After the bike ride – Installment Six
It was very exciting to watch the 250 cyclists cross the finish line to say the least and be part of the closing ceremonies. Terri and I went to our hotel room after the conclusion of the ceremony and a tour of the campus and changed for the evening event. We drove to Denver to the Pepsi Center, a huge concert hall for the evening program.
Because we had volunteered, we received free passes for the event. If I recall, Terri and I had "nose-bleed seats" way up at the top. The title of the service and concert was "Looking Back With Thanksgiving, Looking Forward With Hope." The emcee for the evening was Dennis Swanberg, a Texas born minister who uses comedy to help preach the gospel. The evening's event began with a short routine by Dennis who introduced Dr. & Mrs. Dobson who spoke by recorded message on a huge screen with a very moving message. The keynote speaker for the evening was Chuck Colson, a former Nixon aide who spend time in prison for his participation in the Watergate scandal during President Nixon's term. During his prison term, he became a born-again Christian and founded a Christian ministry called Prison Fellowship Ministries, which has become the world's largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners, crime victims, and their families. Colson has visited prisons throughout the US and the world and has built a movement working with more than 40,000 prison ministry volunteers, with ministries in 100 countries. Colson became highly critical of the prison system and in 1983 he established Justice Fellowship, a faith-based criminal justice reform group.
After the speaker, we were then entertained until 11 pm by two wonderful entertainers, Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman with special music by Wintley Phipps and the Colorado Spring Symphony. The entire evening was moving as well as entertaining. By the time we got through the crowd and drove back to Colorado Springs it was well past 1 am. It was not hard to get to sleep after such a long and exciting day and we were going to go to Focus chapel in the morning for Sunday services.
(Today I am fixing dinner for my youngest daughter Laurel's 31st birthday which was Wednesday. We'll drive to her home, an hour and a half away and celebrate with her. I will get my "Grandma fix" with little Samuel, now almost five weeks old. I shouldn't say little because he is huge. Laurel asked last night what the dinner menu would be but I told her it was a surprise. I'll share with you all though:
Teriaki Marinated beef strips (1/8" thin) on bamboo skewers and barbecued
Asparagus Roll-ups
Homemade Applesauce
Twice Baked Potatoes with cheese and bacon
and for dessert
Strawberry Cake (Laurel's most requested birthday cake for her entire life)
It is now 7:00 am, Friday and I have to get started on dinner since we will be leaving for Laurel's home by 1:30 this afternoon. Have a great weekend everyone. Monday I'll resume the story.
It was very exciting to watch the 250 cyclists cross the finish line to say the least and be part of the closing ceremonies. Terri and I went to our hotel room after the conclusion of the ceremony and a tour of the campus and changed for the evening event. We drove to Denver to the Pepsi Center, a huge concert hall for the evening program.
Because we had volunteered, we received free passes for the event. If I recall, Terri and I had "nose-bleed seats" way up at the top. The title of the service and concert was "Looking Back With Thanksgiving, Looking Forward With Hope." The emcee for the evening was Dennis Swanberg, a Texas born minister who uses comedy to help preach the gospel. The evening's event began with a short routine by Dennis who introduced Dr. & Mrs. Dobson who spoke by recorded message on a huge screen with a very moving message. The keynote speaker for the evening was Chuck Colson, a former Nixon aide who spend time in prison for his participation in the Watergate scandal during President Nixon's term. During his prison term, he became a born-again Christian and founded a Christian ministry called Prison Fellowship Ministries, which has become the world's largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners, crime victims, and their families. Colson has visited prisons throughout the US and the world and has built a movement working with more than 40,000 prison ministry volunteers, with ministries in 100 countries. Colson became highly critical of the prison system and in 1983 he established Justice Fellowship, a faith-based criminal justice reform group.
After the speaker, we were then entertained until 11 pm by two wonderful entertainers, Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman with special music by Wintley Phipps and the Colorado Spring Symphony. The entire evening was moving as well as entertaining. By the time we got through the crowd and drove back to Colorado Springs it was well past 1 am. It was not hard to get to sleep after such a long and exciting day and we were going to go to Focus chapel in the morning for Sunday services.
(Today I am fixing dinner for my youngest daughter Laurel's 31st birthday which was Wednesday. We'll drive to her home, an hour and a half away and celebrate with her. I will get my "Grandma fix" with little Samuel, now almost five weeks old. I shouldn't say little because he is huge. Laurel asked last night what the dinner menu would be but I told her it was a surprise. I'll share with you all though:
Teriaki Marinated beef strips (1/8" thin) on bamboo skewers and barbecued
Asparagus Roll-ups
Homemade Applesauce
Twice Baked Potatoes with cheese and bacon
and for dessert
Strawberry Cake (Laurel's most requested birthday cake for her entire life)
It is now 7:00 am, Friday and I have to get started on dinner since we will be leaving for Laurel's home by 1:30 this afternoon. Have a great weekend everyone. Monday I'll resume the story.
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