de France: Ullrich Gets the Boot July 21, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Weblog, Tour De France , add a commentWOW! What a swing of emotions this week in professional cycling! Floyd Landis showed his human side in bonking on Wednesday, then rebounded with superhuman desire and ability on Thursday in the greatest one day ride I have ever seen, then the hammer gets dropped today on Jan Ullrich. I am not sure my heart can continue this emotional roller-coaster!
The former Tour de France champion (1997) was dumped by his T-Mobile team Friday, several weeks after he was linked to a Spanish doctor charged with doping. T-Mobile also terminated the contract of Spanish rider Oscar Sevilla. T-Mobile said both Ullrich and Sevilla failed to provide evidence of their innocence within a deadline set by the team. “Since Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla did not offer proof of their innocence, termination was the necessary and consistent step following their suspension,” team manager Olaf Ludwig said in a statement released by the team.
“Greatest One Day Ride in Tour de France History” July 20, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France , 1 comment so farFloyd Landis proved he has a guts and heart of a champion and wrote himself into the record books with the ‘greatest one day ride in the history of the 103-year Tour de France’. He attacked for more than 140 km attack on the peloton and the maillot jaune, and erased 7:38 of his time deficit IN ONE DAY! Only one day after he appeared to have no chance of winning. I sat glued for four hours to see this special performance by someone I had written off less than 24 hours earlier.
Many longtime devotees of professional cycling said they had never seen a performance — from Armstrong, from the legendary Eddy Merckx or from any other cyclist — like the one produced by Floyd Landis on Thursday in southeastern France. With a blistering 80-mile attack over three mammoth Alpine passes, Landis won the final mountain stage of this year’s Tour by nearly 6 minutes, regaining much of the time he lost when he suffered a near-total loss of energy on a steep, final climb on Wednesday.
No less an expert than the longtime Tour director, Jean-Marie LeBlanc, called Landis’ performance “the best stage I have ever followed.”
After bonking with 15 km to go, Landis fell from first place to 11th Wednesday. He won his first 2006 Tour stage and pulled to within 30 seconds of the leader, Spain`s Oscar Pereiro. Spain`s Carlos Sastre was in second place at the end of the day Thursday, 12 seconds behind Pereiro. This sets up Saturday’s 35 mile individual time trial as the decider of this year`s Tour de France. Saturday`s stage and Sunday`s finale are relatively flat stages that are expected to feature sprints to the finish among the top contenders.
See a writeup on Stage 17 at http://www.tdfblog.com/
Here is another great writeup from a sportwriter who was there
Landis: BONK! July 20, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News , add a commentThe Tour de France proved today it remains unpredictable and one of the world’s great sporting events. Today’s stage 16 — 120 miles with tortious mountain climbs — witnessed the agony and the ecstasy of high athletic drama. The agony was wrapped up in the bonk of Floyd Landis, who went into today wearing the maillot jaune. Landis bonked with 2.5 miles to go, falling out of the peloton and eventually finishing an astonishing 10:04 behind Rasmussen. This has now left our great American hope in 11th place in the GC, more than 8 minutes behind Oscar Pereiro, who regained the yellow jersey. I could not believe my eyes as I watched Landis just drift off — I kept yelling “Floyd — just finish strong and live for tomorrow!” — but somewhere along the way, he ran out of energy and with that, probably dashed his hope for the title
What can possibly happen after this? I am not sure how much my heart can take — we now have had eight different leaders in 16 stages. But I fear the Americans are off the podium….can Floyd make up 8:08? Can Levi Leipheimer finish strong on tomorrow’s stage and move up from 9th?…Hold onto your seats folks!
Genesis 3: The Fall July 19, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Church, Powerful Passages , add a commentGenesis 3 - The Fall of Man
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Over the last couple of weeks, we have started our new series ACT ONE: Genesis at Park and this last week, Jackson Crum, our Senior Pastor talked about Chapter 3, The Fall of Man. While I have read the Genesis story many times, I was struck this week as he laid out a way to look at verse 6:
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food (PLEASURE) and pleasing to the eye, (POSSESSION) and also desirable for gaining wisdom,(POSITION) she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
There are three things that Eve coveted by her statement:
PLEASURE: ….John calls this the cravings of a sinful man — Eve was coveting pleasure — a lot of us seek pleasure and use it to cover up pain. We seek pleasure to cover up the truth that we do not want to face. If we seek pleasure it is only temporary but it feels good and we forget our pain.
POSSESSION: pleasing to the eye - lust of the eyes — Possession: I need this, I want this..if I just have this, I will be fulfilled……She wanted stuff rather than relying on God as her Provider (Jehovah Jireh).
POSITION: If I am seen in this way I will feel better. I need position, rather than a provider.
As I grow in my walk, I still need to continually examine these issues in my life — where are my priorities? What does God ask me to prioritize daily in my life?
What do you think? Please leave a comment
Download Movies to DVD Burner July 19, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Weblog, Movies, Technology , add a commentI am a big movie buff and when I hear of advancements in technology benefitting the consumer, I am the first to jump for joy. Today was a good day, with online movie seller CinemaNow unveiling a new service that allows customers to download a movie from the Internet and copy it onto a DVD that can be played on any standard DVD player.
The new, legal download-to-burn service marks a major step for Hollywood as its movie and television studios seek to offer movies and TV shows to consumers via the Web for playback on TVs and portable DVD players. The studios see digital movie downloads as generating new revenues from old titles. The service is expected to grow, and over the long term some industry watchers believe downloads could replace renters and retailers such as Blockbuster Inc and Netflix Inc in the $24 billion home DVD business.
Check out the CNET story
Genesis 1 - “Every” July 17, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Powerful Passages , add a commentAs we start our ACT ONE: Genesis series two week ago at Park, I have spent a good deal of time re-reading the this key account of creation and the fall of man. As I spent time reflecting on this powerful passage, I began to notice somethig that I didn’t in the past. Seven times in Genesis 1, the writer uses the word EVERY, to describe all the things that God has given us:
21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and EVERY living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and EVERY winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ………..28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over EVERY living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you EVERY seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and EVERY tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—EVERY thing that has the breath of life in it—I give EVERY green plant for food.” And it was so. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground— thing that has the breath of life in it—I give green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
God has given us EVERYthing that we need to love and glorify him — he did not leave out anything we may need……every living and moving things, every winged bird, every seed-bearing plant and every tree. I am learning more about God’s powerful love and pursuit of me and this is a great reminder.
Podcasting for Churches July 17, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Weblog, Church, Podcasting , add a commentOver the last six months, Park has made a huge commitment to the internet and to providing our messages in many formats. We have upgraded our technology, our team, and our know-how, and have begun podcasting our Sunday messages. When I went to on the web, I thought it would be a straightforward process to podcast. We already had the message in mp3 format, so all I needed to do is Google the web, find a podcasting 1-2-3 site, and then let it rip. I didn’t find any great sites that would help me step by step to get our messages to show up in I-Tunes.
Assuming you have your Sunday messages in mp3 format, here is my journey to get podcasting up and running.
1. Open up a Blogger or Wordpress account (they are free and easy to operate). For this example, I will use Blogger, which is where Park’s messages are linked. In setup, click that youwant a links box under the message title.
2. Each week, insert a message title and a link to the message mp3 located on your website into your blogger entry. Also add the name of the speaker in the main blogging area.
3. Set up a Feedburner account.
4. On Feedburner, add your link to your blogger account, and fill in the I-Tunes information.
5. On I-Tunes, click on podcast, then click on SUBMIT YOUR PODCAST
6. Insert your Feedburner feed URL, then wait a week and you should be on I-Tunes.
Please email me with any questions…
Tour de France - The Leadership Game July 17, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Weblog, Tour De France, Breaking News, Games , add a commentWho wants to be the leader? In a very interesting tactical move, Phonak, led by Floyd Landis, has decided not to wear the leader’s maillot jaune in the run up to the Alps stages this week. Only time will tell if this is a good strategy. It seems to be a good move from my vantage point.
First, my sense is this year’s tour pace is quite slow compared to other years, signalling that many teams in the peloton are not willing to be the leaders and do the hard work of leading out the pack, enduring the additional energy-drain that goes with driving the peloton.
Second, this move gives someone other than Phonak the incentive to lead (and hence burn energy) and should give Phonak the ability to stay in the pack without having to lead every mile of the last week of the race. Clearly, this is a different strategy that Team Discovery Channel with Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie and the other team members of years gone by. After a day off on Monday, Tuesday will be the telling day.
The Sobriety of Death - Part 2 July 15, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Family , add a commentWhy do we fill our days with endless activities? — of pushing ahead, climbing the ladder, etc. Life is about relationships….a vertical relationship with the Creator and horizontal relationship with other humans (our family, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, etc). As I look at someone like Sara Western Garavaglia who only had a little time on this earth, it forces me to evaluate “What am I doing?”, “Where am I spending my time”, and “What things am I doing that have any significance?” — I call the latter my sigificance meter……
If I honestly evaluate, I realize how much life I get out of spending time in relationship with others and how dead parts of my life are because of inane things I fill my time up with. I want to do things that have significance — things that matter……how about you?
Imagine More Building Update - July 2006 July 15, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Weblog, The City, Church Construction , add a comment
Here is the most recent update on the building front: Park has received permit approval from most of the permitting areas (structural, electrical, plumbing, sewer, etc.) and should have our permits in place in the next 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, we have been making great progress on some of the more simple demolition/cleanup projects around the building. The whole inside is now cleared of conduit and old wires! Once we have the permit, we will begin the demolition process, which means the roof will be coming off in August! We already have safety scaffolding around the building, so make a point this week to drive by the building and pray that this would be a place where life transformation would continue. We are posting photos and monthly updates on our Imagine More website (see link below). To learn more about the building, or to learn how you can participate in God’s next step for Park, visit the website.
The Sobriety of Death - Part 1 July 15, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Weblog, Family , add a commentYesterday, a old friend Sara Western Garavaglia, who I admired for her worshipful life and her beautiful singing voice, passed away, having just past her her forty-first birthday. She was one of my alltime favorite worship singers, who could reach way into her soul as she sang songs of praise to God. Wrought by cancer, she persevered and praised God until the end, bolstering my faith by hearing of hers.
As I meander merrily through life, I find myself many days lost in the day-to-day living — in the busy-ness of life, then am brought back to the sobering truth — this will not last forever……..I wrack my brain as I think of all the value, friendship, gladness, and life that Sara has brought to others while “doing life” and I am deeply saddened by her death. Yet I know that she is in a much, much better place, a place we all yearn for, yet keep at arms length.
(I am forced to leave this reflective time to visit with some dear folks in from out of town — more busy-ness in my life…………..Part 2 later).
Coffee - The “Healthy” Drink? July 14, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Weblog, Breaking News , add a commentI’m up early getting ready to go to my Men’s breakfast bible study and enjoying a good cup of “joe”. I am a guy who loves getting up early and enjoying the quiet start to the day with some coffee, before the four kids wake up.I’ve been catching a numner of stories in the news telling me that coffee is good for you. Word is that coffee might help prevent cirrhosis of the liver and also benefit the heart, fight cancer, diabetes and Parkinson’s. Wow! – and I drank lots of coffee only because I like it! According to an article in the The Daily Record - UK - “Scientists at the Kaiser Permanente division of research, in Oakland, California, found that, in a study of 125,000 people, the risk of developing cirrhosis (a permanent scarring damage to the liver) was cut by 20 per cent in those who drank one cup of coffee a day. But that figure rose to 80 per cent with four cups a day, and general blood tests showed healthier liver results in those who were coffee drinkers.So, should coffee, once regarded only as a morning mainstay, now be reborn and repackaged as the most unlikely health drink?
Boston: Quietly Experiencing Revival July 12, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Uncategorized, Urban Church , add a commentI love to think about and dwell on the influence that world-class cities have on the rest of the world and the awesome potential impact we can have for the Kingdom if we harness that influence through an inside-out strategy. Impacting the city for Christ from the inside and then seeing that Christian influence spread out to the rest of the world through leaders, through universities, and through the transient nature of the cities.
The UN’s latest report shows that the world’s urban population reached 3.2 billion persons in 2005 and is expected to rise to 5 billion persons by 2030. On the other hand, the rural population of the world is expected to decline slightly from 3.3 billion in 2005 to 3.2 billion in 2030. Whereas 30 per cent of the world population lived in urban areas in 1950, the proportion of urban-dwellers rose to 49 per cent by 2005 and half the world population is expected to live in urban areas by 2007. The world’s proportion of urban population is projected to reach 61 per cent in 2030. Global cities of influence will play a major role in shaping the world in the decades to come.
I was recently reading a story about Boston, the bastion of higher learning and the quiet evangelical revival that is slowly gaining steam there. Isn’t big-city urban evangelism the hardest and the best? Yea God.
Mathematical Loop? July 12, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Games , add a commentGot this game URL from Scot McNight of Jesus Creed, a fellow Chicagoan and great blogger. I am a big fan of math problems and this sort of game makes me squeal with delight! See if you can fool the computer at Mila Design. Once you have had your fill, here is the mathematical Mila Design Solution.
