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".

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!