Im home for Christmas and what did I do while I was gone? How in the world do I answer this? There are a couple of things that stick out that I learned but they don’t even begin to brush up against the side of everything that happened to me. After my Old Testament and New Testament class I can see the bible as the whole story that it is, and how I am a part of. Not just how this old testament that we never read connects to this new testament section of random stuff about this Jesus that I love, but really how they are one piece and it continues on to today. Every thing I read is heard in full surround sound and seen in high def 3d IMAX. This law that we read about in the old testament making it impossible to meet the demands of God was not done away with by Jesus, He was the fulfillment of it. The Israelites were waiting for their Messiah to come and rescue them as they were seeking after exactly whatever they thought God wanted them to do, wondering when is the promised one coming to free us? We were challenged that if we haven’t wondered this same question then we should be. I realized I looked forward to Jesus’ return but I have never longed for it and wondered why not yet?!

Finally this man, Jesus, comes who did not fit the description of anyone’s idea of the Savior. Things change through His life on Earth and He develops a following of people who realize this is the one who they were promised. Now things begin to make sense and joy will be ours in these times until He is captured and hung on a cross to be crucified. What is going on? "What at first seems to be foolishness is really the wisdom of God. What seemed to be weakness is really the power of God, conquering human rebellion and Satanic evil. What appears to be humiliation is a revelation of the glory of God. Gods self giving love, mercy, faithfulness, grace, justice, and righteousness are revealed in the event by which god accomplishes the salvation of His creation. What seems to the world to be Jesus’ defeat, the early church proclaims to be His surpassing victory over all the enemies who stand opposed to Gods creation".* "As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died".* Everything else pales in comparison.

So where is and what does He want me to do until He gets here? I am going after training to be a missionary pilot because I believe that is what God called me to do. At the same time I am open to the fact that maybe He brought me along this path this far in order to show me something from this perspective, and then get me to go another direction. This Explore year has been a gift to me out of faithfulness to God in trusting and following after Him. On the way home in the airplane I was blown over by a peace that said you are exactly where you need to be, don’t worry I’ll take care of you.

This has been a huge initiation for me which is a incredible answer to prayers. The goals that God placed on me have been coming true and He is showing more incredible things than I could have ever imagined. I believe He is getting me ready for something really challenging next semester and I hope it’s the hardest thing I ever been through. So please pray for me not for my safety, but for perseverance to endure the trials that come and count them as gain. Even now as I write this it makes me nervous but I want to be warrior for God because I am made that in His image. I hope He opens my eyes to see how He is developing me. Also that I might have the strength to rise up and accept my training. Finally when I am losing heart I will be given grace and encouragement to hang in there, all the way through to victory. I can not thank yall enough for all the prayers you have already raised up for me. Each comment or post means the world to me and I thank God for it. I am also so thankful for all the new people that He has brought into my life and the impact they have had on me. I know this is not something that I am doing by myself or that I ever could do alone. I hope that the joy set before us in Christ is so breathtakingly awesome that everything else is suffacted in His glory. I wish i could better express whats happening in my life and I hope this isnt all too crazy, but I know it is crazy. Man, its good to be home.

*1 Drama of Scipture
*2 Galations 6:14

Halloween!

Its Halloween Time ( i know not really but Im trying to play catch up). The night before a couple of us went out to find this mysterious "Door in the Field". Some of us were unsure if it really existed and others were scared to see what was inside. Some people on campus have been but no one will tell you about their experience. We finally found the area it was supposed to be in and parked the car and started walking around this random farmers field. Eventually we found it. It turned out to be an old shelter that someone had built along time ago. The door was the only thing you could see above ground and then it had about 10 steps down into a smalle bathroom size living area. It was all made of stone and kinda creepy but totally cool. Planning a camoing night soon.
We all really wanted to carve a pumpkin but there are no pumpkin patches up here and the IGA ran out of them. So i kept checking back and asking the workers there when they would get more. Finally it was the day of and I was like hey, yall still dont have any...and they were like uhhhh. So I asked if I could just have the one they were using as a display and pretty soon after that I was walkin out with a free pumkin. So we went and hid it in a patch of grass on the trail on the way to the tracks and asked if the girls wanted to go for a walk on the tracks. So we were walkin and they were in front and they stumbled on it and they were like oh look a pumpkin, lets carve it. They quickly figured out we had put it there but it was still fun. Anyways we carved a sweet face in it and put it propped up in a tree between the domrs. ( we found the leg of an animal and decided it would look good hangin out of the pumpkins mouth and so we put it in).
As you can see above the green team dressed up and went trick or treatin that night. We all collected cans for the food bank. Some of the people insisted on givin us candy we to turn down would have been just rude, so we took it. I was huck finn with a wife beater, fishin pole, overalls roled up and no shoes. It was freezin cold. Sometimes I wish these guys would talk me out of my good ideas.

Theres Beauty in them there hills!

Well its back to schol and the flat lands of Three Hills. It has been tough getting to know people here and to branch away from our own group that we have grown so close to. It has even been hard to hang out with people because alot more people will just stay in their dorms and wonder we everyone is at. One of my favorite places to go and walk or talk is the train tracks.
There is beauty here through nature but it is so different than it was in Montana. We like to go out and have fruit sets on the tracks. Whats that? A fruit set is going to the IGA after dinner and getting a peach ( not as good as a Georgia Peach) or your fruit of choice, and taking it out to the tracks to eat while we watch the sunset. (Update: They dont ahve peaches anymore and the sun sets before dinner at like 4:15, its crazy early). We have fun here too but again we have to look harder for it and often times be a little creative. Pic up top is Vanessa, me, Julie, and Jason.

Goodbye to Montana Till January

We are leaving Montana now (October 16th) and wont be back untill late january. It has been a challenging blast. The tops of the mountains around us were already snowcapped during our kayaking skills. The pic above is of the main lodge. On the top level is our classroom and on the bottom we eat, and hang out by the fire. Its easy to find people because there are about 6 people to a small room so you cant really hang out in there. Everyone goes to the lodge, basically the only other building. Now that we are done with skills we can check out any of the gear and go kayaking our climbing or whatever. The nearest town is Plains and you have to get a ride there and it supper small. After an all nighter full of movies and hot chocolate we are ready for the ten hour bus trip back to the flat lands of Prairie.This is the cross that overlooks the camp that is situated on one of the smaller peaks after a short but strenuous hike up.

Challenge Course Class

This Was the static course at Camp Bighorn. It consisted of 6 events that were 30 feet in the air on the side of a mountain. The way to get down was a 330 feet zip line with a wicked free fall drop at the beggining which you will be able to view below. Please enjoy


We went through 3 days doing differnet ropes course events and"initiatives" that meant anythig from walking through mouse traps to navigating a broken body trail with people who couldnt see or use their arms or legs, etc. It was pretty awesome and the leaders made the debreifings after the event very good. After this we were done with skills rotation and I had to pick a specialization. Oh man, tough decison. I really wanted to do kayaking just to learn the skill more and also it was sooo fun. I finally decided to go with challenge course and so i got to say challenge is my specialty. I realized that this would be good to learn for any type of ministry. I would be able to talk to people and lead events, and discussions that go beyond sunday school answers no matter if we are on a river somewhere, in the backcountry, or downtown. We got to check out some other coruses as well as lead a group of middle school and high schoolers at the camp through seveal differnet events that we designed. Later at lunch I learned that one of my kids was the pastors soon at the church that I go to in Montana and love the pastor and his sermons. Also I think next semester he is gonna give me banjo lessons! Anyways it was a good week and I learned a ton.


There was only three people that choose to do challenge course and one of them was my buddy Jason so we had alot of fun no matter what we did. The last couple days were spent designing and building a new ropes course at the camp. The coolest event was a rolling log obstacle. Picture a ladder laid down on its side and the rungs are logs that spin as you step on them, it was totally awesome and no one has every made anything like it. This is one of the 6x6 trucks that camp owns and we used to get people down from the zip line when we ran the event for other students.

Kayaking Class

I finally got this dang thing to work. Everytime i tried to post and wait for the pictures to upload it would then give me an error. Oh well. We continued kayaking class for the three days after my birthday. I was totally excited because it is always something i wanted to do...wear a skirt and get in a little boat and go down some huge rapids. We went down many of the same rapids that we did with rafting excpet this time we actually got some sun which was amazing.
We were too far away from the rapids with the camera to get any good shots but this is me eddying back into the third set of rapids on triple set on the Clark Fork River. It was a ton of funa nd very challenging. The waves continued to change so i either got smakced in the face, launched over the top, or tossed upside down, it was soo sweet!

This is the green team after we ate lunch. Alot of this year has been abotu building healthy relationships and what it is like to live in community with that love that God fills us up with. Kayaking is a very individual sport and it forces the student to take responsibilty of whatever happens to them going down the rapids. The teacher can show you how to roll, paddle, and navigate the rapids but when the currents gets you and you start floatin in there is prettty much nothing they can do. If the see you are about to flip and you cant perform your roll to upright yourself they must wait till you float down through the rapids and then at the other side help you back in your boat. We talked about how God is like this and how He gives us everything we need to handle tough situations. We see how His strength is made perfect in our weakness. So we are goin through hard times and cry out for help, but He is often times not a God of the eleven o'clock hour who is gonna swoop down to rescue you. Often times we have to completely die to ourselves and then after 12 and into the next day He will be there for us and let us know He was there. Hopefully we take advantage of those times and learn quickly from trials. Count them as joy!
Even though it was sunny it was still cold. For one half day we went to a local hot springs with our kayaks and practiced in the warm water. This is a picture of me upside down in position one of the roll before you snap back up. It was nice but i still wasnt vey good at it till the end of the day. I actually left my bathing suit at camp so i had to borrow one from the lobby where the had a box of old ones. Then when we were getting back on the bus someone said whose bathing suit is this under the seat...ohhh those are mine.

Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to me! This is pretty much a good activity for a birthday.

Thanks Mama and Dad for sending me a party in a box. There was like 2 pounds of confetti and we threw it on the floor and all over our selves, then slid on our stomachs on the wood floor.
What else would we do now but line dance!
And then some more dancing. At the end of the night my shirt was totally covered in sweat and my legs were sore.
We put the pinata up outside and it took several good beatings before buckmaster busted it open and everyone dived ontop of the candy. My intern Jules birthday was the next day so we had a comined party. Everyone had a blast and told me my parents were awesome and to thank them for everything. Thank all you guys for your cards and letters, it made for a really sweet day.

Rock Climbing Class

I was really looking forward to rock climbing class sense i have never donw any real climbinging before, outside, on real rock. This was the first day with Tim Kickert just showing us some basic technique
We learned all about tying knots and equiptment. Also how belay people, and set up our own top rope anchors. This means that we could go anywhere and i could set us up and get climbing.

Climbing is a individual challenge. You want to be able to climb a really fun route but eventually you dont want to be able climb everything you get on you want a challenge. So you pick a hard route and you keep failing and thats not fun either. Its like you gotta push yourself to do things you dont think you can do and sometimes youll get it and sometimes you dont, thats when learning takes place.
This is what we climbed on the last day. Its what is called a multi pitch climb meaning that you climb all the way to the top of one rope, then you transfer to another rope that is set up because it is so high. This one was about 120 feet high. We set up a loop so you climbed up the two ropes and then belayed down three ropes to do it all over again.

Rafting Class

This is rafting class. It was freezing cold outside and in the water. I would almost rather have been in the water most of the time because during the three days it was mid 50's for the high and often times raining. The last day we camped out and then rafted all day down the alberton gorge on the clark fork river. Above is where we ate lunch, double cheeseburgers, chips, and cookies.
This is my first guiding experience on the paddle raft going down class III "Fang", it was pretty much awesome to the max. We also got experience on an oar frame raft which is a larger paddle raft with a metal frame attatched to it. Then two oars stick out the side, this is waht usually carries all the gear.
After the rapids we learned how to flip the raft and then the easiest way to flip it back over. The water was good encouragement to hop back in really quickly.
We leanred a bnuch of skills such as reading the river, guiding paddle rafts and oar frame rafts, whitewater swimming, and swift water rescue which included the throw bag. Looks like Brad in the water isnt gonna make it with that throw.

Backpacking

I just got back from the 5 day backpacking trip that took us all around the Montana-Idaho state line and it was incredible. My body is beat up and I loved it. Thats my team on the top - the green team! Below that is my and my friend Jules trying to take a self potrait and not fall of the ridge. We encountered a little bit of everything: a 11 hour hiking day made up of all bushwaking down ridges up a creek bed, and up a mountain ascending nearly 3000 feet, relaxing days by a lake with fishing and catapulting chipmunks, and also classes most every night. We got to choose our own path with our final destination already established where one of our teachers was camping that night. When we got there by map and compass we had class. The mountains ridges were endless and there were more crystal clear lakes than you could count on two hands. I have never seen glory revealed to me like this and been so fortune enough to emerse myself in it. It was a hard week at school both physically and mentally.

Camp Bighorn

I made it to Montana! This place is awesome, I am constanly left speechless when trying to describe my surroundings. The first picture is when me and my friend Jason Buckmaster climbed the mountain right behind camp after dinner one night. You cant see the camp but it is right below us. At the bottom you can see the river that is about 45 seconds away (and full of big fish) and the mountains on the other side. The picure on the bottom is of me and my friend Vanessa making some sweet oragami fighter dragon/bird-beast things during class. We all get along really well and it is really tight group now. We have been staying busy with an outdoor programming course and kitchen duty before we leave for backpacking in a week. The speakers here are awesome and make your head spin sometimes when questioning life and your faith. There is a hot chocolate machine that is always on and always makes a perfect cup with a delicous layer of foam on the top.

Woek, Work, Work....play

The two week course was no intro course. We dove head first into a mind blowing course on worldviews. The schedule was something like this: wake up at 6:00 for a run - usually 3 miles, then breakfast is at 7:45, then class starts and goes untill lunch, after lunch is "free time" where you have to do homwork or you'll never stay caught up, then dinner and class again untill about 10:00. Finally one night we got off and had a free swim night in town. They have a pool, two hot tubs, a water slide, springboard, and rope swing. This is my friend Abby from California and we had been planning our outfits ever sense we first found out about the swim.

Side Trip

Hey Yall
The trip up here was great. We made it on both of our stnadby flights by the skin of our teeth and our luggage followed quickly behind us. Because of this little mix up we were able to take a little detour on the way to school to check this place out. Just about 30 minutes from Three Hills. We took alot of pics so I made a shutterfly.com acount to load them up to so you can easily view them. Sorry guys I have been using any free time for studying and paper writing. Hang in there and I have got several updates to make.

Sharpen Up

Time with God. I once was at a summer camp where we had a booklet that led us through a quiet time every morning. One day we were instructed to read a paragraph outloud as if God was talking to us. Man how refreshing that is, I cant belive God would talk to me like this, if I could only read his words for me like this all the time then.... oh wait. The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The only defensive weapon given to us in the armor of God. If Im gettin ready to go i cant leave this out.

Ephesians 6:10-20

Gotta Be Fit

After I get to school and go through the 2 week introductory course on world views the first thing we do is take a fitness test and go on a week long backpacking trip in Montana. I was told that I should buy my running shoes way in advance before I leave so that when i get there I can "continue" my training.

Hebrews 12:1-2