I want one...

"All I want for Christmas is...a GoPro Helmet Cam!" I watched some amazing video shot with one of these babies today. HD! Beautiful! Just think of all the crazy footage I could post if I just had a helmet cam. Please, Santa, please!

Team RadioShack kit...

Team RadioShack has just given us die-hard fans a sneak preview of its new jersey for our inaugural racing season and it looks great! Tell me Lance Armstrong doesn’t look great in that thing. Now before you go out and buy matching helmets, socks, gloves, water bottles, repaint your bike and get tattoos we have to place a cautionary note here – this is a working prototype of the jersey whose final design is not be revealed until the Santos Tour Down Under in Australia starting January 19th. However, it’s apparent that this design is pretty close to the real deal that you’ll be watching as the boys start to make their presence felt in the first race of the season. In fact we hear the boys are wearing similar kits right now in Arizona as they begin training as a complete squad riding in team colors for the first time.

They’re obviously as excited as we are about their prospects this year and it comes through in their explanation of the kit. Here’s the exact words from the official announcement, “It was our goal this year to create something visually distinctive and a look that was symbolic of what we feel Team RadioShack is all about: cutting edge technology, speed, strength, determination and a global message to LIVESTRONG. The experts at Nike and our partners at RadioShack helped to create this fast form-fitting design using various textures and patterns symbolizing the themes of new technology, global connectivity and community. We think it looks pretty damn cool.” A semi-swear word in an official announcement? Says one thing to me….they’re pumped!

By George Hurst, TeamRadioShack.us staff writer

Are you jealous?

Several years ago I learned a valuable lesson from God at a conference in Indiana that John Maxwell was leading. We – me and several hundred fellow pastors – had been listening to Maxwell teach on leadership for several hours. We’d laughed a lot at his stories of life as a pastor of a small town church in Indiana. Laughed because we could relate to the problems he spoke about, the people issues he described. We’d listened intently as he talked about how he was led by God to deal with situations very similar to our own. John is a very wise man and we were learning lots of good stuff from him about leadership and life.

I don’t remember whether break time was approaching or what, but our teacher for the day opened the floor up for questions. One pastor stood quickly and began describing to Mr. Maxwell some really great things that were happening at his church.

After a minute or so, John interrupted the pastor and said something that stopped me in my tracks. He first commended the man’s success: “What you’re telling us is great news!” His support and encouragement was passionate. He was genuinely happy about what he was hearing. Then he gently reprimanded everyone in the room. “These guys around you should be applauding your success, but they’re not. They’re not because they think you’re the competition. They’re jealous.”

The room was silent. My heart was filled with conviction and sorrow as God exposed my sin. That sorrow quickly led to repentance. I decided then and there to celebrate the successes of other pastors and other churches whenever I could. I’m sure others made the same decision.

We were immediately given the opportunity to put that decision to the test as Maxwell broke the silence with an invitation to applaud the good things God was doing at this pastor’s church. The response was immediate and thunderous. We cheered and clapped like an arena full of rowdy college students at a home basketball game. It was crazy!

Every bit of good news shared by a pastor or leader from that point on in the conference was met with enthusiastic praise. The lesson stuck. It’s still with me today. I hope you will take it to heart and praise God for his work in all the churches around you.

To receive my once or twice weekly message via email, send a blank email to webmessage-subscribe@associate.com. Past messages are available at freegroups.net/groups/webmessage.

Almost 100...

What a game! At half time the girls were up by 56 points - 66-10. The JV players got lots of experience. With their two quarters, plus about two and half quarters of the varsity game, they played more than the varsity starters. Pretty crazy!

Gyms4Jesus...

It was such a blessing to be a part of the Gyms4Jesus rally this past Wednesday night in Oxford, Kansas. Worshiping God and hearing his Word with hundreds of teens was a blast. I'm sure Jesus was pleased with the hearts of those already given to him as they shared their stories and songs. And I know all Heaven was dancing and shouting as thirty-five kids decided at the conclusion of Zane Brooks' message to put their faith in the world's one and only Savior!

A big thank you to the five members of the Oxford Fellowship of Christian Athletes group who organized and sponsored this event! A small group can do big things when they partner with a great God!

I'm anxious to see what God will do in response to the preparations of Argonia's youth to host a similar rally. "Time for a Change" will take place on January 9 at 6:30pmin the Argonia High School gym.

Five hundred forty-eight miles...

My goal every year for the past six years has been to ride an average of 10 miles per day. If you're really good at math, you've already figured out that's 3,650 miles in a year. For the past two years, I haven't quite made that goal. I fell far short in 2008. Didn't even ride half that amount.

This year, I started out on target for a pretty poor showing again. I've only ridden 150 days so far this year out of 335. A couple of months I rode less than 100 miles. That put me way behind.

Something happened in July, I don't know what, that changed everything. I started riding consistently. I rode 15 to 20 miles nearly every day. The total mileage rose quickly. I put in hundreds of miles each month. In August, I logged 695.79 miles. And my average wasn't too shabby either - 18.3mph. In September, I rode 376.94 miles at 19.3mph! Since August 31st, my average speed for the year has been over 18.0.

I am now at just over 3,100 miles. I need just over 548 miles to make my goal. I'm going for it. I need about twenty miles per day. Track my progress at www.dailymile.com/people/openmikey if you like. I need 572 miles in December to make 3,650.