Hello!
I am so blessed with so many things: things are going well for work--I have a great mentor who is walking me through the process of learning management skills, and if all goes well I may become a candidate to run a park store all by myself next summer if I don't become a park ranger by then. For now though, I've been doing some extra reading and study on the side to help improve my skills.
Beyond this, with school finished, I've been taking a lot of time doing some online courses continuing to improve my education towards becoming an interpretive park ranger. This has been a lot of learning, but it has helped me greatly in learning how to connect with people and understand how to make presentations in ways that are inspiring, relevant, and connective. This has also taught me a lot towards how I can better minister to others as many of the principles in interpretive speaking carry over to how I can help people make spiritual connections within a physical world too. That said, this has taken up a lot of time.
In the midst of this, there is also daily leisure readings--starting to crack open all those books that have been sitting on the shelf for all these years of school. It's so great to finally get to delve into these books and absorb their words. Then there's the community I am now a part of--as I approach my first month here in Yellowstone, I am getting acquainted with the crew here at the Upper Old Faithful General Store. This is such a great group of people. I am getting to swap a lot of stories and laughs with everyone. More people are arriving soon which will help us, as we've been short-staffed since the start of the season. It's a lot of work trying to help all of our customers during this stage of the season. Getting more employees will be helpful, and it will mean more people to spend time with.
On top of this, there's also exploring the park and practicing my photography!
In the midst of all this, I keep wondering to myself: how am I going to make sure there's enough time for my weekly blog postings? It's normal for writers to discipline themselves to daily periods of writing and writing development. There are regular deadlines to meet. This is normal, but I fear that right now as I am leaving school behind, there are a few other priorities that I have been focusing on towards developing a practical career in the midst of pursuing my ultimate goal of writing.
When I started my blog for the season, I recognized that this blog will also be transitioning as I attempt to develop it into something much more than simply a weekly report on my travel activity, with hopefully a spiritual application for the week. I am realizing that I am in a stage of personal development in which those lessons I am learning are not fully developed to present as a completed post. I am wanting to write, revise, learn, and add perspective in order to present those stories and messages that really resonate with others. Such attempts require time and patience.
So for now, I have come to the decision that I'm going to back away from my weekly reports on this blog, posting every second week instead, allowing time for me to practice writing a lot more and much more revision than I currently allow. I still intend to continue this blog, but during this transition, I ask for your flexibility so that I can develop this blog into its next stage. Through prayer and submitting this to God, I hope that this move will help this blog to advance and become a richer blessing to my readers.
Thank you for your listening ear and your support. I look forward to many more posts ahead.
Pump Geyser
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Inner Art of Photography
Hello!
As glamorous as photography seems to be, and as simple as it seems to point-and-shoot, photography is far more an inward art than a digital product. Photography rides on being open and prepared for the “perfect moment”. The more I learn about photography, the more difficult it seems to find such moments. I used to be happy taking photos in the middle of the day, until I came to learn that low light really seems to accentuate the picture with depth and contrast; now getting up early or staying up late for photographs is normal. I used to be happy photographing a scene during a cloudless sunset, until I discovered that clouds can give a picture prominence. Additional lessons I’ve faced include framing and angle, colors, focus, lighting, speed, and much more. It seems that what used to be a simple camera click has transformed into a smorgasbord of components, settings, and opportunities that must be somehow aligned in order to actually capture that “perfect picture”.
Setup for Old Faithful Geyser (If the geyser would only erupt!)
This lesson has been really standing out to me this week. For two days in a row I have been set up for the perfect picture: I arrived early to take a few test photos to ensure I wouldn’t miss the perfect moment. The first night, I had hiked to Observation Point for a birds-eye view of Old Faithful at sunset. The second night, I spent my evening poised near Riverside Geyser for another perfect photo at sunset. Only one problem: both geysers erupted ten minutes after sunset!
Old Faithful Geyser from Observation Point, ten minutes after sunset
No matter how much I wished things happen the way I plan, nor how much preparation I do to capture the perfect photo, there is so much of photography that is beyond my control. No matter how much I learn about it or spend time scoping out locations, control will always be beyond my grasp.
Setup for Riverside Geyser (If the geyser would only erupt!)
During my days off, I visited Grand Teton National Park just south of Yellowstone. My plan was to capture some scenes before the snow receded up the mountains. In the midst of my explorations though, my photography waned as several thunderstorms rolled through, obstructing the mountains and blighting my idea of capturing great moments. For several hours I sat in my car reading my book while a heavy rain enveloped the car, enjoying the delightful pitter-patter upon the windshield. As my hopes of capturing the perfect moment waned, I decided to instead spend my time in prayer and silence—thanking God for the opportunity to enjoy such beauty even though it would not be captured by the camera.
Riverside Geyser, ten minutes after sunset
As the afternoon sun set over the mountains, I was positioned directly across from these jagged peaks enjoying my time. To the north, clear skies were turning into beautiful accents of low light, and to the south thunderhead clouds were beginning to turn pink. Either direction held beautiful light, but where I sat, a large, dark cloud obstructed the view. Chasing the sun in another direction would take too long. Instead, I sat watching the scene in gratitude despite my disappointment.
As the sun dropped behind the mountains, the clouds were illuminated by its light, transforming a mundane scene into a majestic panorama! I was breathless witnessing this beauty as luminous clouds wrapped around the peaks of the Tetons and then unfurl in glorious color.
Grand Teton Sunset
The next morning I awoke at 4:00 AM after a short night filled with a thunderstorm. With such a storm passing through, it was likely that these clouds would block the sunrise. Nevertheless, I started to drive, hoping to find a good spot to capture the sunrise…if there was a sunrise at all. I sat on the shore of Jackson Lake, and to my astonishment, the passing storm muted the sunrise, but in its place, I watched the most beautiful sunrise unfold before me. I was caught up in wonder and praise. Like my high school choir used to sing, “How can I keep from singing?”
Grand Teton Sunrise over Jackson Lake
No matter how much equipment a photographer has, no matter what sort of techniques the s/he has mastered, and no matter how well Photoshop can edit unwanted flaws, a photographer remains at the mercy of her/his surroundings. Devotion to the art keeps driving the photographer out of bed to set up for another sunrise, but it is the ability to release control over the scene that makes photography a spiritual experience to me. It is my privilege to show up and witness God as He takes a scene and makes something beautiful of it.
Monday, May 19, 2014
The Power of Resurrection
Hello!
One of the greatest delights of time is being able to watch something progress. Even when something might not be noticeable on a daily basis, over a span of time, those minute adjustments that occur daily and hourly compound into significant changes. This was my experience this past week.
Bison at Gibbon River
I can remember the first time I ever walked through Mammoth Hot Springs. It was three summers ago, and I nearly wept. After reading numerous books that depicted this hill of collective hot springs in terraces of orange, yellow, and white, I discovered the majority of these springs to have dried up, leaving its grey terraces to be trampled by herds of elk and bison. Finding the hillside grey and scarred was jarring; all that remained were a few hot springs that showed signs of receding water. This was confirmed the following year when I returned to Mammoth; of all the remaining hot springs, many of them were in recession with ash-white terraces like sepulchers. It seemed as though after centuries of prominence and fame, I was witnessing Mammoth’s demise.
Palette Spring
(The ash white are dried terraces)
My first visit to Mammoth this year was met with delight. Several springs that were in recession were slowly improving. This was a great encouragement to me, as I was not prepared to watch mammoth die completely. As I walked the hill of former hot springs, little had changed: broken terraces were strewn across the hill, beaten down by migrating herds. As I had followed the progress of this hill for four years now, the signs of decay were no longer shocking.
Mound Spring (Former Mound Spring behind)
Despite all the discouragement, there was a small glimmer of hope. Three years ago there was a new hot spring called Mound Spring. Geologists explained that the former Mound Spring, which had dried up, had created a new channel in a low niche off of the former giant. I reckoned the new Mound Spring with a slight degree of disdain, as this was evidence that the former hot spring would never be able to regain its former glory. It was a leech that drained the life supply of its predecessor. While the former mound had developed a system of terraces and channels, the new hot spring held little definition beyond the thermal bacteria growing in its stream. The following year, the spring was developing some basic terraces, but it remained primarily a stream of thermal water.
New Mound Spring Terrace
As I ventured further up the terraces to where Mound Spring is located, I rounded a corner to discover that over the past three years, the new Mound Spring has matured into a glowing series of cascading terraces and pools, colored in yellows, reds, oranges, whites, and even some green—not from algae, but from thermal bacteria! Though surrounded by decay, here was a spring that overcame its surrounding death and was thriving. It was such a majestic sight that I spent nearly half an hour staring at it, projecting how the entire hill might look like what this small spring reflected.
Angel Terrace
It is amazing how something small and progressively slow affects me. Three summers ago, I was crushed at the widespread death that had swallowed up Mammoth Hot Springs. The following year, I reported that the springs had receded even further, following the processes of nature. In a situation where the facts of life indicated that the glory days of the hot springs were lingering, I determined that I would cherish the little that remained, but inwardly I would still yearn to have seen it in its fullness. The only power that is more incredible than life is resurrection—reversing the natural progression of decay, brokenness, and death to bring life, healing and renewal to places where hope was lost. I have experienced this personally through the gift of Jesus Christ, and have witnessed it in multitudes of friends and family—ways I have come to regularly expect—but to see this happen within the realms of God’s natural world, where I do not expect this—only heightens my hope in God’s ability to restore all things and make all things new again.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Bright New Horizons
Hello!
Final exams are complete. The last paper submitted. The graduation stage crossed.
It seems so unusual to finally be finished with my college work. The past seven years of my life, like a chapter in a book, are finished and I am pressing on into what this story holds. I am stepping out into something both old and yet new. As this is my seventh summer employed in the national parks, I am stepping into an arena that has become very familiar to me. This year I am employed at Yellowstone National Park working at the Old Faithful General Store. I have worked here for two summers before (2011 and 2012). Returning, I have reunited with some good friends from years past, and am reacquainting myself with the cyclic rhythms of Old Faithful’s eruptions, each one sending a new wave of tourists and shoppers to our store.
Old Faithful
I have arrived earlier than previous years, and I am delightfully surrounded by snow. Nearly each day has held a new snowstorm that has blanketed the ground and melting quickly afterwards. Each day the snow recedes, urging me to capture these pristine moments before they thaw and the landscape transforms into summer. Despite the snowfall and wetness, my lips are still dried and cracked from the low humidity of this place. I already miss the greenness of the Willamette Valley, yet with only a short walk from my dormitory, the wilderness greets me with the excitement and attraction of its nearby geysers. Hardly a day has passed that has not been spent exploring these gems—each one a familiar sight to me, yet always astounding and humbling. I am overwhelmed by the intricacy of God’s creation as even the smallest detail lures me into prayer and contemplating the mystery of the One who would create such a place.
Firehole River
In the midst of the old and familiar, this summer marks many new milestones and new opportunities. For starters, I am employed as an assistant manager—basically a manager-in-training. Upon the successful completion of this summer, this can open up new management opportunities in successive years in the national parks. I am entering a new level within the national park concessionaires. There is a lot to learn in the process though. I am already doing a lot of homework reading through the manager’s binder and being trained in all departments. There is much to learn, and this has been exciting and challenging for me. In addition to this, this is my first summer not volunteering to minister with A Christian Ministry in the National Parks (ACMNP). The purpose was twofold: as I now must follow jobs according to their availability, I have to remain flexible towards my ministry commitments. Furthermore, I am now pursuing a career with the National Park Service (NPS) with the hopes of becoming a park ranger. As I have volunteered for ACMNP over the past six years, I haven’t been able to pursue a park ranger position yet, and need to build my qualifications. So this summer I am trying to become a volunteer ranger and develop my qualifications.
Crested Pool
Finally, this summer marks a new page towards my hopes of entering ministry as a writer. Without the presence of summer studies, I have been released to direct my energies towards practicing and developing my writing and photography skills. I am fresh to this sphere, so it will take some diligence and commitment to regularly practice. This summer also opens the opportunity for greater practice in spiritual disciplines in wilderness settings, learning to be still, listen, serve, and learn. Already I am seeing that such an ambition must be devotedly pursued; otherwise it will become consumed by distractions. Yet in the midst of this, I am praying that God will guide and teach me so that I can follow Him wholeheartedly in the journey ahead.
Clepsydra Geyser
There is a lot of exploration to be done in the months and years ahead—both physically and spiritually. I am excited to launch into this summer participating in this journey of faith and learning.
As this is a period of transition for me, this is also a time of transition for “Tobyn’s Travels”. As I start developing my writing skills, I am reimagining what this blog might transform into. Hopefully in the weeks to come you will begin to see this blog develop and transition as well. During this process, please feel free to contribute your thoughts towards this process, noting elements that are helpful, enjoyable, confusing, or bland. Part of this process is to learn from you, my readers, as much as I hope to share this journey with you—sending you messages and pictures of inspiration.
Old Faithful Inn
Blessings to you in the summer ahead! I look forward to sharing the journey and trail together.
Tobyn
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Day 185: A House Built on Sand...Stone
Hello!
Six months ago, I finished packing my final things into the Subaru and started away from Newberg on this summer adventure. Today, six months later, I am preparing for my final few days here at Lake Powell. It's hard to believe this half-year has passed already, yet I have been anticipating this with great excitement. So many memories created during the summer, so many friendships made, the ministry team did so well in starting the ministry here at Lake Powell, yet so many things to look forward to.
As one of my final adventures, I got to take a Hummer Adventure tour to a slot canyon. It is an exclusive slot canyon in which there were only six of us exploring and photographing the canyon for over two hours. I felt so spoiled as this canyon held so many beautiful features, light beams, and array of colors. Usually when I am photographing these slot canyons, the colors lean towards the warm colors of red, orange, and yellow. Occasionally I'll get some purple in the picture, but this time, I got some blue! This took me by surprise how rich this color was, but as my cover photo shows, it was a wondrous moment.
As our tour guide took us to the canyon, he described the nature of Navajo Sandstone. Imagine a desert larger than the Sahara desert with sand dunes rising several thousand feet. It would be sand so incredibly thick that it compressed itself into layers of rock. The entire Colorado Plateau consists almost entirely of various layers of sandstone.
Sandstone has a strange characteristic to it. Around Page, it usually takes centuries, even thousands of years, to erode and shape Navajo Sandstone into the beautiful, yet seemingly delicate shapes of these slot canyons. While sandstone holds resilience in its durability, also has a soft side, allowing water to permeate its layers. Breaking off a chunk of sandstone, you can crumble it in your hands and it turns back into sand. During this summer I think I've come up with the perfect description of sandstone: petrified sand--it lasts for thousands of years, but is fragile like an antique.
We had a reminder of this dual nature of sandstone this past week when our recent rains caused a flash flood in Bridge Canyon--the canyon where Rainbow Bridge is located. This flash flood ripped out the hiking trail, leaving a 21-foot vertical cliff. The runoff from the flash flood was deposited in the lake at the boat docks, compromising the docks. Where the dock areas was in deep water, silt, mud, and sand filled the area.
As the driver took the Hummer by mesas, spires, and cliffs, I considered Jesus' words that whoever takes His words and does them is like a man who built his house on the rock--when the rains came and floods rose, the house stood firm. The one who didn't heed His words was like a man who built his house on sand. The rains came, the floods rose, and the house collapsed. This parable makes a lot of sense coming from Oregon, where sand is loose and unstable and rock is solid and unmovable. Surrounded by a petrified sandbox where sand and various sandstone layers vary from loose to solid, it has made me consider what it takes to build a house on a firm foundation in this area.
Near the entrance of the canyon, we were met with immediate evidence of a recent flood--areas where sand dunes sloped gently down to from the cliffs were not abrupt edges where the river carried away the bottom ten feet of these hills. Entering the canyon, a mud line marked the walls over thirty feet above our heads. We tried to imagine an instant river of water trying to pass through this narrow canyon at forty miles per hour, carrying sand and debris away and carving the canyon even further. The guide pointed to a log over 25 feet above us that once stood alone. Now, this solitary log was surrounded with weeds, grass, mud, and debris jammed into this narrow space between the canyon walls.
After the tour, I crossed the Colorado River back towards Lake Powell. Next to the bridge is the Glen Canyon Dam which took clearing an extra 125 feet away from the riverbed before reaching a bedrock hard enough to hold the structure. Along the sides, stability poles were drilled into the sandstone walls to prevent the sandstone from eroding from the backed up reservoir. Many of these poles were drilled over 75 feet deep. While the sandstone walls have demonstrated exceptional resilience, it is a bit difficult to conceive of drilling into sand to secure such an enormous structure.
It is here that I consider what it means to follow the words of Christ--so much so that my life is anchored against all rain and any flash flood that threatens to sweep both sand, and sandstone, away. I must be so secure in Him that even when the foundations are threatened, the house of my faith remains secure. As I head back home this upcoming week, I'll be bringing this reminder with me.
Photos of the Week are available for you. I hope that your week is blessed.
Six months ago, I finished packing my final things into the Subaru and started away from Newberg on this summer adventure. Today, six months later, I am preparing for my final few days here at Lake Powell. It's hard to believe this half-year has passed already, yet I have been anticipating this with great excitement. So many memories created during the summer, so many friendships made, the ministry team did so well in starting the ministry here at Lake Powell, yet so many things to look forward to.
As one of my final adventures, I got to take a Hummer Adventure tour to a slot canyon. It is an exclusive slot canyon in which there were only six of us exploring and photographing the canyon for over two hours. I felt so spoiled as this canyon held so many beautiful features, light beams, and array of colors. Usually when I am photographing these slot canyons, the colors lean towards the warm colors of red, orange, and yellow. Occasionally I'll get some purple in the picture, but this time, I got some blue! This took me by surprise how rich this color was, but as my cover photo shows, it was a wondrous moment.
As our tour guide took us to the canyon, he described the nature of Navajo Sandstone. Imagine a desert larger than the Sahara desert with sand dunes rising several thousand feet. It would be sand so incredibly thick that it compressed itself into layers of rock. The entire Colorado Plateau consists almost entirely of various layers of sandstone.
Sandstone has a strange characteristic to it. Around Page, it usually takes centuries, even thousands of years, to erode and shape Navajo Sandstone into the beautiful, yet seemingly delicate shapes of these slot canyons. While sandstone holds resilience in its durability, also has a soft side, allowing water to permeate its layers. Breaking off a chunk of sandstone, you can crumble it in your hands and it turns back into sand. During this summer I think I've come up with the perfect description of sandstone: petrified sand--it lasts for thousands of years, but is fragile like an antique.
We had a reminder of this dual nature of sandstone this past week when our recent rains caused a flash flood in Bridge Canyon--the canyon where Rainbow Bridge is located. This flash flood ripped out the hiking trail, leaving a 21-foot vertical cliff. The runoff from the flash flood was deposited in the lake at the boat docks, compromising the docks. Where the dock areas was in deep water, silt, mud, and sand filled the area.
As the driver took the Hummer by mesas, spires, and cliffs, I considered Jesus' words that whoever takes His words and does them is like a man who built his house on the rock--when the rains came and floods rose, the house stood firm. The one who didn't heed His words was like a man who built his house on sand. The rains came, the floods rose, and the house collapsed. This parable makes a lot of sense coming from Oregon, where sand is loose and unstable and rock is solid and unmovable. Surrounded by a petrified sandbox where sand and various sandstone layers vary from loose to solid, it has made me consider what it takes to build a house on a firm foundation in this area.
Near the entrance of the canyon, we were met with immediate evidence of a recent flood--areas where sand dunes sloped gently down to from the cliffs were not abrupt edges where the river carried away the bottom ten feet of these hills. Entering the canyon, a mud line marked the walls over thirty feet above our heads. We tried to imagine an instant river of water trying to pass through this narrow canyon at forty miles per hour, carrying sand and debris away and carving the canyon even further. The guide pointed to a log over 25 feet above us that once stood alone. Now, this solitary log was surrounded with weeds, grass, mud, and debris jammed into this narrow space between the canyon walls.
After the tour, I crossed the Colorado River back towards Lake Powell. Next to the bridge is the Glen Canyon Dam which took clearing an extra 125 feet away from the riverbed before reaching a bedrock hard enough to hold the structure. Along the sides, stability poles were drilled into the sandstone walls to prevent the sandstone from eroding from the backed up reservoir. Many of these poles were drilled over 75 feet deep. While the sandstone walls have demonstrated exceptional resilience, it is a bit difficult to conceive of drilling into sand to secure such an enormous structure.
It is here that I consider what it means to follow the words of Christ--so much so that my life is anchored against all rain and any flash flood that threatens to sweep both sand, and sandstone, away. I must be so secure in Him that even when the foundations are threatened, the house of my faith remains secure. As I head back home this upcoming week, I'll be bringing this reminder with me.
Photos of the Week are available for you. I hope that your week is blessed.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Day 174: Online Experience
Hello!
School is now in its full swing. My mornings are spent reading school books, responding to discussion posts, and preparing for deadlines. In the midst of the work, I'm making sure I still get out exploring.
On my days off, I went to Mesa Verde National Park. This was my second time visiting the park, but it's still incredible to stand surrounded by 800-2,000 year-old ruins hearing the stories of how the Ancient Puebloans lived in this region, farming the mesa tops for food, gathering water in reservoirs (one of which could hold about 800 million gallons!), and surviving the arid region around here. There are over 2,000 separate archeological sites here in the park, and 600 of them are cliff dwellings. The artistry of the architecture is incredible to explore. This is the only national park in the United States dedicated to preserve human artifacts instead of a natural landscape. While the early days of white exploration of Mesa Verde stripped many of the artifacts of this place, to see the walls, watchtowers, kivas, and homes still standing is an awesome sight. On the inside of a watchtower of Cliff Palace, there is even an original painting made over 800 years ago! Having visited several ruins and archeological areas in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and across the nation of Israel, it's amazing to see similar ruins here within the United States.
In the midst of guided tours through the ruins, probably one of my best moments was sitting on a balcony watching a thunderstorm roll in while studying. In the canyon below I could hear elk bugling during their migration off the mesa, the smell of freshly fallen rain wafted across the breeze, and the rumble of ongoing lightning strikes continued to engage me in the midst of studying about the rise of the Google Age and how to minister within the virtual world. One of my new classes is called Communication in Ministry, exploring how to minister in a world that meets more people online than personally. No matter how much information the Internet or printed books can provide, there still isn't anything like the experience itself. This week has brought a good challenge to me: how do you take experience and put that into a blog? I say that sort-of tongue-in-cheek, because I've been doing it for two years with this blog, but something about this week's reading while being surrounded by ancient ruins really brought this to the forefront.
I first started this blog out of the demand of family wanting to keep updated on my adventures and because individual emails, and group emails later on, were becoming too much of a hassle. Attaching photos took so long in these areas with little Internet strength, and once summer ministry started, my time slimmed even further. This blog helped me stay in contact with people, giving me the chance to share my adventures vicariously with my readers. In response to this though, this week has caused me to really question the impact this blog has had. I've had to consider how many readers have gone out and had an adventure of their own, and whether readers now get out and away to spend quiet time listening to God in wilderness areas. While I recognize that not everyone can live the life I live, there isn't a substitute for experience. We read books, ebooks, and emails to learn and connect, but there will always be a threshold between those who are the recipients of another's journeys and those who step up and step out into something new. I don't necessarily have an answer to all my pondering for this week, but it's nice to step back for a moment and consider the reason why we do the things we do. As I seek to better understand how to connect with online readers, I'm challenged to lean more on God to show me in the weeks and months ahead.
Photos of the Week are included. My challenge for you this week is to intentionally spend some time outdoors in solitude and quietness. See what happens. Blessings on your week!
School is now in its full swing. My mornings are spent reading school books, responding to discussion posts, and preparing for deadlines. In the midst of the work, I'm making sure I still get out exploring.
On my days off, I went to Mesa Verde National Park. This was my second time visiting the park, but it's still incredible to stand surrounded by 800-2,000 year-old ruins hearing the stories of how the Ancient Puebloans lived in this region, farming the mesa tops for food, gathering water in reservoirs (one of which could hold about 800 million gallons!), and surviving the arid region around here. There are over 2,000 separate archeological sites here in the park, and 600 of them are cliff dwellings. The artistry of the architecture is incredible to explore. This is the only national park in the United States dedicated to preserve human artifacts instead of a natural landscape. While the early days of white exploration of Mesa Verde stripped many of the artifacts of this place, to see the walls, watchtowers, kivas, and homes still standing is an awesome sight. On the inside of a watchtower of Cliff Palace, there is even an original painting made over 800 years ago! Having visited several ruins and archeological areas in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and across the nation of Israel, it's amazing to see similar ruins here within the United States.
In the midst of guided tours through the ruins, probably one of my best moments was sitting on a balcony watching a thunderstorm roll in while studying. In the canyon below I could hear elk bugling during their migration off the mesa, the smell of freshly fallen rain wafted across the breeze, and the rumble of ongoing lightning strikes continued to engage me in the midst of studying about the rise of the Google Age and how to minister within the virtual world. One of my new classes is called Communication in Ministry, exploring how to minister in a world that meets more people online than personally. No matter how much information the Internet or printed books can provide, there still isn't anything like the experience itself. This week has brought a good challenge to me: how do you take experience and put that into a blog? I say that sort-of tongue-in-cheek, because I've been doing it for two years with this blog, but something about this week's reading while being surrounded by ancient ruins really brought this to the forefront.
I first started this blog out of the demand of family wanting to keep updated on my adventures and because individual emails, and group emails later on, were becoming too much of a hassle. Attaching photos took so long in these areas with little Internet strength, and once summer ministry started, my time slimmed even further. This blog helped me stay in contact with people, giving me the chance to share my adventures vicariously with my readers. In response to this though, this week has caused me to really question the impact this blog has had. I've had to consider how many readers have gone out and had an adventure of their own, and whether readers now get out and away to spend quiet time listening to God in wilderness areas. While I recognize that not everyone can live the life I live, there isn't a substitute for experience. We read books, ebooks, and emails to learn and connect, but there will always be a threshold between those who are the recipients of another's journeys and those who step up and step out into something new. I don't necessarily have an answer to all my pondering for this week, but it's nice to step back for a moment and consider the reason why we do the things we do. As I seek to better understand how to connect with online readers, I'm challenged to lean more on God to show me in the weeks and months ahead.
Photos of the Week are included. My challenge for you this week is to intentionally spend some time outdoors in solitude and quietness. See what happens. Blessings on your week!
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Day 167: Focal Point
Hello!
Though the storms from last week have continued into this week, there has been a lot more sunshine, making way for more time to explore.
With some good sunlight during the morning, I was able to get onto a photo tour of the most-popular slot canyon in the area. It's one that I've been avoiding due to the summer crowds, but as the season is slowing down, I decided it was a good time to go.
What an incredible experience! The first time I ever went on this tour, it was a rushed tour through the canyon, but this time, our tour had two hours to explore the canyon. The sunbeams were beginning to reach the bottom of the canyon in long, slender lines. The colors of the canyons themselves were filled with yellows, oranges, and reds towards the bottom-end of the canyon where the chambers are large, but then the canyon becomes darker towards the back as the canyon narrows, allowing for only a little bit of light at the very top of the canyon walls. Photographing the canyon was a little bit of a challenge due to the number of people still visiting the canyon. It was the most crowded I had ever seen that canyon, but still our tour guide was good at making space for us to take the photographs we wanted.
Sunday was our last Sunday. KelLee and I had the great joy of having eleven people attend the service! It was awesome to experience, as most Sundays this year has been only one or two other people joining us for service. To have so many people attend the service was a really great experience!
As a final treat before school starts, I got to make an overnight dash to the Grand Canyon. Since my visit during the Spring was spent in the main section of the canyon, I focused my time on the east rim of the canyon, where the flat desert ascends to the peaks of the Palisades, then instantly drop to the depths of the canyon. While the upper end of the Grand Canyon is shallower than the main part, it was beautiful to see. I found one point that had some great vantages to photographing both sunset and sunrise. This section of the rim is where the Colorado makes a drastic turn from the north, flowing from Lake Powell, towards the west, heading through the main section of the canyon towards Lake Mead. Standing at this vantage point, I could see for over fifty miles north and west. While the point was popular during sunset, I had the entire point to myself during sunrise. I felt so spoiled to enjoy the beauty of the canyon all by myself.
After capturing the first light over the canyon, I spent some time sitting quietly and praying. As I did, Ephesians 3:18-19 came to mind: "I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon, it is easy to visualize the meaning of this verse as the canyon spreads into depths, heights, and distances away from my vantage point. Like so many others, there is a feeling of smallness and inadequacy to comprehend the extent of this canyon, much less the love of God which extends beyond any imagination!
When people cannot grasp the incredible size of the Grand Canyon, it is common for people to minimize it in order to take it all in. It just becomes another landscape amongst so many other sights to see along the canyon rim and the rest of the Colorado Plateau. My grandpa once commented that the Grand Canyon was just "a big hole in the ground". Sitting here at the rim, while he was right, he was also quite wrong--it's not just a big hole in the ground, but probably one of the most beautiful and intricate "holes in the ground" across the entire planet! But, "if you've seen one 'hole in the ground', you've seen them all".
How often am I a culprit of continuing this mentality towards the love of God! It's the love of God...it's everywhere. It's unescapable. The love of the most Beautiful One is so common that the unescapable becomes escapable. It becomes common and ordinary. In trying to grasp the great extent God's love reaches, how often do I minimize its reach or great intricacies. Having to wrestle with both the great extent of the Grand Canyon, one trick I learned is to find a focal point. It could be a spot on the Colorado River, a particular rock, spire, or butte, but find something in the midst of the entire canyon that captures your attention. As you focus upon that one point--it's beauty, it's mammoth size (or smallness), and all the details upon that one point, then the rest of the canyon falls into place--in seeing this one point, I can see the rest of the canyon in context to this one point, and the Grand Canyon becomes all that more grand.
In comprehending the love of God, I need to do the same thing. In focusing on one particular point in God's love, I am drawn to see the intricate and incredible essence of that one facet of God's love, and while focusing upon that one point, my periphery starts setting that one focal point into a context of the grander scheme of God's love. I can start to see and appreciate His limitlessness.
That was such a good reminder as I sat in the silence of such a massive canyon.
Photos of the Week are available. Blessings to you!
Though the storms from last week have continued into this week, there has been a lot more sunshine, making way for more time to explore.
With some good sunlight during the morning, I was able to get onto a photo tour of the most-popular slot canyon in the area. It's one that I've been avoiding due to the summer crowds, but as the season is slowing down, I decided it was a good time to go.
What an incredible experience! The first time I ever went on this tour, it was a rushed tour through the canyon, but this time, our tour had two hours to explore the canyon. The sunbeams were beginning to reach the bottom of the canyon in long, slender lines. The colors of the canyons themselves were filled with yellows, oranges, and reds towards the bottom-end of the canyon where the chambers are large, but then the canyon becomes darker towards the back as the canyon narrows, allowing for only a little bit of light at the very top of the canyon walls. Photographing the canyon was a little bit of a challenge due to the number of people still visiting the canyon. It was the most crowded I had ever seen that canyon, but still our tour guide was good at making space for us to take the photographs we wanted.
Sunday was our last Sunday. KelLee and I had the great joy of having eleven people attend the service! It was awesome to experience, as most Sundays this year has been only one or two other people joining us for service. To have so many people attend the service was a really great experience!
As a final treat before school starts, I got to make an overnight dash to the Grand Canyon. Since my visit during the Spring was spent in the main section of the canyon, I focused my time on the east rim of the canyon, where the flat desert ascends to the peaks of the Palisades, then instantly drop to the depths of the canyon. While the upper end of the Grand Canyon is shallower than the main part, it was beautiful to see. I found one point that had some great vantages to photographing both sunset and sunrise. This section of the rim is where the Colorado makes a drastic turn from the north, flowing from Lake Powell, towards the west, heading through the main section of the canyon towards Lake Mead. Standing at this vantage point, I could see for over fifty miles north and west. While the point was popular during sunset, I had the entire point to myself during sunrise. I felt so spoiled to enjoy the beauty of the canyon all by myself.
After capturing the first light over the canyon, I spent some time sitting quietly and praying. As I did, Ephesians 3:18-19 came to mind: "I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon, it is easy to visualize the meaning of this verse as the canyon spreads into depths, heights, and distances away from my vantage point. Like so many others, there is a feeling of smallness and inadequacy to comprehend the extent of this canyon, much less the love of God which extends beyond any imagination!
When people cannot grasp the incredible size of the Grand Canyon, it is common for people to minimize it in order to take it all in. It just becomes another landscape amongst so many other sights to see along the canyon rim and the rest of the Colorado Plateau. My grandpa once commented that the Grand Canyon was just "a big hole in the ground". Sitting here at the rim, while he was right, he was also quite wrong--it's not just a big hole in the ground, but probably one of the most beautiful and intricate "holes in the ground" across the entire planet! But, "if you've seen one 'hole in the ground', you've seen them all".
How often am I a culprit of continuing this mentality towards the love of God! It's the love of God...it's everywhere. It's unescapable. The love of the most Beautiful One is so common that the unescapable becomes escapable. It becomes common and ordinary. In trying to grasp the great extent God's love reaches, how often do I minimize its reach or great intricacies. Having to wrestle with both the great extent of the Grand Canyon, one trick I learned is to find a focal point. It could be a spot on the Colorado River, a particular rock, spire, or butte, but find something in the midst of the entire canyon that captures your attention. As you focus upon that one point--it's beauty, it's mammoth size (or smallness), and all the details upon that one point, then the rest of the canyon falls into place--in seeing this one point, I can see the rest of the canyon in context to this one point, and the Grand Canyon becomes all that more grand.
In comprehending the love of God, I need to do the same thing. In focusing on one particular point in God's love, I am drawn to see the intricate and incredible essence of that one facet of God's love, and while focusing upon that one point, my periphery starts setting that one focal point into a context of the grander scheme of God's love. I can start to see and appreciate His limitlessness.
That was such a good reminder as I sat in the silence of such a massive canyon.
Photos of the Week are available. Blessings to you!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Day 161: Storms and Rest
Hello!
I don't have much to write about over the past two weeks, so I don't expect this post to be very long.
The summer rush is over for the summer! Even with Labor Day weekend approaching, it still appears to be a quiet weekend here at Lake Powell. There is another rush lingering on the horizon as September's tour season begins, but for now, I'm enjoying the blessing of a slower pace of work at the front desk. My research paper submitted last week concluded my summer semester, which has left this week open to rest and enjoyment. I have been able to leave work early several times, which has been greatly appreciated. Once my fall semester begins, I'll be doing a full load of college courses along with full-time work. It'll be fine, I'm sure, but for now I'm enjoying the breathing space.
These past two weeks have held some notable storms. Around 3:00 on morning, I awoke to flashes of lightning. I instantly grabbed my camera and tripod. The storm was slowly moving over the town of Page with large bolts of lightning. I was able to take some photos, some of which turned out more spectacular than I could've imagined! The next day, I showed the photo to my colleagues at work, and my boss requested that photo. Within a few days, that photo was posted on the company's Facebook page, receiving quite a lot of positive reviews. I was thrilled over the response--over 2,000 people "liked" this photo!
This week has been a different kind of storm...the kind with overcast grey and drizzling rain that lasts for multiple days. Fortunately for me, this happened on a Sunday. I spent my entire day sitting close to a window listening to the rain, taking naps, and missing Oregon's ongoing rain. With all of the homesickness I have been experiencing lately, the rain was a wonderful gift. The sunshine is back for now, bringing a smile to the guests at the resort.
Last Sunday was Jamie's last Sunday with the ACMNP team. Though no one attended our service, KelLee, Jamie, and I sat on wet benches singing songs, praying, reading Scriptures, and listening to Jamie's final sermon of the season. She spoke on desiring God's approval above people's approval. A good reminder to me...and everyone else who works in an industry based upon customer service.
Less than one month remains before I will begin the drive home. I am so very excited to return to Oregon, but for now I'm making my final "bucket list" of things I want to see and do before I depart.
Blessings to you this week! I only had one more photo to add to my Photos of the Week. Check it out!
I don't have much to write about over the past two weeks, so I don't expect this post to be very long.
The summer rush is over for the summer! Even with Labor Day weekend approaching, it still appears to be a quiet weekend here at Lake Powell. There is another rush lingering on the horizon as September's tour season begins, but for now, I'm enjoying the blessing of a slower pace of work at the front desk. My research paper submitted last week concluded my summer semester, which has left this week open to rest and enjoyment. I have been able to leave work early several times, which has been greatly appreciated. Once my fall semester begins, I'll be doing a full load of college courses along with full-time work. It'll be fine, I'm sure, but for now I'm enjoying the breathing space.
These past two weeks have held some notable storms. Around 3:00 on morning, I awoke to flashes of lightning. I instantly grabbed my camera and tripod. The storm was slowly moving over the town of Page with large bolts of lightning. I was able to take some photos, some of which turned out more spectacular than I could've imagined! The next day, I showed the photo to my colleagues at work, and my boss requested that photo. Within a few days, that photo was posted on the company's Facebook page, receiving quite a lot of positive reviews. I was thrilled over the response--over 2,000 people "liked" this photo!
This week has been a different kind of storm...the kind with overcast grey and drizzling rain that lasts for multiple days. Fortunately for me, this happened on a Sunday. I spent my entire day sitting close to a window listening to the rain, taking naps, and missing Oregon's ongoing rain. With all of the homesickness I have been experiencing lately, the rain was a wonderful gift. The sunshine is back for now, bringing a smile to the guests at the resort.
Last Sunday was Jamie's last Sunday with the ACMNP team. Though no one attended our service, KelLee, Jamie, and I sat on wet benches singing songs, praying, reading Scriptures, and listening to Jamie's final sermon of the season. She spoke on desiring God's approval above people's approval. A good reminder to me...and everyone else who works in an industry based upon customer service.
Less than one month remains before I will begin the drive home. I am so very excited to return to Oregon, but for now I'm making my final "bucket list" of things I want to see and do before I depart.
Blessings to you this week! I only had one more photo to add to my Photos of the Week. Check it out!
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Day 147: Incredible!
Hello!
This week has been interesting. Over the past week in Page, we've received over four inches of rain! This rain came in the form of some incredible flash floods that dramatically changed the area. A flash flood covered part of highway 89 as water raced through Page, breaking up the highway. In two of the famous slot canyons nearby, one is now about 10' deeper than it was before the flooding, while many areas within the other has been filled with sand that the guides are still trying to dig out! This has impacted a lot of the tourism in the area. The storms themselves have affected our Internet here, knocking out our signal repeatedly. But at the same time, it's been incredible to watch this dramatic power unleashed while at the same time seeing the incredible beauty it holds at the same time. It quite a humbling experience!
This last weekend, my roommate from Oregon got to visit me. When John and I were traveling through this area, we didn't get to explore much of the region, so this was my chance to show this area off to him. However, both he and I caught colds days before our time together, so in the midst of trying to explore the area, we both spent a lot of time simply resting and nursing our colds. Since his departure, I've been back at work, but my throat is still raspy as I'm trying to recover.
On a brighter note, during his stay, the two of us took two guided trips. One of them was to an exclusive slot canyon. I was expecting it to be similar to the famous slot canyons near Page, but was a bit disappointed when the dramatic "slot" part of the canyon was less than 45' in length. Still, the rest of the slot canyon was beautiful, especially since we were the only ones there--just our guide, and two Romanians. Our guide has been frequenting this canyon for over two years, and was showing us how much deeper the canyon was before last week's flooding. In one area, there was over 8' feet of new sand within the canyon!
Though the one tour was a bit underwhelming, our other guided trip astounded us beyond what we could've imagined! We were originally suppose to visit an area called White Pocket, but due to the recent rain and another threatening thunderstorm, the road was too hazardous to go. Instead, our tour guide took us to an area called The Water Pocket. The Water Pocket is a ridge that overlooks an area I only dream about visiting called "The Wave". From this ridge, I could look down at The Wave area, but the rock in the area was far more fascinating. There, among other things, we saw an area of white rocks called "Brain Rock"...it looked much like it too! The other were multiple areas of rock fins that intersected, criss-crossed, and rose above the rest of the Navajo sandstone to resemble tubes, boxes, spider-webs, and draperies. What was most astonishing was how thin this rock was--some of this rock was less than 1/4" thick: it was completely delicate, standing there above the regular rock against the wind and storms that strike against it. The more we spent time amidst this "boxwork", the more astonished and in awe we became at the delicacy of these rocks and the beauty of them. I once heard that the Southwest is "God's Sandbox", where He got to play around making things with sand like a child does. Out here, it is manifest. Such creativity and stunning beauty at the same time!
I first came across "boxwork" last year when I was exploring Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. As the limestone layers of rock fragmented, their cracks were filled with an even harder rock compound that sort-of adhered these layers together. As water eroded the caverns away, the limestone would erode faster than this compound, exposing this compound as paper-thin rock layers that came in the shape of small boxes, revealing the cavity where a limestone rock once held to the cavern ceiling. Here at The Water Pocket, it was like the same thing, except the "boxwork" was being exposed along the ground instead of along a cave ceiling. It was quite incredible to see this and note its similarities. The ranger at Wind Cave said that "Boxwork" is rare to find inside a cave, and our Water Pocket Guide said that he only knows of two places where he's ever seen this occur. I think it's incredible to have seen it in two very different places and rock formations.
As I'm recovering from my cold, I'm taking extra time reviewing the photos I took of this past weekend. I am left in silent awe and fascination.
I hope you enjoy your week. Photos of the Week are posted for you.
This week has been interesting. Over the past week in Page, we've received over four inches of rain! This rain came in the form of some incredible flash floods that dramatically changed the area. A flash flood covered part of highway 89 as water raced through Page, breaking up the highway. In two of the famous slot canyons nearby, one is now about 10' deeper than it was before the flooding, while many areas within the other has been filled with sand that the guides are still trying to dig out! This has impacted a lot of the tourism in the area. The storms themselves have affected our Internet here, knocking out our signal repeatedly. But at the same time, it's been incredible to watch this dramatic power unleashed while at the same time seeing the incredible beauty it holds at the same time. It quite a humbling experience!
This last weekend, my roommate from Oregon got to visit me. When John and I were traveling through this area, we didn't get to explore much of the region, so this was my chance to show this area off to him. However, both he and I caught colds days before our time together, so in the midst of trying to explore the area, we both spent a lot of time simply resting and nursing our colds. Since his departure, I've been back at work, but my throat is still raspy as I'm trying to recover.
On a brighter note, during his stay, the two of us took two guided trips. One of them was to an exclusive slot canyon. I was expecting it to be similar to the famous slot canyons near Page, but was a bit disappointed when the dramatic "slot" part of the canyon was less than 45' in length. Still, the rest of the slot canyon was beautiful, especially since we were the only ones there--just our guide, and two Romanians. Our guide has been frequenting this canyon for over two years, and was showing us how much deeper the canyon was before last week's flooding. In one area, there was over 8' feet of new sand within the canyon!
Though the one tour was a bit underwhelming, our other guided trip astounded us beyond what we could've imagined! We were originally suppose to visit an area called White Pocket, but due to the recent rain and another threatening thunderstorm, the road was too hazardous to go. Instead, our tour guide took us to an area called The Water Pocket. The Water Pocket is a ridge that overlooks an area I only dream about visiting called "The Wave". From this ridge, I could look down at The Wave area, but the rock in the area was far more fascinating. There, among other things, we saw an area of white rocks called "Brain Rock"...it looked much like it too! The other were multiple areas of rock fins that intersected, criss-crossed, and rose above the rest of the Navajo sandstone to resemble tubes, boxes, spider-webs, and draperies. What was most astonishing was how thin this rock was--some of this rock was less than 1/4" thick: it was completely delicate, standing there above the regular rock against the wind and storms that strike against it. The more we spent time amidst this "boxwork", the more astonished and in awe we became at the delicacy of these rocks and the beauty of them. I once heard that the Southwest is "God's Sandbox", where He got to play around making things with sand like a child does. Out here, it is manifest. Such creativity and stunning beauty at the same time!
I first came across "boxwork" last year when I was exploring Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. As the limestone layers of rock fragmented, their cracks were filled with an even harder rock compound that sort-of adhered these layers together. As water eroded the caverns away, the limestone would erode faster than this compound, exposing this compound as paper-thin rock layers that came in the shape of small boxes, revealing the cavity where a limestone rock once held to the cavern ceiling. Here at The Water Pocket, it was like the same thing, except the "boxwork" was being exposed along the ground instead of along a cave ceiling. It was quite incredible to see this and note its similarities. The ranger at Wind Cave said that "Boxwork" is rare to find inside a cave, and our Water Pocket Guide said that he only knows of two places where he's ever seen this occur. I think it's incredible to have seen it in two very different places and rock formations.
As I'm recovering from my cold, I'm taking extra time reviewing the photos I took of this past weekend. I am left in silent awe and fascination.
I hope you enjoy your week. Photos of the Week are posted for you.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Day 142: Beside Still Waters
Hello!
It's so nice enjoying my days off fully--getting to get out and explore, rest, recreate, and find time of solitude in the midst of a busy work week. Even during workdays I get to enjoy my mornings before starting to work at 2:00 PM. I am so grateful for this period of time.
Because of the busy work schedule, my days off have been shifted to Saturday and Sundays now. I'm a bit disappointed about this because I don't get to spend any days off with KelLee and Jamie, and my Saturday is usually spent preparing for Sunday's services, so it doesn't fully feel like a day off. The nice thing about Saturday nights though is that KelLee has been singing while playing her guitar and ukulele at a coffee shop in town. She's gained quite a following of "Wahweapers" (employees of Wahweap) and the town. She is very talented and has a great singing voice.
In the midst of this, I was able to spend my days off exploring Lake Powell via kayak. A group of us got to cross Wahweap Bay to explore some finger canyons on the other side. One was Nate, a friend who lives down the hall in my dorm, and the other was Bethany, an ACMNP teammate from Bryce Canyon who came to visit KelLee and Jamie. We paddled leisurely across the open bay to where the 1,000' canyon rocks loomed over us as we explored.
The following day though, I went back out onto the lake by myself. I explored all of the finger canyons from Ice Cream Canyon to Castle Rock. It was such a magnificent experience...and unfortunately I realized too late that I forgot my camera. Though I didn't get to take any pictures, the experience was nevertheless superb. While out on the lake, I got to pray a lot about my time here, over the team as we finish our final few weeks of services.
When I came here, I was told that Castle Rock was the film location for Charlton Heston's movie, "The Ten Commandments". Castle Rock is Mt. Sinai. From the resort, I really cannot see that; however, I beached my kayak and started hiking to the far side of it, and I think I now see what angle they filmed it at. Of course, this was before Glen Canyon was flooded to become Lake Powell, so there is definitely a lot that has changed since that film was made. Hiking along the base of Castle Rock though, I tried to imagine Moses (as played by Charlton Heston) climbing up the side of that hill to discover a burning bush. After the experience, he climbs back down and reverently mutters, "I stood on holy ground!" What an incredible experience that must've been!
The rest of the afternoon on the water was spent lingering on that thought--what it must be like to stand on holy ground. I know that with the presence of God always near that every place can be made sacred and holy in His presence, but to have an experience where I do not have to muster up the recognition of the holiness of that site, but walk into it unknowingly only to discover that God's presence is there, as though He was waiting for me to show up...I'm so used to having to be the one to arrive early before services to set up and spend time in prayer over the place so that others can arrive and participate in God's presence, but to walk (or kayak) somewhere and discover God's Spirit so dense in the place that one cannot help but linger in utter awe, silenced by the stillness yet so full of astonishment that you feel that something must be said for you cannot contain the feeling. You stand knowing you are fully known, fully cleansed, and prepared to receive whatever God has for you.
I can look back in my life at numerous times when this has happened, and I am always filled with astonishment and praise for those incredible, intimate moments. I am so grateful that God would gift me with these moments.
Photos of the Week are posted. Enjoy your week!
It's so nice enjoying my days off fully--getting to get out and explore, rest, recreate, and find time of solitude in the midst of a busy work week. Even during workdays I get to enjoy my mornings before starting to work at 2:00 PM. I am so grateful for this period of time.
Because of the busy work schedule, my days off have been shifted to Saturday and Sundays now. I'm a bit disappointed about this because I don't get to spend any days off with KelLee and Jamie, and my Saturday is usually spent preparing for Sunday's services, so it doesn't fully feel like a day off. The nice thing about Saturday nights though is that KelLee has been singing while playing her guitar and ukulele at a coffee shop in town. She's gained quite a following of "Wahweapers" (employees of Wahweap) and the town. She is very talented and has a great singing voice.
In the midst of this, I was able to spend my days off exploring Lake Powell via kayak. A group of us got to cross Wahweap Bay to explore some finger canyons on the other side. One was Nate, a friend who lives down the hall in my dorm, and the other was Bethany, an ACMNP teammate from Bryce Canyon who came to visit KelLee and Jamie. We paddled leisurely across the open bay to where the 1,000' canyon rocks loomed over us as we explored.
The following day though, I went back out onto the lake by myself. I explored all of the finger canyons from Ice Cream Canyon to Castle Rock. It was such a magnificent experience...and unfortunately I realized too late that I forgot my camera. Though I didn't get to take any pictures, the experience was nevertheless superb. While out on the lake, I got to pray a lot about my time here, over the team as we finish our final few weeks of services.
When I came here, I was told that Castle Rock was the film location for Charlton Heston's movie, "The Ten Commandments". Castle Rock is Mt. Sinai. From the resort, I really cannot see that; however, I beached my kayak and started hiking to the far side of it, and I think I now see what angle they filmed it at. Of course, this was before Glen Canyon was flooded to become Lake Powell, so there is definitely a lot that has changed since that film was made. Hiking along the base of Castle Rock though, I tried to imagine Moses (as played by Charlton Heston) climbing up the side of that hill to discover a burning bush. After the experience, he climbs back down and reverently mutters, "I stood on holy ground!" What an incredible experience that must've been!
The rest of the afternoon on the water was spent lingering on that thought--what it must be like to stand on holy ground. I know that with the presence of God always near that every place can be made sacred and holy in His presence, but to have an experience where I do not have to muster up the recognition of the holiness of that site, but walk into it unknowingly only to discover that God's presence is there, as though He was waiting for me to show up...I'm so used to having to be the one to arrive early before services to set up and spend time in prayer over the place so that others can arrive and participate in God's presence, but to walk (or kayak) somewhere and discover God's Spirit so dense in the place that one cannot help but linger in utter awe, silenced by the stillness yet so full of astonishment that you feel that something must be said for you cannot contain the feeling. You stand knowing you are fully known, fully cleansed, and prepared to receive whatever God has for you.
I can look back in my life at numerous times when this has happened, and I am always filled with astonishment and praise for those incredible, intimate moments. I am so grateful that God would gift me with these moments.
Photos of the Week are posted. Enjoy your week!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Day 134: Excursions and Friendship
Hello!
These past two weeks have been incredible. The chance to relax and enjoy Southern Utah is just incredible. It couldn't have happened at a better time. We are now in our peak season at the resort and have been sold out nearly each night. Along with registering over 150 rooms each night, this past week was marked with a washing machine breaking down in the laundry department, slowing housekeeping down. Some evenings, guests could not check into their rooms until after 5:00 p.m.! It was a crazy experience. Throughout August we are expecting it to remain just as busy.
In the midst of the craziness though, I have been blessed to have a slower study pace and the ability to enjoy my days off while exploring the area. My friends, Ron and Richard, got to visit from Portland during their recent trip around Southern Utah. They joined Jamie, Andrea, Kevin, and I as we got to explore Monument Valley. It was such a perfect day as we drove through the valley, stopping at all the sights and sharing time together.
The following week, Jamie, Andrea, Stephanie and I got to walk in the Zion Narrows, an area within Zion Canyon where the canyon walls come so close together that the river touches both walls while the canyon reaches over 1,000 feet above the river. There was a thunderstorm the previous day with heavy rain, leaving the Virgin River muddy for our hike. The adventurous part to this hike was carrying camera equipment while making sure it remained dry. Hikers in the Narrows frequently slip on rocks--especially when they cannot see the river bottom. I had to walk slow to make sure that didn't happen to me. I carried a dry bag in case the water became too deep, but the water level never exceeded my waist.
Along the Narrows, there is a side canyon called Orderville, which is a narrower slot canyon that leads to a couple waterfalls. In some areas, the canyon walls were still towered 800 feet above us, with the walls only 8 feet apart. It was so magnificent. This was my third time hiking in Orderville and the Narrows, but this was just as spectacular as my first visit. Jamie, Andrea, and Stephanie were all amazed.
In the midst of both Monument Valley and the Zion Narrows, Jamie took a small amount of time aside to sit in silence and pray. This was so inspiring to see as Jamie made sure to seek God in the midst of these beautiful places. I can testify to the challenge of the wilderness--there is so much that is awe-inspiring that enraptures you that it is hard to stop looking. Being in such beautiful places draws an element of transcendence to you, but just as the wilderness can bring you into something bigger than yourself, it can also prevent you from going even further to look up and commune with the Creator in the midst of His creation. Watching Jamie intentionally step aside from exploring these places for a time of silent prayer was so good to watch. When I'm by myself, it is much easier for me to take time out to do this, but when I am the "tour guide" of the group, helping everyone explore the area, I realized that I sometimes miss out on this opportunity to seek God in the midst of the exploration.
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It's been a while since I've posted any updates regarding the ministry team. Things are still going well for us. We greatly appreciate your prayers as we are approaching the end of our season. Only five Sundays remain. Doors have been opening with the National Park Service and the park concessioner so that we are able to put up signs to advertise our Sunday services, as well as start campground walking on Saturday evenings. The challenge for our Saturday evenings is that we get off work around 6 (if we are so lucky), then have only a short while to walk the campground before the sun sets. Hopefully, with the signs posted, we'll be able to spread the word better.
Please pray for Jamie especially, as she is at her one-month marker before she heads home. She still has a lot she wants to do, but there is also the lingering transition back to school for her. KelLee is taking a semester off, so she'll be working later into the season, as I will also do.
As for me, I have three more weeks before my fall semester begins. This is a "final lap" for me, as I'll be starting my final year of school before I graduate. There's a lot that is upcoming....starting a more permanent career, using my connections in order to hopefully find way to continue ministry in the parks while engaging in ministry. There are a few prospects, so I'm doing a lot of praying as I try to follow God's call for the next steps after all this school subsides.
Blessings to you! I have posted my Photos of the Week. Enjoy!
These past two weeks have been incredible. The chance to relax and enjoy Southern Utah is just incredible. It couldn't have happened at a better time. We are now in our peak season at the resort and have been sold out nearly each night. Along with registering over 150 rooms each night, this past week was marked with a washing machine breaking down in the laundry department, slowing housekeeping down. Some evenings, guests could not check into their rooms until after 5:00 p.m.! It was a crazy experience. Throughout August we are expecting it to remain just as busy.
In the midst of the craziness though, I have been blessed to have a slower study pace and the ability to enjoy my days off while exploring the area. My friends, Ron and Richard, got to visit from Portland during their recent trip around Southern Utah. They joined Jamie, Andrea, Kevin, and I as we got to explore Monument Valley. It was such a perfect day as we drove through the valley, stopping at all the sights and sharing time together.
The following week, Jamie, Andrea, Stephanie and I got to walk in the Zion Narrows, an area within Zion Canyon where the canyon walls come so close together that the river touches both walls while the canyon reaches over 1,000 feet above the river. There was a thunderstorm the previous day with heavy rain, leaving the Virgin River muddy for our hike. The adventurous part to this hike was carrying camera equipment while making sure it remained dry. Hikers in the Narrows frequently slip on rocks--especially when they cannot see the river bottom. I had to walk slow to make sure that didn't happen to me. I carried a dry bag in case the water became too deep, but the water level never exceeded my waist.
Along the Narrows, there is a side canyon called Orderville, which is a narrower slot canyon that leads to a couple waterfalls. In some areas, the canyon walls were still towered 800 feet above us, with the walls only 8 feet apart. It was so magnificent. This was my third time hiking in Orderville and the Narrows, but this was just as spectacular as my first visit. Jamie, Andrea, and Stephanie were all amazed.
In the midst of both Monument Valley and the Zion Narrows, Jamie took a small amount of time aside to sit in silence and pray. This was so inspiring to see as Jamie made sure to seek God in the midst of these beautiful places. I can testify to the challenge of the wilderness--there is so much that is awe-inspiring that enraptures you that it is hard to stop looking. Being in such beautiful places draws an element of transcendence to you, but just as the wilderness can bring you into something bigger than yourself, it can also prevent you from going even further to look up and commune with the Creator in the midst of His creation. Watching Jamie intentionally step aside from exploring these places for a time of silent prayer was so good to watch. When I'm by myself, it is much easier for me to take time out to do this, but when I am the "tour guide" of the group, helping everyone explore the area, I realized that I sometimes miss out on this opportunity to seek God in the midst of the exploration.
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It's been a while since I've posted any updates regarding the ministry team. Things are still going well for us. We greatly appreciate your prayers as we are approaching the end of our season. Only five Sundays remain. Doors have been opening with the National Park Service and the park concessioner so that we are able to put up signs to advertise our Sunday services, as well as start campground walking on Saturday evenings. The challenge for our Saturday evenings is that we get off work around 6 (if we are so lucky), then have only a short while to walk the campground before the sun sets. Hopefully, with the signs posted, we'll be able to spread the word better.
Please pray for Jamie especially, as she is at her one-month marker before she heads home. She still has a lot she wants to do, but there is also the lingering transition back to school for her. KelLee is taking a semester off, so she'll be working later into the season, as I will also do.
As for me, I have three more weeks before my fall semester begins. This is a "final lap" for me, as I'll be starting my final year of school before I graduate. There's a lot that is upcoming....starting a more permanent career, using my connections in order to hopefully find way to continue ministry in the parks while engaging in ministry. There are a few prospects, so I'm doing a lot of praying as I try to follow God's call for the next steps after all this school subsides.
Blessings to you! I have posted my Photos of the Week. Enjoy!
Monday, July 22, 2013
Sunday Sermons Now Available
Hello!
My latest two sermons are now available on my Summer Sermons link: 6/30, "Touching the Untouchable" and 7/7, "Brotherhood".
My latest two sermons are now available on my Summer Sermons link: 6/30, "Touching the Untouchable" and 7/7, "Brotherhood".
Friday, July 19, 2013
Day 121: Break Away
Hello!
These past three weeks have been filled with a whole lot of work. But Sunday marked a big day for me as I completed most of my school deadlines for the summer semester, marking the start of my summer break! For the past four days, I have hardly even touched my laptop, not even to check emails. It felt so good to break away!
In the midst of all this work these past few weeks, there were some really good things that happened. For starters, Spencer Lundgaard, the executive director for A Christian Ministry in the National Parks (ACMNP), visited KelLee, Jamie, and I to see how we were doing here at Lake Powell. During his visit, he was able to meet with the National Park Service to discuss ways that we could extend word to park visitors about the services. His talk was met with an equal match of support, and we are now allowed to walk through the campgrounds on Saturday night to announce the weekend activities of the campground! Along with this, we're also now allowed to set up more signs for the services; hopefully more visitors will be encouraged to attend! After facing so many closed doors when we first tried to get our services started, this was an enormous encouragement to the team!
Beyond that, after over a month of writing, editing, and formating, I completed my photobook for my seminary project. This book is called "Encountering God on the Trail" and includes lessons from the wilderness regarding spiritual development and walking with God holistically, both physically and spiritually. Along with each chapter there are national park photos that I've taken over the past two years. This book is filled with not only personal stories and lessons I've learned along the way, but also includes stories from Christians throughout the centuries who have also encountered God in the wilderness and how it impacted their lives as well.
I submitted the book to my professor, now I'm going through the book adjusting some things so that it's less "schooly" and more enjoyable for those who want to read it. I've been showing the book to friends and coworkers here at Lake Powell and there has been a lot of positive affirmation regarding the book, as well as requests to read it. After sitting for countless days in the break room working on this project, it feels so nice to relax and hold the finished product in my hand.
Finally, with the semester completed, I've been spending a lot more time exploring and enjoying the area. Jamie, KelLee, several other friends, and I got to go kayaking on the lake. I got to take another trip to Rainbow Bridge, and got to tour Glen Canyon Dam (so awesome!). Along with all this exploration and time in the sunshine, I've been getting a lot more sleep too! This has been such an awesome week!
After putting so much work in these past few weeks, I have enjoyed the blessing of rest. This has been needed; I am so grateful for this transition in my summer. I can now spend a lot more time working with the ministry, exploring, and getting to spend more time with friends and other people here at Lake Powell. Special thanks to those who've been praying for me as I was wrapping up my semester.
I have more photos and stories to tell from these past two weeks, but that will have to wait until next week.
Photos of the past few weeks can be viewed on my Photos of the Week page.
I'll be posting my past two sermons shortly.
These past three weeks have been filled with a whole lot of work. But Sunday marked a big day for me as I completed most of my school deadlines for the summer semester, marking the start of my summer break! For the past four days, I have hardly even touched my laptop, not even to check emails. It felt so good to break away!
In the midst of all this work these past few weeks, there were some really good things that happened. For starters, Spencer Lundgaard, the executive director for A Christian Ministry in the National Parks (ACMNP), visited KelLee, Jamie, and I to see how we were doing here at Lake Powell. During his visit, he was able to meet with the National Park Service to discuss ways that we could extend word to park visitors about the services. His talk was met with an equal match of support, and we are now allowed to walk through the campgrounds on Saturday night to announce the weekend activities of the campground! Along with this, we're also now allowed to set up more signs for the services; hopefully more visitors will be encouraged to attend! After facing so many closed doors when we first tried to get our services started, this was an enormous encouragement to the team!
Beyond that, after over a month of writing, editing, and formating, I completed my photobook for my seminary project. This book is called "Encountering God on the Trail" and includes lessons from the wilderness regarding spiritual development and walking with God holistically, both physically and spiritually. Along with each chapter there are national park photos that I've taken over the past two years. This book is filled with not only personal stories and lessons I've learned along the way, but also includes stories from Christians throughout the centuries who have also encountered God in the wilderness and how it impacted their lives as well.
I submitted the book to my professor, now I'm going through the book adjusting some things so that it's less "schooly" and more enjoyable for those who want to read it. I've been showing the book to friends and coworkers here at Lake Powell and there has been a lot of positive affirmation regarding the book, as well as requests to read it. After sitting for countless days in the break room working on this project, it feels so nice to relax and hold the finished product in my hand.
Finally, with the semester completed, I've been spending a lot more time exploring and enjoying the area. Jamie, KelLee, several other friends, and I got to go kayaking on the lake. I got to take another trip to Rainbow Bridge, and got to tour Glen Canyon Dam (so awesome!). Along with all this exploration and time in the sunshine, I've been getting a lot more sleep too! This has been such an awesome week!
After putting so much work in these past few weeks, I have enjoyed the blessing of rest. This has been needed; I am so grateful for this transition in my summer. I can now spend a lot more time working with the ministry, exploring, and getting to spend more time with friends and other people here at Lake Powell. Special thanks to those who've been praying for me as I was wrapping up my semester.
I have more photos and stories to tell from these past two weeks, but that will have to wait until next week.
Photos of the past few weeks can be viewed on my Photos of the Week page.
I'll be posting my past two sermons shortly.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Day 100: Shine A Light
Hello!
This has been a busy week, which has been fairly normal for the past few months of being here, but this week has been different.
This week has been particularly busy as I am finishing up my school with several projects becoming due. Beyond that, the hotel has been selling out nearly each night this week, making things extra busy as each day is a transition from outgoing guests to incoming guests while trying to get everyone's room ready. I have growing admiration for our housekeeping crew: each housekeeper is expected to complete 18 rooms each day. That is an entire floor in one of our resort's buildings! If someone calls in sick, the rest of the crew has to work double-time to complete not only their floor, but also pitch in to help with the other rooms.
On the arriving guests' end though, the story is much different. They have been on the road for several hours driving through the midday heat to arrive at Lake Powell. Yesterday we had record heat of 107 degrees, and we're expecting today to get even hotter. Everyone is racing from air conditioned cars to shade to air conditioned buildings. When they arrive and discover their room is still being cleaned, even though the guest may have arrived early, that is when the front desk experiences drama: "How long does it take to clean ONE room?!?" The real question being asked is why THEIR room was being attended first, above the other 348 rooms housekeeping attends. This is when I pray for the gift of patience as the front desk crew helps the guest know when their room will be ready.
By the time the evening ends, and all guests have been checked into their rooms, all questions answered, and the restaurants close for the night. The resort is still. Everything is quiet as the afternoon heat dissipates into perfect evening temperatures. The city of Page is a "dark city", where they have reduced light output during the evenings, making the stars light up clearly in the surrounding areas. The summer constellations rule the evening, and the yellow "Super moon" softly illuminates the resort. It is such a peaceful time to experience.
But the night is not over. As I lay in bed preparing to rest, dorm life comes alive with parties, loud music, karaoke, laughter, and shouting. Calling security due to the breach of quiet hours is futile. They'll arrive, give a strict warning, but ten minutes after they're gone, the party resumes. One night this week, the party lasted until 2:00 AM! Waking up at 7:00 the following morning is not so much of a joy. I lay in bed feeling angry over the lack of sleep, wondering how I can minister to these people in the middle of the night. How do I be a light to those people who are keeping me awake? It makes me want to set up a poster that says: "Do you like music? So do we! ...Just not at 1:00 AM!"
By Sunday, I was so tired and frustrated that I tossed aside my schoolbooks and agenda for the day, and simply slept. I laid on my bed watching movies, taking naps, and doing nothing! The next morning, I felt so much better, and accomplished my schoolwork. Monday night...another party.
I awoke with soft, early sunlight after five hours of sleep. I got up and ran out the door. I needed to get away. For the next four hours, I went to a nearby slot canyon and did photography. Guides had been telling me that morning was the best light for this particular canyon, and they were right! It was so incredibly beautiful! My photography pass was only for two hours, but one of the guides allowed me to stay an extra hour! Within that period, shafts of light began to break into the canyon, making for some incredible photographs. The canyon wasn't static, but with the light, each minute the canyon seemed to change as the shifting light changed the colors and shadows of the place. It was mesmerizing to experience.
As I stood watching one of these shafts of light slowly change its shape, God met me. Light simply is. It doesn't have to make a special performance or try to bend its rays into odd shapes. It simply shines and everything is illuminated and made beautiful simply because it's there. I prayed that God would help be that kind of light.
....Since then, this busy week hasn't been as stressful.
Blessings on your week!
Photos from the slot canyon are available on my Photos of the Week page.
This has been a busy week, which has been fairly normal for the past few months of being here, but this week has been different.
This week has been particularly busy as I am finishing up my school with several projects becoming due. Beyond that, the hotel has been selling out nearly each night this week, making things extra busy as each day is a transition from outgoing guests to incoming guests while trying to get everyone's room ready. I have growing admiration for our housekeeping crew: each housekeeper is expected to complete 18 rooms each day. That is an entire floor in one of our resort's buildings! If someone calls in sick, the rest of the crew has to work double-time to complete not only their floor, but also pitch in to help with the other rooms.
On the arriving guests' end though, the story is much different. They have been on the road for several hours driving through the midday heat to arrive at Lake Powell. Yesterday we had record heat of 107 degrees, and we're expecting today to get even hotter. Everyone is racing from air conditioned cars to shade to air conditioned buildings. When they arrive and discover their room is still being cleaned, even though the guest may have arrived early, that is when the front desk experiences drama: "How long does it take to clean ONE room?!?" The real question being asked is why THEIR room was being attended first, above the other 348 rooms housekeeping attends. This is when I pray for the gift of patience as the front desk crew helps the guest know when their room will be ready.
By the time the evening ends, and all guests have been checked into their rooms, all questions answered, and the restaurants close for the night. The resort is still. Everything is quiet as the afternoon heat dissipates into perfect evening temperatures. The city of Page is a "dark city", where they have reduced light output during the evenings, making the stars light up clearly in the surrounding areas. The summer constellations rule the evening, and the yellow "Super moon" softly illuminates the resort. It is such a peaceful time to experience.
But the night is not over. As I lay in bed preparing to rest, dorm life comes alive with parties, loud music, karaoke, laughter, and shouting. Calling security due to the breach of quiet hours is futile. They'll arrive, give a strict warning, but ten minutes after they're gone, the party resumes. One night this week, the party lasted until 2:00 AM! Waking up at 7:00 the following morning is not so much of a joy. I lay in bed feeling angry over the lack of sleep, wondering how I can minister to these people in the middle of the night. How do I be a light to those people who are keeping me awake? It makes me want to set up a poster that says: "Do you like music? So do we! ...Just not at 1:00 AM!"
By Sunday, I was so tired and frustrated that I tossed aside my schoolbooks and agenda for the day, and simply slept. I laid on my bed watching movies, taking naps, and doing nothing! The next morning, I felt so much better, and accomplished my schoolwork. Monday night...another party.
I awoke with soft, early sunlight after five hours of sleep. I got up and ran out the door. I needed to get away. For the next four hours, I went to a nearby slot canyon and did photography. Guides had been telling me that morning was the best light for this particular canyon, and they were right! It was so incredibly beautiful! My photography pass was only for two hours, but one of the guides allowed me to stay an extra hour! Within that period, shafts of light began to break into the canyon, making for some incredible photographs. The canyon wasn't static, but with the light, each minute the canyon seemed to change as the shifting light changed the colors and shadows of the place. It was mesmerizing to experience.
As I stood watching one of these shafts of light slowly change its shape, God met me. Light simply is. It doesn't have to make a special performance or try to bend its rays into odd shapes. It simply shines and everything is illuminated and made beautiful simply because it's there. I prayed that God would help be that kind of light.
....Since then, this busy week hasn't been as stressful.
Blessings on your week!
Photos from the slot canyon are available on my Photos of the Week page.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Day 93: Three-Month Review
Hello!
It's unbelievable that three months ago my roommate and I loaded up my Subaru and started out from Newberg. What is even more incredible to believe is that during a regular summer, my three-month marker would be in August, just a couple of weeks before I would return to Oregon. This year, I am not even half-way through my summer commitment! It is such a blessing to have an extended season amidst school; it allows me to explore the area in slower increments whereas my summer would otherwise be spent only studying. I am so grateful that God opened the door for me to be here.
This week's post will be short, as I'm in the middle of my final school crunch. I'm trying to complete a school assignment.
Yesterday there was a fatality on Lake Powell. A powerboat carrying 13 people crashed into a houseboat and flipped, killing one, and two are still missing. Two were critically injured, but the rest of those on the powerboat had only minor injuries. The ministry team here has been praying for these families as they've been facing such loss in the midst of vacation. As a front desk worker, the day was spent having to protect the families staying at the resort involved in the wreck. News crews arrived, families were calling trying to find out if their vacationing family were the ones in the crash, and others canceling their reservations for the hotel.
My hard moment for me came when a man checked into the hotel after a week on a houseboat. His houseboat was nearly hit in the collision and he witnessed the wreck. He was able to immediately respond and helped pull children out of the water while waiting for emergency crews arrived. This man's willingness to step in during an emergency was pure courage, and God's provision during this tragedy.
This is the second death that has occurred on Lake Powell since I've arrived. The other death happened three weeks ago when a swimmer drowned in deep water near Glen Canyon Dam. There is an intrinsic tension between safety and danger--to be out exploring means exposure to danger. While preparation helps reduce risk, the danger is never extinguished. Last summer in Yellowstone, there were over 7 deaths...some from negligence, others from failing to heed the warnings about the hot springs, or not to approach the wildlife. Here at Lake Powell though, where people come for the water and are away from land in order to explore the area, that tension becomes even more precarious.
So on this three-month marker, considering all God has done over the past 93 days, there is great joy in the blessings He has done, but there is also the awareness of the call of God to touch people with His love here and now.
Blessings on your week.
It's unbelievable that three months ago my roommate and I loaded up my Subaru and started out from Newberg. What is even more incredible to believe is that during a regular summer, my three-month marker would be in August, just a couple of weeks before I would return to Oregon. This year, I am not even half-way through my summer commitment! It is such a blessing to have an extended season amidst school; it allows me to explore the area in slower increments whereas my summer would otherwise be spent only studying. I am so grateful that God opened the door for me to be here.
This week's post will be short, as I'm in the middle of my final school crunch. I'm trying to complete a school assignment.
Yesterday there was a fatality on Lake Powell. A powerboat carrying 13 people crashed into a houseboat and flipped, killing one, and two are still missing. Two were critically injured, but the rest of those on the powerboat had only minor injuries. The ministry team here has been praying for these families as they've been facing such loss in the midst of vacation. As a front desk worker, the day was spent having to protect the families staying at the resort involved in the wreck. News crews arrived, families were calling trying to find out if their vacationing family were the ones in the crash, and others canceling their reservations for the hotel.
My hard moment for me came when a man checked into the hotel after a week on a houseboat. His houseboat was nearly hit in the collision and he witnessed the wreck. He was able to immediately respond and helped pull children out of the water while waiting for emergency crews arrived. This man's willingness to step in during an emergency was pure courage, and God's provision during this tragedy.
This is the second death that has occurred on Lake Powell since I've arrived. The other death happened three weeks ago when a swimmer drowned in deep water near Glen Canyon Dam. There is an intrinsic tension between safety and danger--to be out exploring means exposure to danger. While preparation helps reduce risk, the danger is never extinguished. Last summer in Yellowstone, there were over 7 deaths...some from negligence, others from failing to heed the warnings about the hot springs, or not to approach the wildlife. Here at Lake Powell though, where people come for the water and are away from land in order to explore the area, that tension becomes even more precarious.
So on this three-month marker, considering all God has done over the past 93 days, there is great joy in the blessings He has done, but there is also the awareness of the call of God to touch people with His love here and now.
Blessings on your week.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Day 82: Profiles
Hello!
It's been a good week. I'm getting start to really know my coworkers at the front desk and we've been able to have some good conversations during our slow periods while waiting for guests. Last week, one of our front desk leads was let go (for reasons unknown), so the front desk crew has been reeling from the shock of this loss. People coming and going is regular around park resorts...people are fired or quit throughout the summer because the work situation is too difficult, living in employee dorms turns into a nightmare, or someone does something that incurs termination, but in this particular case, this was unexpected. Because of this though, the front desk crew has bonded a lot more with each other in the process.
In the midst of a typical week, I had an experience a few days ago that has stuck with me. A few doors down the dorm hall from where I live is a middle-aged Navajo who works at the resort. I've gotten to talk with him a few other times, but on this particular day, I was just returning from work--still in my uniform of a white dress shirt and black slacks, when he began to ask me about the white-man's world. One of his questions has stuck to me like a cactus needle that you can't pull out: "What more do you white people want?" The Navajo they have incurred so much oppression by white Americans--this particular man had to forcibly attend white schools, forced to learn to speak English at the expense of his native tongue, had several instances of being extensively beaten by gangs of white men, and as he lives here in the dorms he is treated with a level of indifference by the college students of the dorm hall who do not understand the history of what happened here between white Americans and the Navajo people. To them, he's a man who's out of touch with having a good time and enjoying life.
When I first asked to be stationed here at Lake Powell, I knew I was walking into a territory with an extended history of pain, manipulation, abuse, and exploitation. Having grown up near the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, I have a familiarity with this deep rift between Americans and Natives, and in my case, it's a double-whammy due to the number of instances when the suffering of the natives occurred in the name of Christianity and Christianity's God. Now, I am here as a white, Christian American standing in front of a man who asks with teary eyes, "What more do you want from us?" My heart ached for this man.
It's amazing how many profiles I fit into as a white, American male, 5'10", who is a bit of a loner. I fit the same profile as the majority of rapists and school shooters inside the United States. Socially, I fit the same profile as those who instigated slavery in America, upheld discrimination against women, promoted materialism at the expense of unjust labor laws in other countries, and financially support those tyrants and military coups that dictate those nations, and enjoy an abundance of food while other parts of the world are starving because their food is sent here. With European roots, I share with those who instigated the slaughter of Jews and Apartheid. As a Christian, I fit the profile of those groups who fought in the Crusades, suppressed Native Americans (both North America and South America), and promoted the dominance of Christendom as a social movement throughout the world.
For those who know me, they can readily say that my history is so different than that; but in the eyes of those who have been raped, exploited, enslaved, molested, manipulated, suppressed, starved, banished, abused, or spiritually condemned, as a white, male, American Christian, I am that guilty person.
I am not saying this in protest, trying to prove my innocence and un-involvement in all of this; rather, to talk about healing. When the prophet described God's servant who was to come, he described an image of Someone who brought healing in His wings, except that healing comes at a personal cost--the healing that would be extended to others would be through the suffering of the Healer himself: "By his stripes we are healed". The Healer had to be touched by the prostitute--a degrading act in Jesus' culture. The healer would have to spend time with the outcasts and hated--and be rejected by His people because of it. He would have to touch the lepers and the contagious for them to receive wholeness. Though Jesus could claim His innocence in the midst of accusations for being a drunk, glutton, demoniac, madman, and revolutionary, His profile and repuation stood against Him. He was more ready for it to be said of Him, "This man eats and drinks with sinners", than to lose the chance to bring healing into another person's life. To bring healing to the world, Jesus had to spend time with the sick.
Back in 2003, when I served with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), we would perform a play called "Ragman". In this play, the Christ figure looks out upon a variety of people suffering hurt--emotional, physical, mental, deprivation, and more. For the man who limped from a clubbed foot, Jesus gave healing by taking on this man's clubbed foot. For the rest of the play, Jesus limped. After healing a blind person, Jesus walked blind. After feeding a starving person, Jesus starved. After healing a woman filled with sorrow, Jesus wept. Finally, in raising a man back to life, Jesus himself died. However, within Jesus' death there was also resurrection. By taking the pain, by taking the accusation, by taking the shame to His death, Jesus introduced new life into those He touched--and in the process, He conquered the pain he had incurred while bringing healing to others. Pain isn't easy to accept when one isn't the rightful recipient of it (even then, it still isn't easy). Everything says that this pain is undeserved and unnatural; however, in extending a love that incurs pain, we also expose ourselves to the One who can bring resurrection.
So standing before this Navajo who keeps asking, "What more do you want?" I had the ability to vindicate myself of his accusations, claiming my history clean of the atrocities incurred by him and his people. But this would do nothing towards building a bridge of trust and healing with this man. As a white, Christian, American male, there are so many bridges that have been burnt that disconnect the two of us. To build a bridge to reach him, to try to help bring reconciliation and healing to this man, it means that I must stand as the accused, ready to incur the weight and depth of his hurt, in order to show Him God's love in a way that he has never experienced before.
"What more do you want?" Your healing.
My sermons from the past two weeks are now available on my Summer Sermon page, and Photos of the Week are also available.
Blessings!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Day 76: Making Waves
Hello!
This week was filled with so many blessings. With Memorial Day past us, the hotel slowed down considerably, giving me a few days to work at a slower pace. Sunday's service went very well...this was the first service the ministry got to work together as a whole team, and we were able to work together very well.
Probably the best blessing for the week was the unexpected opportunity to get out onto Lake Powell several times. As I was leaving work this weekend, I got the opportunity to help a man launch his powerboat during his visit to Lake Powell. In appreciation, he took me out on his boat to see some more of Lake Powell: Castle Rock, Ice Cream Canyon, Lone Rock, and more of the main channel around Glen Canyon Dam. This was a great chance to break away and enjoy some recreation and relaxation, swim in the lake, and enjoy time in the sun after the stress of the past few weeks. It was an unexpected gift from God, and I now feel rejuvenated for all my work ahead this week.
This week during our ACMNP team meeting, I talked with my team about listening to God to give us vision for the summer ahead. For the years I have worked with this ministry, it seems that each year bears a particular theme and a correlating area of ministry within the park. One year, my summer was spent primarily with a man from China who had never read a Bible before and was filled with questions about God and faith. Another year was spent focusing on developing my leadership skills as I worked with other ministry leaders inside the park. Each year has been different, and it's been incredible to watch how God orchestrates each year. Already, I've been watching my teammate, KelLee, making friendships with the people within her dorm and hanging out with them. They're seeing her as someone they can be real with, and in return, they know she is being real with them in her faith and friendship.
This Sunday service was unique. No one attended the service at the campground. We waited around, but finally packed up to leave. As we reached the parking lot, a man rode up on his bike asking if he had missed the service. We set back up, sat together in the shade, and shared worship and the Scriptures together. It was encouraging that in the midst of was seemed to be a "no-show" Sunday, God led someone to join us. This blessed us so much!
This week God has been showing me how much of this ministry occurs within my daily routine of work, studies, meals, and sleep. If I remain open to God's direction, He will provide for me in ways I could not anticipate and open doors I hadn't planned on. He asks us to remain open and aware of His presence within my life, and through that openness, I discover His guidance that exceeds what I can muster together. I never expected to be out on the lake relaxing and enjoying my afternoon, but in spending time out there, I began to see how much I was needing God's replenishment and His willingness to give me this time away.
Photos of the week are now available, and I'll be posting a link to Sunday's sermon soon.
Blessings to you in your week ahead.
This week was filled with so many blessings. With Memorial Day past us, the hotel slowed down considerably, giving me a few days to work at a slower pace. Sunday's service went very well...this was the first service the ministry got to work together as a whole team, and we were able to work together very well.
Probably the best blessing for the week was the unexpected opportunity to get out onto Lake Powell several times. As I was leaving work this weekend, I got the opportunity to help a man launch his powerboat during his visit to Lake Powell. In appreciation, he took me out on his boat to see some more of Lake Powell: Castle Rock, Ice Cream Canyon, Lone Rock, and more of the main channel around Glen Canyon Dam. This was a great chance to break away and enjoy some recreation and relaxation, swim in the lake, and enjoy time in the sun after the stress of the past few weeks. It was an unexpected gift from God, and I now feel rejuvenated for all my work ahead this week.
This week during our ACMNP team meeting, I talked with my team about listening to God to give us vision for the summer ahead. For the years I have worked with this ministry, it seems that each year bears a particular theme and a correlating area of ministry within the park. One year, my summer was spent primarily with a man from China who had never read a Bible before and was filled with questions about God and faith. Another year was spent focusing on developing my leadership skills as I worked with other ministry leaders inside the park. Each year has been different, and it's been incredible to watch how God orchestrates each year. Already, I've been watching my teammate, KelLee, making friendships with the people within her dorm and hanging out with them. They're seeing her as someone they can be real with, and in return, they know she is being real with them in her faith and friendship.
This Sunday service was unique. No one attended the service at the campground. We waited around, but finally packed up to leave. As we reached the parking lot, a man rode up on his bike asking if he had missed the service. We set back up, sat together in the shade, and shared worship and the Scriptures together. It was encouraging that in the midst of was seemed to be a "no-show" Sunday, God led someone to join us. This blessed us so much!
This week God has been showing me how much of this ministry occurs within my daily routine of work, studies, meals, and sleep. If I remain open to God's direction, He will provide for me in ways I could not anticipate and open doors I hadn't planned on. He asks us to remain open and aware of His presence within my life, and through that openness, I discover His guidance that exceeds what I can muster together. I never expected to be out on the lake relaxing and enjoying my afternoon, but in spending time out there, I began to see how much I was needing God's replenishment and His willingness to give me this time away.
Photos of the week are now available, and I'll be posting a link to Sunday's sermon soon.
Blessings to you in your week ahead.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Day 68: Limitation
Hello!
Happy Memorial Day!
...I have a lot of venting to do, but I promise it's leading to a point...
This week has been crazy trying to secure a location for our church services. Thankfully, the National Park Service expedited our campground amphitheater permit request and helped us secure a place for our summer services. This was an enormous blessing to us, but it required a lot of time preparing for our first service, particularly spreading advertising for the services both Friday and Saturday evening.
In the midst of this, we've encountered a couple limitations in the forms of advertising we're allowed to do. In this location, we are not allowed to go "campground calling", where our team walks the campground informing park visitors of the weekend activities of the resort (it is how we are allowed to inform people of our Sunday worship service). In addition to this, we are not able to advertise our services through posters or notices in public spaces either. I have worked in two other national parks where we had similar situations. In such a situation, we're allowed to put signs up in designated employee areas--in informing the staff about our services, inquiring guests can hear about these services, along with offering these services to the employees as well.
In the midst of this, my weekend was complicated with a lack of Internet. As more employees are arriving, access to Internet is also diminishing. I haven't had an Internet signal since Thursday night in the park...I'm making this post at the Safeway Starbucks in town.
After a long day of work on Friday and running around the resort putting up advertising for the services, I was spent; yet I could not readily fall asleep because my mind was racing and the full moon shone beckoned me to spend time outdoors walking. As I walked in the lunar illumination, all my frustrations, fears, doubts, and struggles started pouring out in prayer. Though everything turned out well for the ministry team and for the week in general, I was overwhelmed by voices of failure and discouragement--everything this week seemed to come only through struggle and forcing ends to meet. I prayed that God would show me a way in the midst of my struggling week.
When I awoke the next morning, my discouragement was turning into despair; my daily devotions was met with voices criticizing the verses I read, stripping them of the promises they held for me. It was here that I recognized that this despair was not my own; I wanted to trust God and believe His promise, but was lacking in strength. As I prayed for hope, I began to flip the pages of my Bible to my daily reading, and immediately the pages opened to Jeremiah 29:11: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord; 'plans to prosper you and give you a hope and a future. Then you will search for Me and find Me.'"This was a moment that filled me with affirmation of God's plan in all of this struggle--that I can trust that in the mist of my frustration He is doing a work here at the resort that I don't yet see.
Sunday turned out well spent. KelLee and I held our first service at the campground amphitheater with three others joining--two other employees and one local. I was thrilled that even with such little advertising and short notice, we were still able to launch the summer's services with a good start.
This morning, I again opened up my Bible and continued my regular Bible reading; I'm currently reading through the Gospel of Mark. Here, Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth where the locals rejected Jesus' ministering--they were too familiar with Jesus as a local boy and the "illegitimate child" of Mary. They couldn't really see him as anything else, and therefore Jesus wasn't able to minister much to them. The passage finishes by saying that Jesus couldn't do much because of their unbelief. Here's a great example of the phrase, "Familiarity breeds contempt". In pondering the passage, wondering if I would be one of the ones who would limit Jesus because I was too familiar with who I expected Jesus to be that I wasn't able to see Him as anything more.
While pondering this, the question was reversed: am I too familiar with my own self--my own struggles, doubts, fears, past, and limitations--that I don't believe God can do anything more in my life than what I deem myself capable of doing? Do I limit God ministering through me because I don't believe He can do more than I can physically and willfully muster? If I release my expectations of my own self and what I think I am personally capable of accomplishing...maybe I can release God to do so much more through me.
This has been a shot of hope to me today. I wanted to pass this along with a prayer that each of us can take God's promise, "Call upon Me and I will show you great and mighty things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
A recording of this Sunday's sermon at the campground is available on my Summer Sermons page.
Due to the amount of preparation this week required for Sunday's service, I wasn't able to get any new photos for the week. Sorry.
Enjoy your week!
Happy Memorial Day!
...I have a lot of venting to do, but I promise it's leading to a point...
This week has been crazy trying to secure a location for our church services. Thankfully, the National Park Service expedited our campground amphitheater permit request and helped us secure a place for our summer services. This was an enormous blessing to us, but it required a lot of time preparing for our first service, particularly spreading advertising for the services both Friday and Saturday evening.
In the midst of this, we've encountered a couple limitations in the forms of advertising we're allowed to do. In this location, we are not allowed to go "campground calling", where our team walks the campground informing park visitors of the weekend activities of the resort (it is how we are allowed to inform people of our Sunday worship service). In addition to this, we are not able to advertise our services through posters or notices in public spaces either. I have worked in two other national parks where we had similar situations. In such a situation, we're allowed to put signs up in designated employee areas--in informing the staff about our services, inquiring guests can hear about these services, along with offering these services to the employees as well.
In the midst of this, my weekend was complicated with a lack of Internet. As more employees are arriving, access to Internet is also diminishing. I haven't had an Internet signal since Thursday night in the park...I'm making this post at the Safeway Starbucks in town.
After a long day of work on Friday and running around the resort putting up advertising for the services, I was spent; yet I could not readily fall asleep because my mind was racing and the full moon shone beckoned me to spend time outdoors walking. As I walked in the lunar illumination, all my frustrations, fears, doubts, and struggles started pouring out in prayer. Though everything turned out well for the ministry team and for the week in general, I was overwhelmed by voices of failure and discouragement--everything this week seemed to come only through struggle and forcing ends to meet. I prayed that God would show me a way in the midst of my struggling week.
When I awoke the next morning, my discouragement was turning into despair; my daily devotions was met with voices criticizing the verses I read, stripping them of the promises they held for me. It was here that I recognized that this despair was not my own; I wanted to trust God and believe His promise, but was lacking in strength. As I prayed for hope, I began to flip the pages of my Bible to my daily reading, and immediately the pages opened to Jeremiah 29:11: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord; 'plans to prosper you and give you a hope and a future. Then you will search for Me and find Me.'"This was a moment that filled me with affirmation of God's plan in all of this struggle--that I can trust that in the mist of my frustration He is doing a work here at the resort that I don't yet see.
Sunday turned out well spent. KelLee and I held our first service at the campground amphitheater with three others joining--two other employees and one local. I was thrilled that even with such little advertising and short notice, we were still able to launch the summer's services with a good start.
This morning, I again opened up my Bible and continued my regular Bible reading; I'm currently reading through the Gospel of Mark. Here, Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth where the locals rejected Jesus' ministering--they were too familiar with Jesus as a local boy and the "illegitimate child" of Mary. They couldn't really see him as anything else, and therefore Jesus wasn't able to minister much to them. The passage finishes by saying that Jesus couldn't do much because of their unbelief. Here's a great example of the phrase, "Familiarity breeds contempt". In pondering the passage, wondering if I would be one of the ones who would limit Jesus because I was too familiar with who I expected Jesus to be that I wasn't able to see Him as anything more.
While pondering this, the question was reversed: am I too familiar with my own self--my own struggles, doubts, fears, past, and limitations--that I don't believe God can do anything more in my life than what I deem myself capable of doing? Do I limit God ministering through me because I don't believe He can do more than I can physically and willfully muster? If I release my expectations of my own self and what I think I am personally capable of accomplishing...maybe I can release God to do so much more through me.
This has been a shot of hope to me today. I wanted to pass this along with a prayer that each of us can take God's promise, "Call upon Me and I will show you great and mighty things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
A recording of this Sunday's sermon at the campground is available on my Summer Sermons page.
Due to the amount of preparation this week required for Sunday's service, I wasn't able to get any new photos for the week. Sorry.
Enjoy your week!
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Day 63: Crosses: Some Assembly Required
Hello!
This week has been filled with an accumulation of busyness and frustrations: trying to help dissatisfied customers, keeping pace with the increasing number of guests checking in each night, keeping up with school, trying to complete arrangements for the ministry team's Sunday services, and trying to make time for resting.
In the midst of this, some great progress was made. My entire week was worthwhile when ACMNP received its final approval for our service location. We got the location we hoped for, at the time we hoped for. Furthermore, the first of my two ACMNP teammates arrived on Sunday. Her name is KelLee, and she is from Pennsylvania. This is her first year with ACMNP. She has jumped in to the ministry with both feet as we've been preparing for our first service this upcoming Sunday.
With our location secure, I spent the past two days preparing advertising to spread around the resort for both employees and guests. As this is a new location for the ministry, there are several additional details that we're having to do to prepare. One of them, as it turned out, was that we needed a cross for the services. In all the years that I've in ministry, I don't think I've ever needed to produce a cross for a ministry. They all came with the ministry, and I didn't have find a way to get one. This recognition made the task seem so much more special. I gathered the supplies needed to assemble, glue, paint, seal, and nail...yes, nail...my cross together.
Nailing my cross together was a bit surreal. I have experienced "surrender services", where I am suppose to write down a sin, burden, or idol in my life onto a piece of paper and nail that paper onto a wooden cross to symbolize Jesus taking it all upon Himself when He died upon the cross. I have also experienced role playing with drama teams in plazas, churches, or parks in which I have played the Christ figure and have had the other dramatists "crucify" me on a cross in these plays. Having lived so closely to crosses all of my life, the act of building a cross shouldn't seem all that much different, but it did.
When I think of nailing a cross, I instantly picture Jesus' crucifixion and the nails used upon His hands and feet, not the image of a carpenter assembling two beams of wood in full recognition of the product's intended purpose. But that is what struck me in doing this--Jesus once told his disciples that following Him meant taking up a cross. Often this scripture is read figuratively, indicating something we must surrender or die to in order to follow Christ, but for the disciples...as well as millions of Christians throughout the centuries, this figurative word becomes literal in martyrdom. Within this, were the disciples aware that in following Jesus, their cross needed assembly? Their crosses weren't pre-fabricated; instead, their acts of ministry and words of good news were eventually pieced together to form the fibers, grain, knots, and beams that would eventually result in their own martyrdom. In building a cross this week, I was struck with the question of whether I would be willing to surrender myself on the very cross I was constructing to serve within ministry here (my cross is very small in size, but the thought remains true). The thought makes the realization of Jesus' sacrifice all the more weighty. Jesus assembled His own figurative cross through three years of ministry and took it to Jerusalem knowing He would be crucified upon an actual one caused by his ministry. There were easier ways to choose, or abandon the idea entirely; yet Jesus chose to His cross.
Thoughts about what it means to bear one's cross quickly became very poignant. After spending my morning designing and distributing advertising for Sunday's services, I was informed that we would not be allowed to hold these services in this location. After spending weeks trying to get this location approved, the plug was pulled, and we went back to starting our search again. I then had to walk through the resort pulling my signs, contact ACMNP about the situation, and try to figure out an alternative solution. To top this off, after weeks of preparation to launch a Tuesday night Bible study, no one arrived for the starting night. It wasn't a good complement to the day I was having.
In the midst of disappointment and frustration, I considered cross-bearing. There are so many easier ways to spend my summer; there are so many other things I could be doing. Even complaining seems like an easier alternative to remaining steadfast to submitting to God, trusting that He has a plan in the midst of this. I didn't realize that cross-bearing in this situation was found with assembling the details, logistics, and preparations of getting this ministry launched at this location.
In the midst of my frustration though, God provided grace. As I was completing the paperwork to hold Sunday services at another location, our application was expedited even though, as the front desk worker informed me, the manager was currently swamped with work. That this manager would take time out to review our application so quickly meant a lot to me. We should hear the results of our application within the next few days, and if all goes well, KelLee and I will be on track for launching Sunday services this weekend.
Please pray for us as we try to complete the logistics for this location, and that I will be given grace to endure while learning to bear my cross.
Very few photos of the week due to my busyness, but are available.
Blessings!In the midst of disappointment and frustration, I considered cross-bearing. The
This week has been filled with an accumulation of busyness and frustrations: trying to help dissatisfied customers, keeping pace with the increasing number of guests checking in each night, keeping up with school, trying to complete arrangements for the ministry team's Sunday services, and trying to make time for resting.
In the midst of this, some great progress was made. My entire week was worthwhile when ACMNP received its final approval for our service location. We got the location we hoped for, at the time we hoped for. Furthermore, the first of my two ACMNP teammates arrived on Sunday. Her name is KelLee, and she is from Pennsylvania. This is her first year with ACMNP. She has jumped in to the ministry with both feet as we've been preparing for our first service this upcoming Sunday.
With our location secure, I spent the past two days preparing advertising to spread around the resort for both employees and guests. As this is a new location for the ministry, there are several additional details that we're having to do to prepare. One of them, as it turned out, was that we needed a cross for the services. In all the years that I've in ministry, I don't think I've ever needed to produce a cross for a ministry. They all came with the ministry, and I didn't have find a way to get one. This recognition made the task seem so much more special. I gathered the supplies needed to assemble, glue, paint, seal, and nail...yes, nail...my cross together.
Nailing my cross together was a bit surreal. I have experienced "surrender services", where I am suppose to write down a sin, burden, or idol in my life onto a piece of paper and nail that paper onto a wooden cross to symbolize Jesus taking it all upon Himself when He died upon the cross. I have also experienced role playing with drama teams in plazas, churches, or parks in which I have played the Christ figure and have had the other dramatists "crucify" me on a cross in these plays. Having lived so closely to crosses all of my life, the act of building a cross shouldn't seem all that much different, but it did.
When I think of nailing a cross, I instantly picture Jesus' crucifixion and the nails used upon His hands and feet, not the image of a carpenter assembling two beams of wood in full recognition of the product's intended purpose. But that is what struck me in doing this--Jesus once told his disciples that following Him meant taking up a cross. Often this scripture is read figuratively, indicating something we must surrender or die to in order to follow Christ, but for the disciples...as well as millions of Christians throughout the centuries, this figurative word becomes literal in martyrdom. Within this, were the disciples aware that in following Jesus, their cross needed assembly? Their crosses weren't pre-fabricated; instead, their acts of ministry and words of good news were eventually pieced together to form the fibers, grain, knots, and beams that would eventually result in their own martyrdom. In building a cross this week, I was struck with the question of whether I would be willing to surrender myself on the very cross I was constructing to serve within ministry here (my cross is very small in size, but the thought remains true). The thought makes the realization of Jesus' sacrifice all the more weighty. Jesus assembled His own figurative cross through three years of ministry and took it to Jerusalem knowing He would be crucified upon an actual one caused by his ministry. There were easier ways to choose, or abandon the idea entirely; yet Jesus chose to His cross.
Thoughts about what it means to bear one's cross quickly became very poignant. After spending my morning designing and distributing advertising for Sunday's services, I was informed that we would not be allowed to hold these services in this location. After spending weeks trying to get this location approved, the plug was pulled, and we went back to starting our search again. I then had to walk through the resort pulling my signs, contact ACMNP about the situation, and try to figure out an alternative solution. To top this off, after weeks of preparation to launch a Tuesday night Bible study, no one arrived for the starting night. It wasn't a good complement to the day I was having.
In the midst of disappointment and frustration, I considered cross-bearing. There are so many easier ways to spend my summer; there are so many other things I could be doing. Even complaining seems like an easier alternative to remaining steadfast to submitting to God, trusting that He has a plan in the midst of this. I didn't realize that cross-bearing in this situation was found with assembling the details, logistics, and preparations of getting this ministry launched at this location.
In the midst of my frustration though, God provided grace. As I was completing the paperwork to hold Sunday services at another location, our application was expedited even though, as the front desk worker informed me, the manager was currently swamped with work. That this manager would take time out to review our application so quickly meant a lot to me. We should hear the results of our application within the next few days, and if all goes well, KelLee and I will be on track for launching Sunday services this weekend.
Please pray for us as we try to complete the logistics for this location, and that I will be given grace to endure while learning to bear my cross.
Very few photos of the week due to my busyness, but are available.
Blessings!In the midst of disappointment and frustration, I considered cross-bearing. The
Monday, May 13, 2013
Day 55: Remember To Buy Postcards
Hello!
The season is picking up. I am grateful that the season has been slow enough to this point that I have been able to build a rhythm before the full season ensues. Now that I have most of the basics of the front desk covered and familiar, I've been challenging myself to start remembering guests' names. It's amazing how people respond when they hear their name spoken to them the next day--it's the feeling that someone went out of their way to make sure they remembered you. Guests are now coming to the front desk, and in several occasions, they've waited specifically for me to help them. This in turn is a big boost for me.
Even though this sounds idyllic, remembering everyone's name is difficult. Most of the time, I'll remember one's face, but not their name. Several times I've made the mistake of crossing people's names as well, so I'm aiming for accuracy in the midst of this. While I'm struggling to remember a name, the guests are usually gracious, but sometimes I'll get an annoyed look instead that seems to say, "The name is Smith. It's always been Smith." This is when saying "Hey you!" seems to be a very attractive alternative.
This week I celebrated a milestone: I sent out my 200th postcard of the year! I really should setup a PayPal account with a note saying, "Want a postcard? Chip in a buck." On an average week I send 10-15 postcards, and sometimes I'll do 25-30. Normally, I pass the 200 postcard mark in mid-August when I am preparing to return home; so I'm curious to see how many will be sent total. I started doing postcards my first year at Zion National Park. Having so many friends and family back in the Pacific Northwest, buying souvenirs for everyone is impractical for a college student, so instead I send postcards. It helps people participate vicariously in my summer experience, doesn't take too much time, and is far less expensive than getting a small trinket no one would use upon my return. Within my list of people I regularly send postcards to, this week I discovered that I kept making an address error to one particular person (Sorry, Mom). After five years of postcards, how in the world could I forget her address? How many times do I flip through my address book trying to remember my sister's new address when I've written it on these postcards for the past three weeks?
As the rainstorms have passed further east, I was able to grab my guitar last week and watch the sunset. I am loving Lake Powell because of the incredible sunsets we're getting here! The red rocks glow in the lingering light, followed by intensely fuchsia clouds. I was fiddling through songs, trying to remember the chords to play for each of them; often I would stop mid-song because I couldn't remember any more. In the midst of my plucking and trying to complete a song, I started plucking my guitar strings..."I have a Maker, He formed my heart. Before even time began my life was in His hands." As the song progressed, I no longer struggled to remember the chords; each new chord came naturally as I continued singing, "He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls and He hears me when I call".
What a contrast--I am always struggling with connecting names with faces, trying to remember people's new addresses, or even trying to pluck the right chords to songs that I have sung repeatedly hundreds of times, but before the world was even formed, God knows my name. I don't have to be afraid that He might've forgotten me or that He has more important things to keep in the forefront of His mind. He knows me, my doubts, my worries, my struggles, and my fears. Unlike the hotel guests who have to bring me up to date on their situation before I can engage and respond to these people, I can trust that He knows and that He cares.
This was a incredible word of encouragement to me this week. I hope it blesses your week too.
Photos of the week are now available on the Photos of the Week page. These pictures are from a nearby slot canyon on the Navajo Nation. It is so incredibly beautiful!
Blessings!
The season is picking up. I am grateful that the season has been slow enough to this point that I have been able to build a rhythm before the full season ensues. Now that I have most of the basics of the front desk covered and familiar, I've been challenging myself to start remembering guests' names. It's amazing how people respond when they hear their name spoken to them the next day--it's the feeling that someone went out of their way to make sure they remembered you. Guests are now coming to the front desk, and in several occasions, they've waited specifically for me to help them. This in turn is a big boost for me.
Even though this sounds idyllic, remembering everyone's name is difficult. Most of the time, I'll remember one's face, but not their name. Several times I've made the mistake of crossing people's names as well, so I'm aiming for accuracy in the midst of this. While I'm struggling to remember a name, the guests are usually gracious, but sometimes I'll get an annoyed look instead that seems to say, "The name is Smith. It's always been Smith." This is when saying "Hey you!" seems to be a very attractive alternative.
This week I celebrated a milestone: I sent out my 200th postcard of the year! I really should setup a PayPal account with a note saying, "Want a postcard? Chip in a buck." On an average week I send 10-15 postcards, and sometimes I'll do 25-30. Normally, I pass the 200 postcard mark in mid-August when I am preparing to return home; so I'm curious to see how many will be sent total. I started doing postcards my first year at Zion National Park. Having so many friends and family back in the Pacific Northwest, buying souvenirs for everyone is impractical for a college student, so instead I send postcards. It helps people participate vicariously in my summer experience, doesn't take too much time, and is far less expensive than getting a small trinket no one would use upon my return. Within my list of people I regularly send postcards to, this week I discovered that I kept making an address error to one particular person (Sorry, Mom). After five years of postcards, how in the world could I forget her address? How many times do I flip through my address book trying to remember my sister's new address when I've written it on these postcards for the past three weeks?
As the rainstorms have passed further east, I was able to grab my guitar last week and watch the sunset. I am loving Lake Powell because of the incredible sunsets we're getting here! The red rocks glow in the lingering light, followed by intensely fuchsia clouds. I was fiddling through songs, trying to remember the chords to play for each of them; often I would stop mid-song because I couldn't remember any more. In the midst of my plucking and trying to complete a song, I started plucking my guitar strings..."I have a Maker, He formed my heart. Before even time began my life was in His hands." As the song progressed, I no longer struggled to remember the chords; each new chord came naturally as I continued singing, "He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls and He hears me when I call".
What a contrast--I am always struggling with connecting names with faces, trying to remember people's new addresses, or even trying to pluck the right chords to songs that I have sung repeatedly hundreds of times, but before the world was even formed, God knows my name. I don't have to be afraid that He might've forgotten me or that He has more important things to keep in the forefront of His mind. He knows me, my doubts, my worries, my struggles, and my fears. Unlike the hotel guests who have to bring me up to date on their situation before I can engage and respond to these people, I can trust that He knows and that He cares.
This was a incredible word of encouragement to me this week. I hope it blesses your week too.
Photos of the week are now available on the Photos of the Week page. These pictures are from a nearby slot canyon on the Navajo Nation. It is so incredibly beautiful!
Blessings!
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