This week is in honor of my sister Nancy. She is battling cancer that has spread to her liver and her lungs. I am taking some time this week to tell a bit about her and the impact she had/has on my life.

When I was 18 or so she became a believer and accepted Christ’s death as payment for her sins. You could call it being born again or becoming a Christian the words you use are not near as important as the impact on life itself. This accepting of His death and subsequent resurrection provided her with the certain knowledge of where her eternity will be spent. This is playing a key role now some 32 years later as she wrestles with cancer and the uncertainty that lies ahead
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Soon after she accepted Christ she began to tell me about what He had done for me and about my need for accepting his Love. I was at that time under the belief that if the good things I did outweighed the bad I would be OK with God. After looking at what the Bible said I learned that it was not about me (I like everybody was a sinner)but about God and my relationship to Him.

As a result of her sharing I to accepted Christ and enjoyed His love & grace now since 1976.

It is neat to hear Nancy talk about what could be a terminal illness. She says she is not really concerned about the illness since she knows where she will spend eternity. Powerful words when the rubber meets the road.

How bout you... can you say for sure. If not talk to Nancy or myself and we can show you how you too can know.

Here are a few pics of my sister....

she is a blessing to me.

a nice weekend North

It was a good trip north to see family and we got a bonus of some fall colors. Though the intent of the trip was to visit family, I have a sister that is battling cancer - there was a nice spattering of fall foliage

Bernice & I climbed Blue Mountain. It is a steep 4 mile round trip hike up the 3759 foot mountain. It took just over an hour to get up.... not sure how this compares to how fast we climbed it back in 30 years ago on our first date. I am pretty sure that we were faster this time. The rest of the weekend we spent with family just making memories and catching up. On Saturday night we had a bonfire at my sister Jeanne's house it was fun and we all had a good time It was time well spent and we were able to bring some good NY apples back with us. Tomorrow it is back to bicycling and working. I am glad that I love my job and my clients it makes Monday's fun too.

Summer Week

This week was another good one.

Two shorter (less than 25) and two longer (40+)bicycle rides (Mon/Wed/Fri/ Sat)

Work was slightly less hectic as I have cut back just a bit on how many clients I will see each week. It makes it a tad more relaxing for me the only downside is ocasionally clients have to wait a bit for a face to face. I can still handle most anything urgent over the phone.

I was able to get the first service done on the FZ6 and they actually charged me less than they quoted me. In just over 2 weeks I will head to the mountains of North Georgia to ride it for about 5 days. Looking forward to that.

We had dinner and watched the Gator game with some long time friends and enjoyed a great meal and big win over Tennessee.

Today after Church we had a church wide picnic at a camp called Southwind just outside of town. It was good food, conversation and games. They have a very nice facility.







Now I will have a little time to continue working on an upcoming Sunday School lesson I will be teaching a class from December till the end of February on the book of Judges. It is an old testament book with more action than most current day Movies and a messege that is so relevant it is scary. Some things that stay the same are good-- like God others don't change much and that is bad --- like man in general.

Sunday's Sayings

Well another week has gone by and it was a good one. I really enjoyed my meetings with my clients during the work part of my week. It is fun to know you are doing what you are supposed to be doing as far as a vocation.

I am using John Maxwell's definition of success as I look at my planning for my life:
“Knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, while sowing seeds that benefit others” I am in the process of writing this in a personalized format when I get it done I will share it.

The week went well from a riding standpoint: We got in short rides on Monday and Wednesday and medium length rides on Friday & Saturday.

I also got in several rides this week on the FZ6 -- I now have over 600 miles on it and will take it in soon for the first service. I needed it done before the trip to the mountains of Georgia in a few weeks.

I also installed an aftermarket horn for the Yamaha -it is LOUD -- good to be heard"
I needed to modify it a little for the motorcycle -- needed a drain hole drilled to prevent incidental pooling of water during rain or washing.

Tonight Bernice and I will be sharing about our trip at our Sunday evening Church service. It is fun to tell about what happened and I never seem to tire of answering the same questions about mileage flat tires ect.

Sunday September 2nd
I started the day with some reading and a breakfast of homemade pumpkin chocolate chip bread. I am going to be teaching a class on the book of Judges in the late fall and I am amazed by the similarities of how Israel would do what is right and then do what was so wrong in a very short span of time. It reminds me of our need to stay close to God at all times because we are prone to do the wrong thing. We headed to the beach and it was not sunny but pleasant….we relaxed there for about 2.5 hours, came back to the camper grilled some steaks for lunch then took a nice nap. It rained again most of the afternoon; this weekend has been VERY relaxing.

Saturdays report

Saturday September 1st

We headed to the beach after a nice breakfast of chocolate milk and homemade banana bread. Bern and I took a nice long walk along the sea and enjoyed the relaxing noise from the surf. When we got back our friends Bruce and Cheryl from Ocala were just arriving and we spent and enjoyable time chatting laughing and discussing life in general. It is good to have friends that you can be transparent with; it helps in the Proverbs 27:17 process of iron sharpening iron. They were able to stay until after 7:00pm before having to head back home. I spent the last few minutes of the day chatting with Bob around the campfire. Very relaxing day.

Friday's fun

Friday August 31st.

We arrived at the State Park which is right on the beach on Friday afternoon about 1:30 it was pretty warm. Set up of the pop up went flawlessly and we were inside with the AC running before the afternoon thunderstorms hit. It is relaxing for me to relax in the camper and hear the rain. Did a little work, read some and took a nap….then the rain had stopped and we went for a nice walk ended up going out to the ocean. The ocean always reminds me of God because of its expansiveness and power. There is a verse in the Bible that talks of how God laid out the ocean within its boundaries and I am always amazed how this remains true. Yes it creeps out momentarily during Hurricanes and Tsunami’s but basically it stays put…..regardless of what those Global Warming folks might want to purport. I ended the evening sitting talking to my friend Bob (not Uncle Bob) about life and enjoying an adult beverage.