Sunday in the Springs

Sundays are a bit different for Realtors than they are for some people, but I thought I'd share a bit about my Sunday, just for grins.

It started out sunny, crystal clear, cool, and a little breezy. I set some showings before church, and then attended the early service at New Life, where I got to see my daughter-in-law and granddaughter, in addition to the service. My first showing was in the Monument area, where I was to meet the client, but I discovered due to re-paving, I25 was a mess, so I took the back way, Highway 83. There was a herd of antelope grazing near the road along one stretch, and then I ran into (not literally) a bicycle tour of hundred of bikes (a new twist on the Sunday driver thing!). Anyway, I eventually got there, where I took this photo of Lake Woodmoor at the complex where we were looking, while I was waiting for the clients. It was a very nice town home with good square footage for under $300k, though not quite for them. This is about as close to being waterfront as we have in Springs!

We then drove to the west side to see some more property, near Garden of the Gods, but nothing really worked for them, so we scheduled another round for tomorrow morning. I dashed home and had a quick bite of lunch, and then we were off to a going away party for a friend of ours (and client) who was leaving Holly's school (The Classical Academy), and then to graduation party for one of her first crop of kindergartners from the school. It was kind of ironic that we had gotten to know both families virtually on the same day, the year the school opened 12 years ago. By the time we left the first party it was starting to rain (yes, that is typical, sunshine early, followed by afternoon thunderstorms), and was a lot cooler, so we were glad the 2nd event was an indoor affair.

While it wasn't earthshaking, it was a pretty busy day, and we got to renew some old friendships. Can you think of a better way to spend a Sunday?

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Snowy Happy Easter in Colorado Springs

Not a great day for an outdoor Easter Egg hunt in Colorado Springs today. I don't know the exact statistic on this one, but the odds of snow on Easter in Colorado Springs are much better than Christmas (March and April are our snowiest months), and the weather certainly lived up to it's reputation today! We went to the 8am service at New Life, and it was well attended, though not packed (the later services are more crowded historically, sometimes standing room only). I took today's photo after we got back though, as it had snowed the whole time we were in service. The streets were pretty good overall, one thing about spring snow storms is that the snow tends to be pretty wet and slushy on the roads as opposed to any kind of icy mess. It usually isn't cold enough to become a bigger problem, though sometimes a lot of wet heavy snow can break tree branches.

This year all of our kids seemed tied up with things so we are not hosting an annual Easter feast at our house. In 27 years of marriage I don't think we've ever gone out for an Easter meal, so I think we'll try it this year and see how it goes!

Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

Easter In Colorado Springs Is A Big Deal

Today is Good Friday, the day that Christians all over the world remember the crucifixion of Christ, followed of course by Easter, the day that celebrates the Resurrection. In Colorado Springs, there have always been plenty of Easter traditions. One of the more 'famous' was the annual Easter Sunrise service at Garden of the Gods (this sunrise shot was taken last summer). It was thought to the longest running Easter sunrise service, but became somewhat a victim of it's own success when thousands would overrun the park on Easter morning. At one point they had shuttle buses taking people from satellite parking areas and everything. Our unpredictable spring weather was often not even a deterrent, people would still come out, even if it snowed. There are a few that still gather informally at the park, but nowadays the churches all pretty much do their own things. With as many 'mega churches' as we have, there is no location in the city (other than perhaps Memorial Park) that could come close to holding everyone at once.
New Life Church, where we attend, has had an Easter production call The Thorn that they've done for years. It is somewhat of an 'R' rated passion play (they have a children's production that is a lot less graphic), and quite an experience. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 people attend this (spread over many performances), we are going to this year's production tomorrow. Satellite Map View of New Life
Got questions about living in Colorado Springs? Call me at 719-590-4768 or 888-568-6784!

New Life Church - When Can We NOT Be In The News?

This week's new revelations about former pastor Ted Haggard from New Life Church saddened me from a couple of perspectives. Besides the obvious sorrow over a fallen leader, selfishly, as a New Life member for the last 10 years or so, I would like our church to be OUT of the news. First it was Ted's grandstanding antics as pastor, and then it was his "indiscretions", then it was the shootings, now it's more revelations of Ted's bad behavior. Personally, I am so ready for people to be able to come to church and just worship learn more about God, and not be dealing with this junk. Brady Boyd has done a stellar job so far, and his sermon on forgiveness this week was spot on (you can hear it at www.newlifechurch.org). I am sure this season will pass completely some day.
The weather took a nasty turn to cold this weekend. It was in the teens all day yesterday, and last night's snow was not in the forecast at all. It is a sunny, sparkly day today, and maybe I'll get some photos to share of how pretty Pikes Peak is with a new mantle of white!

We just returned from the funeral of the Rachel and Stephanie Works, who were killed in the shootings at New Life Church on December 9. It was an amazing experience to hear of the impact 2 young girls had already had in their short lives. One of the girls had especially asked for us to remember Phillipians 4:6-7, which was read at the service and I will repeat here:

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

About 4,000 people or so were there to support the family. The Works Family Fund at New Life (www.newlifechurch.org) has been set up for financial support for the family (David Works was also wounded, and was only released from the hospital yesterday). Many thanks for the outpouring of support for all of us here during these trying times. I have received a number of calls and emails personally, in addition to churches and individuals that have been praying for us and otherwise offering their support.

Last night was the our "family meeting" at New Life Church, in the wake of the shootings on December 9. I have to say, I was proud of our church family. Despite the shock and grief that goes with such tragedy, the room was filled with people, hope, and courage. Pastor Brady Boyd summed it all up with his statement that "we will not be governed by fear", and his reading of Psalm 27:1-6 was so appropriate, I am including it here:

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh, [fn1]
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

We deliberately chose the east entrance of the church, where the shootings took place, to enter the church. This was in part because that is my most frequent area to park anyway, but last night it was also to confront the situation. The staff had done a marvelous job of repairs, and other than some new glass that still was taped off, you'd never know it had happened.

Todays photo is of a new listing that I took in Briargate this week. It is a great house with over 4,000 sf, central air, stucco, a view, and only $340,000, and while normally I don't post every house I list on this space (should I?), I thought some of you might be interested in this one. Click Here for Details on this house We also have a Visual Tour for this one that shows off the interior pretty well: Click Here for the Visual Tour See the remnants of our snow from the weekend? It's already melted off quite a it, but it makes for a nice Christmas feel to things!

The financial markets always surprise me. Because almost all major news is "discounted" in the markets before it happens (translation: bets are placed), when actual news happens like todays rate cut, the market seems to "flip out" if it doesn't match their bets (translation: lot of people were betting the Fed would cut rates by 1/2 % instead of the actual 1/4% they chose). No matter how you slice it, lower rates are good for real estate, so I'm happy. Well, almost. Mortgage rates actually jumped since last week back into the low 6's, apparently because some folks felt it would be better to own stocks than bonds when rates might be falling. Argh.
I'm not going to devote a lot of space to the morbid details of the tragedy we just experienced at New Life Church, but I have to say I was SOO proud of Jeanne Assam the security guard, and her brave action. Larry Bourbonnais also acted fearlessly, and between them saved a lot of lives. I know it sounds weird to have armed guards at church, but in the this day and age, it is the prudent thing to do, and virtually all large public gatherings have them. I for one, am reassured that our church leaders had that foresight. Tomorrow night we have a congregational gathering, and hopefully this will be a time for mourning and healing as well.

December 9 will live as a new day in infamy. Yesterday a lone gunman attacked out church after the 2nd morning service had let out. Although one of our security guards shot and killed him, it was only after he had killed one and wounded several people. One them died last night, the others are expected to make a full recovery.

Our son Daniel was in the building when this all happened, and we are very grateful to the staff that rushed through the buildings to evacuate everyone. He seems to be handling it all very well, and has made contact with his many close friends who were also on site at the time.

Little is known about the person who did this or why. I'm sure that as the facts unfold, we'll all have a better understanding of the situation. I am convinced that even this will not weaken our resolve as a church, as a community, and as a family, to live our lives without fear, to continue to be faithful in service to God and our fellow man, and not let tragedy define us.

We were not at the 2nd service because we had attended the early service. I had the opportunity to be working with some out of town clients on Saturday and again on Sunday. Todays photo was taken of one of the houses we viewed on Sunday in Black Forest. While I did not get a Pikes Peak shot yesterday, it was such a spectacularly beautiful day in the forest that I had to at least get a picture of the house and trees in the fresh snow.

The weather was kind of typical winter storm, with a little freezing drizzle and fog at the beginning to make it interesting. Many of our snow storms end as this one did, with incredible blue skies and a fairy land of light snow on the trees afterward. More snow is expected tonight and tomorrow, and the ski resorts are finally really getting their due.

Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of the fall of Ted Haggard from New Life Church. I had kind of forgotten the timing of the whole thing, but it was front page on the paper when we got up. The service was really very upbeat, and the place was packed, which is a testament to the fact that God can bring good things out of bad. Brady Boyd, the new senior pastor, did a great job, and I think there is generally a very hopeful, expectant mood throughout the congregation.

The weather was fantastic. Mid 70's and sunny is always nice in November, although I would like to see some snow fall in the mountains so we can get some skiing going. There are resorts open, but I am not big on wrecking my skis on the rocks in the early season. I like to see closer to a 30 inch base before I make the drive (life is too short to ski on bad snow!).

With the time change, we slept in a little and went to late service, so I got to miss the debacle in Detroit that the Broncos had. Ironically, every team in the AFC West lost, so we are still only 1 game back in our division, but playing like they did yesterday, I don't see playoffs this year unless something major changes!

Today's Pike's Peak photo is from last winter, and is taken from near Penrose Main Hospital to show the views around one of my listings that is downtown in the Old North End.

We just returned from our annual "pre back to school" retreat in Breckenridge. It was a great break from the heat, highs in the 70's up there while it was almost 90 here in Colorado Springs. The 2 hour drive is really so worth it, it is such a great getaway. We usually book our lodging with Ski Country (http://www.skicountry.com/), they usually have a pretty good selection of rooms.

We took advantage of the Breckenridge Music Festival held every summer at the Riverwalk Center in Breck, and really enjoyed the symphony concert. We also had a surprisingly good meal at the The Dredge Restaurant, don't know why we had never tried it before. We always enjoy riding the chair lifts up and hiking down, and did that at both Copper Mountain and Breck. We were a little disappointed to see that Copper had done away with their free chair lift rides, it was $10 for the day, although my season pass from this past season got one of them free. Breck is $5 per ride. We skipped some of our usual favorites, like canoeing at Frisco Marina on Lake Dillon, doing the bike path from Breck to Frisco and over to Dillon, etc, but we still had a great time.

We missed the first sermon by our new pastor, Brady Boyd at New Life by being gone, but heard it went well, and we'll get more chances over the next couple of weeks. They have been good enough to post a special page for him to help people get aquainted, Click here to see New Life's Page on Brady Boyd, as well as hear some of his sermons.

The rain and hail yesterday was a wonderful cool down, I have to admit I am looking forward to more fallish weather soon!

This week's service at New Life was something I had share about. Wes Stafford from Compassion International spoke. Compassion is a long time Colorado Springs institution, and we have driven by their offices in the Northgate area for years while the kids were at The Classical Academy and Holly was teaching there. Colorado Springs is somewhat famous for the many ministries that are headquartered here, and Compassion is one of the largest and most established of those. Wes was very effective in communicating through scripture how much Jesus cared about the children, and how important it is that we do the same. His passion for the impoverished children of the world was contagious.
It was humbling to realize how we as a family have missed out on this important ministry opportunity, and we decided that we are going to sponsor a child right away. I think many others made the same decision. We also picked up a copy of his book Too Small to Ignore. The invitation to take advantage of a tour of their facility (they have daily tours at 10 and 2) sounded great as well.
On the way home, we saw a small herd of antelope grazing across the road from Pikes Peak Community College. It was comforting to see them, it had been a while since I had spotted them so close to the church.