July 4th through July 10th, 2011, Day 206 -212.

Two names stood out to me this week, Christian Lopez and Johnny Hoogerland.  The first, Christian Lopez, caught Derek Jeter's home run ball.  It was Jeter's 3000th hit and has an estimated worth between $250,000 to $400,000.   As soon as he caught the ball Yankee security personnel ushered him and his father out of the stands, "What do you want for the ball?" the security person asked.  "I just want to give it to Jeter," he said.   Even when told that the ball was worth a lot of money he was asked again, and he said, "I just want to give it to Jeter."

The Yankees offered four seats in a suite for the rest of the season, front row seats in the Legends Suite for Sunday’s game, some autographed jerseys and autographed balls. Lopez nodded. It all sounded great but he really just wanted to give the ball to Jeter.

“He deserves this, he worked hard for it,” Christian said.

Who does something like that?  Would you?  Here's a 23 year old Verison Cell phone salesman who still has student loans!  I was so inspired.  In this world where greed seems more often the norm then the exception, here was a man who could use the money, but thought of someone else before himself.  My hat is off to you, Christian Lopez, I hope you get a million dollars in appearance fees and appear on TV talk shows across the country.  What an inspiration!

Here's the full story;

Fan Grabs Jeter's 3000th Hit ball

Then, in the Tour de France this morning, in the 9th stage, a television car veered into the pathway of some of the bikers, sending one of them, Johnny Hoogerland, flying head over heels into a barbed wire fence at over 25 miles an hour.  He had 7 inch lacerations, and will be hospitalized.  The accident took away Hoogerland's chances of a stage win and he will probably not be able to recover and defend the polka dot jersey, which he was winning (the jersey goes to the best mountain stage climber).  
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"It might be a scandal but I don't think they did it in purpose. Everything's well taken care of over here but... you can be mad but I don't think they did it on purpose," Hoogerland repeated. "I know that I'll be in a lot of pain during the rest day. I hope I can recover. It's a pity, but I'm a Zeelander. We're not easy to tear apart. I'm still alive. Wouter Weylandt wasn't that lucky," Hoogerland said, referring to the Belgian rider who died in a crash during the Giro d'Italia almost two months ago.

Take a look at the picture below of Hoogerland being extracted from the barbed wire.  Would you have been so forgiving.  I'm afraid to say, I don't think I would have been.

Yes, today I was inspired, not once, but twice, and both times by the sports world, who would have thought?

June 21st through July 3rd - 193 - 205 Days

The last few weeks have been Great.  I've decided that I need to serve more, and listen to the spirit more.  So, I decided that when I pray every day I would ask Heavenly Father who I can help.  On Thursday, I prayed in the morning and asked who I should help that day.  During the day, I really felt like I should visit an old friend.   Hunter and I made up some poppyseed bread and I took it by my friend's house.  At first, no one came to the door.  After a few minutes, the door opened and my friend invited me inside.  After we spoke for a few minutes he said, "Why did you come by tonight?"  I said, kind of sheepishly, "Do you really want to know?"  He said, "Yes, I do."  I told him that I had been praying for someone that needed my help and I felt I should visit.  He said, "That's really interesting, because I'm having a hard time right now, and as I was praying over my dinner I asked God to help me, and then when I finished my prayer, you knocked on my door."  We spoke and laughed for over 2 hours.  It was a fantastic night, and I was humbled and overwhelmed that the Lord would use me that way.

On the weekend, we had a bike ride from Jacobs Lake, Arizona to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which was a total of 88 miles round trip.  Kerry and I drove up Friday and went through the route.  I was a bit intimidated, as it was quite a bit of climbing and I'm not quite in the shape I'd like to be.  It also didn't help that the guys I was going to ride with were much better riders than I was.  There were about 20 of us that got up at 5:30 in the morning and began the ride.  The ride started on a hill, and the elevation was 7900 feet, so I was immediately sucking wind, and I thought, "I'm never going to make this."  Then I remembered a video that Jeff Jones had me watch earlier in the week, the video was from a photographer who said, "Like what you do, whatever you're doing."  I decided that I was going to like the ride.  I began to look around at the beautiful pine trees, the green meadows, the sunshine, the flowers, everything.  It was so beautiful!  Even though the wind started blowing at up to 25 miles per hour, and my legs felt like they were falling off, I completed the ride, and really enjoyed it.  In fact, it was one of the most enjoyable rides of my life up to this point.

This last week was just as good.  I closed a large sale at work, went on multiple bike rides, spent some time with my family, went swimming, read, had some great conversations with old friends, and truly had a remarkable and spiritual week.  I have a LONG way to go when it comes to treating others as kind as I would like, but I'm learning the process little-by-little.  My parents are visiting this week, and they are two of the kindest people I know.  It's fun to talk with them, and learn how to be better.

Things I learned the last few weeks:  1st:  If Mike Anderson says a bike ride is pretty hard, that means it's close to insane.  If he's bringing 10 or 12 of his buddies, fa-get-about-it!  2nd, My brother Kerry is older than me and weighs more, and he can still kick my can up the hills--what's that all about?!   3rd, Riding up hill when there are 25 mile an hour crosswinds is kind of like trying to blow bubblegum bubbles into a fan while running through peanut butter, it's just not very productive.  4th, Even though I'm getting older (45 this week!), I have great friends, a fantastic wife, a great family, and they love me, and I love them.