Bikes, Bacon, Father's Day and Polycarp

To celebrate Father’s Day, our church, Canyon Ridge Christian Church (www.canyonridge.org)- a little product placement there- hosted ‘Bikes and Bacon.’ You may ask yourself, “Why bikes and bacon?” and our pastor, Kevin Odor gave the best Father’s Day man answer: “Because.” I took Libby and the tent trailer, set it up and enjoyed meeting old friends. She didn’t mind towing the trailer as it was almost empty, and she got to show off. She likes it when people read her maps. She saw only one sport bike and it sat clear across the patio from her, another good thing.

Nothing like the smell of frying bacon on a Sunday morning. You would think, after a year of travel, I would have brought the camera. You would also think, coming all the way from Brian Head Utah, I would have brought my phone too. Topping off Father’s Day was phone calls from all four kids. Yes, I still call them kids. I’m proud to be their dad. Kevin Odor talked about ‘Tough Faith’ and told the story of Polycarp, an early Christian who faced execution for his beliefs. His captors intended to nail him to a stake and burn him to death. He told them not to bother with the nails, he would stay put. They said he could escape the flames by renouncing his faith. He responded something like this: “He’s been faithful to me these eighty-six years; I will remain faithful to him. The flames I’ll endure will be nothing compared to an eternity of fire. “Light the fire.”

I imagined a classic movie with someone like Sean Connery playing Polycarp and making that iconic statement. I have a new hero.

Logger Life at 9,500 Feet

“Then God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it." ~Genesis 1:28

Since we're now living in the forest, cutting wood is mandatory. Not only for fuel, but just as importantly, to prevent fuel. Watching the wildfires in Colorado certainly gives me pause. Since we were gone for over a year, the woods tells the story of neglect. Dozens of dead falls litter the forest, fuel for a fire, both a warming wood stove type, contrarily a raging forest inferno.

So I cut wood. It takes me back to my youth cutting firewood, mostly with my father-in-law. There's nothing like the camaraderie of working together with a common goal. It's also basic: chop up the trees, burn them in the stove. And of course, the old adage of he who cuts wood gets warm twice.

I'm no yard person, just haven't found myself fiddling with the beds, weeding, pruning and making the place nice. Yet the woods around the cabin give the same feeling of reward as I clear out the dead wood. A nice big stack of firewood certainly helps the cabin ambiance too.

It reminds me of the story of a rural preacher who stopped to visit a local farmer. The preacher looked at the lush fields and said, "The Lord has truly blessed you by providing you with this farm." The farmer wiped his brow and replied, "You should have seen it when He had it to Himself."

Every time I've come up to the cabin in the past, I've been racked with guilt, as the intended projects lie fallow once again, as we never got up there often enough. That should change now, as I have time to tackle the trees day after day. However, since we'll be staying through the winter and consuming great quantities of wood,  I better get to chopping.

A Cultural Rant- Clark County Schools

During our tour of the 50 states, after a while I decided to give the news and media a rest. Wonderful. This weekend, while spending some time in Las Vegas, I made the mistake of reading the paper. Clark County School District, one of the largest in the country, has sunk Nevada to the lowest position for achievement in the country. Yes, we're number one! Oh, wait... no, we're the worst. Our graduation rate hovers around fifty percent with math and science proficiency having dismal results. Quick! Find a state senator and throw more money at the problem. Hold on a second. If the scores are so low, then Nevada must spend the least money on their education, right? Not even close. And we have some of the finest school buildings in the country. Speaking of money, the mantra uttered in the early 2000s (during the housing boom) was, "We can't attract great teachers because they can't afford housing." Since the bubble burst and housing prices have slashed in half, we are attracting great teachers now, aren't we? Funny I haven't heard anything about that. I'm bouncing around, but my son is looking into private school and they found some crazy things that teachers could do in the private sector. Brace yourselves: The teachers can touch the children. I know, it's insane. They hug them and the kids can sit on their laps. They can pray with the kids (horrors!) and tell them they love them. They can discipline the kids. And yes, they do background checks. No idea if there's a connection here, but their results are far better than the CCSD. Mybe it's because they spend more money per student. A lot more. Oh, wait. They don't. They don't have as many therapists, shrinks, nurses or lawyers either. A good book about our education system and ideas for a different perspective on renewing it is Seth Godin's 'Stop Stealing Dreams.' He takes us back to our education roots, points out major failures in our approach to education, and offers visionary ideas for a big shakeup in our education system. I think some of his ideas are utopian, but it makes one think. Let's stop just throwing money at the problem and expecting change. Oh, that's right, that's the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. It's easy to blame the Teacher's Union (and I do, a lot), the system, the media and the parents. It's a complicated, difficult ship to turn. But we better get to thinking hard about how to successfully turn the ship. And Billy (in 'Easy Rider') whined about how screwed up America was in the sixties.