Meat and potatoes

Here be the weightier post I mentioned before. For anybody interested, the pictures that me and Micah took of Crystal's wedding are now uploaded to my flickr webpage. To look at them, just click on the flickr banner to the right of the page.

Bried pause here. I just read a testimonial from a guy in Mexico. Here it is. Some back story. Alonso was a missionary in Mexico and was a semi-pro (maybe pro?) biker (ala Armstrong) who was just killed a week ago during a race. This testimonial is from one of his team mates.

More details of the accident keep coming in. Below is the translated testimony of one of the young cyclists, Pablo who is on the Chihuahua University cycling team and is a Christian, and how it has affected his life. He uses the cycling term, "on your wheel" which means that the lead rider is choosing the best path for both safety and victory and is pulling the follower by his draft which saves the following rider's energy. The energy savings is so great that a weaker rider can stay with a strong one by staying in his draft, close to his rear wheel.

On your wheel, Alonso

Last Tuesday along with my bicycling companions I was rammed by a truck which was speeding over 60 miles per hour. But, that wasn't the real trauma. The true shock which has devastated me and has transformed my life is the death of a hero. The truck entered our lane on a diagonal, principally smashing into Alonso who moved out to cushion my collision with the truck and thus saved my life.

An aunt of mine said, "Sometimes God allows us to meet our guardian angels." And, thus was the case. Alonso was one who always watched out for me and took me under his wing like a little brother. I thank God for the life of Alonso and all that I learned from him.

I'll never forget his words to me before one of our races. "Stay on my wheel, Pablo," which means that I was to draft him and follow him to victory through the whole length of the race. I only hope that in this race which we call life, God gives me the strength to follow in his steps.

This will be my goal in life, to follow in the steps of him who gave his life for me so I could be here, alive and writing this today. Thank you, Alonso, because even in the moment of your departure you gave me a testimony of how true Christians leave this life. You gave me a testimony of how heroes say good-bye. In fact, heroes never die, but rather they live in the lives of those they have impacted. Thank you Alonso! I will live my life honoring you, living for God as you lived. On your wheel, forever….

by

Pablo Montaño

1Cor. 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

I just hope that when it's my turn to go, I have impacted people as much as Alonso did.

To those of you who I once said, "I will never work in the restaurant business again." I lied. I am once again working at TGIFridays. I need cash, in hand, if I am going to be able to pay my bills and stay on top of finances. Pay at work is killing me; therefore, I swallowed my pride (once again) went to the nearest Fridays, and submitted my application. Two "training" shifts later, and I was thrown back into the fray. This morning was my first shift back, and though a bit rusty (especially since the menu has DRASTICLY changed since I worked last) I managed to make it through making a good chunck of change. I would have liked to try to hire on to a different restaurant, maybe something a bit more high-class...but I couldn't afford that long time of training. That time would have been REALLY long since I would have only been able to do it on the weekends. Nope, not possible, I need the money NOW. Oh well, at least the crew that I work with is INSANE. Most waiters are crazy, but these guys are over the top. I love it.