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Eric did not call me with any recent updates, but late Friday night, he showed up at home.  Apparently, the challenge was not on the up and up.  A lot of things were happening, both on the part of the organizers and by other riders that were making the challenge something that Eric could no longer find himself ethically being involved with.  So, he came home.  He still made it from Key West, FL to southwest Washington in 6 days, which is not bad! 

He was disappointed that the event was not legitimate, as it was something he had been so proud to be a part of, and something that made his heart stir, to push himself to the limit doing something he loves so much.  He walked away with his integrity intact and still had an amazing adventure!

Hairless, armored 'possums

I heard from Eric this morning.  He is now near Denver, CO, on his way North.  He discussed some of the wildlife he has seen along the way:  fireflies (a first, since we don't have them in the Northwest), a turtle, a brown bear, and a "hairless, armored 'possum (an armadillo), also something one would never encounter in the Northwest.

He is truly enjoying this adventure, seeing sites he has never seen, and pushing himself to do something daring.  As John Eldredge says in "Wild at Heart," a man needs an adventure to live if he is to feel truly alive.  Ride on!

Update

I got a call from Eric just as I was walking out the door for work this morning, so I couldn't log on for this update.  He made it through severe storms in Mississipi, with trees blown down across the road and debris being blown around much of the night.  He made it to Arkansas this morning.

He just called me at almost 9 pm tonight and had made it to New Mexico.  On his way to Colorado before turning in for a few hours tonight.

Good luck, honey!!!

Hoka Hey Challenge

For the next two weeks or so, I will divert from my usual topics to share with my friends and family my husband's progress on his latest adventure.  On Sunday, June 20, 2010, Eric set off as one of 1,000 chosen riders to participate in a grueling competition.  This ride, which started in Key West, Florida, will end by July 4th in Homer, Alaska.  In the meantime, the riders will follow a predetermined course across mainly back roads, crossing 62 mountain ranges, 8 deserts, 25 national forests, 33 Indian reservations, and two countries.  The riders are given directions to only one checkpoint at a time, getting the next set of directions upon arrival at each checkpoint, which are stationed approximately 1000 miles apart.  Anyone caught speeding, sleeping in a hotel/motel, using GPS, or drinking/using performance enhancing drugs will be disqualified.

By last evening, Eric had made it to near Talledega, Alabama, on his way to Mississipi, which is the next checkpoint.  He has been traveling about 20 hours a day.  I will update this blog with each update from Eric.

Generations

In my devotionals today, I read part of the book of Judges.  I was amazed at the people who so quickly forgot the incredible ways that God repeatedly rescued his people.  It seems as though the people would turn back to God and truly worship him, but only for as long as the people who witnessed the miracles of God's favor remained alive, or at least as long as the judge that lead them was alive. But within a generation the people would turn away from him and go back to worshipping idols.

This makes me think about our modern world.  We don't worship idols, per se, but we become easily distracted by so many things that fight for our attention, usually things that we find to be more exciting than worshiping God.  I think about how all of the "worldly" things attract our youth, and how within a generation, they could all forget the way God has miraculously led our own families.  I see that unless they actively seek and experience God for themselves, our own stories will not provide enough substance to keep our children in a trusting relationship with God.

This is heavy stuff...

Deluded

I have a patient that has been suffering for quite some time with delusions. In long term care, nurses track behaviors such as delusions on a flow sheet, to track the times, events, etc., that may show a pattern to the behavior, as well as any interventions that are effective in alleviating the behaviors. Well, for this particular patient, all of the nurses have been marking on the flow sheet that the patient is not having delusions, while, in fact, she is having them daily. Since the behavior was occurring so frequently, it has become "normal" for this patient, so everyone else just grew accustomed to it and forgot that it was an abnormal behavior.

So, I had to spend some time educating the nurses on what constitutes a delusion, so that our documentation will improve. According to my dictionary, a delusion is "1. a false notion or belief. 2. a fixed belief maintained in the face of indisputable evidence to the contratry." This definitely fit my patient. I can't share my patient's details, but an example would be when a patient believes that aliens are talking to them through the television.

All this focus on delusions, and the review of the definition made me think about life in a spiritual sense. I remember a Bible verse that says, "...They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:10 - 12.

I wonder about those of us who go about living life apart from truth, following the lies of the world: "We are just a product of evolution," or "He who dies with the most toys wins", or "I am really busy with work, family, etc. but I will have time for God later", or "I don't need God. If I just do good things and am basically a good person, I can make it without him." I have been held captive by those, and others, many times. Are you caught in a delusion? What is holding you back from experiencing freedom in God's truth?