Tyler Tuesday: Hubs & Stubb's

Welcome back to the second edition of Tyler Tuesday. Thank you for the great feedback from my last post! I hope that you will all continue to enjoy some of my recent thoughts and events posted here on my lovely wife’s blog.

To follow up last week’s post, you should know that I was successful in getting a new bike! I am very excited to be riding again, and especially to be learning to ride a sporty new Specialized Sequoia!

I bought it from a private seller on Craig’s List, but not without the normal running around and stressing out. I was about to buy a lesser brand bike with similar features, but the seller texted me just a half hour before we were planning on meeting and backed out.

“I’m having second thoughts,” were his exact words. But that was just God’s way of having me wait for the right bike. For all you bike nerds out there, this is going to be a good post. My new bike is equipped with…

Dura-Ace Rear derailer   

Ultegra  Front derailer, shifters, Brakes,  and hubs.

FSA Gossamer Triple Crank set (all chrome, which I guess is rare)

Cat’s Eye Wireless Computer

And a newer set of Continental Ultra Sport tires

All of those items are aftermarket or replacement parts, if you will. This is what mainly caught my eye in the advertisement, because these are a lot of the parts I would have wanted to add on later if constructing my own bike. (See first post.)  The bike rides on an aluminum frame with carbon fiber front forks, rear forks, and seat post. (Everything that looks black). What really through me for a loop is learning about compact frames. 

The bike that I previously owned was a 58cm and fit me ok. It might have been a little tall, maybe just right, not sure. The bike I just bought was advertised as a 57cm frame. I figured that would work, and I decided to try it out when I went to look at it. I had learned how to measure frames, so I brought my tape measure when I went to buy it - just in case the guy didn’t know what he was talking about. On the bike there is a sticker that shows you a picture of the frame and the measurement “57cm.” No problem then, right? Well I measured it anyway and found it coming out to 52cm. Seems odd right? The seller looked puzzled, and I was also confused. I went for a short ride in the parking lot and it seemed to fit okay. Also odd. The seat needed to be moved up but there was plenty of height left to raise it. 

Well the mystery was solved after I bought the bike, in the tradition of buying bikes on Craig’s List, at my local hipster bike shop. Most of the employees were also confused. “What? It’s not a fixed gear bike?!”

Only the owner of the shop seemed to know what was going on. The top tube that goes from the seat to the handle bars on the frame slopes down and causes the seat post to be much taller. Therefore it is a theoretical 57cm. If you pretended that the top tube went straight across to the seat post, its height from the bottom of the bike to the top tube would then be 57cm. We got a level out and everything; it was awesome!

After researching my bike more, I have found that I bought a really sleek, really fast, really comfortable old-man bike. The compact frames provides a more upright riding position and makes it easier to go further. Not as extreme a riding position as most racing bikes. That’s fine with me though, as it still feels very fast and should keep up with Jessie’s bike.   

(Photo added at the discretion of the editor)

I almost forgot the best part! The bike came with carbon fiber water bottle holders!

The bike shop owner, whose name is Fran, said, “Did the bike come with these?”

I said yes, and just like the last hipster guy in Nashville he said, “you got a really good deal.”

We also became somewhat good friends, and I sold him my broken bike for about the same amount of money to re-tape the handle bars and true the rear wheel.  It was a great Saturday. I enjoyed my first ride out but didn’t quite get my seat adjustment right…25 miles later, my knees are killing me! 

Enough about bikes. In other news we now have internet! I have been able to look up all my bike stuff so much more easily! I also attempted to watch an entire concert by the band MUSE, but about an hour in Jessie wouldn’t have it any more. I’m really surprised that she made it that long. 

We also have been enjoying new friends here in Dallas. Our old friend Matt has connected us to a diverse and fun group of seminary kids. We have game nights on Friday night at his place and had a group over for dinner at our house on Sunday. 

We are looking forward to hanging out with some young couples from our church this week, one of which just moved here from New Zealand. We have been really blessed that God has given us new friends and old friends to make us feel at home in a new place. 

Speaking of old people, Glenna is coming to visit us this weekend! It’s going to be awesome. Maybe not in the way she thinks…it will be awesome though. I’m thinking a lot of cooking and cleaning will be happening with a little sister around. Just the other night I sat down to watch a movie and forgot to put the movie in the player and thought, “I really wish Glenna was here.” Seriously though, I am looking forward to showing my little sis around our new town and getting to catch up on what is going on with her. We are both looking forward to it.

I have been working steadily at my mostly new job and I’m glad to report another month with satisfactory results. My boss told me that he wish he had three of me, so I guess that a good thing? Jessie and I were talking the other night about how rare it seems to be that a tradesman is a follower of Christ. The church settings that we have been seem to have Christians in other fields of work. Plenty of software developers, property managers, and bunches of seminary pursuers, but so few plumbers, electricians, and home builders. We started to wonder if it was the trade route that tended to draw unbelievers or if it was just easier for unbelievers to be in a trade instead of going to a four- year school. I know there is a lot of generalization in that, and I’m not sure I have the time or thoughts to complete this topic, but it has been on my mind recently. Are the more difficult careers  drawing people who are more devoted and committed? Is the church drawing the same committed and devoted crowd? Maybe just our churches are. When I tell people at church both here and back home that I work on and repair semi-trucks they almost get this look in their eye like, “You do something practical?” Like it’s the craziest thing. 

Feel free to give some thoughts or resources because my aim is not to try and split the church demographic or demand union rights in the pews for “workers.”  My main interest is in how Christian culture fits into real -world culture. Shouldn’t there be some intersect of culture? It would be crazy to find out that any of my co-workers are following believers in Christ. I see it as an amazing opportunity to live out grace to them, but what about the churches? Are all the working-class people in a different church down the street? I bet that’s what it is. It’s called “Bible Builders Church” or something.  

Hope this doesn’t offend or stereotype too much, but I see it as part my current real-world experience, that’s all. 

Enjoy the rest of your week and look forward to Jessie posting some awesome stuff about The Glenna Itinerary. 

Currently listening to: MUSE live in Rome. Oh, Sleeper’s Titan EP, and Brandon Flowers (just to keep it real)

Currently Working on: Mack CHU613 Dump Truck, Checking the EGR cooler for a mechanical fault (clogging with soot) Happy to report there was no fault found and it was simply a programming issue for the engine ECM. That dump truck will be dumping dirt again tomorrow.

Currently thinking about: How much money can I spend on my latest hobby before it’s an Idol? 

Also, this happened at work...

Afflictions to Counsel and Comfort

The Word comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.

This is how Pastor W began his sermon on a recent Sunday morning. Naturally, I felt a little squirmy in my seat. The cynic inside me was ready to search out a zillion reasons why this was erroneous.

It's not what we suffer, but how we suffer.
Yes, I know. But this doesn't tell me how or make that hard fact any easier.

He continued.
How can we persevere and not lose sight of Jesus when suffering hits?

Ah. He'd hit home with this one, acknowledging both the presence of suffering and the problem of what to do with it. In this case, the heart of the matter is entirely centralized around our hearts. How will we respond?

We are working through the book of Hebrews, and each week we hear the Word read aloud. In addition to the weekly New Testament passage, we have a habit of reading a related Old Testament passage, too. This past Sunday, we read part of Numbers 11 and all of Hebrews 3.

In Numbers 11, the Israelites complain to Moses about their circumstances (which, albeit, were not wonderful). Their cravings for fresh meats and vegetables and spices are so intense that they actually wish themselves back into slavery. Anything but the same old manna. Their ungratefulness for God's daily provision hardens their hearts and they transfix their eyes on beguiled memories of bondage.

Hebrews Chapter 3 answers our initial question: How can we persevere and not lose sight of Jesus when suffering hits?

First, we must look to Jesus as the only one worthy of our devotion. The writer of Hebrews is appealing to his Jewish audience when he compares Jesus to Moses. In Pastor W's words, "They aren't even in the same league!" While Moses may have led God's people out of physical bondage, Jesus has freed His own from their spiritual slavery to sin and death.

Who or what competes for our loyalty? There is nothing that can hold the candle to the One who is greater than Moses. Just like the Israelites, we are prone to fancy enslavement and all its empty promises. We must keep looking at Jesus. He alone can rescue.

Second, we, too, must heed the stinging correction given to the Hebrews.
It is this: listen to Him, and do not harden your hearts.
The author quotes Psalm 95, which references the Exodus generation. This would not have been lost on the Jewish readers. By focusing on their circumstances, the Exodus generation had fallen into a pitfall of poor logic.

We hate the desert. We hate the manna. Therefore, we do not like God.

They believed lies, and so they lived to please false gods. It should not be lost on us, either, for our hearts have the same wandering tendencies. Our ideas have significant consequences. They are never neutral in the war for our hearts.

The author of Hebrews is like a good doctor. He does not fail to make an accurate diagnosis, however unsettling or blunt it may be. Thankfully, he does not leave the patients hopeless. He also provides a prognosis and a prescription

The prognosis: unbelief always starts with an ungrateful heart.

Three-fold prescription: listen to Scripture, enter into community with the people of God, and be vigilant in discovering what captures the heart

"He is your friend who pushes you nearer to Christ." - Abraham Kuyper

The desert is part of life. The Israelites experienced generations of life in the forsaken wilderness. The author of Hebrews is no stranger to suffering and knows that the Jewish church will face hardship and myriad opportunities to disregard the Grace of God and declaim ungratefulness.

We need God's Word when the desert sands blind our eyes to Truth. We need God's people to walk alongside and redirect us when we are disoriented and weak. These things will help us in uncovering the patterns of our hearts. Whatever it is we value, to that we will give our allegiance.

For the Israelites, that was comfort. For each one of us, it could be a number of things.

May that be Christ. The One who is greater than Moses, greater than our failures, the one who went to the most extreme lengths to rescue us from slavery and give us hearts of flesh. In our failures, may we remember that we are recipients of Mercy and continue in humility and confidence. May we keep looking at Him, for He is alone is worthy.

"Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end." -Hebrews 3:12-14

Monthly Musings: July

Wow. Where has this month gone?! Am I really starting school in three-and-a-half weeks?
Compared to June, the month of July has been much quieter on the western front. Here goes…

1. My personal issues moved with me.
The same tendencies I had in Orlando somehow found their way to Dallas! What?! You mean I have to deal with perfectionism and self-worth and personality quirks here, too? Last week was especially hard, as I was forced to give up my to-do list and wait out a migraine. I am still feeling its effects. I am reminded again how little control I have over my life. I am pressing into the why behind the difficulty, remembering that my Good Father wants to make me more like His Son — for my good and His Glory.

2. I Love City Life
Have I mentioned how perfectly located we are? We are within walking distance of the grocery store, my new favorite GF restaurant, a dozen other restaurants and coffee shops, a movie rental store, a running trail, and school! Church is a ten-minute drive (so far by my new standards!), and our buddy Snyder is within two miles. I rarely venture on the highway, as there is no need to deal with Dallas traffic. As one who commuted every day in Orlando, I am pleasantly surprised by the proximity of everything here! I know this is definitely not the case for most people living in Dallas, especially those in the mid-cities area, so we are extra-thankful to have everything so nearby.

3. Game Night is Awesome
Snyder instituted a weekly event at his dorm, as a way to create opportunities for community on campus. While neither Ty nor I attend DTS, we have never once missed a Friday Game Night since we’ve called Dallas our home. It has been a spectacular way to jump in and meet people from diverse backgrounds. We have grown to be friends with several game night “regulars,” and we look forward to this event every week! It’s a perfect way to unwind after a long week.

4. Our Church is Rad!
We are still blown away by the fact that we stumbled upon this small gem of a church! It is filled with a people who know and love one another and long to prize Jesus as their Ultimate Treasure; the preached Word brings us back to the Truth of Jesus’ Supremacy over our idols and His love for us despite our wanderings — just what we need when we’re suffering from Gospel Amnesia. We partake of (gluten-free!) communion weekly, which I love. It is a nourishment I look forward to every Sunday.

5. Do Unto Others…
A new couple visited our church this week. They had just moved to Dallas the previous day; they are from New Zealand (he’s American). They are expecting their first child in February, and he will be attending seminary this fall. Our first week at KP, we felt so entirely loved on by the community. Sunday it hit me: we are now part of that community and are called to show hospitality. Before I could even mention it to him, Ty had invited this couple out to lunch. Since they had no furniture or food in their house, they gladly accepted! We enjoyed their company so very much and discovered we have many common interests. (I may be a little too excited that their dog is flying over from New Zealand this week…)
All this made me think: it is time for us to own the fact that we live here and begin reaching out. Instead of waiting for the “established” families to initiate an outing, dinner, or Sunday lunch, why don’t we purse them? They have loved on us so well already; now we need to give back.
Three families live within walking distance, and we have found the courage to drop in and say hello to two so far!

Games and Good Folks!