What blows me away...

Last night I arrived early for rehearsal at Northwoods. As I sat in the empty auditorium and listened the wind pounding on the walls and ceiling, I couldn't help but be still in awe of the power of what God sent spinning those millions (or billions) of years ago.

Wind.

It can be a gentle summer breeze that sweeps away the heat of a humid night. Or it can be an arctic blast that screams through your goose down jacket and penetrates to the marrow of your bones.

It is unseen, yet is power is undeniable. It can topple buildings, toss heavy equipment around like they are tonka trucks, send ocean waves over seawalls, and drive pine needles through tree trunks. No one doubts its existence or its potential and yet it is unseen.

Is God not the same? We can't see him, yet we can feel his power. The warmth of his presence and the cold of his absence when we turn away. He has the power to heal, to right wrongs, to destroy the temple and rebuild it. How He works is beyond comprehension, but we know He is there.

Thank You for the wind and for the "nature" You created...

Did I really sign up for THIS?

At the Health Department, there are several other offices that operate on the same property. The highway department, animal control, ESDA, and Tazewell County Resource Center all share the compound. However, the facility is not on a city sewer or septic system. Instead, the waste from all the buildings drains directly into a lagoon, which is regulated by the EPA. For some reason, though, we are responsible for sampling the influent "water" every month. Since the guy that usually does this glamorous task is on medical leave, I was somehow charged with doing it. I took two of the other guys down with me. After all, someone had to hold the bottle while I scooped out a "sample" with a 5-foot pole. and it was windy.

The procedure requires a morning, noon, and afternoon sample (1 liter), which all have to be mixed into a composite sample at the end of the day.
This morning it was fairly pleasant (temperature wise) and the water in the 6-foot deep sample well was mostly clear.

By noon, the temperature had dropped a little and we could clearly see what everyone ate for dinner last night floating in the well. disgusting. I let Nick wield the sample stick this time while I made little gagging noises to cheer him on. Just what you want to be doing before lunch.

The afternoon sample was bone-chillingly brutal. Arctic winds on hands covered with latex gloves are a recipe for frostbite. I won't mention the vegetable medley we discovered in the waters below.

Apparently the inspector who does this routinely gets a bonus for doing so. He deserves every penny.

Life as of late...

Where to begin?
Me vida loca hasn't stopped to catch its breath since we arrived home from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin last Monday. And it seems the weather has followed us. A delightful 50F Monday and a balmy Tuesday morning have now given way to Icelandic conditions. Ah, such is an Illinois winter.

Work has been (for the 1st time since my February, '06 start here) crazy busy. I am now in charge of two programs within Environmental Health, which has increased my work load more than 2-fold. It IS better than being bored, but I don't like coming back to the office after spending a day doing food inspections to see my desk completely covered in paperwork. It takes an average of 2 hours each morning just to get things back in order before I can begin chipping away at everything else. Oh well. They hired a new inspector that is starting Thursday, so maybe that will take some pressure off. Another inspector had brain surgery two weeks ago, so he will mostly likely be gone another couple of months.

In other news, more progress on the thesis revision has been made. I had an encouraging meeting for the first time in a loooooong time with the profs on Friday. I was to have the first paper revised and back to them by the end of last weekend, but hit another snag. Apparently, when we ran the radioactive trials at SIU, one component of the protocol was not run without a sample present, which has to be done to determine efficiency. So I have to go back to Springfield Saturday for that little number. Then paper #1 will go back to the profs for revision #2. They haven't looked at my second paper, which has now been in their hands for 10 weeks. ah, the frustration. maybe i'll get my PhD after this.
or not.

Life has been weird lately. I feel a tension in what I'm doing (professionally, at church, etc.). I don't know if it's because of what people around me are doing and telling me I should be doing, or if it's a higher calling. I am just aware of it. It feels like something big is on the horizon, but I've had that feeling before and then didn't see anything happen. Who knows, maybe I'm just weird.

What it's all about.

So we had fun at "The Fort." Lots of fun. And I think that's important-it builds and strengthens relationships within the ministry.

but that's not the reason for a retreat.

Jeff Eagan, also known as "Ol' Redbeard," and a former member of the band, "Boulder, CO," was our speaker for the weekend. It's always good to hear the message from someone outside the walls of the church to get a fresh perspective.

Jeff's teaching focused on Matthew 22:
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

He also questioned what it looks like to worship God. So many times when we hear "it's time to worship," or "i'm going to 9am worship," we think about singing songs or attending a church service. Romans 12 calls us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices as a "spiritual act of worship." With every breath and every word we speak, in every interaction with co-workers, people on the street or the idiot in traffic, worship HIM.

On Saturday night, Chris invited us to take 10 minutes and just go outside and LOOK. The moonlight shining off the snow on the bowing evergreen branches, the stars like a thousand headlights in the sky, the air so incredibly clean and brisk it almost hurts to inhale it. How can anyone look at this world and not see HIM?! Even in the frigid north in the middle of winter when everything is dormant, I felt soooo alive. and there it is.
worship is not about ME. it's not about how it makes ME feel. it's not about MY song or MY sacrifice. it's all about being passionately consumed by HIM.

back to love.
Jeff read a story about a guy who couldn't sleep one night so he walked to the local doughnut shop at 3am. There were a couple of "ladies of the night" there talking about business. One mentioned to the other that the next day was her birthday. The other sarcastically said, "what do you want me to do about it? buy you a cake, throw you a party?" She replied, "why should you? i'm going to be 38 and have never had a birthday party." He got an idea. He asked the store owner if these women came into the store every night. They did. So he conspired with the owner to throw the woman a surprise party the following night. They put up decorations and got her a cake with her name in the icing. When she walked in, the was completely overcome by the love of these strangers. She asked through her tears if instead of cutting the cake, she could take it home to savor the moment. After she left, the store owner asked what kind of a church the man came from. He replied, "a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3 in the morning." The man said, "I don't believe you. If there were such a church, I'd go."

I want to be a part of THAT church too. I want to love others more than myself. I want to stop talking and start doing. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself."

We retreated and now we've returned. Let's change the world one life at a time...

Fort Wilderness.

This weekend, Reality headed north. WAY north. 8 hours north, to Fort Wilderness. The first morning it was -21F. Sunday it was -22F. At that temperature, when you step outside, your nose hair instantly freezes and the condensation from your breath turns to miniature icicles on your eyelashes. it's good.

There were plenty of activities to keep everyone entertained, such as broomball (like hockey, but with a ball and sticks and no skates or pads), ice skating, snow tubing, and cross-country skiing. They also have horses for trail riding and sleigh rides, but it was too cold even for the horses to go out.

Broomball was a blast, and several of us bare the bruises to prove it. It's much harder than the natives made it look. I went down the tubing hill once, but it was more work than fun lugging the tube back up the hill. And then there was skiing...

Chris, Jeff, Samantha, Max, and I headed out on the trails at 2:30. Approximately 200 yards down the trail, we came to the first hill. It was actually just a slight dip compared to what was to come. And all 5 of us bit it. Sam and Max decided to take off their skis at that point and walk. So we continued on. On the next hill, I went first and got up the other side and waited for the next victim, Chris. I saw him come down the hill and then disappear in a cloud of powder. All that made it up the other side was one of his poles that went flying in the collision. hilarious! There were several other comical crashes along the way, but nothing could prepare Jeff and I for what lie beyond the "y" intersection we happened upon after crossing the frozen lake. The trial we started on was 3.9 miles. That sounded doable. BUT, 3.9 miles is 3.9 miles from the camp. Then you have to take another 3 mile trail back. CRAZY.
By this point we had lost the other 3 skiers. They had turned back apparently, because after waiting 10 minutes at the top of a hill that required climbing on my hands and knees, there was no sign of them. So we sullied on. And climbing up requires coming back down the other side. fast. and curving. Jeff went first. and faceplanted. BIG time. I laughed hard and then stopped, realizing it was now my turn to rocket down the narrow trail. I waited for Jeff to collect himself and I thought he was far enough down the trail. i was incorrect. I somehow managed to keep my balance all the way down the hill and a collision was immanent. so with no room to get out of the way, I fell back on my skis, landing on my tailbone and hitting my head. and then i laid there tingling in areas that shouldn't tingle.
After several minutes, I got up and we continued on. On the very next hill Jeff crashed again and hurt his knee badly. He was on his back, trying to get his skis off because he said he couldn't go any further. After struggling several minutes without removing them, the throbbing went away and he got up. After a couple more miles, we ran into some kids on the trail who said we were almost back to the camp. We were honestly beginning to wonder if we'd make it back before the sun set.
As we trudged up the last hill to the ski house, we saw Chris and Sam walking down the road. jerks had found a shortcut.
The next morning, we were told that we had inadvertently taken the "expert" trail. I suggest labeling their trails.

What an awesome weekend in a place that boasts God's handiwork in every snow-laden pine tree and ice-covered lake. I hope I see it again sometime soon...

It's a Cinch!

It's January. The gyms and fitness classes are packed. 2008 resolutions are still going strong...or are they?

Every year it's the same. There's no where to park in the gym lot at 5pm from January 1 to approximately April. And then the determined many become few. Why? It's hard. Pounds are hard to lose, whether you spend 60 minutes on a treadmill or pumping iron. And the most important part to weight loss is often over-looked-maintaining a healthy diet while striving toward your goal.

So many times, people yo-yo back and forth with fad diets, skipping meals, etc. The reason is when you starve your body of its necessary caloric intake, it metabolizes lean muscle tissue for energy. So, you may see weight loss, but you're losing the good stuff! Then when you "relapse" and start eating the unhealthy foods again, the weight comes back as more fat and you have less muscle tissue to burn it!

Enter, Shaklee's "Cinch" program. There are some great videos on my website: http://www.cinchplan.com/green4life/home. The Cinch program is based on the amino acid, leucine, which is essential for muscle growth and preservation. The kit comes with an assortment of meal shakes, delicious meal bars, energy tea, and metabolism boosting vitamins. Also included are meal plans, calorie counters, a pedometer, and a success guide.

As always, Cinch comes with a 100% money-back guarantee. People on the program have seen dramatic reductions in their hip-to-waist ratio, cholesterol levels, triglycerides, and blood pressure. You've got nothing to loose but inches and pounds and the only side-effect is a healthier you! There are no medications or chemicals to take, no empty promises made. The science and personal testimonies to back up Shaklee's claims are available on the website.

I would love it if a friend of mine would make the decision to become healthier in 2008 with this program. I'd love to be right there with them through the journey to cheer them on and see the results. And remember, "it's not about being beautiful, it's about being healthy!"

Don's Blog

Don Bowen has set up a blog with his story, his surgery, and updates on what you can pray for. http://wizidm.wordpress.com/ There is also a link on my sidebar.

Presidential Match-o-Matic

Take this online questionaire, which matches your responses to the presidential candidate's positions:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/page?id=3623346
Not surprisingly, my #1 was Huckabee, followed by Romney and Gulianni.

Ashleyisms

Our dear secretary says the "funniest" things some times. She blames it on the "Ashley Bubble," in which she lives. For instance, she coined these intellectual gems just this week:

"O.J. Simpson? Who is that? Oh, is he the guy with the white truck like yours, Claire? All I know is there was something about a glove."
wow. had no idea about the murders, trial, nothing.

"I ate at McDonald's in Mexico and I couldn't believe they had hamburgers." We asked why. "Because they don't have any cows in Mexico. I mean, come on, it's an Ocean."
i couldn't make this stuff up.
I asked her where she went in Mexico. She replied, "Cancun." So if you went to New York City, you'd expect to see cows? "Yeah, I see them when we're driving around here all the time." But you were at a resort. "But we still drove!" Where? "Down the strip."
she was serious.

Today she was running around telling everyone the director granted her permission to get a Chameleon to keep at her desk. I asked her when she was getting the lizard, to which she replied, "I'm not getting a lizard, I'm getting a chameleon."

at least she keeps things interesting.

In the Maker's hands...

Many of you who attend Northwoods know Don Bowen, whether you've met him or not. He's the fireball that sings the high tenor part on all the southern gospel songs Cal mananges to sneak into the services.
A few days before the Christmas program took the stage, Don visited a neurologist for an MRI due to blurred vision and chronic headaches. What the MRI revealed was serious and scary, to say the very least. There was a large tumor growing in the occipital lobe of his brain. The surgeon removed as much as he safely could on monday. The cancer type is a glioblastoma, which is very aggressive and difficult to treat. Needless to say, without divine intervention, the outlook is bleak.

But Don has a power on his side that the statistics don't take into consideration. He is under the care of the ultimate physician, the very one who crafted each of his cells. And while it is impossible for us to understand His ways, we remain faithful and pray that His will be done in Don's life. Please pray that His awesome and undeniable work would be unleashed on the cancer and that the doctors would have no medical explanation for the results...that science would stand mystified...that there will be no doubt that the Maker was responsible for healing that which man could not...

Thank you Ben, for sharing Psalm 34: "I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak His praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart. Come, let us tell of the Lord's greatness; let us exalt His name together. I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy! No shadow of shame will darken their faces. In my desperation, I prayed and the Lord listened; He saved me from all my troubles. For the angel of the Lord is a guard; He surrounds and defends all who fear Him. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in Him! Fear the Lord, you His godly people. for those who fear Him will have all they need."

My Name is John Daker.

This is amazing. What a voice. What an entertainer. He's listed as one of Peoria's famous people. And it's all because of this video. It gets better every time I watch it!

enjoy.

He's got my vote!

Mike Huckabee is the only candidate I trust with our country's future. Check out www.mikehuckabee.com

Smoke-Free Illinois!

While I am sooooooo sick and tired of hearing about the new law on the news, in the paper, and from every bar owner and restrauteur I run into, and how it is going to destroy all commerce in the state and send it into poverty, I rejoice in it!

I headed back into the field today for some food inspections and visited one of my smokiest establishments. The front door bore a large "no smoking" sign. When I entered, the entire place looked cleaner and brighter than ever before. And when I left, I didn't smell like an ashtray or have the usual headache that was typical after such a visit.

I guess Rod Blago will have ONE redeeming piece of legislation.

And to all the bar owners and restrauteurs, rest assured. People are still hungry and thirsty, despite the fact that they have to walk 15 feet from the door to light up.

New Years, '08

New Years Eve was a great evening of food, revelry, and laughter with Gina's smallgroup. I was thankful to be invited for the 3rd annual event. Charlie and Ryan prepared an extravagant 6-course meal. Here's a visual sampler of the festivities!

A slate of various cheeses, apparently made from goats and "sweet" goats. I don't know how they tell the difference.

Two men in their element. Here Ryan and ChuckDean are preparing the salt beds for the oysters Rockefeller. Check out his blog for the complete menu!

The ladies set up a beautiful table presentation of crystal and red rose petals.

Myself with the new senior pastor of Imago Dei Church, Peoria.

Gina, calling geese.

Ahhhh, the oysters. Much better than "Rocky Mountain Oysters." Dad, I will never forgive you for telling me they were chicken nuggets. Trauma to a young boy...

Now look at that pile of sexy.

Here's to a great '08!

New Website!

My very own Shaklee website is up and running!
Please visit http://www.shaklee.net/green4life to check out what Shaklee can do to change your health, nutrition, workout, and household.

Shaklee specializes in vitamins and dietary supplements that actually DO what they claim. 2,000 product quality assurance tests annually. Over 100 published peer-reviewed scientific studies. One vitamin product alone has 12 patends! The stuff is pure gold.

Shaklee specializes in household cleaning products that are biodegradable, non-toxic, and effective. Eliminate the poisons under the kitchen sink and replace them with something safe for you and the earth. Oprah loves Shaklee, why shouldn't you?!

Give Shaklee a chance. If you aren't completely satisfied, there is always a 100% money-back guarantee. If you have any questions, I'd love to chat!

Thanks,
Justin

poopsicle.

This morning I learned what is worse than doing a septic inspection in the rain:
doing a septic inspection on the coldest day of the year when everything has been covered with 2 inches of snow.

When my boss called at 8:35 and asked if I could do an inspection ASAP, I honestly thought she was kidding. What contractor in their right mind would be out in 1 degree weather putting in a system? But kidding, she was not. So I went back out to the car and pulled out my coveralls and boots, which were starched stiff with frost.

I went to the "big house" to check out a 4x4 and when I got to the blazer, there was no ice scraper to clear off the windshield or windows. So I used my hand. (Joy is overflowing from my heart at this point).

It took 45 minutes to get to the location, which was literally at the farthest point in the county you can be from the health department. When I pulled into the driveway, I could see no excavating equipment or even fresh footprints in the snow. The back yard looked like a war zone, covered in snow. I knew there were old tanks that had to be abandoned and could see jagged concrete and rebar emerging from drifts here and there, but couldn't be certain where was solid ground and where immanent, smelly danger lurked. The weirdest part was that the contractor was no where to be seen.

So I made my drawing and took all the measurements while stumbling awkwardly over mounds of dirt and concrete. As I was taking the last notes, I noticed a Lexus parked with the motor running in the cornfield on the other side of the fence. The driver's seat was reclined and the bill of a hat could be seen peaking over the back window. The old codger was passed out. I knocked on the window, which startled the poor fella. After several seconds, he rolled down the window and said he couldn't be much help because he hurt his back. I informed him I was already finished, but he was over 100 square feet short of the required square footage for the system. I think it's time to retire. maybe we both should.