Christmas Begins with a Decision

istockphoto.com is a great resouce for art when you're looking for something just a little different than the everyday free stuff online. Bought this nice piece of art for this weeks message there. Making the most of it and using it on the blog as well.

Upside- plenty of high quality graphics in just about any format. Downside- they're not free, not expensive, but definitely not free.

Hard not to envy the pastor who approaches Christmas, or any message for that matter, with a staff person in charge of setup and design... must be cool. But, if your working environment requires you to learn to do your own design- they're a bunch of really good sites with some excellent art and it's all a whole lot cheaper than even the workman's comp for the extra staff. Struggle is, everyone has to live with less than pro graphics... not to mention the extra time and learning curve.

Text in this mid-Thanksgiving- pre-advent weekend is Isaiah 9:6- "For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given." Talking about beginning Christmas with a decision. You can listen in to the message at Central Community's Media page.

Looking forward to celebrating Christmas in the days to come- I like the focus on one very special day in our spiritual life -it's a good thing.

Merry Christmas!

Eric

Check out the song of the day on the side bar - a little "belief" music from Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks... and you can never get too much of that!

Black Friday Toys

Hit Best Buy this morning, not early, nothing crazy... list in hand, hoping to score a few fun toys on sale. Picked up a couple of gigs of ram for my laptop- installed it myself... a few videos... micro SD card (2G) and a 4G flash card. Also did a little impulse buying- bought a HDTV USB tuner, again for the laptop. I'd owned one before but returned it for poor performance- with the price lowered to $39- for the weekend, they got me again.

The clip of the game above is the first thing I recorded- unforntuanately, for me, I turned off the game and messed with the software... stupid... ended up being a great game... maybe an all time college highlight... and LSU provided joy for the season in Arkansas.

Me, I made the guys at Best Buy just a little happier.

Hope your day after the holiday was an easy one. That you were able to rest, shop, relax, watch a game, a movie, dork around with your computer... whatever it is that makes you happy... the Christmas Season is upon us... 2007 is down to days, not months or weeks. I plan on making the most of the rest of 2007. Hope to share some of it with you... when I'm not messing around with my laptop!

enjoy the song of the day - a good song every day!

How to Cook the Perfect Turkey

Wash your hands and get to it!
Rinse the fresh or completely thawed turkey thouroughly- run some water through both ends. Make sure you've removed the neck- up front - and the giblets and heart, in a little white bag, out the back. Do with them as you please: the neck's ok for soup stock- put a some water on the stove in a large pan, throw the neck in and let it boil...add more water throughout the day, salt and pepper, season creatively, toss in all the cool veggies you can think of. The giblets you can sautee for dressing, toss into broth on the stove, feed them to the neighborhood cat, throw them away.

Get your roasting pan ready- I reccomend the good foil ones you can get for a buck or two at any local market. Put a quarter cup of water in the bottom of the pan and a bit of vegetable oil. Put the turkey in the pan- good old traditional breast up, or go if you cooked a number of turkeys, or are just feeling a bit risque, put the thing in breast down- the thought is with the breast down, they never need basting and remain moist. Pour more vegetable oil over turkey and rub it all over the bird, inside and out, getting your hands completely messy.

This is a great time to turn your oven on to 375 degrees for preheat. Drip oil across the kitchen floor while also leaving an amazing smudge on oven... eveyone will know YOU cooked the turkey. Let the oven heat up.

Now comes the real fun. How do you want your turkey to taste? I'm famous for my jalapeno turkey- it's quick, easy and mouth watering! But you can use anything, or nothing in your turkey. Cook the dressing in a pan- everything goes faster that way.

Traditional Turkey: salt and pepper the oiled bird, make an aluminum tent that folds long ways with the pan, creases longways down the length of the turkey and stands an inch or so above the bird- crimp it with your fingers on to the side of the pan and you're ready to put the bird in the oven.

WARNING: those aluminum pans that are so handy have a tendency to rip on the bottom sliding in and out of an oven rack, making a HUGE mess as the bird cooks- just belive me. Either place it carefully onto the rack or BETTER put it on a cookie sheet and slide the whole thing into the oven. Check it occasionally after a couple of hours. You can go to Butterball's site where they have a cool little calculator that tells you exactly how long to cook your bird... or just read the wrapping the bird came in. It's done when the legs wiggle freely. If you tied the legs up behind it's breast- it probably says something about you as a person.

Me, I fill and cover the bird with peppers- sliced wide open jalapenos and every other kind of pepper I can find at the store. Stick an orange or two in there - block the openings with fresh apples - put green onions or anything else you like around the bird. Claim that thing!

The last hour- spoon juice over the top- or buy one of those fancy basters and squirt the thing... enjoy yourself. I've cooked dozens and dozens of turkeys... now days I stick it in the oven before I go to bed and pull it out when I wake up. Piece of cake- perfection. You can pull the foil off the bird for the last 30 minutes to give it a cool brown look.

Have Fun!

This year marks the 20th Anniversary of Central Community's, Free, Community Wide Thanksgiving Dinner- if you'll be alone or without on Thanksgiving... don't be... please join us for a day of great food, fun and one more wonderful reason to give thanks. You're invited. And I'm cooking at least one of the turkeys!

first solo trail ride

That's my new bike... a Jamis or Janis of some sort... I know it's full suspension: forks and frame. Rides like a dream. The last couple of Monday's I've ridden with my son John- same trail in a local canyon -about 9 total miles. Normally I follow him and listen as he gives me warnings about rocks, ruts, hills- both up and down -and in general do his best to keep me on the bike and off the dirt... I've got a habit of hitting the dirt when we ride the trail... it worries him. I've yet to fall off the new bike- praise God!

Anyway... today John was out to the beach with his girlfriend, perfect fall weather, sunny, warm... an open invitation to go out and play. Debi worked in the yards- so I jumped on the bike and headed into the canyon all by myself, wondering if I could remember the trails and make it back before sunset. Managed both and even stayed in the saddle.

There's one great spot on the ride where the trail heads down into a tree covered creek. It's so cool to hit the water fast and hard- completely soaks my cletes everytime and everytime I'm amazed I make it through the water without falling. Today, checking out the water, I neglected to take a look at the up hill on the other side of the creek and came right into a deep rut, front tire got stuck and in an instant I was almost down... but then not... pedaled out of the rut, pulled the tire out and cranked it up the hill, heart beating fast and wishing someone had been behind me to watch it all.

I've discovered that most times when life almost takes us down with an unexpected rut, forward movement can save us- the ruts quickly behind us and we're on to the the next challenge... life's always filled with new challenges... the Psalmist had it right when he wrote "I lift my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." The hills, the climbs, the challenges make us stronger, better people when we keep moving forward.

Riding home on the streets, enjoying a fantastic sunset, it was a good lesson to remember on this perfect autumn day. The weekend was so full- today was so restful -the ride was just what I needed. Hope you had the opportunity to do a little of just what you needed this afternoon. It can get you out of a rut... even if it gets you in one at the same time!

blessings and bike rides,

eric

song of the day is always good for a bike ride- listen in- what fun

Running to Win

March 2, 2008, Lord willing, I'll be standing at the starting line of the Los Angeles Marathon. Not great timing... Easter's early in 2008, so I'm slipping out at an important time in the life of our church. But the sad reality hit me a couple of months ago- I'd resigned myself to accept that most of my best running was behind me... what a depressing thought. Realizing I needed a big goal to get myself back on track I mentally registered for LA and got to work. I'm up to 40 mile weeks and broke 12 miles on my run this morning- every run alone. That makes it tougher... but it'll stay that way until I'm fit enough and fast enough to run with other folks- I'm still being passed by the aged and infirmed -but little by little, things are improving.

I've run ten or twelve marathons, but LA was my first, March 3, 1991. The poster's framed and still hangs in my office. Ran it once. Running a marathon's not such a big deal- worse case scenario, you sit on the curb and rest. TRAINING for a marathon, now that's a big deal. I spent years of my life staying "marathon ready." Any weekend that came open, I could head out and run a marathon- and I did on occasion. Never qualified for Boston- but never was rushed to the hospital either.

Ran my last marathon 6 years ago... it was horrible and promised I'd never do it again... but I must miss it, more likely it's just been long enough for me to forget how much it can hurt when things don't go well.

Training for my first LA, I was 36, thin and fit. I'd been running for years but was clueless to training. Never read a Runner's World or Running Magazine, had no clue what Race Place or Competitor were and learned about long runs from a friend at a New Years Eve party just 8 weeks before the race- so I started running 15 every Saturday. Just did my daily 7.5 twice. Ran it in a t-shirt and some dolphin shorts my sister gave me for Christmas... I saw overweight guys on the course wearing cut-offs and converse... who passed me, don't know if they finished. My official time was 4:04 - long before timing chips or I learned to wear a watch and mark splits.

My real time was probably 10-15 minutes faster. Started way in the back: 20,000 people back, and grooved to Randy Newman blaring out the speakers as runners jumped in the sunshine to "I Love LA!" Hope they still start with that. Then Mohamad Ali was in the starters box and I moved as closely as I could, HUGE crowd, wanting to see him as the crowd shouted: "Ali!, Ali!" Who knows how long it took before I ever crossed the starting line.

The race was filled with wonders and miracles, barefoot runners and running Elvis's, (who beat me by a mile even though they stopped in every bar on Sunset!), it was all so new. The front half was like a party... and then the work began. It's been said that the marathon doesn't start until mile 20... it's just a 6 mile race... truer words were never spoken. I made it through those final 6 miles- they were filled with enough stories for a book- church choirs singing in the front lawn- best friends slipping out of the crowd to run with me- my sister calling my name at the final turn... and the finish line... Los Angeles Marathon, Where Every Runner's a Star! I was embraced by an older woman, probably 40 or so, who walked me through the lines, put my first ever finishers medal around my neck and told me what a great race I'd run.

I'm going back!

Suddenly I can't wait! New point to point course- I know what that is now and it's my favorite kind of marathon to run. I have a new goal- no longer looking back, now firmly out in front of me. I'm training again. I'm going to run to win- to win my race, one day at a time, one mile at a time... looking forward.

If you've read this far... you're either family, a writer who wonders how this is all going to wrap up, or someone ready to make some big changes, ready to start looking forward, ready to embrace the excitement, fear, adventure and the unexpected the future holds. There are so many ways to go about it but some constants run through them all: set a BIG goal, start training, don't quit. You'll flesh out the fine points as you work through it. Remember, "Reader's are Leaders." Make friends who are stronger and better than you- then stay open to learn from them.

You can do it: GO, DO, BE.

After running my first marathon I wrote a long article on it that was printed in a national magazine- I just might try to dig it up and read through it again. Follow my blog- at the end of this marathon I just might write a book! Our best miles are still ahead of us. Let's run them together.

blessings,

Eric

Listen In to Randy Newman at the song of the day in the side bar
OR... join me for the marathon- just follow the link LA Marathon

Make a Difference!

Artivists, a film festival promoting films that speak out on current social concerns- particularly focusing on poverty, children, and animal rights (you can learn more about the festival at their site, www.artivists.org),has selected Glue Boys for showing this year, learn more about Glue Boys at www.glueboys.com. What you'll read at the web sites is such a small part of the story. Every film has film makers, dreams, hearts longing for change and voices crying to be heard behind them. We see the celebrity images of excess and too often forget that behind every talking head is a human heart, a spirit in motion, lives, families and almost always, issues that run through the fiber of their being... Artivist hopes to acknowledge and encourage these voices. That's a good thing.

The festival would have never caught my attention- I'm not exactly their prime audience -but for the selection of Glue Boys. Philip Hamer, an exceptional human being, who just happens to be my nephew, is the man who made Glue Boys. So many of the people who've helped pay for it, labored and prayed through the process and spent time in Kenya working on it, are people I know and love. Our son John had the opportunity to work with Phil, shooting daily among the street kids of Kitale, and that's one of the many sparks that finally began our work in Kenya.

Next weekend I'm going to my first film festival to view Glue Boys. I'm excited. It's a reminder that one heart, one voice, one person can still make a difference in a world that quickly diminishes the power of one. I've seen the film plenty of times. I've held Charles and Thomas, two of the primary street children followed throughout the film in my arms. Now we have the opportunity to share with Phil, the crew of the film and their families as this good work is recognized at the heart of entertainment world, Hollywood. Good on you Phil. Way to go Kat and Dan. I couldn't be more proud of you John. Best of all, the story of street children will continue to be lifted up and we'll be forced to respond... we can make a difference- Phil is. We can.

See you in Hollywood!

Danny... and Kung Foo Fighting

That's my buddy Danny. He lives at our children's home in Tijuana, Mexico. He and his brothers were the first kids to move in over three years ago and we've become pretty tight. Danny can be a quiet guy... I'm not real quiet... so when he gets excited, starts running and playing, I feel like life just might be alright, even if he has been abandoned by his family. Yesterday Danny was having a great day running and playing with the older boys. Occasionally he'd run by me- as if playing tag -lay one one me and say something in Spanish or just look up and smile. Since I didn't understand a thing he was saying I responded as any level headed, college educated pastor would... I gathered him up in my arms and started singing, "Everybody was Kung Foo Fighting..." It always draws a laugh and is well worth being the fool for the moment just to watch him smile. Give it a try today. Don't know all the words- but listen in at the side bar- it's the song of the day.

blessings,

Eric
Song of the Day - Kung Foo Fighting - Listen in.
Click to hear music file