7.4mi Bike 700 yrds Swim

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7.4mi Bike in 38min

0.4mi Swim in 12 minuts

Triathlon Training- Running

View Larger Map 2.5miles 30min easy

Flash AS3 Tip

http://summitprojectsflashblog.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/as3-class-export-frame-behavior/

Adobe Flash tip of the day if you want to minimize the size of your preloader on frame 1, then see the link above.

1. Under publish settings, Flash, Action Script Settings, select Export Classes in Frame "2"
2. Put whatever Action script you need for the first frame in the first frame.  The rest (including AS in movie clips will load on frame 2)

New Recording - Grace

Last night, a friend of mine, Erin McGough, joined me in my "home studio" to record some songs. Of everyone with whom I've sung, her voice is my favorite. She's been student teaching this semester, so finding time to record together has been difficult, but patience pays off. Last night Amanda made a wonderful dinner (as always), Erin joined us, and afterward we recorded the vocals to this song.

It has been several years since I wrote Grace. The chorus spontaneously came to me in a time of worship at a small bible study, I immediately began penning the rest. It has mostly remained the same despite my several attempts to rewrite the verse.

The song is about recognizing our own frailty and great need for God's help. It's tempting to try to use the strength of our wills to be better people, but in my experience this only leads to disappointment and failure. The great beauty of the Gospel is that it frees us from the shackles of always trying to measure up. God loves and accepts us as we are, and through his grace and the strength of his love he takes the "broken vessels" of our lives and makes us into something beautiful.

My prayer for you is that as you listen to this song, that you would, humbly go to God and receive all the good things he has for you.

I may continue to fiddle with the recording, so consider this a "leaked" version. I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments!

Grace (Featuring Erin McGough) - Ben Brenner
(Download - mp3|5.8MB)

Grace by Ben Brenner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Not Going Yet...

As Amanda posted on our shared blog (www.benandamanda.com) we got caught in the medical screening and will not be able to go to central Asia in September. So we will be in Mobile for a little longer. We are still planning to visit my sisters and friends accross the country. Once we get medically cleared, then Peace Corps will offer us another invitation to another country and program. We could leave as soon as this winter or more likely sometime in May or June 2009. Please feel free to subscribe to www.benandamanda.com or sign up to our E-mail updates on the site.

Fourth of July - FOI style

We took a bunch of students to see fireworks down at the Battleship on Friday. We all had a lot of fun, though the ants were biting... Thanks to Jim for the photos (I forgot my camera).