Chapter XXXVIII: Adventure

I spent the majority of the past week in Tennessee where me and my two best friends, Paul and Andy spent 5 days backpacking through the Appalachian mountains. It was quite an adventure with both highs and lows. There was a lot that went wrong, but when all was said and done, the LORD kept us safe and we learned a lot about ourselves, each other, and backpacking.

So here's the tale:

Friday: We left Chicago with high spirits, tons of new gear, and a general excitement for the trip ahead. After 10 hours of traveling and a stop at Shoney's (an average-at-best restaurant native to Tennessee), we finally arrived at our campground. After finding out there weren't any available campsites, we also discovered the impact of the government shut down. We were told that if the government shut down on Saturday morning, the National Parks would close too, which meant we couldn't backpack. Our trip was in danger before we even put our boots on.

Saturday: Thankfully, the park stayed open and everything was all set to go. We started our hike in the late morning on top of Clingman's Dome, the second highest mountain this side of the Mississippi. We began our trip going the wrong direction, but after an extra 1.5 miles of hiking, we found ourselves hiking along a section of the Appalachian Trail. After lunching with some interesting through-hikers, we continued down the mountain on until we met up with Hazel Creek. During one of our creek crossings, while traversing a log over the waterfall, Paul dropped his GPS into the river. A few minutes later, Andy and I enjoyed some trail mix while watching a naked Paul get sloshed around at the base of the waterfall in an effort to recover his gear. He never did find it. After 14 miles of knee-splitting downhill and over 16 river crossings, we got to our camp around dark. Very defeated. Very tired. And very hungry. Oh and one more thing; our water filter broke after dinner.

Sunday: The LORD woke us up on Sunday to a warm sun and the promise of a shorter day of only 9 miles. With our spirits lifted a bit, we started off strong. As we continued making our way down into the valley, we had a great day of hiking, including the discovery of the ruins of an old town from the early 1900's. We arrived at camp early and thoroughly soaked ourselves in the mountain river. After enjoying some reading and relaxation by the fire, we called it a night. An uneventful, but successful day.

Monday: Today was another 14 mile day. With some directions from some other hikers, we set off towards the lake at the center of the valley. After hiking along the lake shore most of the day we finally arrived at our camp...a little sooner than expected. It wasn't until after we had taken off our boots, hung our socks, and started to unpack that we discovered we were sitting at the wrong campsite. After reluctantly restoring our gear to the packs and hiking 2 more miles down the trail, we finished our beast of a day at a lovely campsite where the river flowed into the lake. It felt amazing to get to camp because the rest of the trip consisted of shorter mileage hiking and our packs were beginning to get noticeably lighter. We also concluded that our bodies were beginning to adapt to the backpacking lifestyle and the whole trip seemed much more enjoyable.


Tuesday: The frustrating thing about water is most things only takes a few moments to become soaked....but can take days to dry out. We all awoke throughout Monday night as a result of a severe thunderstorm. After frantically packing up our wet/muddy gear on Tuesday morning, we set off in the rain. Cold and wet, we left the lake and started the trek back up the mountain. We ran into a massive wild boar that was initially mistaken for a bear, struggled with some downed trees on the trail, and hiked a few miles uphill in a stream. Literally. 10 miles after our wet start on Tuesday, we arrived at camp and proceeded to set up genius rain shelter before crawling into the tent for an afternoon nap. It had rained all day and into the evening. Everything was soaked. Water, cold, and wind had made everything fairly miserable. In the words of Andy; "Everything is so wet it's like my balls are pruny."

Wednesday: We awoke early on Wednesday morning energized by the sun and optimistic about our last day of hiking. We decided to cram in two days of hiking into one so we could finish early. We crossed the seven most dangerous river crossings in the Smokey Mountains early in the day, and nobody (or no equipment) was lost. We enjoyed most of the hike until the 2000ft climb back to the top of mountain. We pushed through the last of our hike and had a great time taking our victory pictures and phone calls back at the car. UNFORTUNATELY, our victory was short lived as my car had some major engine problems. So we rented a motel in the nearby city so as to get it fixed in the morning.

Thursday: The LORD continued to bless us on our journey as the car was fixed relatively cheaply and and quickly. We were on our way home by late morning and I finally made it back to Grand Rapids by 11:00 at night where I was welcomed by a fresh plate of cookies, some awesome apartment decorations and the open arms of my wonderful Katie. The picture to the left was taken from our starting point on the top of the mountain, the specks of blue in the valley are the parts of the lake we hiked along.

By the end of this trip, we had gone through a lot of new experiences. Backpacking in bear country, hiking in the rain, filtering water with broken gear, and fixing a car in a foreign town. All in all, the LORD kept us safe and sound. For better or worse, all of the events of the week (both good and bad) were awesome, and although it was one of the most challenging 57 miles of my life, it certainly was a great adventure.

Chapter XXXVII: The Push

Every spring, there are two very important weeks for college students in the middle of their semester. Obviously the first is their spring break, but most people don't realize the importance of the week prior to spring break;

the Sping Push.

The week before vacation where everything needs to be finished. BUT at the same time, students are planning their vacation and making plans for their return.

But the Spring Push doesn't apply to only college students. People in the professional world experience it as well. And that's what life has been like for me the past several days. Last week was my Spring Push.

The most immediate cause for pushing was the final Neighbor Night for the school year. This Wednesday night ministry has had both ups and downs, but continued to minister to the surrounding community for nearly 7 months. While this ministry was great, it was also a heavy burden for our congregation, and we all look forward to the two week break before our new ministry; Youth Night.

But that's only the first half of Spring Push, you know, the part where everything finishes.

The other side of Spring Push is the planning side. And that's what I've been doing.

Planning.

Planning.

And more planning.

The combination of our new Youth Night ministry, extra Easter services, fundraiser events, and church politics are consuming enough. Add to that the inablity to plan more than 2 months ahead because of the uncertainty surrounding our church and you get one flustered youth pastor.

BUT wait...there's more...

The Misfits are collectively pushing to finish our album, and I personally am still trying to hammer out some details for my backpacking endeavour next week.

ALL this to say that my Spring Push was awesome. Busy. But awesome...because I love it all. One might could even accuse me of enjoying this week as much as my actual vacation.

Eager to push,
-B

Chapter XXXVI: New Movement

Lately, there's been a lot of new stuff happening in my tiny little world. It's exciting to see the LORD's hand in various areas of my life. All of this new movement has made the past few weeks really interesting.

Of course some of this movement is taking place with the Misfit Plaid project. Since our first practice in January, the Misfits have now played 5 shows, written 6 songs, and made a TON of connections. The LORD has been introducing us to different people that have been connecting us with shows all over town. We're even in the process of recording our first album. Any way you slice it, the Misfits have been blessed by the LORD and the new musical movement in my life is really awesome.

The issues of change and new direction at our church have also been moving along. After a few informative, and heated, meetings, our church family is ready to finally start making some decisions. While my personal future with this ministry isn't certain, it is becoming more and more clear that the LORD has plans for me between Prairie and 30th.

Finally, there's a lovely lady up here who has been stirring up a lot of good change in my life. As a youth pastor for another church, Katie has not only been a great companion, but she challenges me in both my spiritual life and in my ministry. Dating her has given me a lot of joy and strength over the past few weeks, and I'm truly blessed with her.

But Kate's not the only amazing part about all of this change.

The LORD has been using all of this change for His glory. And that's the truly amazing part. All this new movement in my life centers around my heavenly Father.

And I'm excited to see what's next.

-B

XXXV: Senioritis

There are two diseases in this world that nearly everybody gets at one point in there life. One of them is chicken pox. The other is senioritis, the disorder in which the motivation gland stops working around the 11th-12th grade.

BUT, similar to chicken pox, some people contract this ailment multiple times in their lives.

I am one of those people.

The past week or two I've noticed a drastic drop in my motivation to do my job. I spend a lot of time in my office asking for God to motivate me. At the same time, I've discovered a familiar feeling from my past. It's the feeling of being flooded with ideas and pursuits, but unable to find a starting point. Very similar to my first weeks at Olivet.

The combination of these two emotions (or lack thereof) have caused me to go into "coast mode." It's pretty simple actually. I do my work. I maintain the status quo.

I coast.

But God doesn't call me to do that. He calls me to lead. To cast vision. To grow. If God was interested in simply maintaining the church, he wouldn't have scattered the early Christians. He has placed me here in this specific neighborhood community of Grandville to spread his Kingdom. Not just maintain it.

I've noticed certian aspects of my ministry are slipping. An unhappy student here, a frustrated leader there. Thankfully nothing irreversible, but bold warning signs none then less.

And so I need to focus.

There's a lot to focus on. Our youth. Our worship. Our church. The future of our ministries, but God is a big guy, and He can get me through it. He's the vaccine for my senioritis.

Which leads me to my challenge for you. Since we know that God often uses us has His hands and feet, I challenge you to call me out on my mistakes. If you see me doing some sloppy work, say something. If you see me slacking off, step up. Because I've asked God to help me, and I know He will.

Looking for a divine kick-in-the-pants,
-B

Chapter XXXIV: Trust

Trust. I like to think I have a lot of it. But the problem is that trust is a very scary thing. The reason it's scary is because trusting is essentially humbling yourself and giving up control over some aspect of your life.

In this case, it's my future.

As our church continues to pursue the will of God, one of the questions I must face is the future of my job. While I know that the LORD will continue to provide and care for me, it can sometimes be challenging to trust in Him.

More importantly, I am forced to trust that the LORD will take care of our church's youth. Some of the options that our leadership is looking into would sadly have a negative impact on our youth ministry.

That being said, I ultimately trust that God has an awesome plan for the future ministry of this congregation. While we might not recognize or know what that looks like quite yet, we do know that it will "work for the good of those who love Him." (Romans 8:28).

In addition to discerning the future of our ministry, this week has also hosted a few other difficult decisions on a personal level. Again, I trust that the LORD will continue to guide me in the decisions, but that doesn't make them any easier.

Finally, our band played our last show for a few weeks. It was a great venue (Louie's Bar) with some great people and great music. We look forward to taking a few weeks off from playing live in order to focus on recording our album. I cannot say enough about how awesome God has been to Misfit Plaid and how great my bandmates are.

Please continue to pray for our church as we seek some divine direction.

Always Trusting,
-B

Chapter XXXIII: Whole Lot Of Awesome

Lately there's been a lot going on in my life. Most of it comes from my ministry both in and out of my church family. I'm facing some pretty big challenges, but the power of the Holy Spirit has helped me thus far, so it's exciting to see Him get me through more.

As our church goes through a series of meetings to continue looking at the fundamental values of our family, the LORD is becoming more and more clear with His plans for me. There are a lot of challenges in my future, but lately I've been catching glimpses here and there of what the future holds.

And it's awesome.

I was further encouraged after a meeting with an RCA representative this afternoon. Throughout our lunch discussion of church networking and community, the LORD continued to pull at my heart. He continued to push me in the right direction. He continued to challenge me.

And it's awesome.

Finally, the LORD has been strategically placing people in my life since I arrived in the great state of Michigan, and it's terrific to see it all fitting together. He has blessed me with great friends and great connections throughout the Grand Rapids community. And now He's calling on me to utilize those relationships for the work of heaven.

And it's awesome.

God's been doing a lot in my life lately. Really been using me. I feel like I'm growing some great communication lines between Him and myself. And I love it.

Surrounded by awesome,
-B

Chapter XXXII: Feeling Fine

I know I updated a day late, but you'll get over it...I already have. Truth be told, my weekend was pretty packed with ministry, so I didn't do very much yesterday.

This past week was pretty awesome all around. Our middle school went great this week, the Misfits did well at their show on Thursday, and the middle school retreat this weekend was pheonomenal. Our students grew a lot towards each other (and with us leaders), but more importantly, they grew in their relationship with God.

We signed up our high school students for the missions trip yesterday, and we have a total of 19 students attending! It's been a huge blessing to watch the growth and development of our high school students as many of them are trying to deepen their faith.

And they're not the only ones.

Our middle school students are also starting to ask some really tough questions as well. It's really awesome to see both groups of students engaging in theological discussions as they ponder the mysteries of the faith. It's great for me as well as I am now constantly reexamining aspects of my faith and continuing to work out some divine ideas.

Thanks for your continued prayer and support. I finally got my CDL last week and I'm now pretty decent at driving our bus. Our ministries continue to look strong and I'm feeling pretty confident about the work that God has placed in front of me.

Feeling fine,
-B