Two days of fishing just around the corner of our point yielded 15 bass in short order, lots of action! The three boys kept me busy getting fish off the hook and into a bucket.
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Category: Life
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Fishing with Grandkids & Friend
Day #1 08/20 in Red, Day #2 08/21 in Green 7.52 NMi or 13.9 km Parker Aryton Dane -
Pause
Pause in His presence.
These words really impacted me this morning as I’m reading Psalm 44, right between v8 and v9 in The Passion Translation, “Pause in His Presence”, and I did!
Time stopped for a few minutes. I just stared and the words and took the time to pause and really feel His presence. It’s quiet here in the basement as I sip coffee and read devotions and scripture. Always a special time of the day and sometimes an extra special moment with God.
His is always present but sometimes I really just need to pause to make it more of a reality in my life.
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Shift focus
n worship, a lens shift happens. A beautiful shift, where the focus moves from our problems in the moment to His presence. You could be having a terrible day. You could be focusing too hard on the past. But the moment you enter worship, you start to see things more clearly through the highs and lows of life.
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Enduring Peace
The immediate facts of the situation created turmoil. The unchanging truth about God created peace.
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22 Mile Miracle
Don’t lose heart. Believe God. Trust His word. Keep moving. Keep walking. If Jesus spoke it, you can believe it.
Also, https://www.jordandanielchitwood.com/post/22-mile-miracle
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Happy ever after?
When we choose the new story, our storyline changes. It’s no longer just about who we are, and the moments that matter. It’s about seeking and finding Jesus in those moments—in the struggle–letting Him rewrite our past, present and future into a redemptive story of hope.
Perhaps we are focused on the wrong parts of the story’s ending. Resolution may look like unfinished business and unreconciled relationships. It may look like continued gray scale in so many aspects of life—in our sin, in our struggle, in our suffering. Resolution may look like more uncertainty in this temporary life and more certainty about God. Resolution may look like bumps and bruises that remind us to fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
Resolution may look like daily reminders of our own weakness, when we must choose to believe that God is greatest, and He knows best because we don’t have any other options. Resolution may look like the unwritten parts of the story where our only true hope is the goodness of God and the reality of eternity.
Perhaps that’s the only happy ending we truly need.
https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/12644-finding-joy-when-thestruggleisreal/day/7 -
Ride to Conquer Cancer
2022 is the 15th anniversary of Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer to raise funds for Princess Margaret Cancer Centre research and my 2nd ride. Not being in Toronto it’s a bit of a solo event as opposed to the fully supported ride from Toronto to Hamilton on Day 1 and then on to Niagara Falls on Day 2 with pit stops, lunch, dinner accommodations etc.
At the Legion, ready to go Last year I was at the lake riding but this year I find myself in the city. The “official” ride is on the weekend, June 11 & 12 but the Saturday forecast here in Winnipeg is a bit iffy so I opted to ride on Thursday which was a perfect day, sunny, mid-twenties and very light winds.
The FOG casual ride group had planned a ride on Thursday as well which meant that I could hook up with them and have company for the first 100km, perhaps more and then finish up the remaining distance on my own to get to the 160km goal. 160km or 100 miles is a bit of a cyclists achievement referred to as a Century ride.
I load up the jersey pockets with provisions for the anticipated 5+ hours of riding and I leave the house at 8 am to meet the group at the Legion near Henderson Highway and the Perimeter. I’ve ridden from home to the Legion before but always on a Saturday morning. The rush hour traffic is crazy, especially with the one lane closure on Archibald right at the Tim Horton which causes it’s own traffic jam thanks to the drive-thru.
I meet up with the group and there are eight of us with another rider joining en route. The ride is the usual lively pace holding between 30-35km/hr with some faster bits thanks to a slight tail wind from time to time.
All is going well and I’m on target to reach 100 km by the time we get back into the city. As we’re proceeding south on Hwy 59 coming back from Birds Hill Park, I hit something, likely a rock, and get a pinch flat. Everyone stops and helps me repair the flat and we’re back underway, for about 100 feet and then there is a gunshot loud “explosion” as the same front tire gets another flat!
Upon closer inspection, which I should have done the first time, there is a sizeable cut in the sidewall of the tire and sort of like a hernia the tube which is at 100psi squeezes out the cut and explodes. Again, everyone stops and assists with this “discovery”.
The fix this time, in addition to my last new tube, is duct tape to the rescue! Dave somehow comes up with a small piece and places it over the cut on the inside of the tire. The new tube is then inflated to about 50-60 psi so as not to put too much pressure on the duct tape fix. It’s rideable but a little squishy feeling in the front. Now the goal is to get back home for some more serious repairs. Dave sticks with me as we ride to Windsor Park and the tire holds up all the way home.
Part 1 So much for 160km all in one go. But wait, there is more!?
I knew I’d need new tires sometime this year so last fall I caught a sale and had ordered a pair of Continental 5000s which were ready and waiting. Into the basement shop for a full tire change and I’m good to go again. Since I’m at home anyway I take the time to have a bit of lunch and refresh the water bottles before heading out for the last 60km.
Heading south to Ile de Chene will take me to 30+ and a good place to turn around and head home. Tires were great and no further incidents happened. Listening to a few podcasts helps the time solo riding pass.
Part 2 Some additional Strava info for the cycling geeks. Part 2 was a fair bit slower as I was more tired at this point and it’s easy to slack off when you’re not pacing with other riders.
Fundraising turned out well! A big thanks to all who supported this worthy cause.
So, in the end it all turns out well and my goal of 100 miles was achieved, just not the way I anticipated, like so much of life.
The Official Socks of the 2022 R2CC UPDATE: The Ride raised $16.37 million for breakthrough research at The Princess Margaret, and it rained on them going from Hamilton to Niagara Falls ?
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The Five Solas
Listened to a great meditation podcast this morning where they mentioned the five solas, latin for “alone”, which I was unfamiliar with. The five solas are:
Sola Gratia – Grace alone
Sola Fide – Faith alone
Sola Christus – Christ alone
Sola Scriptural – Scripture alone
Soli Deo Gloria – To the Glory of God alone.
In the process I learned a little more about the five solas and the Protestant reformation on a post from Concordia University
The Encounter podcast, a great way to start your day.
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200 Tuesday – Yes!
Well, today it happened. 200 or less on Tuesday!
As I posted a week ago I set a goal earlier in the year. And, in spite of Domino’s pizza and a couple of glasses of wine last night, the goal was achieved this morning at 198.4. I know nobody but me cares about this but goal achieved. Feels good.
Now the new goal is to hold between 195 and 200 and make this my new normal.
Goal Achieved! -
200 Tuesday
Back in February 2022 I embarked on a weight loss program. I’m sure that this is something that many of us have done from time to time but this is the first time I’ve been serious (sort of) about Dorning some weight.
Back in April 2021 I dipped below 200 lbs and I wasn’t even trying. II’d say it was my medical situation that did it all by itself with no conscious help from me. I remember feeling good about that weight and how I looked etc. It’s the weight I was when I graduated high school and hadn’t seen since that time. So that was the goal, get back to 200.
For me the weight loss was primarily about helping my performance on the bike. Less weight to ride around with makes you faster as you increase your fitness levels. Less weight to pedal up those hills at the lake. All that plus I’ll look a bit better in the bathing suit this summer. ?
So here is the plan. Eat and drink less, exercise more. Pretty simple eh? Eating less was aided by a daily reminder I put on my phone.
I am consistent – Back to 200! Healthy foods in healthy amounts – skip desserts! smaller plate, one plate, no seconds
I’m a firm believer in that it’s all about the calories. Less calories in and the body will burn off the weight. So how did that go? Well… it was a good reminder for sure and some days I stuck with the program and some days I didn’t. I’ve not yet got into the “small plate” habit but I think my portion control is a bit better. Desserts are less frequent and it’s 1-2 cookies not half a bag of Fudgeeos
More exercise = more riding the bike + some weight training. This part is going very well. Almost daily there is 1+hours on the bike either indoors on the trainer doing formal interval training or outside on generally longer rides. On non-riding days there is a 1 hour weight program. Occasionally, both on the same day. ?
I decided to record weight daily and have an official weigh-in day once a week on Tuesday. Why Tuesday? Well, I thought if I messed up the program on the weekend that I might be able to get back on track on Sunday and Monday and make the weekly goal on Tuesday.
And what was the weekly goal? Well somewhere I heard that 1 lb/week was a reasonable rate of loss and 2lbs/week would be fairly aggressive. So, being a bit of a data guy II created a spreadsheet and targeted somewhere between 1-2 lbs/week.
So all of this put together has worked out fairly well overall with one little exception, 200 Tuesday. Here is the data to date.
Blue = 1 lb/week, Green = 2 lbs/week, Red = Me What the chart doesn’t show is that there have been several days recently where I’ve been under 200, just never (so far) on Tuesday, the “official” weigh-in day. Generally, I manage to self-sabotage myself in the days right before Tuesday with a little to much self congratulation on making the goal. Right now I’m hovering daily between 201-202, agonizingly close, but no prize. May long weekend was the planned date to make the goal which is only 8 days away. The pressure is on!