Less than two weeks and counting til I head off to the north! I thought about creating a blog to document such a new and exciting time in my life, with the notion that someone may like to follow along in my discoveries. Instead of creating another blog simply for a season of my life, I thought I just might revive this one. I miss this past time of writing out my thoughts and inspirations for all of the virtual world to see and articulate, hopefully I can refuel this passion throughout the summer.
As some of you already know, I am leaving for Alaska on April 30th, 2010 at 6:50 am. Anyone who has spent any amount of time with me or reads my facebook updates has been bombarded with constant talk of AK. I will be living in Healy right near the Denali National Park and will be raft guiding throughout the summer. The company I will be working for is Nenana Rafting Adventures. This move highlights many firsts for me: my first big move on my own, first year raft guide and first time setting foot in AK! Naturally, you can imagine the cornucopia of emotions I am going through- mostly excitement, I always love new challenges and adventures coupled with new places to experience. The anal retentive in me is nervous about finances, home sickness, my uncertainty of how to do the job and so on. Yet, I am confident in the fact that I have always been a hard worker, I still have a place to call home and I have a Father who always provides and is my strength. I'll have Dylan up there with me and he really is a big encourager of mine and supports me- he never allows me to think less of myself, in anything. His brother Jon and girlfriend Kristen live in the area as well so it will be nice to have a familiar face around.
It's crazy that I am not going to be spending a summer in Boise, I really love this city and state. I can say that in all honesty, it's hard not to love! It's weird, for the first time in a long time, I am not going to be able to follow through with some of my summer favorites. Idaho is the first place in my life where I finally got to put in roots, so it's unfamiliar having to separate myself again. I think this is good for me, ideally I want to travel the world and this is just the place to start. It's good that I am breaking out of my comfort zone and routines to go and experience something new and refreshing.
Some things I am going to miss: my family, friends and church family (although I've got ya on podcast Pastor Ken). Church camp (seriously, it'll change your life), CDI (my fav snow event of the year), softball (Go Hopps!!), Ashley/Jason's wedding and Ashley/David's wedding (congrats to all of you!), girls outdoor group (you girls are a blast), days at the park and on the river (have to hang up the crocodile this summer), GCD (it's gonna explode this summer!) and so much more....
Some things I am looking forward to: learning a new trade (and hopefully learning to kayak too), Salmon fishing, the gorgeous scenery, meeting new people and seeing new things, breaking out of routines and comforts, less distractions, growing deeper in my faith, hopefully making a good chunk of change, reading some great books, the outdoors and who knows what else!
I will be periodically updating this blog with the latest events, updates, stories, revelations, you name it. Some more frequently than others, I hope that this provides an opportunity to still be connected and share my new experiences with those I love. I ask, for those who believe in the power of prayer to really commit to praying for me this summer- I know how vital it is. Pray anything from finances to health to "just learning to laugh" in all circumstances (advice my grandma gave me the other day). Thank you all for being big supporters of this venture in my life...can't wait to share it all with you!
I recently gave a speech in my communications class about compromise in your convictions and it was pretty powerful, but it got me to think about several other things. Most recently it has been brought to my attention the amount of times people will share their beliefs and start it off by saying, "I was raised..." or "I was brought up to believe..." even though many times in their adulthood they have turned from these ideas/religions/beliefs/etc... they were raised up on. It got me to wonder did they ever really believe in their beliefs? Or did they just fall victim to a set of rules cloaked behind religion?
More and more I am finding out how important it is to understand what you believe and why you believe what you believe, because in the long run setting that foundation is what is going make or break your beliefs. People sometimes have a hard time believing in God and the Bible because they have never viewed it as something personal or applicable, yet something they were forced to believe growing up or coaxed into it through fear or whatever the tactic may be. Sure God has set boundaries up in our lives if we so choose to follow those, but not because of regulation but because of the importance of it in every relationship! Yes, God's word says to wait to have sex til you're married, why do I follow that? Yes, I do want to follow God's word but I now see the importance behind it. Unfortunately I did not wait, but one day I am going to marry the love of my life but with sadness I am going to have to look him in the eye and tell him that he was not important enough to me as a youth to wait for and give myself to! Ouch!! Talk about a sucker punch to the manhood, lol (yes I went there!!)
So many people cut the excuse that they were raised Christian, like that buys them a holier than thou ticket yet they hate God's church (which people, the church is Biblical and I will show you in both the Bible and early church history), they party, sleep with people who aren't their spouses, (okay this may sounds religious, but if you sleep with someone who you do not have the intentions of marrying or don't marry at all, you are sleeping with someone else's future husband or wife- maybe that will change your perspective next time you're thinking of a little roll in the hay!!!) Look I am not here to judge nor condemn, that's not my place or position- but I am here to stir up the complacency of our generation and encourage you to find relationship with the God you pray to instead of finding religion, which will only get you to a place of bitterness and crazy, false philosophies. As the saying goes, "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."
So lately I have heard this statement more so than usual, because for some odd reason if a girl can keep up in a sport that is considered predominately a male sport then she is "pretty good for a girl". People we live in the 21st century and I think that some woman have proved themselves to sincerely pown the opposite sex in sports in every arena. I hear these statements anytime that I go skating, snowboarding or play football- you know what? I like these sports and yes I know that guys are just trying to be complimentary when saying they recognize that talent, but maybe we could word it a bit differently. How about "wow, you are really good at that. I wish I was as cool as you or as talented as you." lol Guys step aside because there are some girls stepping up in the sports arena and quite frankly some of them are going to leave you in the dust with their skills. So show some respect, honor them for their talent not their gender. Don't try to belittle their talents by saying they are only as good as their ge
nder allows them to be. Now here's a chic who dominates!!
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So the past few months has been an exquiste testimony of the greatness and perfection of God's timing! It has been quite a display that putting it into words is nearly impossible, but yet it is a testimony that is worthy of sharing. Timing and patience has always been a struggle which I could probably vouch for most of us in this area, especially in such a culture that begs for the here and now! Gimme gimme!! I certainly fall into this unfortunate group many times, I like to consider myself zealous but really, I am an idiot LOL. Despite trying to rush the process of God in my life, He still has such an unique way of slowing down my mind and zeal, whether it be through people in my life who balance me out, or His voice just ushering me to keep still and wait. Ugh wait!! LOL For instance, my first year interns, I wanted to skip my second year and start a fresh at BSU. I wanted to move into the dorms, start some stellar small groups, get involved on campus and basically turn the place over to Jesus. All of these seem like noble deeds, I mean my intentions were in the right place but God had different plans in mind. That year, I went to Generation Conference in Seattle and heard a powerful message from Bishop T.D. Jakes. He spoke of David and how the prophet Samuel told David that he was to become King, yet David went back to being a shepard that day. In fact, it took David quite some time before he ever took hold of his inheritance. He was chased for years by the current King due to King Saul's jealousy and David's best friend was even killed. Eventually, David found himself, in the right time, on the throne. The Bishop also went on to talk about arrows- how they have a time where they are in reserve in the pack, not really going anywhere, then they pulled out of reserve only to be pulled back by the bow. This is the stage where most of us have a hard time, instead of moving forward and pursuing our destiny it seems as God has taken us back. This is where you must be careful, because if you only allow yourself to be pulled back a little bit, the arrow will not go very far but through perseverance and testing, the farther you get pulled back, they farther you will soar!!! That was the Word that convinced me of doing another year of interns, which looking back now, I can not imagine not having that extra year of delving into God's Word.
In that second year, I found my fit in ministry and life, I met people who profoundly shaped my life and vice versa and I was equipped in ways that I can not even explain. Let me share of few testimonies of God's favor when you just step out in faith, no matter how dismal the outcome may appear. My first year interns, God spoke to me about starting a snowboard ministry- it combined the very things I was most passionate about: Christ, people and snowboarding! So I did, only one person was a faithful helper and establisher with it, a certain Dan Dunson (thx brother). And let me tell you, at that time, he was last person who I thought would fulfill such a role, but the Lord told me him specifically and despite my qualms, I listened and it paid off! By the way, it has been amazing seeing Dan grow into such a radical man of God. Now we are in the 3rd year of the ministry and God has been hooking us up in such a BIG way and a lot sooner than I anticipated. We have more people who are all passionate men and women of God who share the vision and passion. We have some amazing contacts with pro companies and riders, plus we just got local sponsorship to give free product to kids. Oh and get this, during our second year of the ministry I needed to talk with one of the PR administrators at Bogus, so I asked my supervisor who I would need to contact. He told me that I needed to talk to Jennifer Johnson and gave me her number. Well I get off work and hitch hike down the hill- a lady picks me up and we get to chatting. She told me how she never gets to come up to the mountain to ski because she works in the valley so much. It turned out that she worked for Bogus in the corporate office and told me her name is Jennifer. Yup, you guessed it! It was the very Jennifer I had just talked to my supervisor about and needed to talk to, so I got to spend the entire car ride with her asking her all the things I needed to know! Coincidence? More like divine...that sort of stuff just does not happen all too often.
Just this weekend I got laid off from Micron, which was an answer to prayer! This summer, I was praying about whether or not to leave Micron and work full time with Bogus this winter because I wanted to be more involved with the community and ministry. One day in service, my pastor asks if there was anyone who was facing job decisions and said he wanted to pray for them. Well of course I responded and a week later I am up backpacking and I had a dream that I got laid off at Micron. Which it was strange that I was laid off in my dream because Micron was not even talking about laying anyone off at the time. When I woke up, I asked God if that was a dream from Him or if it was something that my subconscience conjured up. Well here we are a few months down the road and I am laid off from Micron, with a sweet severance package that will sustain me til the coming snow season where I will be working full time. Plus this money enables me to get caught up on bills and even get moved into a sweet new apartment which is giving us a killer discount on our first three months of renting!!! I could continue on and on and share with you about the awesome breakthroughs that I have experienced but this blog would turn into a novel!
All of this has brought me to a point of realization that timing is everything. God is so specific in His timing and if we are not tuned into what that timing is we are going to miss out on so much! I can not imagine the predicament I would of been in if I had quit Micron previously like I wanted to. I can not imagine going to school now without that extra year of interns and I can not imagine what GC Snow would look like if I did not believe in certain people and stayed with it even when things did not happen as fast as I wanted. Gosh, how it is so NOT about me! The choices I make not only effect me, but effect those around me. That's why it is so important to submit ourselves to the timing of God. I keep quoting it but "it's the good things in life that keep us from the best things in life." -P. Mark Francey. If you could get $1,000 today or $1,000,000 at the end of the week, which would you forfeit? Timing, timing, timing...I still screw this concept up, but I am learning and I am tuning myself into the will of the Father as I progress in my faith. So my advice to you is to submit yourself to the One who created you- He is the author and finisher of our faith, so if He writes it then maybe, just maybe there is a plot that is meant to unfold and it is probably in your best interest to discover that plot! Ecclesiastes 3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=25&chapter=3&version=31
