Crazy Love

Yep  you guessed it!  The second book that I'll be tackling on my Sabbatical is "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.  It is crazy to believe but Francis starts the book off by talking about the beauty of God that is prevalent in His creation.  A theme that has surfaced for me all ready during the last couple of weeks.  This week I have traveled to the Roaring River State Park.  I'm looking forward to some good fishing, reading, and journaling.  Let me know if you've read "Crazy Love" by clicking on the survey question to the right of the screen.

Recognizing The Creator...

In "Unbroken" Laura Hillenbrand talks about a time when Louie was on the raft and they were in the doldrums of the ocean.  He saw something so incredibly beautiful that he knew, right then and there, that there had to be a Creator.  Hillenbrand writes:

     "As he watched this beautiful, still world, Louie played with a thought that had come to him before.  He had thought it as he had watched the seabirds, marveling at their ability to adjust their dives to compensate for the refraction of light in water.  He had thought it as he had considered the pleasing geometry of the sharks, their gradation of color, their slide through the sea.  he even recalled the thought coming to him in his youth, when he had lain on the roof of the cabin in the Cahuilla Indian Reservation, looking up from Zane Grey to watch night settling over the earth.  Such beauty, he thought, was too perfect to have come about by mere chance.  That day in the center of the Pacific was, to him, a gift crafted deliberately, compassionately, for him and Phil."

During my first hike this week through Prairie State Park the very first thought that came to my mind was that I had taken for granted the beauty of this world.  The small things that God created that are "too perfect to have come about by chance."  The Apostle Paul talked about this in the book of Acts as he was trying to convince the Athenians of the One True God.  He put it like this:  

"The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn't take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don't make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him!"

This week I spent time focusing on the beauty of creation and focusing on the beauty of the Creator.  The following pictures share some of my journey from the colors and shapes of the flowers, to the shape and vastness of the clouds, to the size and strength of the buffalo, to the agility and speed of a deer, and finally to the most beautiful fish I've ever seen...the rainbow trout.  

Menacing Blackness: 

In the book "Unbroken", Laura Hillenbrand writes about the soldiers who came back from World War II.  She writes:

"For these men, the central struggle of postwar life was to restore their dignity and find a way to see the world as something other than menacing blackness."

I wonder if being in the ministry or in church leadership for many seasons can change our view of the world around us.  Do we ever get jaded?  Do we begin to view the lost as enemies instead of P.O.W.s?  Do we ever stop our rescue missions because of our tainted world view?  Can we still recognize how beautiful the world is and the beauty of the people in it?  Do we try to huddle in our Sanctuaries hoping that the wooden walls and the wooden cross will keep the menacing blackness out?  Or do we throw open our doors and lives and let His radiant light penetrate the darkness?  When do we quit worrying about if the boogie man is going to get us and start worrying about rescuing the folks who are being held captive by sin?

I pray that the menacing blackness would be our next battleground.  I pray that the Church would step into the darkness and never quarantine it.  I pray that the Church will continue to see the most beautiful thing God ever created...when a person steps out from the menacing blackness and into His wonderful light.

Like a Crawdad out of Water...

When I was in cubscouts when I was a kid, we camped where I am camping now: Prairie State  Park.  While walking across the prairie with my cubscout pack, we came across a Crawdad claw.  We were no where around water.  We just assumed that something had eaten the Crawdad and had somehow transported the claw to the middle of dry land.  Today, while hiking on the prairie I came upon this Crawdad in the middle of the walking trail with no water in sight.  He looked very vulnerable and defensive.

In ministry, God calls people from something, to something.  For me, I was called from a construction career plan to a ministry calling.  Over the years, at times, I have felt like this vulnerable, defensive Crawdad.  Education can't prepare you for everything that comes your way in ministry.  College didn't teach me how to grow a church or youth group, how to comfort my students when their mom dies of cancer or suicide, how to handle church politics, or how to get along with the lead pastor. College didn't teach me that some church folk can sometimes be meaner than most non-church folk.  College taught me the basics of the Bible.  Everything else has been learned through experience.  There are still times in ministry when I feel like everyone is counting on me to have all the answers.  When I don't know what to do or say, I need to learn not to get defensive and get my claws out.  I need to learn that I am in a place I am called to...a place that is sometimes out of my element.

My New Friend

I just had a wonderful conversation with one of the locals here from Liberal, MO.  I don't know what his name was but he stopped by my campsite to give me this lovely firewood.  I was getting ready to do some forest rummaging but decided to read my Bible and write in my journals first.  Good thing I did wait because then my new friend pulled up.  He shared with me all about who he was, where he worked before he retired, and then he asked me what I did.  I told him I was a youth pastor in Springfield.  He said, "A pastor!!! And here I am with already 3 beers in me!"

I had the opportunity to then hear about how he attended church when he was a kid, his confusion with protestants and Catholics, his nephew who was in jail in forsythe and a nephew who was a Sheriff around these parts.  Although my new inebriated friend was hard to understand he reminded me of moments that we get with individuals who cross our path.  I pray that I was faithful with my moment and the next Christ Follower sent across his path will be faithful as well.

Lessons From Louie

One of the books that I'm reading during my sabbatical is called "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.  This book about Louis Zamperini is "A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption."  So far I've traveled with Louie through is childhood, his High School years as a track star, his days as an Olympic runner, his first couple of years in the military, and now I'm floating with him on a life raft.  I first learned about the heroic Louis Zamperini through John Ortberg and the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.  John did an entire series on Lessons from Louie and at the end of the series interviewed the 90+ Louis Zamperini.  In the 150 pages that I've read, I have learned more about World War II then I ever learned in school.  I am so thankful to all the soldiers that served during this time of darkness.

The first lesson from Louie that I want to focus on is the fact that your mindset has a lot to do with what you can accomplish.  I've been learning this lesson over the past few months from the Apostle Paul and now from Louie Zamperini.  Why did both of these guys keep going?  Paul has an incredible list of the persecutions and trials that he went through in 2 Corinthians 11 after he became a Christ Follower.  Louie had an impressive list of his trials and tribulations before he became a Christ Follower.  Why in the worst circumstances, does it seem, that these two guys remained optimistic?  Why is it that sometimes, we can get so absorbed with the absence of luxury that we think life is so terrible?  One area that I will be working on in my spiritual life is my attitude.  I want to be more optimistic.  I want to have more faith that God is in control and my physical comfort has nothing to do with my spiritual optimism.

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?