Thankfully, according to my wife and my waist, I’ve taken up (resumed? after a few years hiatus…) biking. Not road cycling or mountain biking, but just biking. Georgetown is blessed with an incredible trail system around our glorious San Ganbriel. So glorious that we even saw a few locals (had to be) in inner tubes floating down the river, attempting to make it a poor, poor man’s New Braunfels. I rode last week before my trip to Chicago and did O.K., but the ride today, which was shorter, but roughly the same route, kicked my butt. We had to stop at least three times. But we made it, then the Woman made delicious Indian tacos. This exercise stuff is truly refreshing after staring at a screen all day long. (Maybe I need more Dell Memory).

Also refreshing – the Willow Creek Arts Conference. I’m sure my notes don’t make too much sense to those that weren’t there, but there are some nuggets to be found. I was anxious to go in order to learn – what I didn’t expect was how much it would energize me for my job, even my life. Or, better put, how timely God was in using it to renew my spirit. I love my job, really, but sometimes it can get monotonous, just like any job. What’s funny is that my job is "church." So, in some ways, I’m also saying that "church" is monotonous. And, while this is my opinion and mine alone, church lately has been somewhat monotonous, despite our various speakers every Sunday. Then again, we’re minus a Senior Pastor (still on the hunt). I also know that I have a skewed view of the life of FBCgT – I’m too much in the background to feel more a part of the family. Part of that is voluntarily chosen, part vocationally necessary. I’m looking for ways to change that, but, in somewhat the same vein, looking for ways to get outside my Christian bubble.

Have you ever had a day or week where God seems to be repeating himself ever more loudly with the same imperative statement specifically pointed to you? There’s no hiding, crawling, crying, whining, or running that can get away from it. Last week was that way for me. It can be summed up in two words: Be Courageous. In can be explained in many more words. Be Courageous in your work, in your personality, in your opinions, in your creativity, in your uniqueness, in your words, and in your relationships. Every speaker (really, did they all talk to each other before?) said the same thing…at least it seemed that way to me. So I’ve been challenged, and I’m interested to see what will happen.

Finally, my reading has refreshed me. I fall more in love with my library every day. Not just because it’s new, but because they let me have books for free. It’s madness I tell you. I just finished The Man Who Fell to Earth, and I’m not quite sure what I feel about it. It’s a sci-fi passion play. I read half and skimmed half of a short autobiography/keepsake book about Jack Nicklaus (the golfer, not the actor, as the Woman always thinks). It was funny to me that he was as keen on breaking Bobby Jones’ records as Tiger Woods is bent on breaking Jack’s. Lastly, I just started a biography on Pistol Pete called The Pistol. I’ve never seen the movie (which is surprising given my high school enamorment with basketball), so the bio is new to me. This sentence hooked me:

Maravich wasn’t an archetype; he was several: child prodigy, prodigal son, his father’s ransom in a Faustian bargain. He was a creature of contradictions, ever alone: the white hope of a black sport, a virtuoso stuck in an ensemble, an exuberant showman who couldn’t look you in the eye, a vegetarian boozer, the athlete who lived like a rock star, a profilgate, suicidal genius saved by Jesus Christ. – Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich by Mark Kriegel, pgs. 1-2

If that doesn’t draw you in, well, you need help.

Also, it did not hurt that Kriegel opens the book with a quote from Bob Dylan. And, with that, I leave you with this: my friend Daniel’s band, Rhodes, covering Bob Dylan’s Highway 61. Their take is renewing and their music is refreshing.