New website =)

My new website is pretty simple. It's ust calebmacias.com . It's the same stuff i put up here. Hope yall enjoy =).

The odds.

So before we get to the main event I wanna take a few minutes to vent. First of all as much as it pains me to say this, I am needing to find a new home for my boy, Toby. Poor guy just doesnt have enough room and I dont have the time to work him like he needs. So I put him up on a pets classifieds and got many responses. After terrorizing the first families cat to the point of not leaving the top of the dryer for 3 days they decided he wouldnt work out for them. Number 2 in the queue was a 14 year old kid who lived on a 100 acres and who's extended family owned the 1000 surrounding their place. Sounded pretty great so I decided that it would be worth the million mile trek out to flippin La Vernia...yeah.

Mile after mile of Texas boonies and finally i find the address im looking for. I drive up to white double-wide with a few rusted John Deers in the back along with old tires and a satellite that probably only gets the hunting channel as long that large piece of foil is wrapped just right.

I turn the car off and sure enough Tom and Huck come hopin out of the back door hootin and hollerin their delight at the site of Toby. I almost leave right away but hey, no judging and these kids could be the greatest thing to happen to this crazy hound.

Folks, no sooner do i shake this 14 year old's hand when he smiles and not only see 3 rather important teeth missing but he has got a fresh pinch of dip shoved down that bottom lip. I wanted to turn around and ask if anyone else had a problem with this but..no such luck...the 11 year old had prolly ust spit his out. So after watching the dog walk around we start to talk price...I name my price and he says this. "Im broke...you wanna look at what i have to barter?"...not really...."its over here". We walk to the AC unit where there is a stone grinder for grinding all those machetes and swords that i deal with all the time. right....and then he pulls out a sony PDA that doesnt look like its been turned on since 1925...and it doesnt have chrarger. If any of yall have ever seen a cartoon where the dog puts his face on the ground and covers it with his paws cuz he's scared out of his mind....that was Toby. We took off...fast...and of course as I get to the end of the driveway the kid texts and asks me if he throws another $20 in will I turn around....yeah...not happenin. And ust so everyone knows it wasnt ust because if them...They had 3 other dogs that were obviously not getting along with Toby..it was gonna be to much. SO yes...thank you for allowing me to get that off me chest.

Now.  For the super cool story of an AC repair guy from Utah who is racing for 100 grand. The spartan races are pretty difficult, cousins of the tough mudder, warrior dash and the like. The owners the spartan races threw out a challenge that if anyone could win all 14 spartan races in the year 2011 that they would award them $100,000. They didn't expect to have to worry about this for more then 2 or 3 races but 6 races later Mr. Call has taken all of them and is now setting his sights on the toughest one of them all.

Vermont will be the setting for the 24 hour monster race. Not only does Hobie need to finish this (which only about 10 of the 200 will) but the owners of the spartan race have put out a $20,000 reward to anyone who can beat him. sO now the competition gets stiffer but Hobie isn't so worried. As far as he's concerned he's got his 5 kids and best friend behind him, screaming their heads off, hopefully giving him that little extra burst he needs to get to the finish line....first.

I think this is an awesome story and there are great videos all over the place. This Saturday Hobie sets out to win something that seems next to impossible.  Watch the videos and hope that this blue collar guy who sold his TV and a few remote control cars so that he could have the gas to put in his van and drive to different states and race. Race for his family...$100,000.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304657804576402520106391408.html

http://connect2utah.com/news-story?nxd_id=152197&watch=1

GO HOBIE!!!

Love y'all

CO Trip 2011!

Where I'm at.

It's Sunday. I'm at work chillin out with no headphones and the city of San Antonio resting peacefully. No headphones means no music, no Sunday sermon...nada. Oh well. worse things have happened and in all reality it gives me a chance to go to a quiet corner of the station and dig into my bible and get some answers to things that if i try and answer myself not only will I hurt myself but more importantly the ppl around me. =/

Sorry, I dont have any funny stories or pictures today. Im really just being random and writing down thoughts that are racing though my head so bear with me. It's a hard thing to figure out. This whole Christian bit. Believing in a God who can't be touched, cant be seen, cant really be heard. We have lots of "testimonies" of ppl turning their lives around and families receiving random checks the day before they were gonna get evicted. And its God...

But whats to say it's Him? What's to say this whole time this idea hasn't been passed down from generation to generation. I mean while some of the most wonderful things have been done in the "name of Jesus" some of the most heinous acts have been committed in the same name. Is it ust one big mind game? People find comfort in so many things. Is it ust that somehow we found peace in this idea and for some of us its bigger than others. 

I have lots of christian friends and lots of non-christian friends. Some of the non-christian friends act more like a "christian" as the world sees it then some of the professing Christians in my life. So why? Why in the end will the nice guy go to the fire forever and the other guy get a mansion? Why will the judgmental legalist who sits at home and reads his bible all day but does nothing for anyone outside of his family get all these rubies but the one who opens 15 orphanages but denies this idea of God gets the cold torturing dungeon? These are legit questions right? 

These are questions I've had my entire life. Growing up I was taught a certain thing and it sounded right so I believed it. BTW, I don't want anyone thinking this is a slam against my parents. Every parent will teach there children as well as they can and my parents did just that. No brainwashing involved. We don't agree on everything. They taught what they believed and prayed that I would see that i wasn't just a random blob of nothing but that i was indeed created for something. We are all in some way, to different degrees "products of our environment". 

So now the question is asked. If this is what I was born into then am I held to a different set of standards than anyone else? What are standards? What are morals? 

To answer the questions of who goes here and who goes there after you die you have to set some foundations. So we have to ask more questions....aint that the way it goes. 

What I can never get past is this. Why am I here? Where did I come from? Am i just a mass? What about that thing we call a soul? Where did it come from and where is it going? 

If I came from nothing then in all reality am I meant for anything? If I'm not meant for anything then why the hell would I ever do anything for anyone else? I only have 60 years left...if im lucky. So why not make sure this whole thing works out for one person.....me.

If this conclusion is wrong then please tell me. If we have weren't created and this whole thing is just random then why morals? where did those come from? All the sudden as our monkey brains turned into human brains we started to think that certain things were wrong? Did a few monkey men get together and finally put and end to killing so that to this day we follow that undeniable law that killing someone is "immoral". Doesn't there have to be someone or something that not only created us but also created moral law? Why would I feel bad about anything? why wouldn't I steal? why wouldn't I sleep around? You can go deep and dark and without a moral law giver there is no line. Everyone makes their own and if the majority of the populous says it ok well then....its ok?

There has to be something bigger. There has to be creator. The bible does have an answer that we were created by a God who does indeed love his creation. He gave us the choice and we chose to rebel. He didn't make us. We chose it. He gives us the choice every day to make the right or wrong decision. He tells us for the most part what right and wrong is. That's the basic answer and it goes a million times deeper than that but even with that....doesn't it make sense?

I don't know who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. If you don't have any relationship with Him and think that you'll take care of eternity yourself I would bet your chances of the pearly gates are slim to none. He is perfect...He knows.  

The tough questions are still there at times and I think everyone knows its healthy to know why you believe what you  believe. Ask those Q's. Challenge your heart. It's certainly clear that to me that I am, for sure, created. Im not a random thing that's gonna die and decompose. My soul is real and it has an eternal future. I feel like I could go on and on. 

I'm so grateful that he does accept me where I'm at. It sucks to have serious struggles that you never used to deal with. The great thing is that when your relationship with Him is real He pushes you to get past your current state into bigger and better things. It's sweet.

This is a cool vid that if you have 5 more minutes you should watch.

Love y'all

     

Waiting for the perfect moment

Ever do that? Go out to west Texas, or wherever you do it in your state, and wait 4 hours to see the first of hundreds of meteors? We get to the park hours before nightfall on July 4th to see the 5 minute fireworks show. Personally, Saturday was one of those days for me. It had been a great day of riding the motorcycle through the mountains. Good music, beautiful views and the owner of my soul accompanied me the whole way. From the mountains of Nederland to the boulders of, well, Boulder it was all good. The rivers leading down to Boulder were packed with ppl swimming, climbing rocks and of course smoking...most tourists would suppose it was cigarette smoke but anyone who's been around here long enough knows every day is green day in Boulder ;).

After a good, very expensive burger (dont ever move to CO..cost of living is rediculous, Texas has it figured out ;). ) I headed out of town a little ways to get on top of a big rock to wait. This view is why I chose this rock. 

When is the last time you went out and ust sat and looked at what He created? Its so easy to get distracted with everything else going on but when your out on a rock with the mountains of CO or the Hills and rivers of TX or the beauty of wherever you live the only thing to distract from your thoughts is His creation and that only brings our thoughts back to Him. This in turn will make the other thoughts, problems and prayers clearer then they were before. Meditation and prayer is something that I know I dont have enough of and its right there waiting for me every day. Say no to the movie or the party or the extra work and go and spend the hours with the one who gave you that time in the first place.

After a few hours those magical moments came into sight and my camera started snapping. I'm no professional so they aren't perfect but its hard to get a bad shot with such a subject. The sunset. The sun is a breathtaking experience every time. From a photographers point of view its so amazing how people have come up with hundreds of ways to put light on a subject but without fail the sun is without a doubt the best light around. We've seen who knows how many pictures of the sunset and each time its like "wow".  His creation never gets old. And it never will. 

Its His imagination! We think we are so cool and creative when in the end all the colors we use and the shapes we form are all colors and shapes that he came up with before the beginning of time. Go out this summer and let the good times roll but while your doing that look around you and let Him distract you. 

Twas a glorious sunset indeed.

  It was all worth waiting for and to soak up this gift of glory goes past words. I hope you can find some time this summer and beyond to find these moments..these hours.

Here's a few more pics from the past week.

Love Y'all

Butting heads

I'm finally in Estes! Seriously, one of the most beautiful places in the world...well...at least from what I've seen ;). Getting up here though....not so fun. It started out ok, looked a little grey, maybe 45 degrees or so....but..It wouldn't last long. About 25 miles outside of Springs I hit what was without a doubt the last thing I ever wanted to drive a motorcycle through....a blizzard. Well maybe not a "blizzard" blizzard but pretty close...Basically every 15 seconds I would have to leave one hand on the handlebars and use the other to first, wipe off the top 10 inches or so of the windshield and second, wipe the face shield of my helmet...it sucked....plain and simple...I'm pretty sure it was -29 degrees, the weather man says it around 30 but you know how unreliable they can be. I wasn't on some set looking at computer for my answers, I was out there! it was -45! or...-29! whatever. After pushing through that I did make it and unless it gets above 70 I don't even wanna look at my bike.

Ok, So....Butting heads.

It seems to happen all the darn time right? Like no matter what we can't get past conflict. Constantly "butting heads" and picking fights. Why? Why are we so prone to arguing? Why is it so easy to find something wrong with the situation or the person standing in our way. If I can simply prove to them how wrong the are then they'll get out of the way and I can march on to peaceful serenity. Uh hu.

Sometimes I wish that during all those "bad reaction" moments I could be sitting on the front porch listening to the roar of the river smoking some Rocky Mountain Burley.. thinking mostly about what would Jesus do, common sense, doing the right thing etc.....see then I would always react with an "eh, that's ok."... Nothing bothers you! I realized though that in all reality things really can be "ok" and its not only my choice but its also my responsibility, pipe smoke or no pipe smoke, to respond in the way I would want someone to respond to me.

We get all pumped up when people say "Roll with the punches" right? And we're like "Yeeaah, awesome dude"...but what are we rolling with? The times we get in a fender bender and remember "oh yea, i need to roll with this"...or what about the times when whoever it is decides to complain about something you did...again. Or maybe they ask you a question in a tone of voice that was, as far you're concerned, no where near the tone you were looking for. It seems to me like those are the times to "roll with the punches", to just move on and answer the question. NICELY.

Proverbs 19:11- A man's discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook a transgression.
Or another translation says that we gain respect by overlooking a wrong. It's right there! Where is "losing it" gonna get you? Malice will simply be punished by neglect. 


Besides, we always tend to do stupid stuff when we react angry. The Chinese say that "If you kick a stone in anger you hurt your own foot"...yeah...nuff said.  

I ran into these Bighorns today and sure enough, as they were walking down the road one of them bumped into other from behind. Not a big bump, just barely. The front one turned around and you would have thought that he had ust lost a chunk of his butt he was so mad.

Now I will say I'm glad he got mad cuz it made for a cool picture but aren't we the same darn way? Like really? I'm gonna turn around throw a fit cuz you bumped into me? Even if it was on purpose. Let it go. They are the ones who get to deal with being antagonistic. You get to make the choice. Every time. Do you take the path that says "P. O'd." or the one that says "No worries"...right or wrong. =/.


Hope ya'll have a good one =)...here's a few more pics from the last couple of days =).

A few tricks up the sleeve.

It messes with your mind! Trying to follow along and see what the magician is doing to leave your brain miles away from where he is can be annoying....really annoying. Specially for he analytical type who know that there is always a logical answer for those things. I'm now here in Colorado Springs sitting in my buddy's basement eating jelly beans trying to convince myself that a trip to the gym would be in my best interest. Nigel Ruiz is a character, never sure what he's gonna say next...could be poetic (rare) could be awkward (not so rare) or it could be super encouraging and just what you needed to hear (this happens allot). Nigel is actually quite good at card tricks so...yesterday we took off to Manitou springs to see if the tourists there would like to be wowed be his talents.



Its amazing what you can do with a little practice. Not to long ago he couldn't even do the "52 card pickup trick" right...now he can turn 2 aces into 4 aces or make the card in your hand turn into a different card...even make them disappear. We ended up finding that the best reactions came from the teenage girls with extra highlights. Could have been that they thought it really was magic but....can't say for sure. Besides easily entertained tourists, Manatou Springs has several wells that flow...listen carefully....soda water. I was a little skeptical going into this so I waited for couple of young boys with squeaky voices to step up and try it before me. Had my camera been on I would have totally captured those tortured faces.

Now...We all have moments of stupidity and yesterday one slapped me right in the face. After seeing this unfold i decided that it would be super lame of me to have been to Manitou Springs and not have at least tried the soda water. I bravely grabbed one of those cone cups you find at the golf course, filled it up and shot it down the old pipe.

If a homeless guy had stuck his foot in that well, shook it around and thrown a few pounds of rotting beef in there it may have been drinkable....this stuff......my day was ruined. Never will I ever advise someone to stop there and drink of the fountains of poo water....carbonated poo water at that.

All in all though it was a good day with lots of card tricks, the purchase of a hacky sack, and a new found distaste for the natural things of Manitou Springs.

                      

                         

Photo credit - Nigel Ruiz

Peace out =)

 

The Shekinah Glory

Day 3,4, and 5

Flat as flat could be. West Texas wasn't producing the scenes that I knew awaited me in CO but if there is one thing Texas has its that bigger bluer downright breathtaking sky. Not really sure what makes the sky bigger there but its undoubtedly true. The roar of the beast was like the perfect rock song, we had made it from SA to Dallas (the long way) and from Dallas to about 15 miles outside of Amarillo.  All I could think about was a comfy hotel with some coffee and pancakes from Cracker Barrel when all if the sudden I hear a loud BANG. Took me a second to gather myself, I was thinking maybe I blew a tire... on a bike that is never good news, but i was still rolling just fine and the engine was humming like a champ....just no power. After coasting to a stop I look underneath to find that the chain has fallen of and messed the hub up pretty bad...definitely wasn't driving this thing any further.

The Tower was called and I was told that it would be about 30 minutes. After hanging up with them i just stood there kinda frustrated with the whole situation. I was tired and cold and now even further away from pancakes. As i sat there kinda feeling sorry for myself I looked up and saw this.

This was the Shekinah Glory, the "Very presence of God".  How can anyone look at that and not realize how incredibly small we are? Psalm 103 say we are like a flower that flourishes, like we are here for a week and then the very ground we were on never knew we were there! Another one says that we are but dew on the grass...like we are here in the morning and gone before lunch! And we do our own thing and act like we have it all under control and through it all He gives us moments like these to bring us back to Him.

The rest of the story ends up great. The tow truck driver is a super cool guy who calls his buddy who lets me put my bike in his car repair garage...and the garage is 4 buildings down from the motorcycle shop that was already closed. He took care of me. It wasn't until that night that it all started to come into focus. It's all part of the adventure. All the side stories in our life almost always line up with the big picture. You will be cruising along feeling like the worst is behind you and you're gonna coast into comfort when all of the sudden the worst possible thing happens. Or maybe its just a bump in the road but either way you then have a choice to roll with it and learn from your mistakes or freak out and get mad and let it control your joy. You can't change it. It happened. Use that power that He will give you if you ask, to press on and run the race that's in front of you.

The next morning I got up, had more Cracker Barrel, pushed my bike to the shop and waited for the diagnoses.  The guys there took a look at it and told me that I was lucky, could have done some damage to the engine but instead just damaged the hub a little. 30 minutes later i had a new chain and a super reasonable bill. With the blessing of the mechanic I was on may way to the next stop.

Don't let it slow you down. Whatever it is. You will be ok because there really is nothing new under the sun. you aren't the first and you wont be the last. You can't control what happens, what you can control is how you respond.

I leave you with this quote I found from my friends blog...its becoming one of my favorites. Also here are some more pics from the side of the road.
Peace.

“No adventure is truly an adventure unless the hero reaches a point where, if they could, they would turn around and return fearfully home to comfort and safety; fate must press them forward, to require more of themselves than is available. Without this impossibility, there is no story, because a story must lift us above the possibility of ourselves. It must lift our gaze to the stars, and the potential in us to reach them.”

Day 1 and 2

And we have take off.  Time to race the wind and chase the sun. Forget whatever is going on and just get lost in the music. Watch the creation pass by at 70 pmh and wonder what all these scenes were like 50, 100, or even 1000 years ago. The day actually started out pretty rainy and I'm not gonna lie I had a pretty tight grip on those handle bars for the first couple hours.  Once the sun burned the clouds off, however, the jacket went into the bag and we had free running. The whole rest of the trip was PERFECT riding weather, I think my arms are a good 5 shades darker!

Now of course not everything is always as romantic as it looks. If you think your butt hurts driving a car...yeah...its nothing compared to sitting on what might as well be one of those God forsaken dugout benches. So there was only one option since I was behind schedule already. Stand and ride. So you can picture it. Me and who knows how many flatbed trucks out in west Texas where even the cows think I look like a special needs rider. But hey, I had feeling back and you can't put a price on that. ;)

Today was much different. After a great time with my cousins last night I woke up this morning and took my camera dowtown to snap a few photo's and explore Dallas. Its great if you haven't ever been. There's lots to do and there is some really cool architecture.  Also if you get the chance to go to the 6th floor museum (JFK Assassination), do it. Cool place...gives you allot of information you might not have known.

The thought of the day though comes from my aunt. My beautiful aunt is getting elderly and recently had an accident where she broke several bones. I went and saw her in the rehabilitation center and of course as always she was as chipper as could be and you would never know that she really is in excrutiating pain from the back spasms and just the overall healing process. As we sat there talking and laughing we looked over at her table full of beautiful flowers and in the corner there was a huge vase with 20 giant red and white roses. Sitting next to it was a very little glass with 3 small fresh red roses. We asked her who gave them to her and she told us their names but she went on to tell us that the little ones were hand picked off one of the families rose bushes. In her soft sweet voice she wisely told us that it just goes to show how the size and cost of a gift isn't what really matters.  Its the one's that took time and thought. Its so easy to buy a gift card or throw some cash in a hallmark but sometimes those gifts that didn't cost a penny but we put some thought into mean the most. Don't get me wrong, I wont ever turn down some free best buy or home depot but it was ust a cool thought.

Here's some pics of downtown Dallas =)   

  

Into the Sunset

This is it! If you wanna keep up with the trip and see some (hopefullly) cool pictures than this will be the place to see it happen.

And so the preparation begins. Cleaning the house, packing clothes, choosing what tools I might need and what to books I wanna read. The trip of a lifetime, one of many, maybe even the last one ever ;). Whatever happens its gonna be an adventure. A time to get away with just me, my God, His word and of course my trusty steed. There's so many thoughts racing through our heads on a daily basis its hard to keep track, even if you are the easy going type. It's always good to get away from the rush every now and then and have nothing but God's creation to distract us. Throughout the trip I'll post lots of pictures and a few of my thoughts. Hope you enjoy. This first post is just something that I got reminded of today so I thought I'd share. =)

On the way home today I ran into this weed. At least its what we would call a weed. After taking a picture, it kinda struck me that so many times I take the little "hardship" or "pain in the butt" and remove from my life as fast as i can and label it negatively. I run from it.  As I've gotten a little bit older and gone through a few difficulties I've found that "weeds" aren't always a bad thing. Going through stuff and sticking out to other side instead is what builds endurance in us making the weed not really a negative ugly thing we need to get rid of but instead a building block to add to a wall of maturity and experience. Find the beauty in the weed. You can let it tear you down or build you up. You're choice. Dont run from your problems, address them and grow into the person you were created to be.

James 1:2-4 

²Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
³knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
⁴And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.