Great Day Today

We started early with an hour of Nordic walking. Of course we heard Jan from Norway tell us again about what Dag Hamerskold said: "When you get to the top of the mountain, you don't say, "How high is the mountain, but how looooooooooow is the valley." Rich Lotterhos and his daughter Kelly are doing a great job cooking and faithful friend Harold Wong is the ever-faithful servant, doing whatever it takes to make this a great event. Today was filled with Jack Jezreel. Couldn't recommend anyone any higher than I recommend Jack. He brought his wife Maggie with him and they are both a delight. For a recap of today go to www.globallearncomm.blogspot.com.

Global Learning Community

Today is the first day of the last gathering of our Global Learning Community here in Estes Park, Colorado. Leaders from 14 cities from around the world convened last night at Lost Antler Ranch and this morning we started by having leaders answer four questions: What's their greatest success? What is working? What is stuck? and Greatest Success? It was pretty amazing the impact these folks are making. For a fuller transcript to to www.globallearncomm.blogspot.com.

Our speaker this week is Jack Jezreel from justfaith.org. Great way to start the day.

Family photos

Since we had all the kids in town it was time for an updated family photo. I'll see if I can drop a few of them in. (Left to Right: Jeff, Ashlie and Gentry, Liz and Eric, Andy, Natalie and Jenda, Erik and Kacey)

Have you seen our granddaughter?

We've had the privilege of having Andy, Natalie and baby Jenda stay with us for a couple of weeks. Jenda is such a little doll. It's hard to remember that our kids were once little bundles like that.

Update on Dad

Boyd had surgery to clean out a carotid artery on December 28th and was released from the hospital on Saturday and was glad to be home. Physically, Dad had a small stroke during the surgery which has resulted in something called "expressive aphasia" meaning although he understands what is happening around him, can watch, enjoy and laugh at TV programs (think hours of "Everybody Loves Raymond"). He can read the newspaper--was telling me about Apple's new phone that was just released, made the connection in a Pickles cartoon to granddaughter Mary's trampoline, checked the stocks he had on the Money page, etc. so his mind is all there. Yesterday he was working on paying bills and this morning drew up a calendar for next week on which he will write his goals. But apart from greetings and short sentences has trouble expressing verbally what he wants to say so sometimes gets frustrated or just gets up and gets the object he is talking about. But like any couple that has been together for nearly 60 years, Mom can finish his sentences for him and he uses his non-verbals very well. It is interesting the the automatic words and sentences Dad does say are things he's said hundreds of thousands of times in his lifetime--"Thanks so much," "Pass the gravy," (I brought a bucket of KFC home last night) and "I love you."I can't tell you how good his attitude and outlook is. He smiles, gets up frequently to see what is going on and apart from his inability to find and form the words he wants...which hopefully will come in time, is doing remarkably well considering he had surgery two weeks ago today.

Since I've been here the speech therapist, physical therapist and occupational therapist have been here working with Dad and are all encouraged by what he can do. I don't think any of them want to convey any false hope of a full recovery but Dad is making progress daily and he even seemed to improve from the time I arrived and last night when after trying to get out a sentence, said, "Oh, why can't I talk?" to which we all had a good laugh! I think it will be "cinch by the inch" as Dad so often has said.

Mom too has a great attitude. She’s upbeat and optimistic she says, "Oh, we can't complain. We were talking the other day before Dad's surgery and said,' If after 59 years of marriage something should happen to one of us we have nothing to complain about. We've had a blessed life." Mom had a cleaning lady in today for a few hours. What she did, I can't figure out since the house is virtually spotless but she says, "Oh I don't want to be doing housework. I just want to sit and talk with yer father and look through picture albums together." Both Mom and Dad are treasures.

Government, Business and the Church

Recently Rick Warren was on Tim Russert's Meet the Press (December 24, 2006). During the program Tim asked Rick about the giant problems of the world. Here is Rick's answer...which I thought was very instructive:

These problems are so big, Tim, that everybody’s failed at them. The United Nations has failed, the United States has failed. And the reason why is because we have not worked together on these issues. Last year at Davos I kept hearing people talk about public and private partnerships. And what they meant was, we need government and businesses to work together on these big global problems. These are problems that affect billions of people, not millions. And when they said that, I said, “Well, you’re right, but you’re not quite there yet. You’re missing the third leg of the stool.” A one-legged stool will fall over, a two-legged stool will fall over, and business and government alone cannot solve these problems. They haven’t, or they would’ve. The third leg of the stool is the churches. There’s a, there’s a public sector role, there’s a private sector role and there’s a faith sector role. Each of the three legs have something to bring to the table that the other doesn’t have. Government brings three things to the table on these issues. First, they bring safety and security. That’s the primary job of the government and that is, keep me safe from terrorism or from war so that I can live in peace. Second role of government is to provide freedom so I can prosper. I can go out and I can start a business if I want to and give me freedom. And the third is, set laws and enforce them because somebody’s got to put up stop signs so we’re not in chaos. The church can’t do that and business can’t do it. There’s a legitimate role for government to do these things. Now, when we talk about poverty, disease, illiteracy and things like that, businesses have a role that government can’t play. Business brings to the table expertise in technology, in health and all kinds of things. They bring capital to the table. Enormous investments. And then they bring, this one’s really important, management skills, because most governments, most businesses and most churches are poorly managed. But if we’re going to solve issues like poverty, disease, illiteracy, corruption, trafficking, all these other things, the church has to be invited to the table for three reasons. First, we have universal distribution. I could take you to 10 million villages around the world that the only thing they’ve got in it’s a church. In fact, in most of the world, the only civil service society is a church. They don’t have a clinic, they don’t have a school, they don’t have a post office, they don’t have a bar. They’ve got a church. Millions and millions of—the church was global 200 years before anybody started talking about globalization. In fact, it’s the only global, truly global organization. There are 2.3 billion people who claim to be followers of Christ. Now that means the church is bigger than China. It’s bigger than India and China put together. So universal distribution. Second thing it’s got is it’s got the greatest pool of manpower. One out of every three people in—on the planet claims to be a follower of Christ. If you mobilize just a billion of those people for these issues, you’d solve it pretty quick. The third thing is, local credibility. What I mean by that is on these issues like poverty, disease, illiteracy, you just can’t go into a village with a program and expect them to accept it. And you have to have credibility. Well, that priest, that pastor, that minister, or for that matter, in the Muslim world, the imam or a rabbi, they have credibility because they’re marrying, they’re burying, they’re with the people in the stages of life. And frankly, I trust them to know more about their community than any government or NGO would ever know.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16202841/page/4/

Government, Business & the Church

Recently Rick Warren was on Tim Russert's Meet the Press (December 24, 2006). During the program Tim asked Rick about the giant problems of the world. Here is Rick's answer...which I thought was very instructive:

These problems are so big, Tim, that everybody’s failed at them. The United Nations has failed, the United States has failed. And the reason why is because we have not worked together on these issues. Last year at Davos I kept hearing people talk about public and private partnerships. And what they meant was, we need government and businesses to work together on these big global problems. These are problems that affect billions of people, not millions. And when they said that, I said, “Well, you’re right, but you’re not quite there yet. You’re missing the third leg of the stool.” A one-legged stool will fall over, a two-legged stool will fall over, and business and government alone cannot solve these problems. They haven’t, or they would’ve. The third leg of the stool is the churches. There’s a, there’s a public sector role, there’s a private sector role and there’s a faith sector role.

Each of the three legs have something to bring to the table that the other doesn’t have. Government brings three things to the table on these issues. First, they bring safety and security. That’s the primary job of the government and that is, keep me safe from terrorism or from war so that I can live in peace. Second role of government is to provide freedom so I can prosper. I can go out and I can start a business if I want to and give me freedom. And the third is, set laws and enforce them because somebody’s got to put up stop signs so we’re not in chaos. The church can’t do that and business can’t do it. There’s a legitimate role for government to do these things.

Now, when we talk about poverty, disease, illiteracy and things like that, businesses have a role that government can’t play. Business brings to the table expertise in technology, in health and all kinds of things. They bring capital to the table. Enormous investments. And then they bring, this one’s really important, management skills, because most governments, most businesses and most churches are poorly managed. But if we’re going to solve issues like poverty, disease, illiteracy, corruption, trafficking, all these other things, the church has to be invited to the table for three reasons.

First, we have universal distribution. I could take you to 10 million villages around the world that the only thing they’ve got in it’s a church. In fact, in most of the world, the only civil service society is a church. They don’t have a clinic, they don’t have a school, they don’t have a post office, they don’t have a bar. They’ve got a church. Millions and millions of—the church was global 200 years before anybody started talking about globalization. In fact, it’s the only global, truly global organization. There are 2.3 billion people who claim to be followers of Christ. Now that means the church is bigger than China. It’s bigger than India and China put together. So universal distribution. Second thing it’s got is it’s got the greatest pool of manpower. One out of every three people in—on the planet claims to be a follower of Christ. If you mobilize just a billion of those people for these issues, you’d solve it pretty quick. The third thing is, local credibility. What I mean by that is on these issues like poverty, disease, illiteracy, you just can’t go into a village with a program and expect them to accept it. And you have to have credibility. Well, that priest, that pastor, that minister, or for that matter, in the Muslim world, the imam or a rabbi, they have credibility because they’re marrying, they’re burying, they’re with the people in the stages of life. And frankly, I trust them to know more about their community than any government or NGO would ever know.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16202841/page/4/

First Day of 2007

We begin the new year with a mix of emotion. My brother Bruce's daughter, Brenda, her husband Christian, son Jaiden (one day older than our grandson, Gentry David) and Christian's brother Sam hhave been here since the 23rd. My sister Debbie and her family have been staying with us since the 29th. And what could be better than a new granddaughter--baby Jenda?

But Dad is still in the hospital after bypass surgery on a coratid artery three days ago. He is clear of mind but is having trouble articulating his thoughts and expressing himself. Our prayers are for a full recovery. Please pray for Boyd and for my mom, Vi as she has been with him 24/7 since the surgery.

Last night we had a few friends and family over for paella...this may be our new New Year's eve tradition!

So this is wishing you and yours God's very best in 2007