I'm finally back to blogging. My energies have been going in some other directions recently and I'm taking a little window of time here to write a bit of what I've been ruminating about.
One of my favorite memories is of a trip into the Boundary Waters of Minnesota with a group of guys from church. The Boundary Waters holds a special place in my heart. A million acres of wilderness. Low impact camping and canoeing for a whole week. At the mercy of the elements. Hardwork, bugs, and wild creatures like wolves, and bears, and moose...danger! danger! danger! (Definetely needs an Australian accent) The experience tests your survival skills and your ability to endure. I've been out in the boundary waters 6 different times. Each experience is unique. The first experience was probably the most challenging simply because it was my first time. I had no idea what to expect and everything took energy. Each trip got a bit easier even though we added new challenges. A hole in a canoe, a sliced up foot, a nasty thunder storm, no campsites available on the last night, a sick boy. Yes, there were times when I felt a bit overwhelmed. Like when the major thunderstorm hit right after the hole in the canoe incident. Wilderness for me is that place where I come face to face with my limits. I enter the Boundary Waters never quite knowing what to expect. I haven't been back since we moved to Virginia and I am longing to get back. Why do I love that place so much? Mosquitoes, 1/2 mile portages with 80lbs on your back, mud, no hot showers, sleeping on the hard ground.
I remember singing the song "Greater is he that is in you, Greater is he that is in you, Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." That line comes from 1 John 4:4 and in my NRSV it reads "Greater is the one who is in you than the one who is in the world." I like that a bit better. The song is like a rally song for followers of Jesus Christ. God's Spirit is within us! WHAAAAAA! There's nothing that we cannot overcome! WHAAAAAA! The crowd goes wild and charges off into the wild blue yonder!
The Boundary Waters for me is about adventure. I go there to see what I can see. To slow down and take it all in. To challenge myself. To pare down to the basics, water, food, and shelter. The way I have come to think about the experience is that the more challenges we face the better the stories when we get back in. Listen to what we overcame. The bugs and other stuff is undeniably a part of the experience.
I'm thinking, pondering, wrestling with the call to return to the pastorate. Depending on what I focus on I lean one direction or the other. I think God has put the song and my experiences in the Boundary Waters into my head recently for a reason. I don't doubt my desire to get back to the Boundary Waters.
