Keep Coming

(This picture was at the very end of the weekend when I was just about ready to go crazy.  I am sitting with some of the Friesen cousins - Renee, Amy, and Alana as we waited for the last load of people and luggage to leave).

Hey, I'm still breathing...even smiling!

Work weekend came and went, leaving me a little shaky and run off my feet, but with a sense of great delight that so many people were able to come and have a wonderful time.  My biggest struggle was preparing to speak at chapel on Sunday.  For an entire week, I tried and tried to make space and time to work on it and seek direction, but to no avail.  By Saturday night, not only was I totally frustrated but almost out of time.  A couple of thoughts came and Psalm 27 as the base of the message, but that was it.  I had no option but to finally go to bed and pray that the morning would hold revelation or least a peace about standing in front of two hundred people with something to share.

It is amazing what a morning can do for me! A self-proclaimed "Super Morning Person," I function best and have the most energy around 6am, and it was there that God met me again.  Awaking with peace and confidence to go forth, with a message on my heart, the day was bright and exciting.

"Every time I'm here, I realize I should come here more often." This phrase from a friend whom I worked at camp with years again and reunited with on Friday night, was the starting point from which I shared some reflections about Beholding the Beauty of the LORD.  Here at camp, we have the rare chance of being surrounded by Creative Glory daily and the awareness of beauty and the still small voice of the Spirit acutely stir us to the reality of the God speaking and moving in and around us.  It is the Beauty of the LORD, not only in Creation, but in God himself, that draws us, captivates us, awakens us and that which calls so many of us to come again and again to this place, this camp, to a place is set apart and consecrated for the work of the Kingdom.

"Every time I'm here, I realize I should come here more often."

This sentiment of being at camp is only a captivating echo of the longing to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD (Ps. 27:4).  The beauty of the tall, straight, towering pines, the sweet whistling of the gentle dusk breeze, to stand amidst a storm passing over, watching the early morning resting on the stillness of glassy water... all speak of something holy, something transcendent that is so much bigger than we are.

I pray that I may say 

"Every time I'm here,

I realize I should come here

more often"...

and mean it of the place with God.

the house of the LORD.

the Secret Place.

Where I seek His face.

One thing I desire.

To Behold the Beauty of the LORD.

You can tell I am a bit exhausted after the weekend, and you can see an update on the grease level of my hair as I pass the three week mark of not using shampoo...25 days today and going strong.

Invasion

"Work Weekend."  A phrase synonymous out here with hundreds of people, a lot of power tools, young children running around, many, many pots of coffee.....and thousands of meatballs.

The island will be swarmed by about two hundred people in a couple of hours and I am hiding away in my corner of the program office wondering how I might possibly disappear or make a fort in the forest where no one could find me.  The overwhelming feeling of an inevitable invasion with no defense in place is a new sensation that I can't say I like very much.  Nothing like a new leadership role to shake the foundations of who you thought you were, what you could do, what you believed and who God is.

I am terrified.  This will be good.

Starting at supper, I will play host to this diverse group of children, parents, alumni, workers, staff, Paddle Camp participants, instructors, directors, national Inter-Varsity workers and friends.  I am sure that once things get underway it will be alright, but this anticipation and anxiety about what is ahead is killing me.  Not only will I host Work Weekend but will also be the speaker for our big chapel service on Sunday.  

This invasion is an opportunity (forced as it may be), to step out, be challenged and face new responsibilities head on.  And I pray to be transformed.  I pray for two hundred people to meet with Jesus and leave changed.  There is a lot of work to do.

Ripple of the Divine

Being surrounded by the intensity of God's Creation constantly draws 

your Spirit to a deeper place 

of longing and awareness,

and whispers a more penetrating woo to the heart to Come Away. 

At times unbearable, 

the tangible greatness, power and creative majesty

awakens and calls forth a 

Divine reality.

Here in flash drama,

the thunder of your voice over the water with your Spirit hovering.

Striking with dynamic light, 

      the earth trembles

      to the rhythm of your Peace.

Gently resting and sitting buoyant,

held up by the deep.

Submerged but not drowning;

finding life and faith and freedom.

Being quiet and alone

and okay.

Sitting in awe

wave after wave

a ripple of the divine.

Jeremiah and Joel solo canoeing in the snow during an adventure we went on to hunt down ice.

 

Solo Canoeing has become my time and place to meet with God.  

Some of us went for a paddle last week and it began to snow.  The weather and the water is now much warmer, so I will often be found out in the bay paddling and praying.

Submission

As a community, we have been learning about the spiritual disciplines (as outlined by Richard Foster) and it has been a great journey so far.  I have felt again the fire of excitement and passion to pursue God with all that I am and to use the disciplines as ways to learn more, to create space for God in my life and to allow him to do his thing.  Leading these devotionals in the mornings has brought about great discussion, reflection and challenge in my own life as I spend time before God listening to what he desires to say to this small community of crazy, passionate, fun and honest young people.  Here are some of the reflections that I shared about the outward discipline of Submission:

Submission: freedom to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way.  We have an obsession to demand that things go our way.  Foster says that it is “one of the greatest bondage in human society today” and I would have to agree.  It is the freedom to drop the matter, to forget it.  This is not then about being walked all over and becoming a rag doll and being abused by people, but in reality most things are not as big a deal as we think they are.

Here is where silence fits in so well because usually the best way to handle most matters of submission is to say nothing.  This discipline, like the others, is meant to minister life!  It is an inner attitude, posture, or a spirit of consideration, respect and compassion.  We are free in submission to value other people, their dreams, plans, ideas become important to us.

So what does this mean to us? What does it mean to study the spiritual disciplines and practice them out here on this wilderness island with only a handful of people? Can we actually do this? Do we want to do this?

Being left behind to sit on a dock for a couple of hours yesterday to watch our shipment cargo meant that I had a very long time all by myself.  So the only thing that I could think of doing was to practice some of the Spiritual Disciplines that we have been talking about…it was kind of forced upon me but I tried to make the best of the situation.  Simplicity; I had nothing with me, Solitude; there was no one around, Fasting; I had to miss dinner, Service; lifting propane barrels, Prayer; asking God that someone would return so that I wouldn’t be stuck there all day, Meditation; listening only to the wind and starring into the clouds, Study on the scripture that I have memorized, and Worship as I sang songs and wrote some new songs of praise to my God….

And then I began to think of this morning and what I would say about submission and asking God what was on his heart for our little group.  I realized that  we are being called to something pretty radical.  Something a lot bigger than ourselves and that is why with submission we get to lay down our limited selves and have the opportunity to experience the greatness and bigness of God in a new way…we get to get out of the way.  This is a big deal but it is not a stressful thing, it is not pressured, it is not full of guilt or rules, but this is about freedom, this is about joy and about stepping more fully into who God is and who we are.  I felt like we were on the edge of a lake and it might be really deep and big (technically we physically are, but also metaphorically), and if we let go of some of our fear and anxieties, we can jump in feet first, dive in head on and experience more of the vastness of our Creator.  Vanessa said something that I found very profound when sharing her story yesterday.  She said that she realized that fear was not a good enough reason for her not to step into something new or bigger (ex. Girl’s Camp).  We are being invited to the same thing.  Fear is not a good enough reason not to.

 We are being called to submit to God this season, to lay down parts of ourselves so that Christ can come in and reveal himself more fully, for God to become more real to you and to be changed and transformed.  It is a invitation call Christ "Lord," to proclaim Jesus as Savior, to believe God is the Sovereign Almighty I AM… this is submission.

In the disciplines, in our work, in our interactions and friendships, in our jobs and our service, in our life together we are being presented with the opportunity to step out in submission to one another and to Christ and to discover what God has.  And it is good and big and better than what we could ever have hoped or imagined.  Radical, revolutionary submission; a cross-life full of joy, freedom and fullness...

This is the journey that we are on and it is exciting and scary all at the same time.  

Ephesians 3:14-21 is becoming my constant prayer for this community that as we step out more and more in submission to the Father that we might be filled with might in our inner man and continually rooted and grounded in the love of Christ as we see the Holy Spirit move and work within our midst.

p.s. This is day 16 for me in the competition to see who can go the longest without using shampoo....it's a good thing I brought out so many hats :)

A Camping life is the life for me

Time to reconnect with the rest of the world...the internet is finally working.

It is day nine of five months out on the islands of Manitoba Pioneer Camp and I could not 

be more excited.  With thirty other people in the middle of nowhere, with cold water, no flushing toilets and little heat, there is no place I would rather be.  I am amazed at the community that God has brought together for this journey over the next season.  Already we are a close family, though very quirky and different but that does not stop us from having the time of our lives.  Reading and studying scripture, learning and practicing the Spiritual Disciplines and hearing each others life-stories, the Spirit is at work in building unity, trust, love and acceptance.  And the laughter is never-ending!  No matter what might be going on, laughter is a constant and the joy of simply being together makes it feel like we have been together for much longer than a week.

Some of the highlights from the last couple of days began with our arrival to the island by air boat (anyone seen the Rescuers Down Under or the Crocodile Hunter?), seeing the island covered in snow and mud and squishing into a small room to meet and have our meals.  Most of the week was spent doing group work projects to prepare the site for our first rental group in the middle of May and to clean up after the winter.  There was a lot of sledge hammering, boulder carrying, fire making, canoeing portaging, life-jacket washing, paddle moving, furniture re-arranging, fixed plumbing, mud digging, lagoon repairing...all in the name of "team building."   "Team Building" is most often synonymous with big, heavy and slimy around here.

If you feel like you would like to pray for the work that is happening out here at camp, there are quite a few new people who have never been to camp before who have committed to ministering out here for four months.  Pray that they would feel comfortable, welcome and at home in this community and would settle into the routine of camp.  People are constantly arriving and leaving the island, so pray for protection and safety on the water and the road.  You can also pray for the Spirit to be present in this place, that this summer would be a time of transformation, healing and life-changing encounters with the Creator.

I added an album with some new photos.

3,2,1...Blast off

The wick is ignited and the explosion is moments away.  Things will never be the same; I will never be the same.  Change, growth, struggle, breakthrough and challenge is guaranteed and I will come out of these next eight or nine months very different.  

Tomorrow morning we leave for camp, and then it is full-speed ahead.  I have not only stepped into a new adventure, but am diving head first into the middle of it. I am all in! God has given me a door to run through as I journey to learn about leadership, community, spiritual formation, intercession and full-time ministry.  I am giving my life for this - for the pursuit of the knowledge, beauty and love of God wherever he leads me.  As I wait for the gate to swing open, I am antsy with anticipation and excitement.  What will it look like? What will happen? What will God do?

The group of young staff that have sacrificed much to give their summer for the sake of being involved in camp ministry and Christian community could use a lot of prayer.  For many, this is the first time working on staff or even being at camp in general, so the familiarization and comfort in their new surroundings will be a big transition.  Pray also for the spiritual hunger of the staff to increase and for it to be met entirely with the love of God - that this would be a community transformed by the power of the Gospel and shaped by the truth of who God is.  I am believing for big and miraculous things to take place this year in the lives of staff and campers as we all encounter a big, powerful and loving Creator.  

My computer access will be limited as we do not even have running water currently on the island, but in the next couple of weeks I will post an update about what has been going on and what God is doing.  Thank you for your prayers. Blessings

Mr. McKinnon and Lady Scarlett

I am leaving again. It always feel like I am leaving or arriving somewhere. Stability is not a huge reality in my life right now nor in the near future, unless you count my faithful suitcase - good ol' Lady Scarlett. (yes, I did name my suitcase...becasue a)she's huge and red and deserves a name for that and b)I wanted my travelling partner to have somewhat of an identity)

Lady Scarlett is sitting beside me on my floor, a massive Tupperware bin is filled with books and a pile of clothes has taken my room hostage. I love this and hate this. Which old t-shirts are going to make it on the trip this time? So that I don't have to rent a pack mule, which books are going to make the cut? You know how many lotions I have to choose from?!

I leave for 'the island' next monday....8 days and counting. MacKinnon Island will be called home for five months as we rock another camp season of fun and adventure. I have been preparing my body for living in a secluded wilderness by weaning myself off showering and I am up to five days without washing my hair. Yes, I feel greasy but it is reality and it kind of makes life easier...so much less to worry about! I think the longest I have gone is two weeks without shampooing my hair and I am going for a new record this summer. Aren't you glad you won't be there to witness it? :)

Though I have been at camp for other summers, this will be the first as the Associate Director of Program. The title seems so official, but what it means is that I focus on the spiritual formation, leadership development and the mentoring of our staff to see them empowered and equipped to minsiter to the campers and step up to be leaders at camp and in the rest of the their lives. I am there to take care of and love those people who are sacrificing their summers to come to an island in the middle of nowhere to learn about Christian community, be challenged in their faith and see lives transformed through the power of the Spirit of God.

I truly believe that these staff can leave from an experience at camp and go and change the world. This is an amazing place.

And after the adventure on the BigMac.....Kinnon, October holds another journey and move....this time to Kansas City, Missouri. I will fill you in as the time gets closer, but it is going to be amazing and then Lady Scarlett and I will make it back to Winterpeg for winter #23 to join a community house in the inner-city before making the trek to re-connect with Mr. MacKinnon next May once again.

I hope the ol' lady can hold out. She's pretty durable...and if not, she will make a great toboggan.