Okay, so the Monday First Thoughts feature is off to a rousing start.  Okay, so I missed the second installment last week because I was in Missouri… Rats!

So here are my first thoughts to start out this lovely week.

• First of all, autumn is here.  It is really beyond imagination.  It sneaks up on me every year and when it does it is just a phenomena.  Sure there is the fact that the trees burst into fireworks, see the picture below, but it is more than just that.  It is the water.  The glorious water.  Think about it, the earth positively NEEDS water to survive.  Everything depends upon it.  However, if the earth was left to itself, all the water would just settle into the planet’s low spots and rest there.  Water can’t go up hill.  Water can redistribute itself.  And so, BAM, someone comes up with a system to make the water (that same water that is stuck in all the planet’s low spots) to, and I am not making this up… the water just falls from the sky.  Seriously.  Out of no where, the water just falls.  And it lands on everything: plants, my car, little fuzzy critters, forests, my gardens, the school yard… everything.  Someone came up with this system.  I don’t know who it was but someone should give them a medal or a pat on the back or maybe just a big “thank you.”
• Next week I turn 44.  It is weird how much I am looking forward to it.  I can’t explain it.  In fact I have accidentally called myself 44-years-old several times in the last month and I have had to correct myself.  Maybe it is because the two fours standing side by side look so opinionated and strong.  They also look like they are already in motion, like something is about to happen.  I don’t know.  I can’t explain it.  Suffice it to say that I am enjoying my forties.  My thirties were hard.  I was not a great husband, nor father, and probably not the best of friends either.  Forties are different. Less angsty.  More settled.  No less opinionated, but I hope I am wielding my opinions in a more productive way.
• Lots of soccer this fall.  Three boys.  Three teams.  Good-bye saturdays.  You can see my oldest above wearing number 7.
• ALOOF update.  Finishing up collecting endorsements today.  My friend Steve Duin just sent me this one:  “An anguished search for the hand of God in the raucous uncertainty and redemptive community that otherwise attends us.” Book is not out until January, but pre-sales on sites like Amazon are really, really helpful.
• New Choose Your Adventure Podcast here.
• Here is an article I wrote on “the album that most transformed me.”
• If you want to hear me speak this week, the only gigs I have are in Corvallis, OR.

Blessings and have a great week.