Cycling: Giant Loop

Posted on March 20, 2017 by ehurst

Because we are expecting rain much of the week, I bumped my gym workout back a day and took my 50-mile Giant Loop clockwise today. I was able to leave by 8:30 and had decent cool temperatures and SW breezes.

That meant facing halfway into the wind on the outbound leg. That would be a couple of miles through back streets to Eagle Lake, taking the Eagle Lake Trail to the Indian Heritage Museum, then connecting to the south bank River Trail. The redbuds are in full bloom and different trees offer varying shades between pink and maroon. Some are also showing green leaf sprouts in the mix. Other trees are starting to bud or show the same tiny leaf sprouts, but the oaks will be last. They don’t even have tassels yet.

The transition over the North Canadian River at Meridian Avenue is fully completed now, so it’s very easy to just roll up the slope, over the bridge on a dedicated bike lane, ending a sharp turn where it narrows and drops onto the West River Trail. I really enjoyed the two sections that cut through wild woodlands. About halfway between Council and Mustang Roads, the trail bends north, drops under I-40 and we run past the Mustang OG&E Power Plant. The trail runs around a closed landfill and then it’s straight north to the end of the trail, which is at the entrance to Overholser Lake Park.

At the dam, crews were tearing up some old concrete fixtures on the low side. There had not been any water flowing over any of the dams so far, and this one was closed, as well. I couldn’t resist stopping along the bank of the North Canadian Channel (first image above). Mostly I prayed with tears in my eyes as I still have visions of catastrophic suffering to come. The bank was a great place for unloading my soul. I also refilled the bottle in my cage from one of the two I carried on my rack. Then it was off to the gate of the canal between Overholser and Hefner Lakes.

Two things: I spotted that crashed car again, and this time the foliage on my side had been cut down so I got the picture (above right). But the other thing explains why none of the North Canadian is flowing downstream; it’s being diverted to refill Hefner Lake. The canal was noisily splashing toward Hefner. I followed the designated route along the canal, which meant that long quiet stretch along Wiley Post Airport. For once, the wind was fully behind me and it was actually a little hotter than the rest of the ride. My speed just about matched the wind, making it feel rather still. The transition from the trail along Wilshire to the next trail section was very busy, but the drivers were polite and patient with me. I tried to stay out of their way.

Where the canal dumps into Lake Hefner I picked up the southern shore portion of the Cooper Trails. It was busy, with other cyclists, runners or walkers every few minutes. This path twists and turns in and out of the golf course, then runs back along the lake road to the Grand Boulevard connection over I-44. Once I was in Nichols Hills, it was much quieter with traffic slower — it’s a ritzy neighborhood that organized into a separate municipality to avoid having to fight with OKC over their preference for slower speed limits. I rolled past numerous multi-million dollar homes with perfect green lawns, some with driveways more than 100 yard long just to get back where the mansions sit. A nifty solar-powered sign told me I was doing 11 MPH.

I took the zigzagging route back up to Wilshire to escape the suburban landscape, crossing under the Broadway Extension (I-235). I was roasting in the heat by now. There is an isolated mini-mansion sitting vacant next to one of the TV stations out there. I stopped to rest in the shady spot near the gate and ate a snack. I was surprised at having very little appetite with so much exertion. I also emptied my last spare water bottle. At Kelly I turned south for about a half-mile and then ducked back left inside another quiet neighborhood called Persimmon Hill. The road turns south at Prospect and this eventually crosses NE 63rd to bring me to Grand Boulevard again and the Katy Trail. By now I was facing somewhat into the wind again and the hills were painful. Still, I pushed on.

Eventually I ran back into NE 4th and it was up over I-35 and just a few miles home. I was whipped and sunburned on my scalp where the bike helmet has air gaps.

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Off the Cuff 02

Posted on March 20, 2017 by ehurst

This is surely connected to the previous Off the Cuff post.

Yesterday something stuck in my craw, but it wasn’t anything my conscious mind could identify. Overnight I had some dreams that were indicative in the sense of a parable; the content was not the point. This morning I awoke to the very powerful sense that something wasn’t right.

My first instinct was to pray, of course. I went through a mental routine of checking to see if I could identify it, a sort of moral checklist where I start with confession and repentance to make sure it wasn’t me. Right away I could tell it was somewhere else. So I started checking a few news sources to see if something triggered in my soul. In the midst of my morning routine of life, I went back a couple of times to check. Right when I was about to give up, I spotted something that was a red flag to me.

You don’t have to agree; the primary reason I share this is to teach how a prophetic heart works. A primary element in what I do on this blog is transparency. It’s outside my authority to tell you what to make of this stuff I share, but I can tell when I must cry out and let you see enough to learn or realize it’s time to step away from my peculiar madness.

That red flag had to do with Israel threatening Syria. Keep in mind that it’s just a flag, not the real problem. It signals something evil and nasty going on in the background. This isn’t simply more of the unbearable chutzpah that we’ve all seen before, that insufferable sense of entitlement that justifies the most egregious misbehavior. A specific course of action has been set in motion, covered in secrecy that involves the US government getting dirty hands involved.

And it could just start WW3.

I cannot present to you some reasoned argument, nor would I value anything such arguments could produce. We aren’t into activism because this is something God has permitted as part of the coming tribulation. It’s more of that same cattle herding to some ends we cannot comprehend. All we can know is that it will result in His glory shining brightly. And maybe this post won’t represent any useful prophetic warning to you personally, but it does give you a glimpse at how I do what I do in my ministry.

Now those of you who aren’t driven away, pray with me about our need for wisdom and moral discernment. Pray for mercy on the victims.

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Hitting the Other Trails

Posted on March 19, 2017 by ehurst

My riding isn’t training. It’s how I play. Sure, I’ll push myself, but only because I want to play better, longer. I’m all about that sense of adventure and challenge.

During the years I lived out in Choctaw, the eastern end of the county, I had plenty of isolated roads to ride. In my mind, the more interesting stuff started at least 5 miles out in any direction, but that’s actually a short ride. So during the summer months, I could hit the road early in the morning and avoid both traffic and the worst of the hottest hours of the day and still get in a long ride. In particular were some lovely long rides farther east of home, and some to the south, over the county lines.

Where we live now, just getting out that way is ten miles or more, and it means passing through some high traffic areas. The bike collision was just a few months after we moved, so all last summer I was unable to ride at all. I never had a chance to test what it was like cycling in the summer heat from this location.

Now I’m having to consider what would work better for me. Riding north on Midwest Boulevard into the hills is getting less attractive, as the traffic has picked up an awful lot. Heading east during the summer means facing all those allergens that plagued me every year living out that way (half the reason I moved). If I ride south to Draper Lake, the trails are out, as is Miracle Hill, because of the biting insects. That means just the paved Draper lake drive. In all, it leaves mostly the purpose built bike trails westward in OKC.

I’ve lived in worse places, but I’ve also lived in some biking wonderlands. For example, the Netherlands was a paradise for cyclists. The traffic planning smartly addressed their presence, with special lanes, integrated bike traffic signals, etc. I rode (and hiked) all over the Benelux and western Germany, and visited a lot of other places in Europe as part of my military adventure.

But the one thing I’ll most remember about that tour of duty was how it represented such a highlight in my mission calling. When I went back into the military a second time in the late 1980s, I could not have envisioned anything that happened to me. I was prepared to endure the unpleasant aspects of a previous tour of service, but it ended up nothing like that. Not only was it a pleasant military assignment, but it was a mission opportunity like no other.

The particular mix of people there at the time gave me a perfect opportunity to share my faith. Not so much with unbelievers, but I shared with believers hungry to find greater intimacy with God and a deeper commitment. They wanted what I had. I was part of a small team making that happen, transforming various existing chapel programs into something real. Our chaplains were no hindrance at all, happy to see the active expressions of faith. For a solid five years we built up a very large and morally powerful presence of faith in that military community.

Eventually it fell apart. There was a significant rotation of personnel. Too many key enablers moved on and the new senior chaplain was hyper-liturgical. He pushed us out of the programs, replacing us with his chosen team of volunteers. I no longer led the music or youth group; my Sunday School class was passed to someone else, and some of my community outreach of was curtailed. We all found other places to serve outside the main chapel organization. The small team was stuck for about a year before it was our turn to leave.

That was 25 years ago. I’ve come an awful long way since then, traveling farther in my soul’s journey than any number of mere miles. I believe it’s time for another mission, one last adventure before I’m ready to give up.

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Psalm 123

Posted on March 18, 2017 by ehurst

While very short, this Psalm of Ascents is far more intense than any English translation can convey. It echoes of someone in deep distress from oppression, implying a persecution for one’s faith in Jehovah.

The first word in the Hebrew here points to God as the obvious focus; there is no other. We are bowed down under the pressure of a world that dehumanizes and tries to own us, but we recognize no Sovereign but Jehovah. He is the One who dwells in the Heavens as His natural home, built by His hand.

In a related figure of speech, the psalmist cites a protocol whereby the servant watches the right hand of his master, or her mistress. Many Ancient Near Eastern potentates would establish subtle hand signals, training their servants to respond immediately. Just the slightest twitch from Your finger, O Lord, and we are ready to jump. We are watchful and eager. What is not easily translated to our culture today is how such a servant was utterly convinced that the whims of their lord were always in their own best interest. In this case, it’s all the more so true when we seek His mercy and favor for deliverance.

And what favor do we seek? The psalmist includes everyone, emphasizing it by repeating it. We burdened by the hideous moral distress of contempt we face from those bearing worldly authority over us. The obvious implication is that God is not like that; we are His family and His treasure. Who compares to the greatness of God? Yet men with piddling authority over a few others so quickly forget humility before God, and oppress His people.

This prayer doesn’t seek revenge, only deliverance.

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Cycling: End of the Trail Season

Posted on March 18, 2017 by ehurst

As rides go, it really sucked. I rather expected that, but I couldn’t resist one last shot at finishing my exploration of all the trails that are passable. As a workout, it was outstanding. It was 10 miles out on paved roads using the Post Road corridor (upper right corner of the map). I figure the off-road part was around 5 miles — astonishingly hard miles. It made that 10 mile return pretty tough despite the tailwind. You can just about figure how I went by the image numbers. Straight in from the road and over a massive rocky hump, along the lake shore southward, around three points, then straight back up to the road I came in on, and out.

See those sand dunes there? Guess what that tells you about the trail? Yep: It was frequent long sandy bogs. I walked at least as much as I rode, and the riding was pretty hard at that. By the time I hit that first point of land, I was perspiring heavily and it wasn’t even over 70° F yet. None of the points was inspiring, just a thin flat rocky projection with a bit of dry seasonal vegetation. In fact, the first point (17) was just grass, dried weeds and mud — no rocks at all.

On the first of the bigger points (18), I found a spot to stand on within jumping distance out in the water. It was pretty nice and quiet, but given today is the first really warm Saturday of the year, there were dozens of powerboats out on the water. Thus, there was no isolation to be had today. I’m sure boaters were amused to see me so far from the known roads.

In fact, the next point (19) was just a stone’s throw from a boat dock (right background of the image; that black thing up closer is a stray float). There were three vehicles parked out there and all kinds of folks fishing from it. And I suppose the Parks Division has had some real trouble with motor vehicles going places the management don’t appreciate, because as I approached that dock I ran over a small berm pushed up by a bulldozer. A few yards down from there was a collection of giant concrete blocks between which I just barely squeezed. Finally was a truly massive berm with a ditch on my side, so I followed a barely existing foot path through the woods around it. The road out was quite ridable, just plain ugly.

Every time I was forced to dismount when my bike bogged down in the sand, I could see big sand flies buzzing up at me. But they are pretty young right now and not very aggressive. I had thought to spread on just a dab of natural insect repellent and it was enough today. I won’t bet it on it being that easy again. Thus, I won’t be out on the Draper Trails again until after our first frost this fall. But for today, I wanted a good workout and this business of trying ride through sand for most of the five miles was very hard work. The ten miles back was slow because I was so wiped out. I hit the door at home and collapsed into my recliner, falling asleep for about a half-hour.

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Slo-Mo Tragedy

Posted on March 18, 2017 by ehurst

There’s nothing any of us can do at this point. There’s no way I could summarize how we got here, but on every level of moral consideration, the US has taken the wrong path since day one. America was doomed at birth. But that didn’t prevent Americans from investing so very much of themselves in a mirage, and locking future generations into that false path. There were moments when things could have taken a better turn, but moral blindness ensured that wouldn’t happen.

It’s that same moral blindness that holds people transfixed on a final approach to a crash landing. I stand by my prediction that the economy won’t just crash and stop all at once, but it’s the institutions and expectations that will be destroyed. Worst of all, the truth will not become apparent even after the lie breaks down. They’ll still be living in that mirage and blame someone else for the failure.

There are two primary visions, both false, both totally interrelated and indivisible in reality. Both pursued a fantasy, but one has maneuvered itself into an impossible corner. The very large and powerful minority of people who could not imagine how Trump won the election are the same people who cannot grasp how they have painted a target on themselves for the coming turmoil. But the people who elected Trump will be sorely disappointed at how the system refuses to adapt to some better vision. So the system is going to break because it cannot bend, and we’ll have a nation of victims looking for revenge.

Privately, it seemed that yesterday something invisible broke. Maybe it’s just the first detectable fracture. The system is truly massive beyond any real comprehension, but it’s fragile in the sense that the slightest crack is unbearable. I realize nothing we can see looks any different, but I felt it deep inside my soul. It’s one of those tectonic shocks you can sense on a moral level in your convictions, a hemispherical bulge that stretches beyond both horizons. You’re too small to see it, but you can feel it. It’s as if we passed some point of no return, even if it meant something almost insignificant to the key individual who made the fateful decision. Somebody somewhere played the role of the final straw that broke the camel’s back. That’s just how it registers in my soul.

As always, I’m not feeling personally threatened. It’s more like that sick feeling you get when you are forced to watch unspeakable horrors unfolding before your eyes. I’m transfixed, unable to avert my eyes, but sickened by what I see. It will be the longest slow-motion crash ever seen.

I’m praying for wisdom, for myself and each of you, dear Readers.

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Cycling: More Recovery

Posted on March 17, 2017 by ehurst

Today was the Grand Boulevard Trail to River Trail (south bank) to Eagle Lake Trail. Because it was warm all night long, I was able to make an early start. The initial and final three miles were the same, zigzagging the back streets east of Air Depot Boulevard between Reno and SE 15th Street. The Grand had very little traffic today, just a couple of duffers on Walmart bikes. I was riding pretty hard and left them behind quickly.

The redbud trees are in full bloom right now. In one park I encountered some unknown tree that had fresh green leaf buds, white flowers and something bright red, as well (but the shot turned out rather poorly). I didn’t sense any allergies and just rode hard the whole way. I am now able to stand on the pedals and churn with both legs; the right just twinges a little. Even better is that my energy level is staying high enough for the whole ride.

It’s good to see the spring!

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Bright and Shiny

Posted on March 16, 2017 by ehurst

God made a promise to those who are His own special people.

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.” (Isaiah 43:1-2 NKJV)

As another song says, “This is my Father’s world” and it does no harm to those who are in tune with His moral character. The only harm will be what you do to yourself by not paying attention to what your heart of conviction tells you.

There are two implied issues here. First, God’s glory is in your best interest. It takes a while to migrate your thinking toward His glory. Once you you move up that path, you learn that a certain amount of pain and suffering is just the nature of living after the Fall. You learn to handle it with grace — His grace.

Second, it takes awhile to make that shift. One very good parable for this is the old abandoned artesian well as producing what Jesus called “Living Water” in John 4. As long as the parts are still intact, it will pump water, but you don’t want what comes out at first. It will include the junk floating on top of water table and crusty junk in the well casing. But once it starts to come out clear and clean, you can rejoice at the living water of life.

This is a critical part of what we mean by living in your heart, not in your head. Whatever it is that comes in the same package as communion with the Spirit of God, it includes a sense of joy and wonder at God’s Creation. The world around is you is bright and joyful because you are in communion with the natural world that God made. Remember: Creation isn’t fallen; we are. We need to gravitate back to what nature still is, and what we were designed to be.

And let me testify that this is how it works for me. I’m like a child who wakes up ready to play.

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Photography: Draper Trails Complete

Posted on March 15, 2017 by ehurst

Nothing really epic today, just a few shots from the final mile or so of shore trail on the west side of Draper Lake. As you might expect, I was actually more interested in some solitude in a natural setting. As soon as I passed under I-240 and approached the entrance to the western trail leading into the Drape Lake recreational area, I sensed the raucous greeting of the place, welcoming me back.

This time I went around behind the model aircraft landing strip and reconnected with where I last fled the trail under threat of rain. As I came around the point of land, the view across the arm of the lake caught me, so I stopped to shoot. As I turned to remount the bike, I noticed a small rocky point hidden behind the foliage on the shoreline. I hung out there for a bit and found it quite lovely. I walked out onto a couple of partially submerged extensions of rock to get a good angle on this spot.

The water was cool, but not cold. Oddly, it lacked the normal fishy smell that seems to hang over Draper most of the year. I’m guessing it’s the result of all that fresh water from down south pumped up through that hundred-mile long 4-foot wide pipeline. Then, too, today is likely the last of the cool weather for this season. I rode on around the arm of the lake and came out on Point 1. There was a rocky spit on the southern edge, so I rode out onto it and discovered a spot facing against the southeasterly breeze where the shore dropped off quickly, which means that the wind-driven wave action was rather loud. That’s actually pretty rare among all the various rocky spots I’ve visited. I hung out there quite awhile and ate my snack; the sound was just lovely.

I know that once the temperatures hit above 70° F consistently, the biting flies will hatch and there won’t be too many safe spots to hang out near the water. We expect to see 90s in a couple of days, so I made the most of this one last trail ride before I headed home back the way I came via the Sooner Road corridor.

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Step Out of the Darkness

Posted on March 15, 2017 by ehurst

It’s almost funny how spying works. We see the spying agencies and their officials creating multiple false realities with such frequency that no one is surprised when they solemnly insist that innocuous things are a threat to national security. You begin to realize that a certain core group of American spies never did have a good concept of reality in the first place, which is why they gravitated to espionage service.

Among those who weren’t that way already, their false image of what a good patriotic thing it is to enter various forms of security and law enforcement work will leave them wide open to the institutional perversion that makes them nutty.

Stop and think of the twisted fictionalizing that investigators do when interrogating folks. They start from the assumption that everyone is an evil and demonic threat partly because the investigators themselves live in that kind of nightmarish world. So once you come to their attention, it’s just a matter of finding out what they can pin on you. It’s all the same thing, whether it’s spying or more mundane law enforcement. This is built into the Western subconsciousness, particularly among those with power and privilege. It’s the nature of Western culture to dehumanize everyone.

Worse, Western epistemology truculently and vociferously denies the personality of all Creation. Folks, I have no quarrel with telling folks that reality is variable and unknowable in the objective sense, but what we do here is radically different from what security agents do. Theirs rests entirely on fallen human intellect and unrestrained paranoia. Ours rests on something entirely different.

I’m going to tell you that sanity itself rests on not taking reality as a concept too seriously. If you don’t escape the damnable epistemology of Western society, you will be living in an insane asylum, a nightmare world where spies and cops control things you don’t even understand. Worse, just about any manipulative predator can lead you through Hell even without government authority.

Here at Kiln of the Soul, we insist that the Bible — the written record of God’s revelation — posits an entirely different set of assumptions about reality. This is our Father’s world; what’s broken is you and I, not all the other things He has made. Further, there is a sense in which reality itself is alive, sentient and willful. That is, you cannot begin to find peace and serenity until you start with that image of reality. It’s not unknowable, but you can’t pretend to control it in any way. You have to cooperate with it and discover its true nature as you would any other person in this world.

It really doesn’t matter of that’s objectively true in any sense; it’s how you have to operate in this life. You have dismiss the notion that there really is such a thing as “objective reality.” If there is, you’ll never discover it anyway; nobody else knows, either. Reality is highly variable and responds to you positively when you treat it with respect and kindness, that same agape affection that God offers to everyone who calls on Him.

After all, the nature of reality — Creation — reflects His divine moral nature. It’s going to act as He intended, and our only hope for peace is going along with His intentions for us. Our world as broken humans, the simplistic “reality” proposed by our Western social mythology, is not what God had in mind. We weren’t designed for this. It’s a dark veil of lies, a shadowy unreality that only seems dark and dangerous because everyone seems to have bought into that image. Stop buying it. People are difficult only because they believe that lie and are living in paranoia. The rest of Creation is waiting, begging you to come out of that silly nonsense and take the hand offered by Our Father.

All it takes is you being able to believe it when I tell you that we are made with a higher awareness. It’s no cerebral, but a sense of conviction and commitment that defies logic. It’s the part of you that God made for Himself; it reflects His divine moral nature. The intellect was given so that we could organize and implement the demands of that moral conviction. Once you learn to trust it, you are strong enough to withstand the madness of our world.

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