place of nathan.

Eating healthy is hard work, and expensive, too.

Have you ever noticed that? Fresh fruits and vegetables are much more expensive than their canned varieties. Good-for-you granola and trail mix are way more expensive than Frosted Flakes and cookies.

But the fact is that fresh fruits and veggies are so much better for us, and granola and trail mix are better for us as well…

Have you ever noticed that the things worth attaining are sometimes hard to get? Eating and being healthy is certainly a good thing for us all, but getting there is the hard part. It requires money, patience and time (in the form of research, exercise, etc.)

Isn’t that just like our spiritual walk toward God? We want to get there, but it requires some hard work before we arrive. Have you ever notice that? What have you done today to prepare for a healthy spiritual life? Can you improve?

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I have finally had a breakthrough on my weight.
After two months of working out, running regularly, this week I am finally losing weight.
I have been right around where I started plus or minus a pound here or there, sometimes two, but always regularly fluctuating.
But this week, I have seen a steady decline. I started off at -1, then was -2, then the next day, i was -2…i have never been -2 for two days in a row before, so i was happy.
Then the next day, i was -3, almost -4.
Now this morning, i am -5

Sweet! I am only a few pounds from being where I was when i got married over two years ago. Sweet! I never really thought I would ever be able to attain that weight again, but here I come!

I am running 4-5 times a week right now. 3-5 miles, usually. it’s been very hot and humid this week, so i’ve tried to stay closer to the 3 mile mark all this week.

Have you ever had a breakthrough after two months?
How about longer? Sometimes it takes even longer than two months for a breakthrough to occur.

But if we give up before we make the breakthrough, where does that leave us?

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The next step in my bid for Waterloo Town Council is a Republican Caucus. At this caucus, all registered Republican voters within the corporation of Waterloo will choose three of the four candidates to appear on the fall ballot.
If you are a resident of the town of Waterloo, I would appreciate your attendance at this caucus, and also appreciate your vote to appear on the ballot this November. I also would love to hear your feedback as well! Let me know what you would like me to address while on the council. How can I make the town a better place to live? I want to hear your thoughts for sure!

The Republican Caucus will be held on Thursday, August 16, 6:30 p.m. (will be 30-45 minutes) at the Waterloo Depot, across from Thomson Park.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the caucus, or you have any thoughts you want to share with me. I always want to hear your thoughts!

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Earlier this week, I noted a seeker church was teaching doctrine on hell. This is contrary to the belief the vast majority of non-seeker-church-attending Christians hold very tightly to.

Most (I think that is not an understatement–do you?) non-seeker-church-attending Christians believe seeker churches teach a watered down gospel, not teaching doctrinal truth. Unfortunately, these non-seeker-church-attending Christians are driving a wedge, and have become so close-minded they refuse to believe anything good can come out of a seeker church.

Today Perry himself addresses Hell, and how he will talk about it this weekend. Not exactly your seeker-typical message. Interesting brief read.

Question for Thought: Have you become close-minded to seeker churches?
Question Two for Thought: Have you become close-minded to traditional churches?

I suggest both are equally horrifying. Both serve a purpose, and both can effectively reach people, and likewise, both can become wacko and off-balance.
But what do we do with the off-balance? apply it to all, or look past it to the truth?

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Tonight I am meeting with Janet, one of my mentors in my run for Waterloo Town Council.

Tonight I expect to learn what’s going on, and what the next step is, and what the heck I’m getting myself into. I really don’t know much at this point!

What I can tell you is that at this point, I have filed to be a candidate to a Town Convention. At this town convention, the attendees (which, by the way, i will be inviting all residents to attend and vote for me!) will elect three people of all filed candidates to appear on the ballot this November. From what Janet has told me, people are excited about my run for Town Council, because they know I’ll be looking out for the best interests of the town.

And you bet I will–being someone who can’t stand the politics of politics, I have no problem standing up to politics. I’m running for the people of Waterloo as a whole–not some guy who wants to benefit from my vote. I am not interested in personal gain, and I’m not interested in the least about helping someone else personally gain. What I’m interested in is helping the people of Waterloo as a whole. (Utility rates, anyone?)

If you haven’t been to downtown Waterloo lately, you might want to drive through–better yet, I encourage you to park your car, and take a walk. Not only is walking good for you, but you can better enjoy the beautification efforts on Wayne Street, and also the current intersection expansion project at Wayne and Union (427 and US 6).

I am looking forward to this opportunity to serve the Town of Waterloo. I plan on driving people to this website with information on the town, town projects, etc. Through this means, I hope to be a Christian witness to them, for sure. This is a stepping stone for me, and I’m excited for this opportunity. Waterloo, here I come!

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Yesterday, I finally solved a networking issue I’ve been dealing on and off with for about three weeks.

All the online support forums said it could not be done.

And then, I found a work around, and did it. I shared my solution with the community forums, and there was a security flaw in there (which i hadn’t considered), so i then worked through that, and now i’m done.

The result is dual layered Wi-Fi. We have enabled Guest Services on our firewall, which allows guests to free, unlimited access to the Internet, 24/7. You can sit in your car in the parking lot and use the Internet. If you want to sit in the lobby, you’re welcome to do that as well. Guest Services is a secure web surfing, meaning there is no permitted access to the internal network.
The second layer of Wi-Fi is secured Wi-Fi, which means authenticated users can not only browse the Internet, but also access the internal network, which allows for child check-in stations, printing on printers, etc. from a wireless computer or station.

I have this up and running, I have ran a demo of the check-in station, and everything is working as it should. Quite happy with my solution, and am happy I have put this three-week project behind me!

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You heard it here first: Nathan Diehl (that’s me!) is running for the Republican Nomination for Town Council of Waterloo (Indiana, IN).

I have always enjoyed politics, and I love my quaint little town of Waterloo. I think I have a lot of offer the town, and look forward to learning more about this opportunity ahead of me. I have some good, experienced people willing to mentor me, and I appreciate that, very much. I’m not sure all that is ahead of me on this political journey, but I’m following faithfully…

Here’s to politics!

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Today my favorite blogger Perry Noble had a great post on being a coward on the Internet, basically. It’s a good read.

Applying his post to my blog, I wanted to go public and state, for the record, that I’m not hiding, and if you don’t agree with something I blog about, please ask me about it. If you’re in Northeast Indiana, we could sit down and talk over a nice cup of java.

If you have questions about New Hope, why we’re doing something, please don’t spread rumors. Sit down with someone who actually knows the truth and talk about it. So many rumors…
Even rumors which we thought we ended come back (even some crazy, stupid ones!)

Bottom line–If you’re a rumor spreader, please, please, E-mail me and I’d love to sit down with you and talk about your concerns. Honestly–I would love it! So much better to be honest than to ignore, cover up, or spread the unconfirmed rumors!

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