Terry Esau

Yesterday Mary and I went to the state fair. I had a live radio interview to do there so we decided to make a day of it.
The interview went well, the food was great...but the highlight? ---we saw a bunch of piglets being born. That mother spit out twelve squealing little ham dinners faster than you could say, "Mmmmm, bacon." (BTW, the newest food on a stick this year--chocolate covered bacon. Nope, didn't try it.)
At one point during the birth, my wife Mary snidely said, "Those piglets couldn't have been more than two pounds each. Big deal. I don't know what that mother was whining about." She's got a point. Plus their heads were MUCH smaller.'
Anyhow, here is a three part sequence of the second little oinker getting pulled out. (The first one came out fine, but the vet had to 'go in after' the second one. Spelunking at it's worst. Yikes.) Notice the vet holding up the piglet in the third pic.
And I thought my proctologist had a crappy job.

I had a great time speaking at the Okoboji Lakes Conference this month...just thought I'd share a couple of stories from that week.

I told you the story of Doris and her 'brownies,' (see earlier entry) but this woman was full of stories. Did I mention that when she goes on vacation she takes her house keys and drops them off at church, and then instructs the staff that anyone...anyone who needs a place to stay while she's away has free usage of her home. She said someone asked, "What about those really expensive red goblets you have--aren't you worried someone will break them?" Doris said, "If that was going to stop me, I would haul them out to my driveway right now and smash 'em all and be done with it." You gotta like Doris.

Another woman--I'll call her Susan--told our whole class on Monday about being abused as a child. She told of moving 42 times to stay ahead of her abusers, protecting not only herself, but later her children. She talked about the poverty she has endured. She told us how she wanted to 'surprise' her daughter after all this 'talk of Surprise Me and Be the Surprise,' so on Wednesday she handed her 13 year old daughter a twenty dollar bill...twenty dollars she really couldn't afford to part with. She told her daughter, "This is yours to spend any way you like. I wish I could do this for you more often, but I can't. Go, have fun." She assumed her daughter would run out and buy a new top or something. A bit later her daughter came and asked if Susan would go with her to the book store. Book store? Sure.

When she got there her daughter picked out a teen Bible she said she wanted to buy, but never had the money. She bought it.
Susan said, 'That was the last thing in the world I thought she would choose to buy. I'm so glad I got 'nudged' to give her the $20.'

Also, on Monday, Susan said that because of her past, she allows no one to touch her and she touches no one. Jokingly I said, "On Thursday I'm going to shake your hand, and if that goes well, on Friday I'm going to give you a hug." She laughed at me as if to say, "Over my dead body." Thursday came and went and I didn't shake her hand. At the very end of our last session on Friday I walked up to Susan and asked if she would stand up. As she did I reach my arms out to her and she stepped in and received a hug...something that may seem trivial to us, but to her it was a giant leap. She stayed in my arms for a while with tears running down her face.

Others hugged her after class. In fact one guy, who had just come for the first time on Friday, pulled a hundred-dollar-bill out of his pocket and handed it to Susan. He said, "Your story about your daughter touched me and I just wanted to help." Then the coolest thing happened--she hugged HIM. She initiated contact.

The love of God, on display through humans, was a fun thing to watch blossom last week!

Do you ever sit down in front of the computer and scan blogs? I do. Not often, but every once in a while I give my eyes a chance to flip through the scratchings of Internet authors raging, ranting, and rambling about what life is like to be them. Cheap entertainment. A while back one caught my eye. Here’s an excerpt from that blog.

The other night, I asked The Suitor the question no man likes to answer: “Do I look fat?” Instead of rolling his eyes, he replied, “You really want me to answer that?” I nodded a yes. “Fine, then I really need to get a good look.” . . .
“Hmm,” he said with his finger on his chin. “Fat? Huh?” I held my breath, terrified he might say, “Yeah, you could stand to lose a good 15.” Instead, he replied, “Stephanie, you are so hot. Don’t you realize, I don’t see you as fat or skinny? You are the love of my life. I see you as absolutely beautiful. You have to remember I don’t see you like you see you. Do you really want me to look at you as just fat or skinny?”
“No,” I said in a small voice. Cause I already know I can stand to lose a good 15.
“Good, because you’d be doing us both a disservice. Just let me love you.”

When I was reading this blog, here’s what I heard:

The other night I asked God the question he hates to answer: “Do I look, uh, good?” Instead of rolling his eyes, he replied, “You really want me to answer that?” I nodded. “Fine, but then I really need to get a good look.”
“Hmm,” he said with his finger on his chin, “Good? Huh?” I held my breath, terrified he might say, “Yeah, you could stand to clean your act up a good 15%.” Instead, he replied, “You are so loved. Don’t you realize I don’t see you as good or bad? You are the love of my life. I see you as absolutely beautiful. You have to remember I don’t see you like you see yourself. Do you really want me to look at you as simply good or bad?”
“No,” I said in a small voice. Cause I already know I’m messed up.
“Good, because you’d be doing us both a disservice. Just let me love you.”

When this is our picture of God, trust isn’t such a reach. This picture of God makes me want to fold my life and plans and the moments of my days into his. It’s easy for me to believe that such a God will not only surprise me with what’s best and with what I need, but that he will place me in situations to Be the Surprise for others in ways that I can only dream about.
When this is our picture of God, we won’t obsess about whether each move we make will make us look good. We know we already look good to God.
When this is our picture of God, we won’t need to strive, prove, measure, gauge, compete, compare, or perpetually wonder if we are enough.
“Just let me love you.”

Labels: God's love

Minneapolis to Ely by bicycle, 320 miles. The buns got a tad tender, but otherwise it was a dream trip. What a great ride! The first day was about 125 miles, the next two about 100 each. Here we are at the lift bridge in Duluth.











When we arrived in Ely, our first stop was the Chocolate Moose for pie. We hit this place twice during our stay. Killer rhubarb pie!










Saturday night we went to the Burntside Lodge for dinner, one of the top 1000 places to visit before you die...seriously. As we were leaving that night, we walked by the bar just as Michael Phelps was locking in his 8th gold medal. USA! USA! USA!














Ruthie, Pat's wife, made us some amazing food that we got to eat overlooking the lake from the deck of their cabin. Then we polished off each evening with stories by the fire.

Labels: Biking

I've been wanting to do this ride for years. Every August a few friends hop on their carbon fiber bicycles and ride about 300 miles north to Wolfman's cabin. We're doing about 100 miles a day. Hope the sun stays out and no rain...that would get nasty. Here's a pic of some of my riding buddies...I'm the guy on the left.

I counted last night that I have spoken 12 times in the last 8 days. That's enough. I need a few days off to reset my short-circuiting synapses.
I love riding my bike and I love hanging with Gary and Pat. Don't really know the route, don't care, but we go through Duluth on the way up. I'll let you know how the ride goes.

I was speaking at a conference in Iowa last week--Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales, was also a guest speaker. One night after speaking we met down at the Nutty Bar stand in Arnolds Park. (KIller ice cream treats, btw.) Anyhow, I snapped a photo with my cell of Phil (left), his sister Christy, and brother Rob. Can you tell from the pic that these people are serious fun!
Come to think of it, I ate way too much good stuff last week. Ham balls. Ever heard of them? Me either, but it seems to be a specialty down there. We're gonna import that and Nutty Bars to Mpls.

So, I was teaching this week-long class on 'Being the Surprise' in Okoboji Iowa when a lady told this story...
Doris, in her 70s, told of going to church and seeing three men sitting in the front row, sans shirts, kinda grungy. After the service she walked up to them and invited them to her house for lunch. They were shocked, but accepted.
As they were eating they told her that they were addicted to various drugs, but were trying to kick the habit. Then Doris pulled out her poppy seed dessert which made the men laugh..."You heard us say we were drug addicts, right?" She didn't get it. Then they asked her to consider baking a batch of marijuana brownies.
Doris went on to tell how those three men turned their lives around and the amazing transformation--she's still in contact with them today. Love works...the love of God.
Then, the next day Doris showed up at my class with a pan of brownies. Pretty funny. A few people were a tad afraid to bite in. It was a great day...but I don't think the brownies get the credit.