The pic is of baby Inka – the 2nd daughter of our hosts Martin & Sandra… providing eye-candy & a point of interest to distract you from the musings of a jet-lagged scoeyd…

Bloggers to the left of me. Bloggers to the right. In front. Behind. Stopping their blogging – temporarily. Or permanently. I understand why. Time. Priorities. Demands. Life. No inspiriation. No material.

Still, I want to keep going & push through. To consciously spend precious time on a computer recording thoughts, happenings, & epiphanies, mundane & fantastic. To push my brain to grow, my thoughts to go deeper, more detailed, & creative. Past the point where I’ve stopped before because it was too hard for me & something new or nothing was easier to give myself to.

I think it is a part of my life-mission to blog.

It sounds a little silly when I read the sentence back to myself, silently at first, but then out loud. Not that my life is defined by the act of blogging, but there is a sharpening of me, a growth that gets primed by the act of intentionally doing this. And for other reasons that I really don’t want to say right now.

So I will keep going.

we are off to a good day, having spent it with Johannes, eating breakfast with our host Sandra, & of course great bread & rolls. Its absolutely beautiful outside, a little chilly for the Bean’s taste, but hey, what isn’t…

I hope to touch base soon. now we’re off to market. Hooray! Shopping!

Delayed in Reno :)
We’re ending up on the 3 p.m. Reno to SF, then 6:30 p.m. SF to London, with a London to Frankfurt, arriving at 7:40 p.m. Deutschland time… about 10 hours extra of waiting. Fortunately, I’m with my girlfriend…

No, no time in London to find English muffins.

I’m on the road 1-17 November.

Frankfurt to Rome to Frankfurt to a place called Bad Something or Nuther (Bad means Bath, so its some sort of resort) then back to Frankfurt.

I’ll be posting as often as I can, with the occasional “in action” pictures from the Bean’s new camera. If there’s nothing here, you can always check the Hillside Blog Site

See you soon-
ScoeyD

This is my brother Moe, being sworn in by his boss, the Honorable Judge Maddox. He found out that he passed the Nevada Bar last week. Hooray for Moe.

Learning to BE vs. DO has been one of the harder things that I’ve tried to learn. Part of it is the built-in feeling &/or need to respond or take action because DOING something is seen as exponentially better than DOING nothing. This is especially “true” when it seems that DOING nothing means inactivity & is an indicator of apathy.

Not so fast – DOING is based in me & my resources – BEING is dependent on the resources, power, authority, & inclination of One greater. BEING is a reminder that I am not my own, & that I have a MAKER & a MASTER.

In this current onslaught of wickedness, sickness, hopelessness, despair, fear & intimidation, I am to BE STILL. My actions, my responses, my best attempts at DOING will not bring about God’s righteousness, or fulfill His plan for me & mine. BEING STILL means full reliance on my ROCK & my FORTRESS, my DELIVERER, my HEALER. My God.

Selah

I’m sitting here at my table drinking coffee, pondering the week that was…

Surgery on Monday turned out great – the complete thickness tear discovered on the MRI was nowhere to be found once they got inside the shoulder w/the leetle camera & knife – just some fraying. No tear means my recovery time is cut down by 1/4, & is evidenced by the fact that I am typing with both of my hands right now – I stil am supposed to wear my sling, esp. in crowds (its more for the crowd than for me, I was told) but in the priv-acy of my domicile, I am free. At this rate, I may be playing guitar by the time I go to Deutschland.

Travelling post-surgery is as bad an idea as I have had lately. The bright side of a Tuesday trip to LA was that I got to pre-board with the others in wheelchairs & the harried parents with reckless ankle biters. Can’t say I didn’t feign a bit of angst (for Teeem) in order to look less pleased with myself getting to pick whatever seat I wanted on the Greyhound in the Sky airlines… Also, reconnecting with friends T & D was worth the price. Ate at the Cheesecake Factory (BBQ Burger & Wings, no cheesecake :(…) Reno NEEDS a Cheesecake Factory.

Spoke at the LPC Chapel Talked about Ephesians 2:10 – w/the main idea being that God loves us because we’re His children, not because of what I can do for Him. Beings as I’m one of His masterpeza’s. A main talking point was Van Gogh’s Starry Night. I am not a mass-production, I am a masterpiece, & am unique… the things I BE & DO will reflect that – as a person, & in all the roles I fulfill.

Nobody booed or shouted “Blasphemy”, tore their clothes & through dirt in the air. This is especially significant to note as there were 2 members of the Foursquare Doctrinal Committee present. Woo hoo.

Found out 3 minutes ago that Jerry Cook has colon cancer. (For more on J to the C, see SCOEY’S HEROES POST) Treatment is starting immediately. Prognosis is good. God is better.

Thanks for walking through life with me. I’m richer for it.

Joe Montana is one of my heroes. When I was 10, the worst team in football, the 49ers, drafted Joe Montana in the 3rd round. (I know, they are once again among the worst teams in football – but as long as they beat Da Raiders this week, they will at least be able to say, “We’re #31!” But I digress.) It was a perfect time for me to engage with pro football – I had just started playing the game myself (Pop Warner) & the local (Bay area is local to Reno, if you squint hard enough…) team brings in a guy that has a knack for finding a way to win games that seemed like they were done & over.

Montana’s tenure as QB brought 4 Super Bowl victories. 3 Super Bowl MVP’s. Several years of watching a wispy guy with a so-so throwing arm lead the 49ers to victory. My favorite Montana moment was in Super Bowl XXIII XXIII Recap (that’s 23 for non-Roman Numeral types) where the Bengals of Cincinnati were overcome in the last minute for yet-another-come-from-behind-victory via a TD pass to John Taylor. I remember that moment as vividly as if it were yesterday. I was working as a Domino’s pizza delivery guy, (busiest day of the year is Super Bowl Sunday, BTW) & had the good fortune to be called to deliver 8 pies (industry slang. I’m an insider, don’t you know?!) to a hardcore 49er fan that wouldn’t let me leave his house. He made me (twisted my arm!) sit on his couch, eat a piece of the pizza I’d just delivered, & watch the entire last drive. After, the TD, it was bedlam. The dog was the most excited out of all of us, though I think it had to do with the pizzas that fell to the floor when everyone jumped up when the touchdown was scored. We all kinda looked like Montana does, in the picture above left. I cried when he left the team for the Chefs (sic). I cried again when he retired. Never met him. Hope to, though.

Which leads me to another hero: Jerry Cook. He’s the guy in picture on the right. I met him via his book, Love, Acceptance, & Forgiveness in about 1981. It became a staple in my “Books To Read On A Yearly Basis”, along with The Chronicles of Narnia, and C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy.

Jerry Cook helped a pessimistic (realist?) & often cynical churched kid & sometime PK see how the church could be. Should be. Functioning with Christ’s Love. Acceptance. And Forgiveness as core values guiding the behavior of those within the church towards each other & towards those not yet there. The Jesus Jerry talks about, knows personally, & introduces to his listeners/readers transcends style, culture, national origin, gender, & age groups.

This absolutely transformed my thinking & I believe is largely responsible (along with a praying mom, several divine interventions & redirections, & lots of grace,) for me being, doing, & thinking what I be’s, do’s, & thinks. (Interestingly, when I met my friend Johannes Livelli for the first time, we just hit it off. Immediate connection. Like we’d been friends for years. I found out later that one of our biggest commonalities is our church/Jesus view were shaped by Jerry Cook – me by the books I read, him through a 7 month internship he had in WA with Jerry as his overseer. Lucky!)

I met Jerry for the 1st time in 1999; he is an authentic, engaging, compassionate person, & is a lot like what I think Jesus would be if you met him on the street. Tonight, I get to hang out with him (and a few of my closest friends too.)

It started with a Willie Mays impersonation. On April 18th, (easy date to remember, 2 days pre-4/20!) while playing shortstop I attempted to make an over-the-head catch, running full speed, by laying out. Didn’t catch the ball. Touched it, though. Landed on my extended left shoulder. Familiar pain shot through my body. Shoulder’s out.

Fortunately, Aric G, a budding chiropractor (nice picture, I know – you’re thinking of him with little flowers all over…) helped work the arm back into its rightful place. Hoped that things would heal. Nope. Rest. Strengthening exercises. Therapy (complete with ultrasound stimulus.)

Doctor’s visits brought up the possibility of a tear in the rotator cuff. That’s what it felt like from the first day, actually. I tore my right rotator cuff in high school with the help of a few friends on the football field & a fun little drill known as “The Meat Grinder.” MRI & arthrogram determine that the cuff has a complete tear that needs to be fixed asap. Cut me, Mick,” says Rocky Balboa.

I have a date: Monday, 10/9 – check in 8:30 a.m., surgery 10:30 a.m. Everything goes well, surgery’s done by 11:30 a.m. recuperate in post-op, & then go home @ 2 p.m. More info as I get it.

It’s taken a couple of days after my tests & the subsequent anti-nausea meds to feel normal, clear headed, able to process at my usual breakneck pace. The results of the MRI confirmed what the good Dr. thought in the first place – complete tear of the left rotator cuff. Surgery is being scheduled ASAP; not an emergency per se, but the good Dr. doesn’t want me doing something foolish that would/could damage the shoulder worse. Oops. Like softball. Basketball. Working out.

Thanks for your prayers.