Saturday the family headed to the Pikes Peak Radio Control Club’s “Warbird’s Over Pike’s Peak’s Air Show”, and it was incredible! (Don’t miss HIGHLIGHT VIDEO at end of this post!)
NOTE:Click on any image to see larger in a new window.
For Luke, it was a real treat! He brought a box of toy airplanes and enjoying playing with his planes while watching grown men play with their toys. As the saying goes…
The difference between the men and the boys, is just the price of their toys!
It was hard to believe these things were not real! Especially when the jets went straight up into the air spinning until they were a speck in the sky!
They even SOUNDED like real jets… well, actually, there WERE real jets… just smaller and without a real person inside!
They literally flew up to the clouds! I had to use a telephoto lens to keep up with them!
Luke enjoyed chillin’ out on Daddy’s hammock, which I got for Father’s Day way back when he was just a baby… (remember?)
Everyone had their cameras out trying to capture these birds in the coolest pics possible – the pics in this post and in the video below, are from all three of us, me, my dad and his wife Patty.
The planes took turns putting on a show for everyone, and the stunts they did was just like being at a real airshow with real planes!
And getting to walk around and look at them and talk to the pilots was fun too. (That’s my dad and his wife.)
The variety was amazing. They even let us vote on our favorite and there were awards for the pilots in different categories. I felt good when the one I picked won for best design!
One of my favorite features, was the “little pilots” that a lot of controllers put into their planes:
Pretty amazing detail, isn’t it?
It was an incredible day for a young boy. I love taking him to things that show him you never need to grow up. You can pick a hobby and enjoy it into adulthood, whether or not airplanes is what he chooses, you can have fun at any age!
Days like Saturday are days well invested in your kids.
Even if it does make him think his toys are too small!
We can’t wait to get home and fly dad’s little remote control helicopter!
It may not be as cool as these eight to ten foot remote control airplanes that can soar through the air… but it shows my son that growing up is optional, and that is worth a day is the scorching heat.
That’ll teach him, that HE can soar in life, if he is willing to never grow up!
ENJOY THIS HIGHLIGHT VIDEO: *Recommended full screen!
This morning I am teaching on free will to a group of first and second graders. It’s really only a lesson into, but nevertheless, it’s got me thinking – how do you get people, adults or kids, to grasp the sheer Power of their Choices? Our free will is the greatest and yet most dangerous gift God has given us. When I say “dangerous” you may immediately think I mean because of how it can be misused. And of course, that is true. But I am more thinking of the loss when it is NOT used. Missed opportunity, missed potential, kids or people who failed to reach their potential in life because they simply refuse to make the big or little choices daily that would get them there. How do you motivate or inspire others to grab a hold of the Power they have to Choose?! This AMAZING POWER we have to CHOOSE what we want to do each day and with our lives? Now some will be quick to point out that there are many things we can’t control or can’t change or can’t choose. Of course! I can’t go buy myself a Ferrari this afternoon, nor (more painfully) my six kids to the park. Life doesn’t always turn out the way we hoped or planned, BUT… do we focus on what we CAN’T choose? Or on what we can? The reality is, there is ALWAYS MORE THAT WE CAN CHOOSE than that we can’t if we are willing to SEE it.
So, the question remains, how do we instill this in kids? How do we inspire them to seize their life? To make good choices? To dream and to go for it? And how do we NEVER STOP saying, “TODAY I’m going to make some choices that will move me forward and stop the stall or the circling pattern I’m in?”
To move forward, stay on the right path, or get back on the right path, you must be willing to make the tough choices others are too afraid to make. I’ve certainly made some bad decisions in my life, but I try to be a person who is willing to make bold decisions when needed. Two near death experiences makes you very aware you only live once. I refuse to allow inaction to hold me back. Other obstacles in life can hold me back – but may it never be my own inability or unwillingness to make Choices when they need to be made. So I moved across the country to get out of an unhealthy situation. Once I had to choose to go to the boss and fess up. I’ve quit a job I loved, really loved, because the boss was not doing things right behind closed doors and I wanted nothing to do with it. I have chosen to barely watch TV. I rearranged my life to work from home. (I wish I could choose to get up earlier! But that is just too hard! LOL) I chose the Mac over the PC to give myself many more hours a week for family and ministry and less headaches. (That isn’t a jab at my PC friends, that was a hard switch for me, I once was one of those PC guys annoyed by my Mac friends trying to convert me! But I made the choice because of what it meant for my life, it was one of the best choices I’ve made to be quite honest.)
Choices. You make them every day. There might be some big ones you need to make. Don’t put them off any longer. But today there are little choices too. Don’t under estimate them. Your life is the sum of the little choices you make.
Everyone worships God differently. The Bible says those who don’t worship God, arefools. (Creation indeed leaves them without excuse.) But how they worship God, varies based on personality and interests. Some sing. Some paint. Some build. Some create. Some meditate. Some think. Some write. Some serve.
While I find many means of worship enjoyable and meaningful, one that I find most pleasing and satisfying I call “worshiping through my lens.” It is simply enjoying and attempting to capture God’s Creation through the lens of my camera, and then taking some time to edit with iPhoto.
I enjoy the compliments I get and people are often surprised I’m not a “Photoshop” expert and do everything I do to my photos with only iPhoto. So I thought this time, instead of just posting photos from my Father’s Day outing to the Denver Botanic Gardens (where we have a membership) I’d go ahead and give you my “before and after” pics to show you the difference between the pics I took and the way they look after I had some fun on the computer with them.
NOTE: All pics can be clicked to be viewed larger.
White Daisies (BEFORE)
White Daisies (AFTER) See the bug?
Hungry Bee (BEFORE)
Hungry Bee (AFTER)
Lonely Flower (BEFORE)
Lonely Flower (AFTER)
Red Rose (BEFORE)
Red Rose (AFTER)
Purple Fields (BEFORE)
Purple Fields (AFTER)
Busy Ants (BEFORE)
Busy Ants (AFTER)
Fire Flower (BEFORE)
Fire Flower (AFTER)
Waves of Grain (BEFORE)
Waves of Grain (AFTER)
And then, of course, I shoot pictures of my favorite subjects: (no ‘before’ on these)
I often do this… it is relaxing and my own personal form of worship to sit and edit photos of nature on my Mac. I don’t post them often, because I don’t assume they would make for a very interesting blog if I did it often. At times I think I should start a photo-blog, but then that would be another website to maintain andIhaveenoughwebsitesalready!
The 13th Unit of DiscipleTown is due out any moment now. It’s been another exciting one to write! It is such a privilege to get create these idea-packed children’s church units for Discipleland.
Each one has presented it’s own unique challenged and each one has had things go wrong in the process as though someone or something is resisting this process! At times I wonder if I just have really bad luck – or if it is indeed spiritual warfare as I push forward to create these units that help kids become better Disciples of Jesus.
On this latest one – it got CRAZY as I tried to finish the videos that will help children to understand the overview of the New Testament. While sometimes I’ll be hit with technical issues, like sound only coming out of one channel or a lighting issue, or hard drive crash or the mic wasn’t recording, etc. this time, it was almost funny – except that it was frustrating. I’m just sharing to give you a glimpse into the hidden “battles” behind the scenes as Christian resources are created to help Children battle the Enemy.
As you’ll see in the video below, I filmed in my car in the garage – and after hours of set up (there is a lot of technical set up with lights, camera, tripod, mic, monitor, rigging a cue sheet, etc.) I was started shoot when a cricket started chirping! I began searching my garage for the culprit and when I found and squished a cricket, two more began chirping as though to mourn their friends death! After hours of searching, I had to surrender and go to bed in defeat, no filming that night, despite the pending deadline.
The next day, deadline approaching, I set to film during the day – when the neighbor pulls out a table saw and starts cutting away. Then when he is done, kids start playing outside, then it rains. When I can finally film, and get started, the filming lights (specialty bulbs) go out! I drive to where I can buy them and return. Back to work. I finally am done when I realize that I can’t get the videos off the DV tapes because the cable from the camera to the computer is 4 to 6 pin fire wire cable and my new Mac has a 9 pin fire wire cabe, since I issued my old Mac to an employee when I upgraded. Off to not one, not two, not three but four store… they don’t see a 4 to 9 pin fire wire cable, while all telling me “it’s common.” Not even the Apple Store carries it. I finally ended up at Micro Center in Denver, who had ONE.
Crickets. Burned out Bulbs. Missing Cables. And I didn’t even get into title slides that didn’t line up so I had to recreate from scratch as that is too hard to explain to you. Just more time and frustration during the editing process.
In the end, I love the videos! Kids will watch them and enjoy them and gain a better understanding of the overarching structure of the New Testament, how it all fits together, who wrote the books, their themes and how they are organized into sections.
Is it all worth it? Of course! Some may think “Unit 13″ is just unlucky, but I tend to think that there is a force working against me at times because I am working to help kids know their Bibles so they can be equipped to be Different in this world and live victorious Christ-like lives in this nutty Cricket-infested world, ooops, I mean, sin-infested world.
So the next time you feel unlucky and like nothing is going your way. Just know, you are not alone. You may look at a resource on a website and assume everything went hunky-dory in putting it together. It never does. But I pray it will impact kids lives once it is out there, and once it is live, I sit back finally and sigh a huge relief that I’m done, and it can now begin it’s work of equipping kids to Navigate the New Testament.
But I can’t chill for long. Pretty soon I start to work on How to Navigate the Old Testament, and the crickets are still in my garage.
Here is a sneak peek of the videos from How to Navigate the New Testament:
Being the Dad Today is something I am passionate about! I am all to aware that these days are precious and fleeting and I want to make the most of them.
There is an old saying that you can tell what’s important to someone by looking at their date book and their checkbook. Well, I think that saying needs to be updated to the modern world to be, “You can tell what’s important to someone by looking at their iPhone camera roll.”
Just glancing through mine and you can see what I’ve been up to.
We went to the local carnival this week, just Daddy and Boy and had a blast. (Well, my wallet didn’t but that’s a separate issue!)
We also enrolled in Swim Class. I’m not very impressed with the place – I was hoping they were going to push him a little further than Dad has, so far – blowing bubbles in the water is about all they have done… Dad is working on patience as he watches through the glass as they do stuff I’ve done with him for years… hopefully in the next week they’ll teach him something new and I’ll get my money’s worth, BUT at least he is having some fun.
We love to go for walks around the neighborhood. We have gotten to explore a few houses being built – and recently one that is ALL DONE was left unlocked for contractors doing final touches, so we were able to take off our shoes and walk through one we had seen when it was just framed. It was very cool to see it all done when we had seen it in several stages. I just hope we don’t meet the owners and Luke doesn’t say, “We have been in your house a bunch of times!”
We are learning the bike right now, and if we miss a day of evening bike rides (with Dad actually walking along side) Luke is disappointed. I have plans for a whole article comparing learning a bike to launching a new children’s ministry as I have thought of many parallels during this process. But it has been a very neat process to watch him overcome his fear from an early negative experience that had put off the bike to his growing skill and confidence. He is now eager for the time when the training wheels will come off.
And meals out with Dad are always a treat. Watching cars, airplanes and people are fun. He is so observant. And I marvel at his tender spirit, curious mind, and polite nature.
This week, I’ll be my sons coach and the Bible Story teacher for our sports camp at church – looking forward to that a lot.
But the best is always bedtime… the stories… the cuddling… the hiding from mom to delay the inevitable… the serious talks… the hiding in the closet and coming out with a new ‘monster’ costume on… last night I came out dressed as Mega Man! And then, of course, he had to try it on:
My work keeps my pretty busy – but never too busy for my boy. I’ll always have my work – but I won’t always have a little boy.
In Dad School, I’m in a process of teaching my son both how to read and to understand how we got the Bible. One recent trip I purchased Dr. Seuss’ “The BIG Green Book of Beginner Books” and my five year old is loving the funny stories it contains that originally were published books in their own right, but now, are compiled in this single thick green book. Since we are currently practicing pointing out the letters of words and sounding them out, I decided the title of the book would be our goal last night since it provided a review of “BIG” (he just learned that a few days ago in Go, Dog Go!”) and a review of plural with the occurrence of “Book” and “Books” both being in the title. Then it struck me! Here I was helping him sound out a “Book of Books” which is exactly what the Bible is! The cover even shows little pictures of the “books within this book!” My heart skipped a beat! I had to force myself to hold off on the spiritual application and stick to the reading lesson first. But once he had mastered the title, I first explained with this “Big Green Book of Books” how it was a collection of books that once were separate and why the publisher has compiled them and we talked about why that was helpful – for carrying around for example. We talked about how they chose which books to put together: they were all “Beginner” books, books to help young kids learn to read, and (he noted) they were all funny stories!
Then I got a Bible out and said, “Did you know the BIble is a ‘Book of Books’?” We talked about how the Big Green Book of Books had six books in it, and had him guess how many were in the Bible. He guessed 100! He was close. 66 is the answer. We talked a little about how they were chosen. They also have the same author, God. And the same purpose, to help people know how to live life. And while they might not be funny, they are helpful and are our guide for life. The word Bible actually means “Books” because it isn’t one book, but many book put together, just like this Big Green Book we are reading.
I think for the first time he understands the basic structure of the Bible, thanks to Dr. Seuss’ “Book of Books.”
It might be worth picking up the Big Green Book of Beginner Books as an object lesson. It is a great book on its on merit besides the object lesson it provides.
A trusted friend sent this to me, due to my past heartissues, so I thought I would also pass it along as a caring friend to my readers. It’s original source is the Internet, so you know it is reliable!
Dr. Nut Tin Wong
Q: Doctor, I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart only good for so many beats, and that it… Don’t waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speeding up heart not make you live longer; it like saying you extend life of car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take nap.
Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine made from fruit. Beer also made of grain. Fruits & grains good for you. Bottom up!
Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have body and you have fat, your ratio one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio two to one, etc.
Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A: Can’t think of single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No pain…… good!
Q: Aren’t fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU NOT LISTENING! Food are fried these days in vegetable oil. How could getting more vegetable be bad for you?!?
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A: Definitely not! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only be doing sit-up if you want bigger stomach.
Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy?!? Cocoa bean! Another vegetable! It best feel-good food around!
Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming good for your figure, explain whale to me..
Q: Is getting in shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! ‘Round’ is shape!
Well… I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.
I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader.
~ Stephen R. Covey
