R-E-S-T Is NOT a four-letter word!

The past week has been very good for us as a family.  We have had a great time of rest in the midst of getting some things done.  One of the things I have been thinking about over the past days is that R-E-S-T is a four letter word to me most of the time.  Actually it is sometimes looked at in my heart as the worst of all the potential four letter words…W-O-R-K, A-C-C-O-M-P-L-I-S-H…  I have a really hard time letting myself actually stop long enough to rest. Not the kind of rest like laying on the couch watching the Sox loose, or sleeping –in till noon and being tired all day.  The real rest when I am still enough to listen to what the Lord might be telling me.   The kind of rest where I can be still to listen to my wife, and we can talk and process things without just giving details—that’s what I am after.  I have a long way to go but maybe having the space to even think about these things is a start…

We are headed to South Fork tomorrow morning, its out in the deep bush about 80 miles from Port Alsworth.  That is where we spent a lot of our summers doing the cadet trip.  We are guiding and hosting a great man of God who is taking his grandsons on an Alaskan fishing trip.  Jack brought a different set of grandsons up three years ago that we guided and it was one of the best times of my life in the outdoors. They caught a ton of fish but watching Jack invest in things that matter with the young men he has influence upon made it one of the most memorable weeks of my life.  We are looking forward to helping set the tone for another great week. 

"K.C.", Home at Last

Sam, me, Lyle, Heidi, Zach

Sam and Zach in Pile Bay!

The adventure of taking the new boat (named K.C.) up to Lake Clark is over…well, almost over.  Sunday afternoon we flew to Pile Bay, AK  (population, 4) which is on the very SE end of Lake Illiamna.  The word awesome is over used, but the flight and the hours we were able to spend in Pile Bay was truly awesome.  While there are just a handful of people living but Pile Bay, much of the freight that goes into SW Alaska comes through it during the summer months.  Being there with Sam and Zach was an experience that I am so grateful to have had with them.   Sunday afternoon we worked on trying to figure out a way to get the lumber we had shipped in the boat from Homer along with the trailer (we had planned to carry the trailer on top of the boat) secured in a way that we could get the boat on step.  Well, the weight was just too much and we opted to have it barged over instead…so while the adventure of getting the boat up the water system to our house is over we still have a few details to work out.  Oh well, we get to add a step and in the long run it will be good since we can make the trip back up the Newhalen River and see our friends in Nondalton on the way. 

Pulling out of Lake Illiamna

Putting into the Newhalen River after the 13mi portage

We stopped at “Agate Island” on the way up Lake Illiamna and spent a couple of hours picking he coolest rocks, they are polished naturally on the pebble beach.  Very cool place for a picnic!  We got to Illiamna (the village) and had no trailer to put the boat on since we left to be barged over from Pile Bay.  The portage to the Newhalen River is about 13 miles so were literally stuck up the river without a paddle.  We got out of the boat, prayed and walked to the store.  We walked in the door and Lyle saw a friend of his who offered, without us asking, to put the boat on his trailer and to pull it over the road for us.  Not surprised but grateful for the Lord’s provision.

We were hungry and tired but stopped to see our friends in Nondalton for a few minutes and what a blessing they are.  They are an incredible family living in a village where I think they are either the only white family or one of the few. We love them and really they are an inspiration to us as we look ahead to living here.  Beyond the time in the boat with Lyle, Heidi, Sam and Zach; the time in Nondalton was really worth the entire trip to me although I wouldn’t have wanted to lose any of the adventure of boating up the massive Lake Illiamna; it was all worth it…

Today is a catch up day for admin.  Amazing how much I get behind by doing just the minimum over the past couple of weeks. Not much else I can do about that but plan a day or two to catch up after the trips. 



Zach taking us the home stretch in Lake Clark

We love the new boat!  It is efficient on fuel, we only used about 10 gallons yesterday running for over 5 hours wide open.  The seats are 100% enclosed keeping everyone dry from the sea spray and its WAY warmer being out from the wind.  So blessed, it’s the nicest vehicle we have owned…thank you again to those of you who helped make it happen, we want you to come and enjoy it with us!

Alaskan Leadership Adventures Cadet Trip

A bit tired!

Well, the most intense and first trip of the year is in the books.  We are tired today for sure.  I sat down on the edge of the bed to untie my shoes last night ready to take a shower and in the mean time one of the kids jumped in and to brush their teeth.  Between them finishing and getting my shoes off I fell over and crashed.  I guess it was funny enough for dad to have his feet on the floor snoring loudly to take a picture. 

Hard to explain what happens on these trips, there is so much that the Lord does.   Many of them show up with no idea why they are here, not just in Alaska but on the planet, they leave with a purpose and sense of direction.  Of the 12 men who came this summer only 3 of them have a father in the home so when they hear the word leadership there is really no context for what godly male leadership means.  It is exhilarating to hear them talk at the end of the trip of hope for their lives to really matter.  A couple of men in particular really had a marked difference in their countenance when they left yesterday afternoon. 

The whole group of us--22 strong!

Here is a bit of what a couple of them wrote in the guestbook.  I don’t write this as a boast,  I am truly humbled to have the opportunity to interact with men in this setting, it is truly the Lord Jesus working in their lives.  Scripture and truth make the difference.  We had some great other leaders come help this year which made all the difference to us.  Thank you Jimmy, Perry’s and Montgomery’s!

 “You are a great model for a future family for all of us.  Many of us come from broken families and it is comforting to have tangible hope for  Christ centered families…I had nearly lost hope for myself to become a man but you rekindled that.”  “…You have guided me in developing a passion to become a man in Christ and I look forward to the future lessons.  Julie, thank you so much for the amazing food and more so for the example of what a Biblical woman and wife looks like…”  

Praying over one of the men after telling his life story.

There is no way that we could do this on our own; we are just people putting the time and effort out in an environment where there are little distractions.  Thank you so much for praying for us.  I woke up this morning at my usual 6:30 and had a couple of hours over the Word to process the trip.  One of the things I was struck with was the overwhelming sense of someone (or more) who were praying for us.  I don’t know if I had ever had that sense before, maybe it was the Spirit of God interceding for us…I don’t know but I do know that over the course of the past weeks that many had been praying for us and mostly for these great men. 

My prayer for them as they head back to the fight is that the stake is now in the ground and “true North” can be found.   They left with a plan of the next steps over the months to come, I pray that each of them will see the Lord continue to use that in their personal lives and in the leadership they give to building movements of God’s purpose where they are living. 

I am headed to Lake Ilimna tomorrow afternoon to get the boat moved home.  We will stay one night in Pile Bay and make the boat trip on Monday.  I think it will just take one day to make the trip if the weather is good.  I’m looking forward to the adventure.  Sam and Zach will be coming with me along with my “guide” and friend Lyle and his wife Heidi.  The boat if full of treated lumber so seating maybe a challenge but we’ll figure it out. 

Thank you again for praying for us over the past few weeks.  We have a bit of break for the next week during the week I will finish up the septic (true indoor plumbing!, right now we use the outhouse and the “grey water” pours out a pipe by the front deck) and a few other small projects   Zach has asked me almost every day this past week to take him fishing which I have said I will do a lot after the cadets leave—bummer…but not really!

Exhausted but Exhilarated

Well, I will start out by saying sorry…I just haven’t had time to pull pics off the camera, write a few sentences and post it.   I want to, but with the 1:00AM bed time and a 6:30 alarm I just haven’t had the capacity to sit and sift pictures. 

The cadet trip is going really well.  We have 22 people in the house this week with the cadets, staff and help that are putting it all together.  Needless to say it is sometimes really loud, really crowded and almost always filled with laughter.  We are so blessed to have the opportunity to interact with people in this setting.  The Lord is at work in great ways, we are seeing lives touched as we walk through the Scriptures of what Biblical manhood and leadership should look like.  Part of the power is giving each man the opportunity to share his life story, it is so rich and powerful.

We head out for two nights on a packing trip tomorrow, come home on Tuesday and then get them ready to head back to Anchorage on Friday.  Our desire is that each of them leave with a plan of what they will do when they get home both in their personal life and in their involvements in helping to build movements. 

I hate to cut this short but I do need to…pray for us; strength and energy as well as wisdom in leading!