With Abi in the Wilderness

These are some of the highlights from taking Abi to the Paddy Creek Wilderness.  We had a great time spending some daddy/daughter time together.  It was fun having someone along to play in the creek with and to talk to around the camp fire.  I can't believe this girl is already 5 years old.  We went on some adventures including catching crawdads in the creek and hiking on some of the trails.  We spent the evening making coffee on the campfire and singing songs from the Disney "Pardners" album and from the "O Brother, Where are't though" album.  I was reminded of the days when my Papaw and Mamaw would take me to crystal clear streams and then we'd spend the evenings around a quiet campfire occasionally filled by a song or two.

Paddy Creek Wilderness...Lessons Learned

This is the "little paddy creek" that I had to cross to get to the camp ground

This is the campsite I stayed at Monday Night

This is the path to the creek where I refilled my water bottles several times

No Bears Allowed!

The crick!

I sat here, read, and journaled for a few hours

The clouds rolling in

There were butterflies everywhere

In the campground I saw 4 turtles the size of dinner plates...I think this one was laying eggs in the sand

This is the trail head for the Big Piney Trail at Roby Lake.  I snapped this pic at 8:45am on Tuesday

About 1 mile in, I came upon 2 really amazing waterfalls

About 2.5 miles in I stopped here on these boulders for lunch...trail mix and jerky

This sign was 6 miles in

The Scenic Overlook was 8.5 miles in

10 miles and I was back to the creek and back to the campground at 4:15pm.

Lessons that I learned from the trail:

1. Hiking with a 60 pound pack is not as easy as I thought it would be...
2. I am slower then I thought I was...I thought I could walk about 3 miles per hour...it turns out I did about 1.3mph with walking and taking breaks...(who knew that your body would need breaks right?)
3. You have to worry about more than just your feet!  Every blog and everyone I talked to mentioned that you have to keep your feet blister free.  So I took every step necessary and after 10 miles my feet were in great shape not even one blister...However, as I mentioned in yesterday's blog...My shoulders, hips, and thighs were not so fortunate...I didn't even think about how my muscles would react to such an intense hike with such a heavy pack.  My plan was to hike to the campground (which I did) and then hike out on Wed. (Which I didn't)...
4. I've got friends in high places...I didn't have cell phone signal at all within 30 miles of where I was camping or hiking...in order to post the previous days blogs I had to nearly drive into town to get signal enough to post...So 8.5 miles into my hike I am feeling the worst I have felt in a very long time.  I quickly realize that I am not going to be able to hike out for at least 2 more days because of the time it would take for my muscles to relax and especially for my shoulders to be able to carry a pack.  I had a scheduled contact time to call Amanda and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to make it and there was a chance that she would freak out a bit.  So at the scenic overlook I took out my cell phone and realized that I HAD SIGNAL!!!...not only did I have a signal I had 3 bars and was in a 3G network.  I can only say that this was definitely a miracle.  So I called Amanda and she called her dad and he met me at the campground and drove me back to my Suburban that was parked at the lake.
5. I have some adjustments to make...I was planning on hiking the Ozark Trail beginning next week and be on it for 18 days...I would have had to do about 12.6 miles per day in order to tackle the entire trail.  I now realize that this will be impossible.  My window is only 18 days and I can't expand it because of the trip to the Smoky Mountains.  I think I realistically could do about 7 miles per day which would only get me about half-way through it.  So I think I'm going to spend the next 18 days hitting some of the campgrounds around the state that have some great hiking trails.  I'll set up base camp and do some day hikes where I don't have to carry an entire pack with me all day every day.  
6. Sometimes failure is ok!  The Paddy Creek Wilderness was a trial run for the Ozark Trail...It was a success.  I do not want to spend the first 4 weeks of my Sabbatical in misery so I have learned what my body is capable of early on and will make the adjustments necessary so I can stay focused during this sabbatical.

Lessons that I learned from God:

1. I have always known where I am supposed to be in life.  God has always made it clear and I just need to continue to be surrendered to be used in the here and now.
2. In Romans 2, there is a line written in Eugene Peterson's "The Message" translation that says "While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you?".  This really made me ponder the need to continue to seek out others who can speak into my life as much as I speak into the lives of others.
3. Lesson from the old house...click here
4. Lesson from the scenic overlook...click here

The view I couldn't enjoy

     Yesterday as I reached this scenic overlook after hiking for 8 miles with a 60 pound pack, I couldn't really enjoy the view with the pain I was in.  I was distracted by the constant cramp in both my shoulder muscles, the weariness of my hips, and the blisters on my inner thighs.  I wonder sometimes if ministry is like this?  We are too distracted by the busyness, the pain of our parishioners,  and the yet to be reached that we miss the scenic overlook of what God is doing, or we see it but can't really enjoy it.

What Once Was...

On the way to my campground yesterday, I came across this old house.  It is still very beautiful even though it has been abandoned for years.  It is beautiful because of what it once was.  It made me think of the effort that it took to build this house.  It made me stop to ask myself what kind of house am I building spiritually?  Will the efforts I put forth still be resounding even when I'm gone?  Will my work still be as beautiful as this house when as many years go for me as for this house?  Will God be pleased with what once was?

Day of Changes

Today is a day of changes. In a few minutes I'll have a new cell phone number...I will be living out of a car or a backpack for the next several weeks instead of a house...and I even already need to change up how my backpack is packed because it is about 10lbs over the recommended carry weight for a guy my size. I even feel different today. It is weird but this day seems more solemn, more sacred...looking forward to the changes.

A week out and I'm about ready to hit the trails!  I'm looking forward to the adventures that are ahead!  I'm even currently trying out the mobile blogging.

SURGE in Review 4/18/12

Last night was the reunion of the Hodson/Clark volleyball team.  I'll have to admit that both of those guys had longer shorts on then the ones in this pic that was taken a few years back!

Katie and the CYM Worship Band led us in "Undignified", "Blessed Be Your Name", "Awesome is the Lord Most High", and "Your Name".

Last night we talked about how sometimes God opens doors for us to be able to share the Gospel.  He did this for Paul in the city of Ephesus.  Paul was able to stay and share the Gospel for 2 and a half years in Ephesus.  We talked about when God opens the door for us to share Christ with our friends we need to be:
1. Curious...(ask questions)
2. Consistant...(we need to set and live by our Christian standards)
3. Patient...(sometimes trying to help our friends find Christ will be discouraging)
4. Sacrificial...(we need to live our lives so we can show our friends the heart of Christ)

The Genesee Reflection #12

What do you look like through the eyes of others?  When others see you or think about you do they say or think about you?  I believe we were all created in the image of God but sometimes along the way we, through life's circumstances, sometimes view others as if that image has been tainted.  Is it true that we can look at other human beings and somehow convince ourselves that they have stooped to the level of being subhuman?  We tend to be judgmental towards others based on appearances, attitudes, or even things that they have done in the past.

During his time in the Genesee Monastery, Henri Nouwen read tons of books.  One book that he read was called "St. Francis of Assisi" by Gilbert Chesterton.  Quoting Chesterton about Francis' compassion...on October 6th Nouwen writes:

"To him a man stays always a man and does not disappear in a dense crowd any more than in a desert.  He honored all men; that is, he not only loved but respected them all.  What gave him extraordinary personal power was this:  that from the Pope to the beggar, from the sultan of Syria in his pavilion to the ragged robbers crawling out of the wood, there was never a man who looked into those brown burning eyes without being certain Francis Bernardone was really interested in him, in his own inner individual life from cradle to grave; that he himself was begin valued and taken seriously and not merely added to the spoil of some social policy or the names of some clerical document...He treated the whole mob of men as a mob of kings."

My niece Saige has some really good things to say that go great with how St. Francis treated people.  You can watch her video by clicking here or I hope to embed it here on this blog soon.





Do you treat everyone like royalty?  Or do you treat some people like they are subhuman?

SURGE in Review 4/11/12

The Game:

Finger Ninja you can check out the vid by clicking here.  A pretty crazy and fun game!



The Worship:

Last night Katie and the Band led us in "Marvelous Light", "Better is One Day", "Mighty to Save", and "Give us Clean Hands".  This was Ryan's first night on the big stage at CYM!

The Lesson:

Last night we wrapped up Paul's second missionary journey by talking about his trips to Athens and Corinth.  We focused in on how Paul didn't waste his spare time while he was waiting for his companions to join him.  He took to the streets, became distressed that the city was full of idols, and then began a dialogue with the residents to point them towards the one true God.  Our question of the night was basically, how would you introduce your God to someone if you had the spare time to engage in conversations with the people you meet?  How would you describe your God?  What did God create during the first 6 days recorded in our Scripture?  What was God's relationship with the Jews during the Old Testament?  Who is Jesus?  What did Jesus do while he lived on the Earth?  What was the most important thing Jesus ever did?  Paul's journey in Athens didn't lead to tons of people coming to Jesus.  But it did lead to some.  Acts 17:34 tells us "A few men became followers of Paul and believed.  Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others."  Did Paul's intentional dialogues revolutionize the church?  Maybe not...but they did revolutionize the lives of Damaris and Dionysius.  Sometimes we get too focused on crowds and numbers that we sometimes lose focus of the individuals.  In Corinth, Paul met some valuable Kingdom people in Priscilla and Aquila.  He spent a year and a half in Corinth, by far the longest stay by Paul thus far on his journey. After the year and a half, Paul went for a very brief time to the city of Ephesus before returning home.

The Genesee Reflection #11

Tormented, anxious, guilt-ridden, restless, hurried, and impatient.  These are some of the words that could have described my state of mind over the past couple of years.  I would guess that I have hidden these feelings pretty well (or maybe not).  It appears that I haven't quite hid them from God.  In fact, I've never seen a list of them all together until just now as I was reading from August 19th, 1974 from Henri Noewin's "The Genesee Diary".  He writes:

"Today I had the strong feeling that things are basically quite simple.  If I could love God with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind, I would feel a great inner freedom, great enough to embrace all that exists, great enough also to prevent little events from making me lose heart...When my heart is undivided, my mind only concerned about God, my soul full of his love, everything comes together into one perspective and nothing remains excluded...For the first time I sensed a real single-mindedness; my mind seemed to expand and to be able to receive endlessly more than when I feel divided and confused.  When all attention is on him who is my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier, I can see all human life-joyful as well as painful-and all of creation united in his love.  Then I even wonder why I was so tormented and anxious, so guilt-ridden and restless, so hurried and impatient.  All these pains seemed false pains, resulting from not seeing, not hearing, and not understanding."

Divided and confused...these are typically the feelings that I have that precede the above list.  There are days when these 8 little words can hold me in bondage.  The truth is that the freedom from these chains is quite simple.  If I could love God will all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind, I would feel a great inner freedom...If I could become single-minded with my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier...

““He himself bore our(My) sins” in his body on the cross, so that we(I) might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you(I) have been healed.”” 1 Peter 2:24 NIV

I pray that God would help me to see, hear, and understand...