Falling leaves

I'm here in my office, looking out the window at a glorious August afternoon. Slight breeze and full blue sky with August sun. And as I look I see it, just a glimpse, but it's there.....FALL!
Yes, school is back in session, a sign of fall, the stores have summer clearance sales, a sign of fall, and the temperatures have cooled to the 50's at night and the 70's during the day, signs of fall. But it's AUGUST! What the heck is going on here?!
What drew my attention were the leaves gently falling from the two walnut trees that stand guard at the corner of my front yard. their only purpose seems to be shading a little grass, and dropping immature walnuts for me to run over with the lawn mower. However, they usually are the first to drop their leaves, then the walnuts, signaling that fall is here, but it's too early.
What does the rest of the summer hold? It looks like it holds an early fall sale.
But I'm not complaining, fall is my favorite season of the year, and it can come as early as it wishes and stay as long as it wants. I'm ready. Let the leaves fall, the pumpkins ripen and the cool, almost frosty mornings start. I'll mow over the dropped walnuts while I'm waiting and counting the leaves as they fall.
Peace my friends.

WWJD part 2

Because my last post was title "WWJD part 1, this must be part 2.
The initials mean What Would Jesus Do. And it seems everyday I find myself wondering just that. The problem is I only think it and usually do not do anything about it. How about you?
I pass a homeless person on the overpass with a sign and I give him no money.
I am not paying attention to my driving and instead of letting someone out in front of me in traffic I just pull on up and wait impatiently for the light to turn and try not to make eye contact with the person in the car right next to my front door.
I don't speak to or acknowledge the clerk as I buy a pop at Kum & Go.
I learn that some friend lost his job, and my first thought is about my own security.
I go to church and am either lost in my own thoughts, or wonder if other people are really getting this message, because it's a kind of deep.
Next morning during my "quiet time" I review all these acts and realize that I did not apply WWJD to much of my life, except thinking about it.
So instead of WWJD, I spend most of my time DWDD, Doing What Dan Does. This is not where I want to do, but like Paul the Apostle, I do what I don't want to do, instead of what I know I should do.
How about you?
Peace to you my friends.

WWJD part 1

I met John last year when I signed up to run a 25k trail run, my first one. John is an active member of the local multi-sports club. This is a bunch of people who not only run, swim and bike but do so just about anywhere, just about anytime and in just about any combination of the three.

Anyway, I signed up and got an email about a training group that was forming, and a meeting that would clue newbies like me in on what to expect and how to arrive on the day of the run ready and excited. Did I mention the email had a crazy tone to it, and the tone of the responses began to lead me to suspect that this whole group might be just a little bit over the edge.

The date of the meeting conflicted with some other thing I had so I replied to John that I couldn't make it. He emailed the info and told me the date, time and location of the first organized training run.

I showed up there and found it was easy to find John. It wasn't because he was loud, boisterous or overly pushy, but it was that everyone was talking to him and he was listening and reassuring all that it would be a good run. He spotted me and because he knew most everyone else figured out who I was. Introduced himself, and then told us that it was time to go. Everyone should run at their own pace, he verbally laid out the course and we were off. Oh, and John said that if you were fast that was fine, but for the slower folks not to worry about getting lost, he would be bringing up the rear. That is a little over the edge isn't it?
The leader bringing up the rear? You see John is not about being the leader, John is about leading people in this training. He takes responsibility for other ADULTS, and as the months progressed I realized he truly cares about us. And none of this has anything to do with making him look good.
I only heard a John grumble one day when the fast guys (and I don't know how I got here) decided to follow another path and we ended up stopping and asking each other if this was the right way. Nobody knew. Finally we saw, through the brush, on a trail lower on the hill, another runner and bushwhacked our way down to him. He was one of the slower runners and soon here came John making sure everyone was making it. He knew we had been off the trail. Later as I ran behind him he said with a grin, " All these good trails and some people just have to go on their own." That wasn't a put down, at least not in this group. It was just a statement of fact. I noted later that a couple of those fast guys did not train with us anymore. I think they really wanted to be the leaders.
A couple of Saturdays ago the training group for this years race began. John told us the trail signs to follow, and took off in the lead, but soon stepped aside with his dog to tie his shoe or something. As we passed by he told us to pay attention to the person in front to see where they went, but to also pay attention to the person behind to make sure they saw where we went. At the end of a 7 mile run John finally showed up and tried to account for everyone, there were a couple not in yet, so we all headed back on the trail for just another 10 minutes. Soon we saw the other guys and made a turn around to complete our 8 mile run. It was good.
I've titled this WWJD part 1. If you were around a few years ago you know what that meant. But after considering this trail running group and the leader, WWJD not only means What Would Jesus Do, but has caused me to know that what Jesus does and what John does are the same. Out there on the trail I decide to run with someone who is struggling a little instead of passing them and pushing on. That's what John would do. It's what Jesus would do. Lead from the rear and always make sure I follow the one who knows where to go and look back to make sure the one behind me knows where I am going.
So today, tomorrow, WWJD?
Peace my friends.