The first church I was a member of as an adult was Family of Christ in Lakeville. We started out as not much more than a dozen families meeting at what is now Kenwood Trail Middle School off Highway 50. That would've been in the spring of 1988. The church grew over the next few years, and we eventually built on a piece of land in an undeveloped area south of 185th Street, just east of the freeway, where it remains today. As part of the organizational process for any new church, there were formalities we needed to follow, and one of them was officially calling our pastor to the position of Pastor at Family of Christ. Dell had been serving in that capacity for about 4 years, so I assumed this was a no-brainer. But it wasn't. To my surprise, one woman stood up and expressed her dissent with the nomination. I couldn't believe it. What was Kathleen thinking? I was totally oblivious to what had been happening behind the scenes there. It would take a couple more years to fully...
I was on a ride yesterday when I found myself waiting for the light at the intersection of France Avenue and Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington. I was only a mile away from where I grew up from 1966 to 1975. As I sat waiting for the light, I quickly surveyed the area and noticed that there was very little left from when these were my stomping grounds. I thought to myself that I should come back to take a slow walk around and do some reminiscing. I got up this morning and drove my truck back to the same intersection to have a closer look; my camera in hand. I pulled into McDonald's parking lot and went inside. I ordered my usual: Egg McMuffin, Cinnamon Melts, and a large decaf coffee. I recalled when this McDonald's first opened in the early '70s. Before then, the nearest McDonald's was off Nicollet and I-494. Maybe once a month a couple of us would go there and bring back dinner for our family of eight. I can still remember holding the warm bags of food on my lap fo...
I jynxed us in my last blog post when I spoke about our mild winter. A strong depression came through Saturday night and into Sunday morning, bringing with it about 15" (38 cm) of snow, single-digit temps, and winds gusting in excess of 40 mph (65 kph). It's pretty out there, I'll say that! But a warmup is on the way! My WeatherBug app is forecasting 68°F (20 °C) for Saturday, just two days from now. As someone who charts the progress of my rides and walks, and has for decades, I've occasionally pondered how I'll cope with diminishing returns as my pace and distance both ebb with age. I'm 68. With respect to cycling, I've mostly moved beyond the pondering stage and to the acceptance stage. I'm not the rider I was just a few years ago. But having said that, it's possible, and likely, that I'll gain speed and distance on my rides compared to recent years now that I've mostly recovered from knee replacement surgery. I'm looking forward to ...
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