What to Wear on Winter Bike Ride

This is my 'kit' for Winter Riding at about 35 Degrees Farenheit

If you wanna do some winter riding here's the cost effective set-up I use.

The shoes, gloves and helmet are pretty well standard gear.

I wore two layers on my legs and two layers under my shoes.  I wore three layers up top and I wore a head sweats cap and wrap around ear muffs under my helmet.  I also wore yellow lens glasses to increase my ability to see in low light situations since I was riding near dusk.  

For my legs I chose to overdress just a bit so that my knees would stay relatively warm.  This is because knees have poor circulation to begin with and yet I'm asking a lot from them on a ride, so a little extra protection from the wind helps get their temp up a bit and increases blood flow rather than shutting it down in extreme cold conditions.  So, I wore a pair of riding shorts with leg warmers and riding socks covered with riding 'boots' under my shoes.  I also wore another black base layer that would normally be worn under jeans as the top layer over the riding shorts & leg warmers.  This set up worked well and I was never over-heated although before I took off I wondered....  The nice thing about the leg warmers is that they are relatively easy to remove and pack away if you have an expandable seat bag or equivalent.  

Up top I wore a thin base layer covered by a little thicker Costco brand base layer under a highly reflective Pearl Izumi wind jacket.  

I'm sure that I was totally non-aero and I certainly wasn't riding for speed today.  Just the joy of being out and enjoying the crisp cold air and being alive!  

BTW, you'll notice my bottles and couple of drink mixes that I'm using.  The first is a Sustain Sports Drink mix that tastes great and delivers a fast acting wallop of minerals to prevent cramping and keep me riding strong.  The other mix is called 'Activate C' and is a Vitamin C booster to help my body fight off the 'bugs' of winter that come calling, especially when you expose yourself to extreme conditions.  Both of these are available from my fantastic wife, Julie.  Drop me an email if you wanna know more about Sustain or Activate C.

I just enjoy being OUTSIDE on the bike a ton more than being indoors on the trainer or on a spinner at the Y.  I'm not against those things at all and I'll be doing some of both in the weeks ahead when it's below freezing or when there is ice on the roads.  

Hope this gives you some ideas of how to dress and fuel to enjoy winter riding!

Peace,

Jeff

The End of an Era ... Cool to Remember Stuff from 2011

Jeff Fuson Daddy / Follower of THE ONE / Husband of One Incredible Lady / Coach / Pastor of Phos Community Church Near Louisville, Kentucky / Missional Church Planter

How do I find God's Will for My Life?

This question gets a lot of press and rightfully so because we want to live life the 'right way' and we really do want to do God's will -- AS LONG AS WHAT HE WANTS US TO DO IS WHAT WE WANT TO DO ....!  The good news is that following God's will fits us quite well because He made us and He knows where our strengths and true dreams are.  So, we can trust Him with us. 

The challenge for some of us is that we already know what God's will is for us and we pretend like we don't because we don't want to do what He's calling us to do next.  If that's you, then don't expect anymore guidance from God until you do what He's already told you to do. 

However, if you're serious about finding His will and doing HIS will and not just your doing your own thing then you can be assured He'll guide you. 

But, it begins with just doing the very next thing that God asks of you. 

By the way, what God asks of you will NEVER contradict the precepts, principles and patterns already given to us in the Bible.  For example, you may be 'feeling' like it's God's will for you to leave your wife and kids to be with an old flame you've been chatting with on FaceBook.  I promise you that's NOT God's will even though you 'feel' like it is.  How do I know?  Because it would violate God's precepts already spelled out clearly in the Bible.  When you have to choose between your 'feelings' and God's plans from Scripture -- go with Scripture 100% of the time!

So, if you're really ready to embark on the greatest journey of your life then watch the presentation below and let these ideas sink in then begin doing the 'little daily things' that you already know God wants you to do and He'll move you to where He wants you to be over time.

peace,
Jeff

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Where Good Ideas Come From

I just watched this video by Steve Johnson and not only do I love the 'drawing/video' but the content is spot on.  Enjoy.

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Jesus in the Locker-Room ...

Tomorrow at Phos I'll be talking about how God prepared and called Moses.  The key idea is that to do what God asks of us we have to throw down our past, our security, and even our personal preferred dreams and pick up His dream for the world. 

Here's some of what I'll be talking about tomorrow.... 
(The Biblical Background for this story of Moses is found in Exodus 1 to 4)

When God is ready to get something done in the world He chooses to use people to get 'er done most of the time.

Think of Moses being given an early passion to help the Hebrew people and actually killing an oppressive Egyptian taskmaster before running for his life.  That passion was a predictor of Mose’s purpose on this planet.  It would take a long season of refining in Moses’ life where he would learn the ways of the wilderness working as a shepherd. 

He was saved for a purpose to be breast fed by his own Hebrew mother and yet raised in the splendor of Pharoah’s house.  He would have the heart of a Hebrew and the Brain training of an Egyptian and then he would run to the wilderness where he would be trained as a Shepherd -- one skilled in the ways of wilderness survival. 

All these places were boot-camps that God would use to prepare Moses. the people connections along the way where positioning him and preparing him for God’s purpose.

God would use his Hebrew heritage and passion to rescue his fellow Israelites.
God would use his Palatial Pharoic training and connections to open the doors of Pharoah to him when the show-down became imminent.
God would use his wilderness time to prepare him to lead over a million people on a journey that would last for over 40 years in a harsh dessert where only a shepherd could survive. 

God was uniquely preparing Moses to lead.

When you look back on your past, where have you been, who have you spent time with, what training have you received, what really fires you up and makes you feel passionate beyond reason?  Mix that background with a radical willingness to say YES to God when he shows up and the world will be changed in a powerful way.

The story of Moses is really a story about how God gets His work done in the world most of the time.

He takes a passionate purpose with a questionable past and provides boot camps of all sorts to prepare him/her for the position He has in mind for them and then He calls them to see if they’re ready to pass the biggest test of all... The ‘Will you trust me to do whatever I ask you to do?’ Test. 

Moses tried to fail the test by showing God all of his, ‘buts’ ...
...but, they’ll try to kill me
...but, they won’t believe you sent me
...but, I stutter

In each case God redirected Moses and reminded him that the key player in this drama would be God himself and not Moses.  When God says, I will be with you...He means, I’m gonna do the heavy lifting and you just play your part.  Just have the courage to go and do what I tell you to do and I’ll be on the move to make things go the way that I intend.  It’s gonna look like it’s you, but it’s really ME.  So, get going, and I will be with you.

When we see the story of Moses as powerful as it is to see what God did with him, somehow it’s easy to pass the story off as being an ‘Old Testament God doing Old Testament Style’ work. 

If you think that God was demanding with Moses just wait til you see how demanding Jesus was on his followers.

Check out what Jesus says to His followers in these passages:

Matthew 16:24-25 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.

Matthew 8:22 (GOD’S WORD Translation)
 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Matthew 19:21 (The Message)
 21"If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me."

Luke 14:33
“Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.”

Someway in the church in America we’ve cast Jesus like he’s the lead in the cast on the ‘Good-Ship Lollypop’ and he sings with a limp wrist and a lisp.  ‘On the goo-oo- od ssship LollyPop, it’s a sssswee-eet trip to the candy-ssshop...’ and we imagine that Jesus just came to sing us sweet little songs as He takes our lists of preferred candies and fills little polka-dotted candy bags for us joyfully singing all the while. 

Would you please show me that in the nearest Bible that you can find?  It’s not in mine.

But, what is in mine, is a Jesus, Son of God, who is demanding and manly and who does exactly what God says to do it when God says to do in the manner that God says to do it.  Jesus says that ‘The Father and I are one and I do whatever I see Him doing’.  So, Jesus is God in the flesh and He operates with His followers and would-be followers just as God acted with Moses. 

We’d do well to replace our Good-ship lollypop Jesus image with a Super-Bowl Winning NFL Coach in the locker room of a championship game at half-time.  A coach who expects that these players are 100% committed to earning and wearing that Super-Bowl championship ring.  A coach who expects that the plays will be ran that He calls when he calls them in the fashion that he calls them.  A coach that expects to win! (not some triumph that hurts and maims people but the triumph of the King Jesus and His Kingdom that comes to set prisoners free, that cares for widows and orphans, that has dinner with rich sinners and calls them into His Kingdom, that sort of thing...)

If you’re gonna win a Championship then you’re gonna give up some things to get there.  You’re gonna be willing to subject your life to a level of discipline and rigor and sacrifice that people wearing jerseys in the stands and watching you play on television with a bag of popcorn can scarcely imagine. 
But, someday when you hold up that trophy and you wear that ring and all the associated bling -- you’ll know one thing -- you did what others would not do so that you can live like others cannot even imagine. 

Jesus reminds us in the locker room here today... eye hasn’t seen and you’ve not even begun to imagine what it’s gonna be like when we win the prize that God has in front of us.  And, it’s okay to trade whatever you have to today to be on this team and to win the game that God has in front of us. 
Weenies, wimps, and good-ship lollypoppers don’t get in on what God is up to in the world.

When God calls you into the game, will you say yes? Will you step up?  Will you suit up and get out there and play with your whole heart?  Will you?

Jesus is the most demanding head coach of all time.

And, just in case you wonder if the calling of Jesus was just reserved for his physical followers back in the day, consider his final challenges in Matthew 28 when He is commissioning us, His future followers to suit up, get into the game and give it all we’ve got! 

Just like Moses we’ll have to let go of our ‘buts’ and get over our busted past and allow God to be ‘THE MAN’ in the places He calls us into, and He will.

But, we’ll have to throw down our past successes & failures and our present security and pick up the uncertainty of following God.  Will you do that?





Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

If you're in the middle of waiting for your dreams to come true....

I know what it's like to have huge dreams, to work my tail off to bring them to pass and then to have it all fade to black just when I thought it was all coming together. 

I know what disappointment is.  Think about that word and break it in half like this -- 'dis' 'appointment' as if God has DISSED the appointment you were sure that He had promised to you.  If you've ever been disappointed with God or felt like He was 'dis-appointing' you then you've been forced to do something internally about that.  You've most likely 'quit believing in God' (even though you may still show up at church for political correctness) or you've wondered what you've done wrong to cause God to be so mad that He'd let you down.  Or, you learn to trust Him in the midst of a story that you wish wasn't being written. What we must all learn is that 'control' is an illusion that we're never really in 'control' of the stuff that matters most in life.  It's when we realize that only God is in control and we willingly let Him write His-story through our lives that we find the peace, joy, contentment and power that Christ brings to those who surrender the pen to Him. 

Two books that I've read recently will help you learn to give the pen up faster and enjoy the story that God is writing more...even when He's writing painful chapters that cause us to suffer, to wait, and to long for a happy ending.

Here they are:

Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson and Plan B by Pete Wilson

 Both of these will build your faith in God and restore you to place of peace while you live through 'Plan B's that we all face.

No easy path, no formulas.  Just learning to abide, to trust, to wait, to surrender faster, to hand over the pen to the Author of all life.

Have a great day,
Jeff



Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

What do you do when your dream goes bust?

We'll all face a moment when all that we've hoped for and believed in and just 'knew' that God would do falls apart.  What do you do then?


Pete Wilson asks it well on page 9 of his new book, "Plan B".  He asks, "What do you do when God doesn't show up for you in the way you thought God was going to show up?"

On pages 21 he reminds us that, "this is no time to give up on God....

Your dreams may not be happening, and things

are not turning out the way you expected, but that

doesn't mean your life is spinning out of control.

It just means that YOU'RE NOT IN CONTROL.  It's

in those moments you can learn to trust the only one

who has ever had control in the first place."


I can't tell you how many times I've pouted, been upset, gotten mad, ran from God, tried to maniupulate the world to give me what I thought I had to have when I felt let down by God.  It happens when God's time table doesn't match my calendar. It happens when all the 'stuff' that I've been trying to orchestrate to help God do the plan I have in mind crumbles into dust and blows away.  It happens when the dream is still-born after months of preparation, planning, and hard work.  It happens to me all the time.


It doesn't happen as much as it used to, because I've learned that His plan always trumps mine and that even when He's doing things in ways that make no sense to me that He's still on His throne and He's still in control AND, He still loves me and promises to work all things in my favor in the long game -- way out in the future where I have no clue of what's going to happen.  I'm learning to have a deep confidence in the goodness of God and to wait on His provision in the way that He deems best .  More to the point, I'm learning to quit trying to manipulate the world into following my plan for the universe and to simply trust that God is on the move even when it makes no sense to me.  It's a much more peaceful way to live and a whole lot more fun to live with expectation that God is on the move and that He'll take care of me and He'll do the heavy lifting on His timefrrame.  Mostly, it's cool to just walk with God and watch Him do His thing!  


So, what about you?  What are you experiencing that's causing you to want to run or control or manipulate to regain control?  What are you learning about God?  Does your circumstance tempt you to give up on God?


We'll be tackling this whole arena of 'Plan B Living' at Phos Church this Sunday, October 3 at 10 AM over at Oldham County High School.


Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Pruning the Grape Vines -- a Brutiful Experience....

I spent a little time with 'Ed' the Gardening Guru/Owner of Starview Nursery just N.E. of LaGrange, KY and he told me how to prune the grapevines and encouraged me to be 'brutal'when deciding what to cut and what to leave. He said the #1 problem most people have is that they are not 'brutal' enough in their pruning. Ed assured me that the crop of grapes would justify the brutal pruning.

So, I took him at his word and got brutal with willy nilly vines that didn't fit the trellis plan I have in mind and I got serious about removing would be vines that would pull nutrients away from the main vine.

My objective is simple -- an abundant juicy harvest of fantastic home grown grapes this September! The process seemed a bit painful to me, but that's why I have grape vines.

It's not about the grapes at all -- they serve as a 'spiritual practice' where I consider God's concern for me and for the production of fruit in my life. It reminds me that at time God has to be 'brutal' with all of us to remove what won't yield the fruit He's designed us for. When I'm working with the vines I'm mindful of Jesus teaching his disciples about the necessity of pruning for fruit production in John 15. He assured his vineyard onlookers that God's intention is to have us bear much fruit, which is to the Father's glory.

I heard a speaker share one time that God's work with us 'brutal & beautiful' at the same time and he called it 'brutiful'.

If you're in a season where you feel as though you're being pruned brutally, then you're not alone and God's intent for you is that you bear much fruit -- and, it requires a 'brutiful' pruning every now and then. Look forward to what He is helping you become and the outcomes that the vinedresser has in mind!

Happy Pruning!

Jeff Fuson

-Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky
-Leadership Keynote Speaker
-Husband / Daddy
-Missional Church Planter

Power of a Mentor! Who's got your back?

There's nothing more powerful than being able to discuss what's happening in your life candidly and openly with a mentor who's 'been there and done that' to give you perspective. I'm so pumped that I got to spend a little time with one of my mentors, Bill Perkins, on the phone a few minutes ago and I'm so refreshed and energized that I'm gonna have a hard time getting rest this evening!

We all need someone (or lots of someones) to get our backs don't we? Because we simply can't see 360 degrees around us at all times. A mentor can see things we miss and help us unearth solutions that are simple and profound in that they were right there for the picking but our mentor has to ask the right question to remove the blinders and help us 'see' the solution.

Who's got your back?

Jeff Fuson

p.s. I'd encourage to grab any of Bill's books and dive into it! If you're a guy you've got to devour, 'When Good Men are Tempted' and 'Six Rules Every Man Must Break' NOW! Ladies it'd be a good idea for you to read 'When Good Men are Tempted' as well and you'll have a 'user's manual' on how your man is wired and how to help him succeed spiritually at honoring his vows to you!

-Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky
-Leadership Keynote Speaker
-Husband / Daddy
-Missional Church Planter

Using Our Imagination to Build Faith

Oswald Chambers penned 'My Utmost for His Highest' which has become one of the most widely read devotional books of all time.

On February 11 he renders Isaiah 26:3 this way, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose imagination is stayed on Thee". I'm not sure what version he's using here but I resonate with using 'imagination' to focus on God.

What are you using your imagination for.

Powering up your imagination to focus on God is most likely pretty close to the Maker's intent. Because we're 'wired' to imagine we can pick up this tool and use it to FOCUS on God -- what He's done in the past and what He's doing now and imagining what He may be about to do next.


Isaiah 26:3 (New Living Translation)

3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Let's Imagine more deeply and 'fix' our thoughts on God.

As a leader we must be able to 'project' a God-Centered future filled with Hope and wonder for our people. Doing 'imagination workouts' builds our ability to project into the hearts and minds of others so that we can travel together.

Imagine what God could do with YOU if you trusted Him completely.

Jeff Fuson

-Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky
-Leadership Keynote Speaker
-Husband / Daddy
-Missional Church Planter

The Biggest Tombstone ..... Henry Clay in the Lexington Cemetary

I said goodbye to an old friend, Rodney Mann, today at the Lexington Cemetary. A tragic end preceded by a strange twist of fate and a bizarre way to die for a Medical Doctor. I'm sad that we won't get to catch up on this side of life. However, I have a great hope, that one day in a place past this life we'll get to hang out again.

The Lexington Cemetery is a stunning display of God's gift of natural beauty to Kentucky and of our ability to enshrine those we love. This statue perched up a high tower sits on top of a large mausoleum where Henry & Mrs. Clay's sarcophagi rest behind a wrought iron pad-locked gate. A sobering reminder that even if you have the biggest tombstone you're still dead.

So, on this side of the tombstone, while there's still breath in my lungs I will celebrate the moments and sing the days into memory with the ones I love. I will be more passionate about squeezing the juice from the hugs and kisses of little people I love and embracing the ones I'll one day miss more often.

This IS the day that the Lord has made and I WILL REJOICE....

Shalom,

Jeff Fuson

WOW....new survey out on how Americans feel about 'religion' and God is very revealing....

Diane Mueller, 43, of Austin, who grew up Methodist, says she's simply "totally disengaged from the church and the Bible, too." Sunday mornings for her family mean playing in a park, not praying in a pew.

That's a quote from an article published today in USA today. Why don't you go here to read it and then chime in here on what you think it means for churches in America.

What, if anything, should Christian churches and people with a strong faith in Jesus Christ do with this information?

Have a great day,

Jeff Fuson

p.s. I'm on Twitter at JeffFuson if you wanna keep up with what's going on that way.

Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is being a catalyst to assist people who wanna grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff delivers Keynotes & Customized Interactive Training Experiences for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and other small to medium sized non-profit & for profit High Impact enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.

Psalm 40 -- The Pits & Testing

These are part of the final set of slides for my talk at Phos Hilaron Church this Sunday, March 1, 2009.

The number '40' almost always means 'test' and it has the purpose of making us better people and stronger Christ followers.

[I know that these slides are in reverse order related to the verse numbers, so just read the last slide first and work your way up....you'll be glad you did.]

God won't leave you in 'the pit' forever and it's okay to ask for help!! And, it's okay to cry out to God.

So, don't cave in when the pressure of the pit pounds in on your courage & faith.....James reminds us that the 'test' will make us strong. So, cooperate with God, talk honestly with God, expect power from God, and wait for His rescue.


Two of my favorite groups have covered songs around this theme of 'testing', Psalm 40, and the number 40, check these out....

U2 40
Third Day 40 Days

When you think of 40 think of Noah and the great flood when it rained for 40 days and 40 nites, or contemplate 'Jesus' test in the wilderness that lasted 40 days. 40 is the Hebrew way of saying 'suffering for the fulness of time.

If you or a friend is in the Pit then Psalm 40 will help you a ton as you read it, study it, and take it's truth into your life.


Jeff Fuson serves as Point Leader for Phos Hilaron Church near Louisville Kentucky. Jeff's # 1 passion is being a husband and daddy. A close second is seeing people grow spiritually. As a Professional Speaker Jeff also serves as a Keynote Speaker & Trainer crafting & delivering high impact keynote addresses & training events for Entrepreneurs, Banks, Credit Unions, and small to medium sized non-profit & for profit enterprises. He's got one incredible wife and 3 awesome children.