Sunday, April 3, 2011

Day 9 - A Day Off

After 458 miles, it's nice to take a day off, rest the body and get out of a pretty rugged routine. Thankfully, my body is holding together and I feel fine, just a little tired. I had the opportunity to visit with Lee and Melissa S. and their children Aaron (age 3) and Noelle (5 months). I attended their 8:30 am service this morning which meets in the local IMAX movie theater and enjoyed their hospitality at lunch. It was interesting seeing how they adapted the theater to a church environment. I was most interested noticing that their nursery meets at the front of one of many theaters in the complex. Lee indicated that he is in his element as a lead pastor in a church plant. After less than two years from beginning the church they are averaging 250-300 people. It looks to me like a fruitful ministry with new people regularly becoming followers of Christ.

I just wanted you to know that I repositioned the map so it's a little easier to access. Go to the right side bar of the blog and look down to the word LABELS. Below that is the link named MAP. Click on that and you can go to the map.

I said I would say something about the bikes some of the riders are riding. These riders seem to know their stuff about their bikes. Most of them know whether they are riding all carbon frame bikes or steel bikes with carbon seat posts and forks. Many are riding with upgraded drive components such as Shimano Ultegra, SRAM Red, Campagnolo Super Record and even one bike with electronic shifters. I haven't seen any Dura-Ace but I haven't been closely inspecting. Most frames are carbon and a few have a custom titanium frame which costs about double what a good all carbon frame costs. I am pretty confident some of these riders have upwards of $10,000 in their ride. Be assured, I have nowhere near that amount of money invested in my bike. As far as bike manufacturers go, it's all over the charts. I have the only Cannondale. There are many Treks (including a couple high end Discovery Channel bikes), a Colnago, Cervelo, Kestrel, several Specialized, a custom Lynskey, Klein, Waterford, and Giant to name a few.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Even though we are enjoying a needed day of physical rest and it falls on the traditional Sabbath day of rest, did you know that when the Bible mentions that God rested the 7th day in Genesis that it was not because He was tired and needed rest. The Hebrew word for rest can also mean "complete". The better understanding of that passage is that God completed what He set out to do regarding His creation. Fast forward to Hebrews where we are encouraged to enter into His rest. Again, perhaps the main emphasis is not merely resting from our labors as much as it is entering into what God has completed for us - an eternity free from the pollution and contamination of sin that has plagued us all our lives.That is truly something to look forward to.
The home of Harvest Community Church, Mesa AZ
The "narthex" of Harvest Community
It takes 1 hour to set up and 20 minutes to tear down
Their nursery is on the floor at the front of the theater
Lee, Noelle and Melissa (Aaron was enjoying a nap)
You get the idea

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