You have to love this News Story from USA today. I read it on Paul Grabill’s blog. Seems that the University of Florida’s sports information director decided not to nominate Tim Tebow for the Playboy’s pre-season all-american team. Read more…

So as I said in an earlier post, one of the great privileges of my Lilly sabbatical is taking each of my kids on a trip of their choosing. Josh chose Six Flags and a lifetime’s worth of rollercoasters. Jake chose the Black Hills. He wanted something outdoors…we thought about rafting on the New River in Virginia…we thought about doing something in Colorado…finally chose the Black Hills.

If you’ve never been to the Black Hills of South Dakota, you should go sometime, lots to do and see.

Mount Rushmore. Needles Highway. A couple of the largest caves in the world. The badlands. The buffalo and antelope in Custer State Park. Spearfish Canyon. I could go on and on. Growing up in South Dakota, I’ve been to the Black Hills a number of times, but one thing I’ve never done in the hills — rock climbing! So that’s what we did.

We took a full day…went out with a guide from Sylvan Rocks. He spent the first two hours with us doing some teaching and some practice climbs — forty to sixty foot practice climbs! We were with a group that included two girls younger than Jake and an assortment of girls and boys even younger. In other words I was the oldest.

Now I’ve been working out for about a year now…aerobic stuff, even weights. I’m thinking I can handle this. I can do at least as good as these two girls — maybe even better than Jake. :) So I made it up the first practice climb…but I couldn’t believe how much it took out of me, especially my legs. Before I hit 40 feet, my right log was shaking, like it was going to give out on me. Made the second practice climb, but only 1/3 of the way up the third practice climb. Practice was over.

We headed out, just Jake, I and our guide. He was going to take us on four climbs. Two 60 foot climbs. One 80 foot climb. One 120 foot climb. I made the first two 60 foot climbs, and in spite of being drenched in sweat, having a leg that kept giving out, and feeling more tired than I could imagine, I felt kinda good about life. So it wasn’t easy — my pride took a big hit — to tell Jake and my guide that I wasn’t even going to attempt the 80 foot climb. (I wanted to save myself for the 120.) But I have to tell you, while it bit at my pride…it did my father-heart good to watch my son Jake exceed me and make it all the way to the top of the 80 foot climb — which our guide said was the most difficult climb we would make that day.

So then we headed to the final climb of the day…120 feet. Standing at the bottom, the only way that I could tell it wasn’t a straight vertical climb is that I couldn’t see the guide who was already at the top. Then I watched Jake start up…his long arms finding holds I would never be able to reach! Then I started. I wish I could adequately describe the whole climb…the crevice that I didn’t think I could pass…the ledge that you had to swing your body around while hanging on to a small piece of granite…the small portion that had an overhang. Instead all I’ll tell you is that 3/4’s of the way up, I was ready to quit. (The picture you see is the route we took, about 3/4’s up, but that’s not me.) The only thing that kept me going was that my son was waiting for me on top of the mountain. So with a series of loud grunts and yells…I forced my body onward.

And at the top…what a beautiful sight! An incredible view of the Black Hills. The heart-filling satisfaction of just having made it to the top. Sitting there with my son at the top of the mountain. Very cool. There was a notebook in a water bottle, attached to the top. We joined the dozens of people who signed their names at the top of the mountain. I signed my name and wrote a word or two about God’s amazing creation and then paged to the front. Wish I hadn’t done that! Found out that the name of our mountain was Old People’s Dome! And the route we had taken was called Senility’s Pass! What I had thought was a mountain top journey — for some people — was just a day in the retirement home! But still for Jake and I, a great day, a great accomplishment.

So what did I learn? Mountain-top experiences require a lot of hard work. The higher the mountain the greater the price you must pay to get there. Your mountain might be someone else’s molehill — or it might be someone else’s Everest. Don’t worry about comparing, just enjoy your mountain. A mountain top experience is better when shared. It’s good to have a guide up the mountain. And finally, it doesn’t make the mountain top experience any less thrilling when you were tied to a rope on the way up, it just makes the fall a little less killing! So get connected and belay with God!

(Here is Jake on the mountain I didn’t climb!)

So I spent almost two weeks alone at a cabin in northern Minnesota. The alone-time was good, a great part of my sabbatical — praying, Bible-reading, just hanging out — good time. But man, I’ll tell you this… I missed my family. So when I got this video hello from my girls…pretty cool… I WAS NOT FORGOTTEN!:)

After I watched it a couple of times…the thought came to mind…I wonder if this is how God feels when we finally come back and say hello, tell Him that we miss Him. I know that God is the most joyful being in the whole universe, all the time. But He is also the Father, and it brings dad joy when His kids come to Him. And we don’t even have to send a video!

I imagine that somewhere in NJ there is a waitress who smiles every time she thinks about a father and his son eating their late night steaks. I’ve been thinking about this story for a few days. It was my one-on-one trip with Josh; Kingda Ka had already been conquered (read that story here), and we were just talking. I was asking my son questions, “Who is your favorite person in the Bible besides Jesus?” “David.” That launched us into a conversation on David and what Josh liked about David. Then another question, “What important things have you learned from me?” That took a little more thought from my son. He gave a few sports classics that I always teach my kids like… Practice, practice, practice, you will not get better without practice… and Being a good sport is better than being a winner.

I wanted to dig a little deeper. “What else have you learned from me about what’s important in life?” “Well Dad,” he said, “I think one of the most important things you teach us is that it is good to serve others, good to give to others. In fact, Dad someday I wanna be rich so that I can help a lot of people.” That answer pumped me up, I so much want my kids to grow up generous, servants, but I saw a teachable moment. That’s a great goal Josh, but you know what? You don’t have to wait till your rich to be a giver and a helper.

I proceeded to tell him Read more…

I have heard this message in multiple ways over the course of the last week. I heard it in a talk given by Jon Ortberg on the spiritual life of leaders, then I heard it again in an interview with Dallas Willard on the spiritual disciplines. It came through loud and clear when I was reading the story of Elijah in I Kings — especially chapter 19. It was unmistakably clear in a book by Eugene Peterson, called The Jesus Way. And while I was reading the stories of David in 2nd Samuel I heard the message every time it said of David, so David inquired of the Lord. Simply put the message is this: At the heart of the Jesus way is a relationship with God and we cannot develop that relationship without adequate amounts of time with God — disconnected from the noise of life and connected to God — silence and solitude.

So for about 2 and 1/2 days that’s what I sought. I won’t say that I had any divine revelations or mile marker relational God-moments. But I will say that there was something incredibly satisfying to my soul. It was good.

So did I hear anything from God?

Here is the word that kept coming back to me. Gratitude.

Imagine this… Read more…

So I survived…about 24 hours without internet, cell phone, ipod, tv, or talking to people. And my first conclusion is that…I need to do it again tomorrow. So I just took a little silence break, talked to Lynn, did a brief scan of e-mail and checked my fantasy baseball lineup for tomorrow. And now it will be another 24 hours — give or take a few…more time to “inquire of the Lord.”

By the way, there are “retreat with God” type materials in the sabbatical packet I gave you. Maybe it’s time for a s&s break?

That was my view two nights ago… not hard to believe in God when you see something as beautiful as a sunset on a lake in northern Minnesota! But did you ever notice that as easy as it is to believe in God, sometimes it’s a whole-nother thing to be with God.

As I’ve been making my way through the Bible, one of the themes that keeps grabbing my heart and mind is that being “with God” is a really good thing! It’s all over the place in both the old and the new. “Be strong and of good courage for the Lord your God is with you,” Moses told Joshua. All over the place I’ve been underlining the words, “with God.” It’s all over the place in the Psalms. Like Psalm 46. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. — The Lord of Hosts is with us.” God’s promise to Gideon in the book of Judges was “Surely I will be with you.”

And then there is a string of stories — war stories — Read more…

Kingda Ga. It’s a name that strikes fear in meek mannered DelGrosso’s amusement park lovers, but a name that brings a smile to the face of hardcore rollercoaster-ists. My face had a fearful smile. Josh, my son was just all smile.

One of the great joys of my sabbatical grant is the opportunity to take each of my kids on a one-on-one trip. I let each of the kids choose where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. Josh knew right away…an amusement park. So he did the research, figured out what park had the most roller coasters, what park had the biggest, tallest, fastest, scariest roller coaster. He settled on Six Flags New Jersey. Home of Kingda Ga.

It’s really a rocket coaster, more so than a roller coaster. Hydraulic motors launch the train from zero to 128 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds. And you need the speed because by the time you have hit full speed, you are going straight up… 456 feet — about 45 stories tall. Then you crest the hill and you head straight down 456 feet! I’m not sure which part was more exciting, zero to 128, straight up, or straight down.

Actually the best part was watching my son. I love it when my kids step forward, exercise a little courage, and take a risk…even when the risk is an amusement park ride. There is just something about overcoming fear. See the reality is everybody experiences fear…courage is not the absence of fear…it is stepping forward in spite of fear. Any fears you need to step into?

I’ll be honest, Josh whupped me when it came to coasters, I think he did about 16! So here are a couple of videos, maybe they’ll inspire you a bit..because if my 12 year old son can do it — no actually if I can do it — maybe you can too. First watch the youtube video of kingda ga. Then watch the video of Josh getting ready to go alone. Three times was enough for me.

Randy Pausch died today. You may or may not know him. He was a Carnegie Mellon computer science prof who had one of the most watched lectures in the history of You Tube. CNN has a good intro article (CNN Randy Prausch). If you don’t know who Randy is, let me start by saying his famous lecture has been watched 3.8 million times on YouTube. The lecture was given as a part of special series that Carnegie Mellon does entitled “Last Lecture.” It is an end of the year invitation to one professor to share the wisdom they would share if they had only one lecture left to give. Kind of a what-would-you-say-if-you -were-dying-and-this-was-your-last-lecture assignment.

Only thing was…when Randy was invited to give the lecture, he had recently found out that he had in operable pancreatic cancer. It really was his last lecture. He entitled the lecture, “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” Initially he was hesitant to give the lecture…mostly because he and his wife were cherishing their remaining together and with their three children. In the end he decided to give the lecture, because it would be an opportunity to create something for his children to watch when they were older. He wanted his last lecture to be part of his legacy to his children. In the preface to his book — the lecture expanded to a small book which has sold ~3 million copies — He writes,

I knew what I was doing that day, under the ruse of giving an academic lecture, I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children.

I’ve read the book, Read more…

I’m glad that I’m just a preacher. My father was a carpenter and I worked for him when I was a kid, but that didn’t make me a carpenter. I built a toolbox in my high school shop class, a square little box painted red, not exactly a wood-working masterpiece. I did make a bookshelf after I was married, the only wood-working project I still have. Pretty decent work, except the hole in the back — I ran out of wood. Anyway I’m just not a carpenter. I used to say all I need is the right tools, but I’m pretty sure the right tools wouldn’t help!

So keep all that in mind when I tell you that the first week of my sabbatical was spent remodeling our kitchen in preparation for Katy’s graduation. We put in a new floor, pulled off wallpaper, painted cabinets and walls and other odds and ends. Now as you can see from the picture, it didn’t turn out so bad (I’m still not a carpenter — had help from my dad and brother.) But I have to tell you that at some point — no make that multiple points — while on my knees, trying to put together the tongue and groove floor, sweating buckets, sore in most every muscle, I said to Lynn, “I would rather preach 100 sermons in one weekend than be a carpenter! Someone who came over for Katy’s graduation party liked it so much they asked me to come and help them do theirs. I said, “Sure if you want to hear a pastor cuss!” :)

But I will tell you the honest truth. Knowing how much it pleased Lynn and watching my daughter laugh the night away at her graduation party…made it so much worth it. Sometimes that’s how it is with serving others. We may be doing something we don’t like…and might not even have the best attitude (I didn’t!) but something happens in the serving that brings us life. So I say thank you to Lynn for giving me the opportunity to relearn the lesson that Jesus gave his disciples about serving in John 13… You know these things, now happy are you if you do them. I’m still not a carpenter, but I have all the tools to be a servant…so do you. Happy are we, when we serve!