Thursday June 10

Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana

Wow, North Dakota is wide. Like really wide. Like add wide as Kansas.

And you know what we say about Kansas, Andrew Abegg. 

Wednesday June 11

Made it to Chicago in 2.5 hours

Listening to our road trip playlist on spotify and Into Thin Air by John Krakauer (audio CD)

Drove 430 miles before getting gas with about 80 to spare, averaged 30mpg in the loaded down Subaru, currently averaging ~31 through the hills of northwest Wisconsin.

Found New Glarus beer and a plethora of other awesome porters and stouts.
Hooray for Spotted Cow!

Remembering my trip to the Wisconsin Dells with my mom as a kid: getting sick and going to the hospital, Wisconsin Ducks, gigantic waterparks. Great job driving all this way Mom!

Things I've noticed:
-Minnesotans are very friendly
-Minnesotans talk very slowly

12 hours of driving is a long way to drive, but not so bad when you have an awesome Co pilot.

Alexandria, MN looks like awesome biking territory!
And indeed it is! (got to ride with some super awesome dudes) 

A huge thank you to Jake's Bikes for putting me in touch with Craig Andrews and a huge thank you to Craig for putting me in touch with Ralph!
Had a fantastic 25 mile ride with a really cool group of guys around some of the lakes here in Alexandria.
Only stop #1 and I already want to pack up and move away to the land of 10,000 lakes.

Updates in Uber'land (written back in...May?)

A few new happenings since the opening weekends of Uber...the concise and precise version

• I drove a girl who taught Katie's art class when she did a wine and canvas night with the Zionsville Mom's group (this was a pretty lucky pick up as I was not really near their location and it was a prime time of evening)
• I took a few people to Center Grove (which is a haul and you probably won't be coming back with passengers.)  Prayed that I would find some way to make money on the south side. About halfway to CG a friend texted me from the southside needing a ride.  Unfortunately timing didn't work out and I was headed back north with an empty car.  I thought about sticking around on the south side for a bit, and I asked God to give me some sign if I should stay.  I drove a couple minutes down the road and had a request from Beech Grove to head across town.  Shortly after I dropped that guy off I had a request to go from Southport, pretty far west, and it ended being a $40 fair.  I met up with my friends eventually, took them home, and then had numerous other requests from the near vicinity.  South was blowing up that night!
• On Wednesday, 3/19, I got up early (~4:45am) and after sitting around reading my Bible and asking some important life questions on 1 Timothy 5 I got a request from an auto shop in Zionsville.  After a brief conversation I learned that the owner of the shop was looking for someone to help get his clients from his shop back home after dropping off their cars for work.  The fare wasn't much, but it was a very promising conversation and hopefully some lucrative future business.
  (follow up to this - owner did not work out and said "I have worked long and hard to get this business up and running, I'm not interested in promoting anyone except myself,"  to which I walked out scratching my head wondering if he had missed the whole concept of Jesus first, others second, self last. And yes, I know this business owner is a Christian.) 

It's been too long

I'm a horrible blogger apparently because my last post was in June.
I've had the itch to write quite a bit since June, but I always pushed that urge aside for other things.

I was sending an email out to a friend and since this is a topic I wanted to blog about I wanted to share it here and hear from my readers on this (however many or few there are.) So. Read. Think. Respond. Let's start some dialogue.

    I wanted to know more of your thoughts on exactly who Jesus is. I feel that in today's Christianity there are people that follow the church (or a leader at the church) and there are those who follow Jesus.  I have been coming to the realization that if people really know Jesus they only have two choices to make

1) People can either accept him for who he is, which in turn means he should be worshiped and held in the highest regard or...

2) People can reject him because they think he is a fake and a liar 

    These two options do depend on one pre-requisite though, a person has to know Jesus before they can make one of these decisions. Just like any other topic in life, you shouldn't make a decision based on pure guesswork. Before buying into something (or someone) there should always be at least a little bit of research done on the topic. So, I guess my question is, What do you know about who Jesus is and what he did?

I am excited to hear your thoughts and get your opinions.  This is a simple question but a life-changing answer.    Here's to a great discussion. 

-Wef

PS. I can be reached at dwefler@gmail.com if you do not want to leave your comments below. 

Westward Ho!

West we go

Into the wild blue yonder

Not in search of gold

But in search of adventure 

Five thousand on the map

Twenty two on the calendar 

Countless memories 

Family

New Friends

Places and spaces never seen 

Forests, mountains, plains

Moose, bear, jackelope? 

Ecstatic

Only 8 more hours! 

Bible Reflection Psalm 27:11-14

[Inspired by Brent Booher: former co-worker at South Grove Intermediate School, man of God and role model of what it looks like to live out your faith]

Brent posted a challenge on his Facebook page about reading and reflecting on some scripture that means something to you.  I don't actually know what the challenge was in it's entirety, but I came home from a bike ride this evening to find yet another thing in our wonderful home that needs fixing.  The AC seems to be blowing, but not much colder than room temperature. Disappointing, considering it is about 80 degrees today. I love owning a home, but it definitely comes with a weight of responsibility and discipline to do the little things each day, so that this house can not just be a house, but a home for my family. Unfortunately I feel that I've been lacking in this area as well, as it seems that I have been leaving all these things for Katie to do and brushing off some of my husband responsibilities. With that, the scripture I ran across while browsing for something to reflect on was from Psalm 27:11-14.

11 - Teach me your way, O Lord;

lead me in a straight path

because of my oppressors.

12 - Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, 

for false witnesses rise up against me, 

breathing out violence. 

13 - I am still confident of this: 

I will see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living. 

14 - Wait for the Lord; 

be strong and take heart

and wait for the Lord. 

I have a desire to know God and his son and what it means to really be a follower of Him.  How do I mention Jesus without being embarrassed? How do I give a gentle nudge to some, but a strong push to others? For this, I desire, "teach me your way, O Lord."

There will be people who persecute me and slander me, simply because I love you and desire to bring glory to you Lord. They will turn violent towards me, and knowing this, I stand strong against them and proclaim, "Do not turn me over to my foes, but let me put on your armor so that I may shield myself from the evil things of this world and the enemies it sends for me."

Let me see the goodness of the Lord while I am here on this Earth, and let me share with others that everything comes from Him who created it.  Let me never get bored with the beauty I see and the awe and wonder around me each day.  For this I pray, "let me see your goodness Lord."

When I feel frustrated and helpless. When I know that I am at the end of my rope, let me always look to you for guidance, and lean not on my own understanding. I want to bring everything to you first God, remind me that you are the reason I am here, and it is for your glory that I exist. I plead, my Savior, "Give me patience and endurance, let me be strong and take heart, while I wait for you to come again." 

The side of Uber you rarely hear about

It is truly amazing how God decides to reversal himself through this new job. 

In February of this year I began a new job with a driving company called Uber. Basically you pick people up, take them where they need to go,  and there isn't much else to it besides that. Simple, convenient, and a fantastic way to make money. Not to mention it is extremely affordable for the passenger. 

Or at least there wouldn't be much else to it, however, these seemingly random people keep getting in my car and we have all these things in common. Not just the, "Oh we like the same sports," "Oh we like the same music..." but these last few weekends numerous people have gotten in my car who know people that I have either attended high school or college with, or even people that I've rented a house from (that whole process of finding a house was also a total God thing as well, think I already blogged about it, go check)

So let me frame this up for you and describe a little bit about how this service works. I, as a driver, have an iPhone in my car that the company gave to me. When I am ready to work all I do is turn the phone on and "go online" as they call it. Basically I'm making myself available to pick up a passenger should the need arise. When a passenger needs a ride the request automatically goes out to the closest driver. I get all of the info on my device, including the passengers name, and location, and destination if they have put it into their request. I go pick them up, I take them where they want to go, and all of the payment is handled through the app. I don't worry about cash, cards, or anything else. I do often use the phrase, "tipping is accepted, but not expected," (or I would if I could ever say it correctly on my first try.)

So my first Saturday night on the job I am hanging out at Katie's parents house in Zionsville. It's about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and I decided I'm going to head downtown to start my evening as that's looking like where the busy spot is. Not one second after I announce, "I think I'm going to go downtown to start my evening," a passenger quests a ride from Zionsville to downtown. Awesome!
I like to think at this point God exclaims something like "checkmate!"

Some people could chalk this up to a mere coincidence, and I could agree with them, but I won't. Because throughout the night, and the next couple of weekends, there are too many "coincidences" to just be coincidence. 

   A bit later that evening, I find myself downtown again.  I am driving out of Monument Circle heading north, and I see Vermont St. (I think) I decide that looks like a good to turn, and as soon as I make my turn, someone requests a ride from Mass Ave, which is sweet, because Mass Ave is a few blocks ahead, and I'm sure that there could have been a car closer if the timing wasn't absolutely perfect for me to be there. 

I arrive on Mass Ave to find my passengers waiting, I open the door for them, and confirm their names and destination.  At this point I have to start praying, because unfortunately this couple is going north. North north. To Fishers, north, and at this time of night, that's kind of a downside to the job, because I may have to drive back to town without anyone in my car, which means I don't get paid for that driving time.  So instead of complaining, I focus my attention and pray that God would provide some way for me to get paid heading back south. I ask for anything to happen, and of course, because God is awesome and amazing, it does.  I drop off couple #1 in Fishers, I head around the corner to the gas station for a quick pit stop, and someone from Noblesville, about 7 minutes away, requests to head down to Broad Ripple.  "Checkmate!"

  The last story of the evening worth noting is my last ride of the night. I manage to pick up a group of friends somewhere downtown, if I remember correctly it was near Cadillac Ranch, and it was pretty close to closing time. Good Uber drivers know that people have to get home somehow, so around 2-3am things pick up and if you are super lucky you get a ride back in the general direction where you need to end your night. This is what I am always hoping and praying for, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.  This particular evening my passengers are going to Noblesville from downtown and this is a pretty good sign that I should go home after this trip. They live off 176th and Spring Mill (which will be further explored by myself and my bicycle later on.) After a long journey northward, and a nice fare for myself, I drop them off and head southwest back to Zionsville.  As this was my first night driving for Uber, it hadn't occurred to me to intentionally look in the back seat to see if my passengers have left anything in my car. A girl in this group had left a clutch containing an ID, credit card, cell phone, and $50 cash.  Hello new identity! Unfortunately I hadn't looked in my back seat until I was parked, in my garage, back in Zionsville. 

I consider my options, hope the phone isn't password protected (luckily it wasn't,) and text the first couple of people in the phone list.  I realize that she probably called her friends she was with, and I open the recent call menu.  To my shock and dismay, my best friend from high school's name pops up numerous times in the recent call history.  [jaw drop]  SERIOUSLY!!??! HOW IS THIS COINCIDENCE PEOPLE?!?!!?

   I have to tell you that this story goes a step further. Upon telling my friend I found his name in this girl's phone, he continues to tell me if it had been a few weeks prior, his name wouldn't have been in there at all. Long story short, they 're-met' a couple of weeks before hand after their first encounter approximately a year ago.  They hadn't exchanged phone numbers the first time, but luckily he did the second time. I was able to return the phone, cards, and cash, and even had an awesome testimony to go with it. More evidence of how awesome God is, and how he wants to be a part of every facet of our lives, not just the "stuff " that we bring to him, but he wants to be involved in the day to day, high points, low points, and every adventure in between. 

  If you have questions about my beliefs or about Christianity in general, I welcome any and all comments and questions.  I do not, by any means, have all the answers, nor do I want all the answers. That job has been given to one much more important than myself, and I would rather look to Him every day of the week than try to do this thing on my own. 

Until Next Time...

Prayer for today:  Lord, let me never cease to find the amazing things you do in my life and others lives each and every day.  You have given me so many awesome stories, and I pray that you would continue to bless me with this job, these people, and more awesome encounters, so that I may continue to be a witness to you.  I love you. Thanks for everything. You are incredible.