Jack Rabbit stew

5:30am today I ran over a jack rabbit while rollin at about 22 mph on my bike. Scared the living crud out of me. Didn't fall but I thought I was going down. Pitch dark riding on the American River Trail with a bright light and all of the sudden a large jack rabbit shoots out in front of me. My common practice is to give a shout and usually the rabbit or squirrel will hear me and run off the road. This rabbit darted around back and forth and then jumped directly in front of me and snap, crackle, pop, he was a gonner. 245 lbs of bike and well, me, rolled over that guy. Couldn't see anything in the dark after the incident.

Anyway welcome to my morning.

Doug

Quiet

The moments of pure silence in our lives are nearly impossible to find. The rush of our culture like the white water rapids of a river seem to never end yet if you follow the river long enough there are the most peaceful places on earth. Are you living in the rapids and never finding the quiet times of your life? I think all of us fall into this trap, which leads to discontent, burnout, shallow relationships and limited potential. Live life to the fullest, take time today to stop and listen and think in the midst of beautiful silence. You may have to practice this, at first the silence may be defening to you because your mind won't slow down. Keep at for a few days and what how serenity sets in.

Live the Epic Life.

Pd

Giving not getting.

Living life around what you can give rather than what you get? Sounds crazy, this is the kind of life Jesus lived and compelled us to live as well. A life of giving. Amazing how it works, the more I give the more God provides and trusts me with. He knows I'm not going to hoard and keep things to myself. Check out what Ephesians says.

Ephesians 5:25Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor—since they're already "one" in marriage.

This doesn't just count for marriage, it applies to our whole life. Let's live this kind of life together.

Pd

Refreshed By Generosity.

If you missed the message today in church, I spoke on being Refreshed by Generosity. Using the gifts God has placed in you! Check it out the message at ccconline.cc. Notes will be available as well.

Pd

Refreshed by Generosity!

Mike Mallot - Rockin it at the xterra nationals last year!! Team Captain. Team Epic Life!

I'm excited to see what I can do in addition to what I already do. I want to be that generous person referred to in Proverbs. Giving not getting that's where it's at. What is the one thing you can give to use your the gifts God has given you. I love what Ashley L has started using the gifts God has given her to help others get in shape. They call it the, "The Fit Factor"! Way to go Ash, I'm really proud of you for stepping out to make this happen. God is going to bless you as you do this.

Pd

Making lemonade out of lemons.

Missed a few days after messing up my knee! I have an MRI first thing in the Wednesday morning to find out what's going on. Dr. says I blew my ACL. Wow, I love doing active things and it looks like right now that I'll be stuck for a few months of nothing.

I've already been challenged to keep the right attitude and find something else to do that I love. I've had the opportunity to catch up on things I just wouldn't have done without being forced into this situation. Sometimes I think God knows when we need to slow down a little and look at life a little different.

Making lemonade out of lemons.

Here's a cool video of my dogs, I made while having some time on my hands.

Diligence

Diligence is a big word that we are often scared of, sounds like work, responsibility or duties. We often don't talk about the reward of diligence. The reward of diligence is amazing, look at those that have been successful in starting there own business or some kind of new venture. When we are diligent in our lives, amazing results come out. Diligence requires time, which goes against our fast food, get it now, info savvy world. Diligence takes time, patience, endurance and well, work. God wants us to live our life using diligence and hard work.

Proverbs 10:4-5, talks about it. Take a moment and read this passage and apply it to your life with God. Are you diligent daily to know God in all areas of your life? That's what I'm working towards, allowing God to help me develop diligence in all areas of my life.

Living the Epic Life requires hard work and diligence, and as you see from the pic on top, if your willing to pay the price to make the climb the view from the top is amazing!!

Photos by Russell Breton

Have a great day!!

Pd

Never to late!

For fathers day, I gave my dad a bike. I don't remember seeing him ride a bike growing up but he mentioned to me a while back that he'd like to start riding. I thought that was so awesome, it's never to late to start something new or try something different. The bible teaches us that all things can be made new. God wants to give us all kinds of opportunities and fresh starts. It's just up to us to jump on a give life our best.

Check this out.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.

I love fresh starts, new things. God wants each of us to experience this daily. We know we are forgiven, our past is gone and a new life is available. Sweeeeet!!!

D

The Target.

Do you know what you want our life to look like? A great passage out of the bible that I love that is also an example of what we can look like as humans is Galations 5:22-23 .The bible talks about the fruit of the spirit. Sounds kind of wacky with those words but is basically saying, the results of your life with Jesus should produce these things.

Are you producing theses things? We'll talk more about it tomorrow.

Doug

Debt Free forgiveness.

Have you ever made a mistake that made you feel guilty for a long time? I remember a couple of times in my life feeling so guilty about something I had done that whenever I saw certain things or heard something I felt bad about it. Now, for you private investigators out there, none of it was against the law but against the character I wanted to have in my life. Here's the thing about Jesus, he knows our failures and our mistakes, and still accepts us however we come. But He never leaves us the same way he finds us. I love that!

Forgiven, think about that word for a moment. What does forgiven mean to you? Have you experienced real, deep, genuine, forgiveness?

This is exactly what the bible offers. Deep, authentic, forgiveness. If this is something you need in your life, or you need to talk through what this means for you let me know.

D

Rise and Fall

Have you ever had a hard fall while doing something? Last night my son Kiah took a hard fall while racing his bike. I was so proud of him, after we made sure he was ok, he jumped up and took off. He went from being in 8th place to 32nd after his fall and made his way back to 18th! He fought back, he didn't stay down and let his fall change his outlook.

Many times in life, we take a hard fall and have a really tough time getting back to where God wants designed us to be. What about you? How do you respond when life is difficult or you make a bad decision and are forced to deal with the consequences? Do you jump up and move on, I hope so, and God is counting on it. We all fall, but not everyone get's back up and finishes the race.

Finish your race, God's available to give you the strength and knowledge to make it through. Life is full of rise and falls.

You can make it.

Pd

Faith or Work, what is it?

Killer photo of one of our missions teams in Fiji, motivated to share God's love even in the rain.

Read James 2:18,26

How does faith and works work together?I don't know. Are your works a result of your faith or are you trying to earn your way in to God's grace? I think this is a natural perspective that each of us must come to grips with. WE CAN'T EARN GOD. In seeking God and learning about his character and his desire for our character we are transformed, not because we must earn anything.

Are you someone who struggles with this? If so, Read James 2:18 and 26. What should be your attitude about faith vs. Works? Write me about this I'd like to hear it.

Pd

I Believe

There is a myth that says pleasing God is something that can only done by people like Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, maybe your Grandmother or Grandfather. Hebrews 11:6 says, without Faith it's impossible to please God, what does that mean to you? It says to me that if I do have faith, which millions of average people do have, I can please God. God is simply saying, you must believe that God does exists, have faith. Do you believe? Do you have faith? If so, God is smiling at you. I'm so thankful that I don't have to earn God's love. He loves me regardless of what my past is. Do you know that you are loved unconditionally loved by God?

I believe.

Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and He rewards those who seek Him.

Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Can't earn it, it's the best gift you could ever receive.

Jesus' life

Born in a barn, next to animals and alot of regular people as well as royalty. Jesus from day one connected with everyone even as a baby. Jesus gave two very specific directives.

Look up Luke 10:27. Wow, sounds simple right. The two key things, love God, love people. Jesus was simple, direct and practical. This is what it really comes down to, can I genuinely grow in my love towards God and people?

Great passage to memorize. This is foundational in your development as a Christian. How can you grow in these two areas?

Love God, Love people.

Pd

Foundations day 2 - Jesus

The way Jesus entered the world is impossible unless set in Mary's womb by God himself. We believe that is exactly the truth. Remember our beliefs our founded in the fact that we believe the bible is true. Crazy thing about Jesus coming to earth.

I. God's Son
II. Born from a virgin.
III. Lived a perfect, non sin bearing life.
IV. Was martyred because of his claim to be the son of God.
V. Died according to prophecy.
VI. Came back to life three days after dying, as was also predicted would happen. Witnesses were available for all these events.

How do I believe this? FAITH. What we talked about yesterday, believing in something I know to be true but can't totally explain it. I believe in what I believe because I know God is real, I feel Him, I see the effects of Him, history proves Him, nature gives us no options but to believe. Jesus was the God on earth showing the way to live, giving us proof of God's power, Jesus rewrote the possibilities with God. Jesus fulfilled everything the old Testament in the bible said must happen.

Read Matthew 1:18-2:12. The birth of Christ.
What about Jesus' birth impacts you the most? Send questions my way.

Tomorrow we'll continue to look at Jesus.

Foundations 1 - Faith

Letting go because you believe the tools will help you accomplish your task. The moment of letting go, leaving the plane, diving in, believing in things you can't see necessarily to work right and do there job. That in a nut shell is faith. I believe. Faith in Jesus is the foundation of being a christian. What is faith? Read Hebrew chpt 11, I like the NIV version of faith in Hebrews 11:1.. What does this passage tell you faith is?

Ok, what is it that I have faith in, what do I believe? Over the next few days we'll work on building a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. Be sure to follow through with the action points at the end so you can be geared up for your day!

To start with we believe the bible is totally true, it's the inspired word of God, the words written in the bible were written by man but given to them by God himself. Think about this, over hundreds of years of time written by numerous writers, from different walks of life yet it all proves itself, stories match up, beliefs held and prophecies fulfilled without always knowing there were prophecies. The bible backs itself up, still to this day, much of our history is taken from the words in the bible and considered factual by the greatest of historians.
Do you believe the bible is true? This is fundamental in being a christian, our beliefs are founded in the bible.

Take a minute and write out what your faith looks like now, and what you would like it to be.
Hebrews 11:1 is foundational in our lives of faith, great passage to memorize.

Tomorrow we'll hit up Jesus's birth Foundations #2. Why did he need to come to earth and go through what he went through?

I'm praying today that God gives you the strength to deal with your current reality!

The Virus

The modern day dilemma, how funny is it when our big problem for the day is a virus? I love my air conditioned car, to my air conditioned office back to my air conditioned car and into my air conditioned home with a Latte and my sunglasses. How good do I have it? I'm reminded daily that my troubles are light and momentary compared to 95% of the rest of our world. My little friend in Africa fighting for another day that was born with aids or the beautiful little girl living with cockroaches and bugs in Oakpark, Sacramento. God help us keep life in your perspective with our influence and attitude in the right place. Forgive us when we are insensitive and miss the point. Make us effective and strong in your world of mercy and grace.

D

Planning Ahead

How much time do you spend planning your days? If each of us would take a few minutes at the beginning of the day to think, and intentionally plan what we want to accomplish, how much would we get done? Are you in control of your schedule or is your schedule in control of you? In the past year I've been working with a ministry coach and the thing that has been most beneficial for me is the tools I've been given to take control of my schedule. Being a good steward of our time is something I believe makes God smile, and it helps each of us have fun with the important people in our lives!!

Happy Planning!

D

Something New!

When was the last time you did something new and LOVED IT!! I decided to try mountain bike racing, I knew it would be a huge stretch but thought I'd try it anyway. I'm so glad I did! I love it! Serious challenge and total motivation to continue to get in shape!