Travel Updates- part dos

2 flights down, 1 to go! Your prayers have been felt - Going as smoothly as possible so far :) The Spanish immersion is nostalgically familiar, although the metric system has proven to be the language barrier. I have no idea how cold it is outside :/ Taking off in 2 hours to arrive in Santiago at 4:45am!!

Travel Updates- part uno

Made it safely to Florida with our winter coats and boots. Cleared our 200lbs. of luggage with 3.5lbs to spare!! Leaving for Bogota in a few hours. Thanks for all the prayers!!!

An ode to the boys

My old youth pastor, Mike Powers, once told me, "You move to the beat of your own drum."

I've never understood that more than now being married to my wife. I don't know if it's just a girl thing, but I feel as if Christine is deeply rooted with dozens upon dozens of friends. I mean I'm still learning/meeting all of these incredible people that she has profound relationships with. She even had to draw me a diagram in order to sort out the madness of all the friends as we went along our Midwest Tour.

I love people, chatting it up, meeting new guys and gals, and bouncing around seeing how everyone is doing. But I've found that I typically keep it pretty "surfacey"/silly with most of these interactions.

I only have a handful of those deep, profound, thick "Christine style" friends.

Yesterday was one of the few days I got to spend quality time with most of them. These guys mean the world to me.

Papa Joseph - Running on the treadmill at our old church gym, eating energy beans while talking about everything under the sun.

Cam Wags - Catching up with him on the phone as he drove back to South Eastern Seminary.

Joel Pants - Ate an amazing Jordanian dinner with our wives, took a nostalgic stroll (physically and mentally) through Queen's University (hey there's another University besides Taylor in this clan! j/k) and scooting home quickly to test/realizing that skype without a microphone on one side is quite comical, kind of like an old school silent film. You should try it some time.

I don't know if I'll come near to the frequency or length of conversations with my amigos as Christine's and there's no use competing with the quantity of friends she has either.

But I do believe we deeply love them the same in our own distinct ways.

So yesterday was a blessing and today I get to see my dad and my brother

There is a thickness in my chest, not from saddness nor gloom, but just a gratitude for the love I have with these guys. I'm going to miss them.

Keitt Update - July 2011

Don't Forget!

If you’re like me, you tend to get annoyed most with the attributes you see in others that you want to change about yourself. It’s amazing how marriage shows you that; if I find a problem with something that Tracey’s doing, it’s usually a sure indication that it’s a much greater problem in me. Ooohhhh marriage and its endless opportunities for humility ☺

Anyway, I’ve been reading the Old Testament and it’s amazing how painful the process is at times. Of course there’s endless pages of tabernacle dimensions and hundreds of years of genealogy that prove challenging to connect with. But the real pain for me comes with the ever-increasing stupidity of the Israelites. They have a God that actually comes down to them in physical forms, speaking audibly and performing miracles, and they can’t lose those ridiculous Asherah poles. Every other line of 2 Kings is “and they did evil in the eyes of the Lord…” Sons watch their fathers deliberately disobey God and get stoned for it, their mothers do the same and get eaten by dogs, and then they still think it’s a wise path to follow in their parents’ ways. The whole time I’m thinking, “Really God? These are the ones you chose?” Regardless of where I’m at in my walk, reading the Old Testament always makes me feel better about myself.

Until the Lord graciously reminds me that the things that annoy me most about them are exactly what annoys me most about myself.

The Bible tells us 365 times not to be afraid. So why do I still welcome circumstance to tempt me into fear, worry, and doubt? He has personally shown me in unmistakable ways that He will be faithful to meet my needs, so why do I still doubt His provision? It’s like no matter how many times He has given me reasons to trust Him, I am so quick to forget.

Because no matter how much I hate it, I am just like the Israelites- human. And it only gets dangerous when we start to think we are above it all.

So thank you, Chris, for reminding me how important it is to remember. To remember that we serve a God that is good and faithful, and because of that, we don't ever have to surrender to circumstance.

Keitt Update - June 2011

You can plan a pretty picnic but you can't predict the weather...

From the critically acclaimed Outkast single "Ms. Jackson" that hit the radio waves early 2001 just in case you're not up on your early 2000 hip-hop lyrics.

I told myself when we started this blog that by no means did I want to "document" every minuscule event that took place. I apologize for multiple blogs in less than 24 hours...

So as an avid mountain biker today was a day of high anticipation. My last day to ride before the bike is packed up to be exported.

Planning the pretty picnic...

• Just replaced the bald traction-less rear-tire as well as my 3rd chainring that desperately cried out for retirement.
• Packed up all necessary items in the car the night before so I wouldn't forget anything or wake up Christine as I left in the morning.
• Fresh nalgene of brita filter water chilling in the fridge.
• Coffee maker set on Auto for 6:26am. I don't even drink coffee, that often due to it exponentially increasing my already high energy demeanor, but I knew that I'd be running on little sleep.
• Woke up feeling like a champ
• Sky is cloudless. Temperature perfect.
• Hydrated up with the coffee and 32 ounces of pristine water.
• Not to sound all pious but I had an solid conversation/prayer with God on the way out to the White Water Center trails.
• Busted through the first section at a solid pace.
• Ipod shuffle was doing it's magic.

...but you can't predict the weather

Just as I was about to head into my favorite high adrenaline black diamond section of the trail, my bike abruptly stops.

I look down to see that my chain has popped off. No worries though, it's happened before and I'll just pop the quick snap lock back on.

Wrong.

:)

My entire rear derailleur snapped in half and has found itself rapped around the spokes of my rear tire. This is the beautiful piece of machinery that allows for the gears to shift. Basically a vital part to the enjoyment of the bike in general.

I believe that only the Fink boys can understand the frustration that I'm feeling at this point.

Due to the strangling grip the derailleur has on the rear spokes I mournfully carry my bike up the now not so exhilarating hills and out of the trails. Opportunity for more prayer.

As I'm driving out of the parking lot, I realize that I'm without my auxiliary cord so I'm left trying to find something on the radio to mellow out to. 95% of everything pumping through the FM is quite lame to say the least and Kate Perry and Nicki Minaj were not what I was needing at this point. They aren't worth googling if you haven't been reduced by their music already.

Luckily, Lupe's "The Show Goes On" is finally played which was a nice little pick me up.

Sometimes you've just got to laugh about the absurdity of things. I find all of this quite comical. Seriously :)

At least I'm super hydrated and caffeined up for the massive amount of packing that we'll be doing today. Here we come Chile!