Monday Morning Confessional

Last updated on: July 14, 2014 at 10:15 am by Tim Suttle

Monday Morning Confessional 2014-07-14T10:15:46-06:00 Tim Suttle

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I confess that my alarm went off at 5:30 this morning & I turned it off and went back to sleep. I woke up at 8:30. I went to bed at 10:30 last night. I don’t think I’ve slept ten straight hours in years, except maybe when I’ve been sick. I must have really needed some sleep.

I confess that I’ve had the MacBook Air for awhile now and I still don’t have everything completely shifted over. The final problem has to do with iTunes. I further confess that I’m still trying to learn how to use the Mac. I think I will absolutely love it in the end. I already love much of what it brings to the table. But I’m still struggling to get the mindset down. It’s not just a computer, it’s a way of thinking that is somewhat new and foreign to me. Something about old dogs and new tricks comes to mind.

I confess that I went hiking & backpacking w/a group of guys from our church last week. I confess that I feel old now. We set up our tent on an almost imperceptible slope. Our heads on the high side, there was a slight side-slope as well. I woke up every morning with my two sons nearly on top of me. They were just rolling downhill. Tent-sleeping is somewhat oxymoronic. Even so, I want to go back. Our first hike was a little over 9 miles, with a climb of around 4,000 feet… Flattop Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was by far the most challenging hike I’ve ever attempted. My 10 year old flew up the mountain with energy to spare. My 8 year old and I had to work a little bit harder to make it to the top, but it was worth it. The three of us did the descent together. About halfway through they both decided they wanted to see how fast we could get down. We flew. It was a day I’ll never forget.

When the hike was over I was nasty. I don’t usually get so hot in the mountains. No humidity & cooler weather usually makes for minimal b.o. When this hike was over, however, I was looking for some water to jump into. It took some convincing, but I got some of the others to join me. We tried Sprague Lake first. I got in and sunk up to my calf in slurpy-mudness. Lost one slide. When it floated up from the muck I began to smell decaying organic material in the water. I escaped as quickly as possible and went looking for a clear mountain stream. We found a good pool of mountain stream water near our camp & began wading. Let me just say: this water is cold… freaky-cold. It took every bit of will power I had to plunge under, which I could only make myself do a couple of times. Sure felt better when it was done, though. Kudos to Walt who dunked under with me. I think Chad made it mostly in. My boys, to there credit, went in up to their wastes, which given the temperature of this frigid water is nothing to sneeze at.

I confess that I’m not always up for a big physical challenge like a long hike. I’ve done marathons & athletic challenges before, but usually I need a reason. I’m always glad once it is over, but almost always need some prodding to get me to the point where I’ll commit to starting in.

I confess that I love John Jeremiah Sullivan’s writing. His book Pulphead is on round 2 in my audible reading cue. After one normal print read through and now nearing the end of my second listen, I’m still discovering new favorite passages. He’s so creative. If you are interested, you can watch JJS read the first chapter on youtube.

I confess that My running is not progressing very well. However, I’ve been playing a ton of golf and working in the yard a lot as well, so I’m actually beginning to feel like I’m in shape again. I confess that I am a couple of days (I hope), away from finishing my chimney patching project. Hopefully it will all be done in time for the woodpeckers to return. If they patches don’t deter those little peckers, I’m buying a bb gun.

I confess that I have several blurbs and reviews yet to write. I’m not preaching this Sunday, so that means I’ve got the whole week to try and knock out several reading and writing assignments. I love writing these reviews, but they seem to always get bumped down the priority list nearly every week.

I confess that my Sabbath practice has not been great the past few weeks. Summer is so weird. I end up having to flex quite a bit in order to make room to cover for kids, or just engage with them while I have the time. I end up pushing a lot of my week’s work to Friday and Saturday. On the upside, I’ve been trying to take at least one of those mornings completely off to spend with the family in some fashion. I’ve noticed that I often try to fill the Sabbath time with some intentional behavior – golf, a bike ride, reading, a movie… I think that I need more practice at doing nothing at all. I remember my lent practice of giving up any productive activity for the first 10 minutes of my day. I had to just sit there and do nothing. It was excruciating. I think I need to find a way to include some complete un-productivity in my Sabbath routine.

Okay friends, that’s my confession. Time for yours…

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