The Goatneck

Well, I don't have any pictures to post with this posting, but I thought I'd speak of it anyway. Yesterday I completed what I have named my Annual Birthmonth Ride. The goal of my ABR is to ride my bike (affectionately dubbed "Popcycle") one mile for each year of life I am celebrating that year. So, this year my goal was to accomplish a 58 mile bike ride. Well, the Tour de Goatneck is one of the few rides in this region in July. It has several distances to choose from and one of them is the 100 kilometer (62 mile) ride. But they point out on their web page and announce at the beginning of the ride that it is actually 70 miles long - not just the 62 miles that would equal 100 kilometers. This is the second year I've ridden the Goatneck and both years, Popcycle's computer has registered 72 miles. The bottom line is that the Goatneck can be my ride of choice for my ABR for a long time to come.

This year, having moved to College Station, David Park was not able to ride with me. I did recruit Brian Read to go. He rode Marilyn's recumbent Rans Tailwind. Brian is 6'3", 225# and pretty fit. As I rode my pace and Brain would get further and further ahead of me. Then, he'd stop and wait a while for me to catch up. We finished the ride together but that was because he chose to have us do so. I'd have been well behind him had he just kept up his pace. We rode for 4 hours and 36 minutes, averaging 15.4 mph. There is one giant decent about 25 miles into the ride that gave me my highest recorded speed on my bike, last year - 40.0 mph. This year, after that decent, as I looked down at my computer to see what it had registered as the max I saw 40.0, again. Brian, being 50 pounds heavier said he reached 42 mph. It was quite a thrill.

Of course the Goatneck comes right after the Tour de France, so everyone is out there fantasizing a bit. There were about 2,000 riders this year. The Goatneck is ranked as one of the top 100 rides in America. It is a pretty challenging ride. Some of the climbs have been given names - "Eulogy Hill" and "The Goatneck Climb." The signs at the foot of such ascents lists how long the climb last and how much you ascend. They also tell you how far it is to the next Reststop.

Another friend of mine, Don Ferrell, who owns a recumbent but hasn't had much opportunity to ride committed to riding in the 10 mile tour. He did that and then he and his wife, Denice, positioned themselves out on the 100K route and waited for us to ride by. It was a real encouragement to have our own fans on the side of the road. It did wonders for our Lance Fantasies. Unlike Lance, though, we stopped and chatted with our fans.

Other than Brian and me, I estimate there may have been 5 other recumbents in the tour. I do not detect much growth in the presence of recumbents. I wish they were a growing fad because I think I could sell them and make a little extra money.

I guess the reasons I like touring on my bike is it provides the opportunity to completely escape from other thoughts and yet be able to spend some time with the Lord asking Him to get me up the next hill. Also, I am able to do something that I know, without reservation, is good for me. I come away with tired, sore muscles. I've long believed tired, sore muscles are a good thing because they indicate that you have gone beyond the ordinary walk in your life.

The weather was good. The ride was challenging. The companionship was encouraging. And, we finished. That's my report on the 18th Annual Tour de Goatneck out of Cleburne, Texas. Oh, here's a picture I can post. This is Marilyn's bike that Brian rode. It's a Rans Tailwind. My Rans V-Rex is pictured in an earlier posting on the Blog.

A Girl is Born

Today marks the 27th anniversary of the birth of our second daughter. I think it was around 4:00a that Marilyn woke me up and told me she was having contractions. Since we had been through the Lamaz training, this time, I knew what that meant. I also knew I had a job to do. I had to get a watch and a tablet to serve as a log so we could know the severity, duration and frequency of the contractions. A bit before 6:00a we woke Shelley up and prepared her to go stay with friends. By 6:00a we had dropped sleepy Shelley off and were at the military hospital on Columbus AFB. Marilyn was still contracting and I was still timing and logging. Since this activity (giving birth) causes moms to forget how to breathe, I was helping Marilyn remember how to breathe, also. I had a big job to do in all this. It was different from the job I had when Shelley was born. At her birth my job was to go to the Waiting Room and smoke cigarettes. I'll point out hat I did that job with just as much devotion as I was doing this one.

At 8:00a we discovered we had another daughter - the only use of sonar in those days was detecting enemy submarines. She came out really messy but cleaned up very nicely. Marilyn began to breathe on her own, again, and I stopped keeping my log book. Now, Sara lives in another country and teaches people about Jesus. She speaks two languages and loves singing in both of them. She has an infectious smile and is greatly loved and respected by many people. What a blessing! Thank you Lord for that early morning arrival 27 years ago this day!

Global Missions Conference

We dreamed it could be that good, but we never really expected it. God gave us all - all who were involved in helping it happen - and he gave His church a great blessing in the Global Missions Conference. The whole event exceeded our expectations in every aspect. I am still floating pretty high from the experience. An entirely new forum has been established for world evangelism in the churches of Christ. I know I sound pretty over-the-top about what happened, but what happened was over-the-top.

We don't have pictures, but Marilyn was in charge to of the opening ceremony's Parade of Nations. The Conference had purchased a full set of UN flags - 194 nations. So Marilyn had to recruit 194 flag bearers. There were several ideas about how to do that - Boy Scout troops, Girl Scouts, etc. - but in the end it came down to phone calls and emails. 20 flags did not get paraded, but the rest were brought in the triumphant songs of God's love and salvation led by the RHCC Praise Team. the parading of flags always proves the point that there is much work to do. It also always moves many people to tears. This was the case again with this Parade of Nations.


Just under 1,000 people registered for the Conference. There were 12 tracks of teaching taking place with 99 separate classes. I was on a panel for the whole group entitled "Lessons Learned from Great Mission Churches." It was a super experience to get to tell a bit of the RHCC story. The whole conference was purely devoted to teaching and promoting and discussing and improving our abilities as a church to reach the lost of the world. The conference was a collaborative effort of churches, missionaries, universities and missions agencies. It was excellent and exciting!


Since we held the conference in the Arlington Convention Center we were literally next-door to the Ranger's baseball stadium. So, part of the conference was an evening out together at the ball game. I took Marilyn's picture with two brothers from Africa who were experiencing a real cross-cultural event for them. Our block seating section included an all-you-can-eat hot dog supper. It was just the break we needed after the first two days of intensive study and discussions.



Attendees came from all over the US. Many drove from out-of-state. Many others flew in. I got a phone call, today, from a brother in Arizona who said 9 of them drove over for the conference. He said, "It changed my life." My former secretary, from when we were working in Makati, Metro Manila came from Kansas with several from her congregation. That's her, Remy, between Marilyn and me in front of the Ranger stadium.


Another part of the Conference was an opportunity for missionaries, churches and various missions oriented ministries to display their work and network with each other. Rapha had a display that gave them a lot of exposure. There were almost 90 displays. Many people come to such gathering strictly for the networking opportunities. There were numerous side meetings that took place throughout the days of the conference. Some ministries hosted luncheons. Several ministries had Board meetings. Special Interest groups had gatherings and strategy meetings. The Global Missions Conference provided many great blessings to the health of mission work among the churches of Christ. We praise God for these blessings.

Frantic Activity

I have two presentations for which to prepare for the Global Missions Conference. I have Harvest Sunday proposal numbers to finalize. I have a new Administrative Assistant who started working today - therefore needs tons of training and help. Marilyn is the Grand Marshall of the opening ceremonies for the GMC's Parade of Nations. Visitors are coming in (yeah!!) and I'm preparing for my annual birth-month-bike-tour which needs to cover a mile per year.



The good news it's ALL GOOD. God is so good to us in allowing us to be deeply involved in exactly what we love - world missions. I love the opportunity to speak about missions from a congregational perspective. Marilyn is so good at organizing the flag ceremony because it thrills so many people.

The conference will occupy us totally for he next three days. There are scores of great classes. There will be hundreds of friends and co-workers. We are looking forward what the Lord has in store for His church as the Global Missions Conference unfolds. We'll either keep you posted as it happens or, more likely, bring you up to date after it's over. Stay tuned, either way.

Home Alone Together

Most of our evenings are now consumed with OLN and the Tour de France. Since I am a pseudo-biker and Marilyn is an any-sport-is-fun-to-watch sports fans we find ourselves eating supper in front of the TV - an activity that would not ordinarily cross our minds. We aren't such big Lance Armstrong fans mostly because we were disappointed by his break up with his wife in favor of his girlfriend. Also his complete disavowal of God having anything to do with the cure of his cancer. But, it is amazing to see those guys screaming down those mountains at 60 mph on a bike. I've had mine up to 40 mph, but that was an instantaneous peak speed that last only a brief few seconds. Here's a picture of my bike.

Another big thing going on for us right now is the Global Missions Conference that will happen next week. I have been blessed to be a part of the planning for this first of its kind conference for the last two years. I'm speaking a couple of times. Marilyn has been called in to head the Parade of Nations opening flag ceremony. We've purchased a full set of flags of all the nations of the world. 194. It's going to be exciting. The conference is going to be exciting.

Marilyn's trip to Morelia July 2005

Here's Sara, our daughter, at her computer in Morelia, Mexico. She is serving there wih a mission team and has been there three years, come September. We have been able to visit Sara several times during her time there and have come to love the people and the city in which she lives. We are very proud of her!

I'll write more tomorrow!

Near the Start

This new blogging experience is kinda fun. I thought since we are just getting started I'd throw in something from near the start of our history. Marilyn saw me through Navigator training in the USAF during the second year of our marriage. So, she was the one who pinned my wings on my uniform. Isn't she beautiful? What a blessing she has always been! Shortly after this event we were transferred from California to North Carolina where I began to fly C-130 aircraft and she gave birth to Shelley. That young Lt. has that smirk on his face because he knows he's the luckiest guy in the world.

She is due back from Mexico early tomorrow morning. She's been down there blessing the folks there for a week. Sara emailed me today and indicated a great reluctance to send her back. Too bad, Sara. She may visit you but she stays with me.

First Posting

Well, I just set up this blog and now I'm learning what it means to "post" stuff here.

Marilyn is in Mexico and due to return the day after tomorrow. She's been gone almost a week and I've managed to stay out of trouble inspite of her absence. She is visiting Sara, our younger daughter, who lives and works in the city of Morelia as a missionary. Sara's not in this picture, but that's her roommate, Summer, on the left and this is the livingroom of their house. They have a bunch of Mexican friends visiting them in this picture.

Let's see what else can I put on my first blog posting. Here's an old picture of my college Corps classmates when we were Seniors working on the Texas A&M bonfire. Can you find me?

Well, that's it for tonight. Respond if you know how.