Success

3 years of planning

3 weeks preparation (not enough)

family cheering me on

leaky swimming goggles

750 meters of water

passed by Todd 

sand in my socks (I hate that)

$125 bike

some nice tight cycling shorts

10 kms downhill, with wind, full tires of biking

passed by Bryan

10 kms uphill (as hilly as it gets in the prairies), against the wind, flat rear tire

1 pair of court shoes

5 kms of pure determination

passed by Mark

passed by some girl in pink (I tried to keep up)

2 blisters

pure exhaustion

i think i should probably stretch 

never stopped. never quite.

water please

EQUALS

__________________________________

First completed triathlon!

Time of 1 hour 36 minutes

Came in forth of the three friends and I! 

Three better friends
The time of my life

Can't wait to do another one!

Super Cool!!

My birthday is on October 27. 

I was born in 1980. 

If you do the quick math that makes me:

31

This past year I ran into a charity that drills clean water rigs for people specifically in Ethiopia. As other charities have also done this one gives the idea to give up your birthday and to ask people to instead of giving you a gift that they could make a donation to this charity. I set up my campaign and I asked specific people to donate. I threw it up on facebook and asked people to partner with me. And the response... not a single person donated. Why? I don't know. Maybe I went about it wrong. Maybe it was too impersonal. Maybe I don't have any friends, I'm not certain. But I did sponsored my own campaign so it wasn't a total loss.

I made a donation back in October for my birthday and the money went to purchase a new drilling rig so that this charity could do more than what they were doing already. What is neat about the charity is that they said that when the rig was bought that they would notify me of it's location through GPS and I could see what it was doing and where it was going. So I thought it was cool, donated and then it slipped my mind for a while. But today I got an email telling me about the rig called Yellow Thunder that I helped sponsor.

I helped bring in part of the $1,224,902 that came in for this specific project. I was one of the 1,142 campaigns that were started. I was one of the 13,107 donors that made this possible. Sure my $50 may not seem like much but I am now and forever part of making the success of Yellow Thunder happen. And with many donations it made this project possible.

I watched the video of this rig drilling its first well. It happened back in February, 3 months or so ahead of schedule. It got me pretty excited to know that I could help make this difference. If you want to see what this rig is doing and find out more about this charity click HERE!!

The charity I'm talking about is charity:water. 100% of all donations go straight to the project. Ya, 100%. 

Whether it's this project that you get excited for or it's something else it's amazing how you can make a difference, even if nobody else joins you and even if it's only $50. Go get involved in something bigger than yourself. Take care of your neighbour. Love conquers all. Jesus is my hero!

These are the Days of our Lives

Life often feels like cycling into the wind...

Prayer of Augustine

This is a prayer by St. Augustine in his book entitled, 'Confessions.' It is a prayer that I have translated and memorized, with actions I should say, with my son Isaac. I pray that he will know the meaning of this prayer more and more in his life as he matures with age.

Here is the prayer in it's old English:

"Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in. 

It is ruinous; repair Thou it. 

It has that within which must offend Thine eyes; I confess and know it. 

But who shall cleanse it? Or to whom should I cry, save Thee? 

Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults, and spare Thy servant from the power of the enemy. 

I believe, and therefore do I speak. Lord, Thou knowest."

This is our translation (I may have heard it somewhere but I don't remember):

"My life house is narrow, will you please make it wider. 

It is going to collapse, will you please rebuild it. 

Inside it is messy, this I know and I admit."

Upon reflection I realize that we have missed the part where we invite the Cleaner in. The only One that can clean up the mess of life that all of us find ourselves in. Any ideas as to how I could include that well? And remember that it needs an action!

May your life's desires also reflect this prayer!