I thought I was going to die!!!

5:30am, Wake up... I put on two pares of pants a long sleeve t-shirt, a long sleeve sport shirt and a sweatshirt. Threw my shoes on and headed out the door to meet Andrew (my dirt biking buddy)

It was a beautiful morning out, the sun hadn't come up yet, the night sky was clear, the air was crisp and you could see a billion stars.

I was meeting Andrew or (AVG is what we call him) down at DJ's place at 6:00am. I pulled up to see him standing there waiting for me, we gave our quick, "what up's", and headed up the mountain to start our long morning of dirt biking on the back trails of the SB mountains.

Driving along the cliffs as the sun was coming up over SB was breathtaking. I know I talk about how awesome the view is from up there during the day but during sunrise it's stunning. I don't even know if I could describe it well enough... you will just have to see it some time.

So we hit the trails, the sun had come up by this time and we headed off onto this gravel/dirt trail ...it was pretty fun. The back end of my bike was sliding around all over the place and we were ripping it up... so i thought. I pretty much trailed AGV the whole time.

AGV has been dirt biking since he was 5 and is way more experienced then I am, to say the least. He is about my hight but more stocky. He owns a Honda Enduro 400cc and I own a Honda Eduro 600cc.

So we are whipping around these corners at about 25 mph but I'm just seeing the dust of AVG's bike. I come to this part where it looks like he turned left so I turn left into a dead end and my bike slides out from underneath me, I hit the ground and rolled to a stop. After AVG didn't see me for a while he biked it back to see what was up. When I hit, I bent my clutch handle pretty bad. After a lot of thinking, we figured out how to set it mostly straight again and then we were off. I thought to myself "well this isn't that bad... I mean it could be worse". Little did I know that was the easy part.

AGV pulls off on to another side trail that was TOTALLY LEGIT!!! The ground was soft with dust, mixed with rocks and little boulders all over the place and small crevices that had dug into the ground because of rain fall. There was no consistency to the path, on second your good and the next you think you're going to die. And these arn't flat plains like in KS, I'm talking mountains, super steep inclines that you never thought a bike could go up.

So we head off onto this trail and start gunning it around these bends. At the base of our first hill AVG guns it and lands at the top. I tried doing the same thing got caught in a rut and dumped my bike. AVG comes down and tells me how to take these hills. "you have to throw it in second gear and just gun it... don't let off the throttle". "Right!!!" I thought to myself. I tried psyching myself up for the climb, jumped on my bike and tried it again.... get half way up, same thing, I dump the bike. On the third try I finally got up the hill. After that first hill I though maybe I had the hang of things and was ready for another challenge. I wasn't ready... We start heading down a small hill to a flat plain and in front of us sat another hill. This one has huge, rocks on both sides with the same soft, dry dirt on the ground, mixed with stones the size of you head. AVG tell me to go first so he can watch me. I gun it in first gear...I'm zipping up the mountain with dirt flying everywhere, my back end it all over the place but I'm making it!!! Climbing, climbing, the front end of my bike goes down and then pops straight back up again, I don't have time to think and I can't stop or I'll fall back down the hill, I go airborne for a second and then land sideways which throws me off the bike. The bike idles for a bit and then dies. I'm laying on the ground thinking "dude I don't know about this!!!" The good new was, after the dust cleared, I made it to the top ... SWEET!!! AVG comes running up the hill asking me if I'm alright...."yeah I'm cool" I responded. I jumped back on the bike and headed off again...

The rest of the day was pretty much the same, falling down the mountain, falling up the mountain, the bike falling on me, all in all I think I bit the dust like 15 to 20 times. I don't know that I've ever been so exhausted in my life. Every muscle in my body said quit, I felt like I was going to throw up and I had a headache!!! This was not my day.... My right foot is slightly swollen, my right arm is all scratched up, my left elbow is swollen, just under my right knee is swollen and my thighs are all blue from bruising. But the good thing is I didn't break any bones and I'm alive:)

I cancelled my 10am hang gliding lesson for Saturday.... Almost dying twice in one week seems to much for me:) I'll do that another time... Right now I just need to recover from this.

What a day!!!

Check these guys out... I found this video on YouTube... My falls weren't quite this bad but I feel their pain!!!

http://video.google.com/videosearch?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en-us&q=dirtbiking&ndsp=21&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iv#

Go into all the world...

Tonight was such a bummer of a night for me. My family back home along with many of my friends, all trucked it up to Princeton Missouri for the yearly bonfire at the Donnell's farm. I'm missing all the big events:(


I can't legally ride my dirt bike at night yet, so after watching the unusually large waves for SB, I headed back up to my little tent like house just as the sun was going down.

I walked though the door and was greeted by a rather catastrophic mess and rather odd smell. My place (as my mom would say) "looked like a tornado hit it". After checking e-mails and making a few business related calls I looked around again and decided that this is no way for a 22 year old to live. So after getting over the fact that my house wasn't going to clean itself, I put on an audio book "Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secrets" and began the daunting task of "PROJECT - DEEP CLEAN".

While folding my clean cloths, that had been sitting on the floor for 2 days, picking up trash and piling dirty dishes, I heard the reader say something that was very convicting.

Hudson Taylor was addressing a church in England just before going back to China to continue God's work of spreading the gospel to those who had never heard. He was explaining how there were regions as large as England that had not one preacher and then he said this... "It will not due for you to say that you have no special call to China. With these facts before you you need rather to wonder weather you have a special call to stay home. If in the sight of God you can not say you are sure you have a special call to stay at home why are you disobeying the Savior's plan and His command to go. Why are you refusing to come to the help of the Lord again of the All Mighty. If however it is perfectly clear that duty not inclination, not pleasure, not business, detains you at home. Are you laboring in prayer for those needy ones as you might. Is you influence used to advance the cause of God among them? Are you means largely employed as they should be in helping forward their salvation.

I found this convicting for me because I have always looked at it the other way around. It's not a "SPECIAL" calling by God to be in the work of His ministry. No, but rather it is the direct calling of all who are in Christ."

It may not be in China or in some far off land but until we can say that all around us are saved the call remains.

In the darkest of places, even a small light shines bright.


And He (Jesus) said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 16:15

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes"...Romans 1:16

John 3:16-21
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Just a thought,
Paul

Swimming The Mile

Well for sometime now I have been telling people that I've been swimming a mile and I was pretty proud of myself too. So recently I went home to check my distance on google... I sadly found out that what I thought was a mile was really only about half. I was a little disappointed but not discouraged. I chalked out a mile on Cabrillo Blvd, the road that runs parallel to the beach, using google maps. Now that I knew what the distance was the challenge was on.

I set out a little reluctant today, seeing that I haven't swam for about 2 weeks now, due to being to busy. The first 100 yards out was the hardest part, the water was cold, I knew I had a long stretch ahead of me and never having swam this far before I wasn't sure I could make it. Once something is in my head though and the challenge has been set, it's hard for me to let it go. I pushed through the first grueling 100 yards, my blood began to flow a bit faster which warmed up my body a bit. Once I got my breathing down it seemed pretty relaxing and I was able to get my mind off the swim and think about other things. Arm over arm I pushed on, distracting myself with thinking about life. This method of distraction worked for most of the way but the last 1/4 mile was a struggle. The ocean was covered with a thick haze which blocked the sun and made the water seem so much colder. I started to rationalize to myself why I should give up, "Paul it's really cold out, I think sharks swim in cold water, you are going to cramp up, just quit you can always come back and try again later" crazy what the mind tries to tell you when things get tough. Despite the urging of my entire body to stop, I pushed on... I thought if I've gone this far I might as well finish. When I hit my mile mark I gave myself one last push and swam into the beach. My legs and arms were so tight but it felt good... I know swimming a mile doesn't really say much in the grand scheme of things but it's a good lesson learn, that when times are tough and and every part of you says give up, don't. Push through cus in the end, it's worth it. I swam non stop for about 45 minutes, the longest I have swam to date.

Here is a picture of the spot that I always swim at and the distance marked out on the closest road.

Project Green Light

Today DJ and I talked about a new company concept called "Photographers Reel".

Photographers Reel is being created to service the ever growing need of good, crisp, effective video media in the industry around the world. It's been in concept stages for some time and was given the green light today.

Learning to run a successful company is going to be as exciting as it will be challenging. These next few weeks are going to be a lot of work, so pray that God grant me success and that I depend solely on His ever abiding strength that works mightily within me.

A company blog (photoreelblog.com) will be posted in a few days so that you can keep up to date with what's happening.

I'm excited to see what God has in store,
Paul

-So that you may know that it is I-

Isaiah 45:1-3
Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed,
Whom I have taken by the right hand,
To subdue nations before him
And to loose the loins of kings;
To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
"I will go before you and make the rough places smooth;
I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.
"I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
~Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

QUOTE

A day is a frustration, a year is a melody.