Can World's Strongest Dad

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

Mars Hill

Hey there, followed a link from another friend's blog and came across this place: http://www.marshill.org Check it out! You may know of Rob Bell from the Nooma series, he's a pastor / teacher here and you can get some great teaching mp3's to listen to in the car or on the mp3 player. Just listening to a series on 'Calling all peacemakers' - absolutely awesome!

Patriotism

Is it only me? I feel like this year's Australia Day was more patriotic than ever. Dunno if it's just the 'Big Day Out' thing of 'No Flags', which now smells more like reverse psychology than anything, or it could be the claiming Australia for who we are as opposed to some of the radical religious leaders that we have seen on the news lately. So I dunno, did you feel more patriotic this year or is it just me feeling funny?

Passion

Well it's a word that I have often used in the past when speaking but it really is such a crucial factor for the church and Christianity. Matt 6:21 talks about our treasure and where our heart is. Where our passion is, that's where we will put most of our effort and time, basically, that's what we'll worship.
So . . . what do we worship?
This is one of the hugest issues I see with the local Christian church today, authenticity and passion. For some reason other religions leave the local church for dead when it comes to passion, there are people who don't follow Jesus who are willing to die for what they believe. Often the general amount of passion that oozes out of the average Australian Christian is left for being bothered to get out of bed on a Sunday morning and singing a few songs, if you like singing that is.
So what does this mean for me as I ask myself if I'm passionate about a life with Jesus? Well, I have to say I am finding it really hard in the local church at the moment. I see the programs and people going through the motions of 'doing church' and I find myself really struggling to see the purpose of Sunday mornings.
I have to ask this question though, what exactly is a Christian?
If a Christian is someone who just goes to church on Sunday and serves the purpose of the Church alone then I would question whether or not they actually are a Christian.
I have come to believe that a Christian is someone who follows the authority, teaching, values, morals, life of Jesus Christ. Sorry, but I didn’t see Jesus in the NT just going to church every Sunday. Neither did He just hang out with those who followed Him or believed in Him, as a matter of fact none of those who followed Him to begin with were ‘Christians’. (might want to just let that soak in :) )
So, a Christian, as I have learned, believes that Jesus is the son of God (Yahweh) who came to us in human form. They believe that because of humankind’s inherited sin, Jesus paid for the penalty of that sin in dying on the cross. He proved then that he has conquered death by being raised from the dead and is coming back. A Christian then understands that they are made right, not by anything they can do but simply through Jesus’ forgiveness and the mighty mercy and grace that God has shown. Romans 9:10 says something like, if you believe this in your heart and then speak it out then you'll be saved. Simple as that! This is awesome! It is in this that my passion emerges!!
Now it’s important to be encouraged and to encourage and learn more with other Christians and that’s where church comes into things. However, if this becomes more important than following Jesus and being his messengers, then we start to lose the passion and the purpose of being a follower of Christ in the first place. Not only that, but we become irrelevant and religious, we lose the real meaning of following Jesus and when we lose that we lose our passion and when we lose that, then why would anyone else want to be a Christian?

The thing is I think we have been so programmed to be passionate in certain ways that we've lost what it means to be really authentic about our love for Jesus all the time.
Read this the other day by

Hamo

"I would gaurantee an institional church full of people radically devoted to Jesus will always be more impactful than a new expression where the Jesus factor is dispassionate."

Like it!

Passion?

Back to Study

Well, yep loved it so much I can't get away from it! BTW early last year finally received that bachelor degree that means I can finally be a pastor in a church, just as well huh?
Anyway, now I'm back to the building thing with the Master Builders Association SA. Doing 5 modules and by the end of the year, because of my trade and my business I'll have my building supervisor's / contractors license and can build Timbercrete homes as well as make the bricks. I'm excited!

Incarnational V Attractional Mission

This is a good thought provoking read about mission and the local church by Andrew Hamilton. It's a bit old (2005) but here's a taste, click on the title to go to the link.

If Jesus were alive today and his mission was still to ‘seek out and save the lost’ what might he do?…

Would he hire a building, set up a sound system, develop a music team, drama team, and then do local letterbox drops advising people that they could come and be part of his church on Sunday? Frankly I don’t believe this approach to mission would rate a blip on his strategic radar.

Oh! Gravity.,

Just received the new Switchfoot CD via the US via Ebay. This is awesome! I have a couple of new additions to the CD pile courtesy of a recent birthday and then Christmas. (The other way to add to the pile is to buy CD’s you like for the kids. :) so they received a couple for Chrissy as well. :) :) ) Anyway, has anyone ever listened to a CD and drawn closer to God without it actually being a ‘God is the king of the world’ type lyric? (not derogatory, I hope you get the drift) Today while listening to the Switchfoot CD, it really impacted me. Their lyrics are so rich, there’s also heaps of them, lyrics that is. They jam a lot of lyrics in a very short space, mainly I think as they have such a powerful message to tell. I’m still trying to understand them all and what I get out of them probably won’t be the same for others or maybe even Switchfoot intended. There’s a lot of focus on getting our eyes off the world and what it offers and on to higher things, in my view and maybe their’s, eternal things. The title track, ‘Oh Gravity’, I reckon is saying that we as people are so stuck to this earth that we can’t see past it to what is real and how we can make a difference. That really echo’s with their last CD Nothing is Sound and in particular the song ‘Stars’. It’s the last song of this CD that really caused me to shift my focus toward God, ‘Let your love be strong’ here’s an excerpt:

Let your love be strong, and I don't care what goes down
Let your love be strong enough to weather through the thunder cloud
Fury and thunder clap like stealing the fire from your eyes
All of my world hanging on your love

Let the wars begin, let my strength wear thin
Let my fingers crack, let my world fall apart
Train the monkeys on my back to fight
Let it start tonight
When my world explodes, when my stars touch the ground
Falling down like broken satellites

All of my world resting on your love

The song really made me think, that if all crashes around me then the love of God is always there ever sustainable.
These guys rock, they have a lot of guts and they really have the best lyrics I have ever heard, so thought provoking. The other best part is their style, I love it.
The other CD I was given and wanted was Guy’s new one. Loving strong vocals I was really keen on this. It’s good as a cheap listen but as far as depth goes, let’s just say Switchfoot rock!

Success#2

Well I've been thinking about this for some time now and it really is an important issue to think about. Thanks to those who responded to the last small one on

This Link

I think Nickers has some extra good stuff and I reckon we could call it subject closed but i'd like to take it a bit further coz it's my blog and I can :) Success was a huge theme that came out of the latest Timbercrete conference and it was sooo good to hear about success from a Godly point of view.
The cliche` 'Christian' view of success is probably something like, success is found in God and not man. Now I'm not saying this isn't true coz it is, but how many Christian's say (or think in their head) God is their success, yet continue to find true success in other area's of this life on earth.
It's important at this time to recognise the fact that I think we as people still need to do our best on this earth in whatever God places in our path, but to say that we are a failure because we didn't meet a deadline, broke something, cost someone lots of many, didn't get a job, didn't finish study or don't have much money etc etc, I believe is a down right lie that needs to be rejected. To also say that someone or a business is a success for making or having all those things I just listed, is also a lie but it is the benchmark that everyone on this earth rates themselves with.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 clearly states that the wisdom of God is different than people's wisdom. We weigh everything in something tangible, something we can see, feel or touch, God doesn't. Because of this, true success, I beleive, is not found in what I can see, touch, feel, hear etc It's what I have faith in, what I believe God says is true success. The closest example of God I know is Jesus. In Matthews writings about Jesus He said don't worry about anything else just seek God first and everything you need will all fall into place. Does that mean if I put God first my business will go banana's and I won't have to worry again about finances!??? er . . nup, coz in the last book of the bible in the letters to the seven churches, Jesus says to them something like if you be obedient, listen to me . . you'll . . . sit with me on my throne . . . have my name inscribed on them . . . not be hurt by the second death. The reward is in the kingdom, it's eternal, it's spiritual not necessarily earthly.
So, here's what I reckon. God say's your a success and loves you simply because He made you with His very own hands, not because you do anything (Eph 2:8). If we can then understand that success is in that belief and follow God's path, and not people's measure of success, then our reward is far beyond anything this world will ever offer, the reward is eternal. This is so comforting to me. I get bombarded with people asking me all the time how business is going, sometimes it's because people care, sometimes it's just something to talk about but I know others are probably measuring me to see if I'm a success or not. I feel when people ask this, that if business isn't going great, I am a failure to them. Thankfully, through the eye's of Jesus I'm not. My prayer is that as business picks up I don't fall into the trap myself of thinking I'm successful just because business is going good, you know what I mean?
I was reading the first chapter Mark the other night and saw this spot in verse 37 where Jesus' friends were hastling Him to go to the people but Jesus was foccused and wasn't going to just please people and he stated that we have to move on fella's there other places I have to go as well. His focus was on His Father's plans not the plans of others.
If anyone has ever seen Jerry Macguire there's a dude at the end, I can't remember his name, and he says 'I love my life and I love my wife, I wish you my kind of success'. Jesus says; love God and love the people around you.
I wish you His kind of success for 2007 and beyond.

Timbercrete Energy Efficient Bricks - Bulletproof!

Check this out! To see the whole article click the link above.

. . . . . . . . . . Mr Bryant said another selling point was that US testing had proven Timbercrete was, in fact, bullet proof.
"The Timbercrete blocks would not allow the penetration of AK47 and 44 Magnum bullets fired from point blank range," he said.
" They also prevented penetration of 50 calibre bullets from 20 metre range.
"Any other building material like bricks, or concrete blocks, shatter when subjected to the same testing.
"This has attracted the attention of US Navy and Army, who seek safer buildings to house personnel."
Mr Bryant said Timbercrete was being studied by the University of Southern Mississippi for a post-graduate entrepreneurial class.
Their interest was sparked by Timbercrete's ability to solve most of the shortcomings of traditional alternatives in the Gulf Coast where hurricanes frequently strike.
Also, Timbercrete is a hot contender to be used for some of the reconstruction after hurricane Katrina, because of its strength and ability to withstand flying debris.

For more information on Timbercrete bricks in Adelaide, South Australia, please email me: adelaide-south@timbercrete.com.au

Success and Switchfoot

In thinking about success, what it is and what makes us successful, I stumbled across some lyrics off of Switchfoot's coming album 'Oh Gravity'. http://switchfoot.com/oglyrics.htm
There's some thought provoking stuff here. It makes me question where I spend my time and what I put my effort into. The song focusses generally on material things - money - excess - company goals, things that the greater world say make us successful. The question is what is success in the eyes of God? How does that impact on us and our lives, what we apply our time and efforts towards? How does that reflect in how we bring up our children, what we push them to do to be a success? How do we lead them out of 'the machine'?Anyway, did Jesus ever talk about success?

American Dream (Switchfoot 2006)
When success is equated with excess
The ambition for excess wrecks us
As top of the mind becomes the bottom line
When success is equated with excess

If your time ain’t been nothing for money
I start to feel really bad for you, honey
Maybe honey, put your money where your mouth’s been running
If your time ain’t been nothing but money

I want out of this machine
It doesn’t feel like freedom

This ain’t my American dream
I want to live and die for bigger things
I’m tired of fighting for just me
This ain't my American dream

When success is equated with excess
When we’re fighting for the Beamer, the Lexus
As the heart and soul breath in the company goals
Where success is equated with excess

‘Cause baby’s always talkin’ ‘bout a ring
And talk has always been the cheapest thing
Is it true would you do what I want you to
If I show up with the right amount of bling?

Like a puppet on a monetary string
Maybe we’ve been caught singing
Red, white, blue, and green
But that ain’t my America,
That ain’t my American dream

NEW PICS, CLICK HERE!!

Laptops and Farmers Union Iced Coffee

Two passions of my life came together in spectacular form the other day while in my office and nearly destroyed quite a few years of data.

Yep you got it; my Laptop had a drink of Farmers Union Iced Coffee. Now available it seems in all states across Australia and not just the original but now in light and extra strong. Farmers Union Iced Coffee is ‘the’ drink of South Australians and apparently has the title of being the only drink to ever knock off one red and white labeled drink that ends in cola, as the highest selling drink in a capital city. I am a particular fan of this iced coffee and am trying to line up my empties so that they surround the internal circumference of the shed on one of the ledges. This is taking a certain amount of time due to lack of Iced Coffee funds and the fact that my kids love to fill them with sand or put them in the recycle bin to get money from them. I tell you, they are blocking my goal!! Anyway . . . It just so happened the other day that I did have funds for a Farmers Union Iced Coffee for lunch which accompanied my potato pie and while dutifully working in my lunchtime I somehow managed to tip Iced Coffee all over my keyboard . . . . . the end. . . . .
I now have a new laptop thanks to EIG-ANSVAR because of extra accidental cover. Woo Hoo!!!! I have also been able to access all my data due to a handy little 2.5inch USB external hard-drive case. So the moral is. . . . . If you love Farmers Union Iced Coffee and work on computers keep them away from each other or . . . . make sure you have good insurance!!

VOTE FOR LEIGH

Click on the 'VOTE FOR LEIGH' link and and vote for Leigh Cunningham in the DB Magazine Readers Awards. Leigh has been nominated in the top 5 for male artists in SA and needs our votes. We can only vote once so lets make it count.

Success

Just as a precursor for the Timbercrete blurb I'm interested in your view of success. Maybe even this question: What is the measure of your success? The answer to this question I believe will have a profound impact on your life.

Back into it

Well, bin a while, had a bit on and bin some places.
I think in the next little while I'll break some stuff down into box's seeing as I love them so much (cough cough). I guess there's been a fair bit goin on and it's easier this way, so in the near future I'll give a bit of a blurb on our recent trip east. I'll chat about the 4wding (covering the important stuff first), the Timbercrete conference, and the rest of the trip to Vic High country & Echuca.
We arrived back last night after being away for 10 days. Thanks to MR for lookin after the house, glad you had a good time, pray the millipedes didn't carry you anywhere while you were here. Just as well we still have a house in the same position actually coz some of those fellas are mighty fat and I reckon if they knew how to work together they could do some serious damage. Keep watch for the 'philosophy of the millipede' blog later on. ps, the pics page has been updated again if ya wanna check it out.
Anyway, watch this space. Glenno.

Sold, Sold and Nearly Sold

This picture speaks a thousand words, probably though I'll go on and write those thousand anyway.
This picture states a few things, firstly this is the property that we are now living on / renting, it's a small older house in the middle of vinyards and some wonderful countryside not too far from some civilisation. This picture then means we are no longer living in our other home because we sold it! For a great price too praise God!! This picture also says that the kids and the adults are having a ball and will probably (at this moment in time)never feel like living in the burbs again. We're definately sold on the rural lifestyle. Even bought myself a ride-on and as you can see, we have a cow mower next door and a resident cat for the dog to play with :) . In the near future something else will be sold and that is the block of land we are purchasing that we are likely to build a Timbercrete home on, whether we live in it though is God's decision.
So if you've been wondering why the blog hasn't been overly active then you will understand that while I hate boxing things/people and love to break them apart, unfortunately I have been bound by them in a very practical way and even as I write I am surrounded by empty and full boxes that look too much like hard work, so here I am.
It's appropriate for me to say a huge thankyou to those who have been able to help out in the big move, I think next time though removalists will be the order of the day, I think we've had enough. To Tob's, Leigh, Shane, Big Kev and Jenni, Dad's and Mum's, Beamer, Michelle and Beano, Wendy, you helped us out in a very practical way and we are hugely blessed, not just through that but through your continued friendship. Thanks heaps!! For more recent pics go to the my pics link.

Check this out

Here's a vid of the new Alpha add got it from craig Borlase's site, an author I've been reading a book of called 'The Naked Christian' Pretty darn good stuff.

Worship at Woolies

I was havin a chat to my lovely wife and this really cool chick who I'll call Ali, cause that's her name, about worship the other day but before I get to that let me go somewhere else for a second. In one of my first blogs, Religion,I wrote about how much 'religion' has affected the true views of what being a true follower of Jesus is all about. Unfortunately what has happened over time in my opinion, is that we have become followers of a Christian religion rather than just being followers of Jesus and allowing him to lead us to the kingdom of God. So . . . in large my desire for this blog site is to break down boxes of religion so that followers of Jesus may have some thoughts and discussion that can assist them to help others really know what it means to live a life of following Christ rather than religion.
So . . . getting back to worship . . . firstly can I say that the input here is really good and it has made me think as I'm sure it has others. The question I posed was whether Jesus sang, well to tell you the truth I had no idea whether Jesus sang or not and thankfully Susan pointed out that yeh He probably did. The point I was making though is this (as a question again) what do we remember Jesus for as far as His worship of God? Well certainly not his singing, when I think of Jesus and His worship of His father it wasn't his ability to sing a Guy Sabastian ballad warbling 100 million times and hitting a falsetto note that cracks glass in the name of God. Although again as Susan pointed out, he probably sang songs of worship. It wasn't His articulate words when he prayed, although we know he prayed and honored God to His fullest while doing so. It wasn't the way he read scripture and again we know that when he read he had authority like no other and was devoting everything to His father in heaven. So how do we see Jesus worship? Well I can't explain it any other way than to say that His life was worship to God. He said here John 5:19 So Jesus answered them, "I tell you the truth: the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does. So Jesus was lead by God in all He did, never was he separated from God. Does this mean he did some things without God? No, never as He was God in the flesh. So what does this mean for us? Are we ever separated from God? Nup, his word in Romans says nothing can ever separate us from Him and His love. He's also given us his Spirit to help and guide us. So is it possible for us to worship God with our lives like Jesus did? That's what I'm aiming for. Unfortunately along the way in this path this thing called sin sometimes heads me in my direction and not God's, that's the big difference between Jesus and us huh? He was sinless. So getting back to my conversation with Teresea and Ali, I said yeh . . we can even worship at woolies. (for all those people who may not be in Australia or who have Safeway and not Woolies then it's a supermarket where you buy groceries like fruit and milk vegemite and bok choy, stuff like that) What does that look like? Well it means getting your finest musicians, a stage, a few singers on mics and leading choruses and hymns for all those happy shoppers. Sorry, I lapsed into major sarcasm. Nah, I think just being available for God to use us in Woolies. Being available and ready in whatever way that God leads us, continually lifting our eyes, hearts, hip pockets, gifts and abilities, whatever we have and using them to bring God glory to the people that God places in front of us. I think that's how I see Jesus worshipping. Now . . . . if all followers of Jesus were living lives like this everyday, what sort of a difference would that make to our world? What would it look like when we came together? Would it really matter?

Gymnastics @ Broken Hill

Well what a huge weekend!
That week of training I had did wonders for my physique as you can see, and the skills training really paid off. After never doing gymnastics, except for the occasional floor routine at Boys Brigade about 25 years ago, my balance on the pommel really came in to play, actually you'd be forgiven in thinking that I was actually an olympian from russia, go figure!
Seriously. We had a great time, the whole family went to Broken Hill for the weekend with the Funky Moves competition team. We travelled up and back in a bus with the whole team. Shannon, Kirrily and Hannah are all on the team (not me) and they did really well. This was Hannah's first comp and she even managed to come away with a medal. Kirrily has been on the team longer which really showed as she won the overall 1st medal for her grade. Shannon also did very well getting a first on the floor in her level. The comp was between about 8 clubs from country SA and Broken Hill teams.
It was great getting to know people and being a part of a totally different community of people and it has totally deepened relationship with people we didn't really know. Some more 'real' pics are available to look at on the 'my pics' link. The girls all look the same though with their hair pulled back so I hope you can pick them. Ps Brod's was ok . . . we took a footy.

Worship

I've always said that if you're struggling to figure out someone's view on the bible about something, like a church's view point on worship then look at the life of Jesus and see how they / it fits. So a question . . . . . how many times in scripture do we see Jesus singing worship to God?
Goin to BH (guess the abbreviation) for the weekend for a gymnastics comp, yep I've been workin on my Pummel horse! I'll get back to this blog after giving you some time to think about it, Catch ya, Glenno.