Learning to float

It's hard to believe I've been in fulltime Christian camping ministry for 10 years now. That's 25% of my entire life! Scary thought...some of the 6th grade students I may have taught in 1999 are now finishing their undergraduate degrees, some possibly with children of their own! Yikes!

How did I get here? As a senior at Elim Bible Institute, I thought I had it all figured out, and it didn't include camps. Sure, I got hooked on backpacking & rock climbing while a student there, but I had a plan. My friends were envious as we approached the end of our last year together. I had taken quite some time writing down in detail my plan for the 3-5 years following graduation. Yup, had it all worked out...

Until I sat in the "hot seat"...

Each spring, Elim has visiting ministers with proven prophetic ministries come to the school, a kind of "sending out" or commissioning of that year's senior class. As I sat with my back to them, facing my friends & the rest of the student body, I'll never forget the first words out of Stanley Hammond's mouth...

"Plans, plans, plans...this young man is drowning in plans. It's no fun to be drowning. I have a clear word of direction from the Lord for you. SCRAP whatever it is you have written down, and learn to float in the sea of My Spirit."

There went my plans!

Over the next couple of years following graduation, God continued to prepare and guide me, teaching me to "float", knowing that His current would carry me in the direction He intended for me. Bobbing around in that seemingly endless "sea" with no sign of a destination, God would sometimes drop a clue or an encouragement, especially when I started focussing on the waves instead of keeping my eyes on the horizon. On a trip to New York, just before Timber-lee entered the picture, a pastor I had lunch with shared a word God had given him concerning me. "I can't shake it," he said, "but I keep seeing a picture of a slingshot in my mind, and I believe God wants you to know that He's preparing to launch you into the ministry He's called you to. Don't be discouraged, like you're not progressing, or even losing ground, because like a slingshot, it gets pulled back before it fires. Be ready!"

A year later I was at Timber-lee in a fulltime position! Borrowing from the Peace Corps' slogan, it's the toughest job I'll ever love. I have to restrain my laughter when I'm asked what I do for a living & I tell 'em I work at a camp. "What do you do for the rest of the year?" is not an uncommon response. Timber-lee serves around 60,000 people a year on our grounds, and the ropes course program I oversee serves almost 30,000 participants annually. I'm a pastor with a climbing harness on, an adventure minister who gets to see lives impacted through the tools of adventure programming. It's a fulltime, year-round job that is very hard work, but I absolutely love it. Watching a sunset from atop our 40' climbing tower after a full day of classes, or Nordic skiing with school students when the air is calm & those huge snowflakes are falling...you get the picture. It's such a gift to have a career built around a blessing!

Thank you, God.

The pain will never end...

I've been chewing on this for a bit now. As you probably know by following my site, the past 7 months have seen the loss of both of my parents. Particularly hard for me is seeing pictures of mom & dad at the birth of our oldest, Olivia, two years ago. I was so proud to introduce them to her, to see them hold their granddaughter. This past May brought the birth of our second daughter, Hattie, only 2 weeks following my dad's death. Just the thought of them not being there still brings tears to my eyes. There are times that I fear, if I dwell too long on their loss, I may be swallowed by the grief.

I grieve deeply because I loved and was loved deeply...

I will always miss my parents. The void they left will never truly be filled. I'll never get to email mom the latest pictures of the girls for her work computer desktop...I'll never share another breakfast at McDonald's with my dad.

But I will go on...I can go on!

It's only because of Christ, and the love of others in my life.The blessed truth is that I will see my parents again someday, and in the meantime I have a wife & daughters that I love, brothers, a sister, and relatives that are here for me to love & enjoy. The sadness doesn't stand much of a chance when my Olivia jumps on the bed in the morning, a big smile on her face as she gets to "snuggle daddy", or I get that look from my wife that expresses a wellspring of love & support. Hattie pretty much just lies around at this point. I swear she smiles at me sometimes, but the accompanying farting sounds reminds me it's probably just gas.

Life without my parents will never be "ok," but God sees every tear, and promises to supply all my needs. God has blessed me with life & it's my responsibility to honor Him by treating each day I remain on this earth as a gift, and be an instrument of His love to those around me.

Zagg "Invisible Shield"

Looking for the ultimate in protection for your valuable gadgets? I tried one of their screen protectors for one of my GPS units & I'm sold. The installation process is a bit more involved than a simple stick-on sheet, but the extra labor is well worth it.

The invisible shield product uses a kind of activator spray that allows the military-grade film to conform to the surface. Over a 24hr period, any air bubbles are eliminated, resulting in a flawless-looking installation.

Since buying my iPhone the other day, I've ordered a full "skin" that protects the entire unit from scratches. Watching the video of the guy "keying" an iPhone with & without their product sold me.

Severe weather

A few days after the fact, I thought I'd post a little concerning our sever weather we had last week (yes, that's an actual radar image from the storms last friday.)

As usual, the Timber-lee "bubble" prevailed, so not much happened here besides some good thunderstorms, gusty winds, and lots of rain.

A little excitement - I got to hear what turned out to be a weak tornado that passed just north of camp. It's funny how Jen & I stood outside, debating exactly what a freight train sounds like for a few minutes before deciding it might be a good idea to go inside.

And you wonder why the world hates us!

Over the last few days I've read news accounts that, as a follower of Christ, have made me cringe.

Now, it seems like I'm always reading. My wife Jen pokes fun at me. She'll start telling me about something she heard, will stop mid sentence, and say, "of course you've already heard about this." I'm a bit of an information junkie.

The first, involving the recent crash of an Air France flight, is indeed a tragedy. Still under investigation, over 200 people lost their lives as their plane crashed into the Atlantic. Just days later, an older couple who missed being on that fateful flight were involved in a devastating automobile crash, killing the wife & seriously injuring her husband.

As I read about the couple's crash, I scrolled down to the "Comments" portion of the page. I get a kick of how even small news articles can generate hundreds of opinions. Some are obviously thoughtfully written, but it's amazing how, given a soapbox, the "nuts" come out. Instead of recognizing the pain suffered by this man, spared a plane crash only to have his wife taken days later, self-proclaimed "Christians" were trying to explain away the unexplainable, and tact or any sense of compassion was sadly absent.

"This is why I hate you Christians!" replied one of the readers, and his sentiment was not alone.

Example #2 - A former Baptist big wig was recently interviewed in a major news outlet. When asked about the current administration in Washington, he stated (and repeated when asked to clarify) that he was praying for the death of our president. When asked why, he answered that it wasn't wrong to "pray for something that God wants."

You should've read the comments posted below that article! Even worse were the multitude of folks who wrote how this only confirmed why they'd never want to become a Christian. Literally hundreds of lives potentially lost for eternity.

God, through His word, tells us to expect hatred & persecution for the sake of Christ. The American Church has escaped much of this while our brothers & sisters in other countries are persecuted, imprisoned, or killed because of their faith. I read another article (really? :-) that stated that Christians in the United States might see strong persecution for their beliefs within the next 20 years. The author of the article added that Christians are becoming perceived more and more as being ignorant, fanatical, and even dangerous.

4th Century Christian apologist Lactantius wrote, "God commands us to wait patiently for the day of heavenly judgement when He Himself will honor or punish all according to what they deserve...but let us work hard so that people will punish nothing in us but our righteousness. Let us strive with all our might so that we can deserve the avenging of our suffering and a reward at the hands of God."

A new car

Well, we're the proud owners of a 2005 Pontiac Vibe. Jen & I had seen this car at a dealer in Mukwonago for a few weeks now & even stopped to look at it a couple of times. Being a one-vehicle family has been a bit of a stretch, plus the Xterra only got 18mpg on the highway. Not exactly an economy vehicle, especially considering the $3/gal I paid tonight for gas!

The original price was reasonable, but it was marked at a sale price a couple weeks ago. We were prepared to ask for the reduced sale price, when the salesman pulled out a new sale tag from between the seats, due to be posted the following day, for $4000 below the original price. With our substantial cash down payment, the amount we had to finance was pretty reasonable & we drove away this morning with our new car...seating for all of us, and 35mpg to boot!

More Mac thoughts...

I'm not going to write a long, massive essay on why I like my new Mac, but I did find myself realizing exactly why I like it...

You'll have to bear with me here. It's kinda like enjoying vanilla ice cream all your life, then suddenly being introduced to Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby...where have you been?!

I've worked with Windows computers for as long as they've existed. Shoot, our first family business computer was an old MS DOS machine, didn't even have a hard drive, and that was high tech back then.

All along, I've enjoyed what I could do with a computer. It was a tool that allowed me to express myself through writing, web & graphic design, digital photography, etc. New computers simply meant more storage space, more memory, faster processors, etc.

Working on a Mac allows me to not only enjoy the end product, but the "journey" to get there as well. It's almost a pleasure to work with. I can focus on my creativity, versus the occasional hung up program, long load times, etc.

Like Apple's advertising says, "it just works."

Ok, that's my last Mac post...maybe?