HEADING FOR THE HILLS THAT HOCK
Going to take ye olde laydee to Hocking Hills for a night to stay at a B&B for a little bit of R&R.

I'm always stoked to go to where there are interesting geological features and always eager to be in/around the Appalachians, even if it is the lil' foothills in Ohio.

THIS HAPPENS TO BE WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT....
As you know, I am adjunct faculty at IWU. I get to teach about the Kingdom of God under various classes such as New Testament, Marriage and Family, Old Testament, Themes in Biblical Literature and Defending the Christian Faith.

In my last class (Defending the Faith), I developed a relationship with a student in the midst of terrible financial/personal/familial times. Here is a letter he sent me after the class was done. It's a simple pointer as to why I really do this to begin with:

Glenn,

Thanks for helping me on my spiritual journey - I've
really enjoyed the last 5 weeks with you despite all
my personal difficulties. Thank you for listening to
me on Thursday and I definitely will reach out in the
future. By the way, I actually ended up buying my
copy of Contact from Blockbuster :) May God continue
to bless you and your ministry.
Sincerely....

ANOTHER BLAST FROM THE PAST...

Hester Road House Church, ca., November 2003.

This is our house church back in the day. Only four remain of this group today. Others graduated, stopped coming or moved away and Vega passed away, of course.

BLAST FROM THE PAST....
Taste of Oxford, ca., 2002.

Yes, I have bleached hair(s), a stained black goatee and the idiotic delusion that I was kewl.

Just had a dinner with J&A the other night. Talked about Kingdom stuff and how it makes a difference in our homes, lives and neighborhoods. We're about to take some deeper steps into some good stuff to come.

We're all being grown in a variety of ways that is going to be significant for what God wants to do here in Oxford. And not just through Veritas.

Got Some New Kicks....
New Balance 757's....more of a neutral support for my chikkin' stix. My 858's did the job, but was pushing my feet to roll on the outer edge and I think was causing me some knee pain.

Much more cushy, too. I had about 350 miles on the last pair, so I was right on the verge of being ready for some new ones. I got prime attention from the folks at the Glendale Running Spot.

They took video of my running on a treadmill, assessed from my gait the shoe I'd need. They were even gonna spot me the cost of my last pair because they thought I had been fitted for the wrong pair. But I just couldn't part with my first pair of running shoes after all we'd been through together. There was no way. Maybe a stoopid decision in this economy, but I just couldn't do it. These should do the trick in carrying me to through the State To State.

By golly, we gonna do it again. The State to State Half Marathon is coming up and training begins July 14th (officially) for the Jaylord, Ratt C and I. It'll begin a 12-week regimen running four days a week with an endurance run on Saturdays. I am planning on tayloring my diet to hopefully cut 5-10 more pounds by race time. I'd like to see what it's like even lighter and without a dastardly allergy.

I am SOOO looking forward to tightening up for this race. There was something that "got" me about those months I spent prepping for the Flying Pig...so much I learned about myself and those around me that I could have never known without the experience of trying to pretend to be a runner. I want to try to improve upon my time of course and to bond deeper with any buds and budettes who'll run with me. So to kick off my training, this weekend, I've pumped away one monster milkshake and had a massive cookout with CMarsh, Paulos The Apostle and the two Nicky/i's.

My deck outside is a pretty good metaphor for my life right now. I built some new stairs for it. Went well there. I determined we needed a power washer to remove the old paint from the deck. Got that. I took the most powerful nozzle to the deck.

Don't do that.

....but only a few boards did I really mangle.

So then, the day I repaint it, it rains. And rains.....and then it rains some more. So now, four days later, I have a beautifully shiny deck with nothing on it. Not even a human. You can't, you see, because it's still sticky. I learned that when I stepped out the door a night or two ago and lifted at least one layer of the paint off with my foot. We're going on four days now.

Any of you Bob Vilaboys (or girls) got any tricks as to how I can ready my deck without a gut-rending overhaul again, I'd like to hear it. I'd really like to use my deck before winter.