Ready to think???

"If Christ asked His Father to forgive those who crucified Him, aren't they all completely forgiven?"


"If the God of love is a loving Father, why do we never think of him as a loving Judge?"


"If souls were dropping into Hell all around Him, why did Christ wait till He was 30 to walk around and say things nobody could understand, heal a few guys and pick some corn on the Sabbath, without any display of urgency?"

"If Christ died for the sins of the world, isn't the rejection of Christ through unbelief one of them?"

All of the above are from "Mike Ogden" Check out his blog at

http://ifsofog.blogspot.com/

Now...let's reflect.

Fun Pic

I have not been on my blog in months...and got in trouble for that tonight by someone for not posting. I won't mention her name (April).

I promise I will try and do better.

Here is a sweet pic we took of my cousin Jerrod while he was in the hospital in Dallas. Make sure and check out jerrodshelton.com for his updates.

Check Out My Rack!!!

Okay...I am posting this blog primarily to show my Grandpa how I solved my canoe storage problem. It has been a long road folks. I had to figure out how to get the canoe stored above our camper so that our car could fit in the garage. Every kit made for this did not store the canoe high enough to clear the trailer or low enough to not get hit by the garage door when it goes up. I worked and worked on this problem all weekend long trying to find the right kit while I was organizing my garage. Then the age old wisdom of "do it yourself" kicked in. So my brother in law Jared and I designed our own system...which is ten times better. We went to Home Depot bought all that we needed then went home to put our carpentry skills to the test. After hours of measuring, drilling, un-drilling what we screwed up then drilling some more we had finished! It is a thing of pure beauty I tell you. I could put up to three boats on this rack now. It cost way less than any other system I found and I will finish adding all the gear hooks to it tomorrow for my paddles, life jackets and other boating toys.

This design enables me to put the canoe up or take it down without any help. Which is really nice. On these three side boards you see there will be paddles and life jackets plus many, many ropes after tomorrow evenings work is done.

What more could a man want in his garage I ask you? Mountain bikes to your right, camper, canoe, X-Terra. In the back ground trekking poles, back packing gear...what a sacred and holy place.

First Canoe Trip

Darby and I went out in the canoe this past Friday for the first time. It was awesome. We spent the night before at the store picking out her life jacket, paddle, and hat. I am feeling much better now and was able to treasure every second of this adventure. I can't wait until Sutton is older then we will have Marta, Darby, and Sutton in the boat!

Darby could not understand why the fish would not bite. I kept telling her the fish could hear her talking THE WHOLE TIME. She just looked at me and said, "dad I can't hear them...so they can't hear me." She is beyond funny. Needless to say we did not catch anything. It's very hard when you cast the line and your daughter yell's, "here fish...take this hook!" at the top of her lungs over and over. She is outstanding.

She did work up a sweat helping to paddle the boat.

Wild Child

Here is the hand drill I bought from the Maasai while in Africa. It will be Darby's when she is older. However we play with it all the time now. She can now get it very, very hot...time to practice outside. We are always building camps inside. Notice her tent, campfire, tripod for cooking, and incredible passion and skill? Getting her ready for her time alone in the wild at the age of seven. How I adore this little girl.

She now knows how to set up her tent poles and properly make a fire circle. She is also so excited because she can now cause sparks using the flint and steel. She's my little survivalist! I know I'm weird...don't care either.

Sutton's Gift

This is my new friend Andrew in Kenya. He is a Maasai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai warrior that I met while at Amboseli National Park on our Kenya Pilgrimage. They still live off the land and keep very closely to their tribal traditions as a way of life. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip because we were able to take a tour of their village, go inside their homes which are made of cow dung, and watch them show us how they make fire from using the hand drill method http://www.primitiveways.com/pt-fire.html . I was in my own little part of paradise. It gave me great joy to know there are still people in this world who live so close to the earth by their own choice. I wish I knew the wisdom they posses. At the end of the village tour they took us to an area behind their huts where they sell many crafts and items to make money…apparently they also understand marketing and business. I was not impressed with the tourist junk but asked Andrew to sell me his own knife, which I am holding in this picture. At first he said he could not…after some more talking and bonding though he agreed to sell it to me. When Sutton is older my boy will have his own Maasai knife that was hand made and used as a great tool for over 10 years by my friend Andrew. I also talked them into selling me the hand drill they use to make fires. They thought it was so funny that I wanted those things.

Tyler Adventure Race

Here are the pics of the adventure race in Tyler, Texas that Chad, Joel, Aaron, and I ran. The race involved compass and map navigation, trail running, kayak navigation, mountain bike and special challenges. At the start of the race they give you a map and nav points to mark out to find where your checkpoints are. Its all about map and compass skills. You have to use a UTM plotter to chart your course. It was sweet.


Got the above pic out of order...oh well. This is us running through the woods. On this leg of the race two team members could ride, the other two had to run.

The night before the race we thought, "you know what sounds really good? Sushi in Tyler, Texas. We found some. Probably not the best pre-race food but made us happy.

Aaron with the spicy Tuna.

Chad with the fish egg also topped with a quail egg sushi.

Gear table the night before the race. We slept in a camp shelter at Tyler State Park. It took us almost until 1:00am to get the bikes tuned, packs loaded, and first aid kits ready to go. Half the fun!

The start of the race. There were some crazy competitive teams there...ours...not so much.

Almost at the end.

This is our T.A. (transition area) here we store our bikes and other gear during the race. Each leg will eventually end up here where you come flying in grab more gear, chart your next course, and take off once more.

Chad plotting our next CP's on the map. (check points)

This is what a check point looks like when you find it. Notice I said find it? You can easily wander around the woods if you plot wrong. Once you find it you use the hanging clicker to punch a hole in your card to prove you were there.

My Mt. Hood Climb

The above pic is on the summit.

Another pic of the Summit facing West.

This is a pic of the North Face on Hood. It's where the climbers this past week were attempting to Summit. Notice the cornice hanging over the top...major danger.

Chad on the summit.

This is above crater rock. Right in front of this massive rock formation is the actual crater of the volcano. It's a dark funnel that goes into the mountain that emits smoke all the time. Almost like in a cartoon.

Mt. Adams in the distance.

Devils Kitchen route...never climbed it.

All of us on the summit with all our gear.

More summit photos.

Here is the smoke from the crater.

This is from the parking lot looking up. You can barely see where the ski lift ends over on the left. In the canyon in the middle of this picture is where Chad and I did all of our Mountaineering training.

It's been a hard week watching the news and hearing of the suffering of the families of the three climbers on Hood. It's weird because some of the rescue people I have seen on the news we actually met climbing a couple years ago. The mountain can be brutal and so much can go wrong so quickly. I pray for their families.

Respite

Here are the pics of the fish from todays adventure! Tim and I went out to Brushy Creek to see what we could catch. Tim was clearly the man...I on the other hand just had fun being up to my waste in river water in the middle of December. Seriously thought about a full on swim. I caught 4 fish, all were small Guadalupe Bass. Tim caught three huge black bass.

Day out was sweet and more than needed. I can't explain what the outdoors means to me.

Tried to catch some catfish with little smokies...no go. Came to a waterfall on the river and man did I want to go for it! Just Tim, myself, and chance. Chance to prove we are not afraid. Chance to see just how cold the water is in December. Chance to tell a story. Chance. Well needless to say we carried the boat around the falls...I will be back.

Tim bait fished with live minnows and some kinda juice that when applied to the bait really did bring in the big fish. I used the ole fly rod. Love fly fishing. His method definitely caught bigger fish.

Was a sweet day. Praise be to God for the fly, minnow, water, fish...amen.