Cooling Down and Warming Up

Right now we are getting close to being a foot deep in snow, and it is still coming down. The snow has frosted the trees and has made for some really fun runs. As I look out of my window the snow slides down a silver roof and hangs off the edge like brilliantly white crooked teeth. Not only have I been able to run, but I have gotten out on the Tsalteshi Cross Country Ski Trails. I found a pair of skis in the sports shed, the boots fit really well, but the skis (by my limited understanding) were too short. 

The morning was beautiful for a skiing adventure. It is convenient that sunrise is later so that I get to catch it (given I am on a college student sleep schedule). I was a little rusty on my ski skills, but managed to have a quick learning curve. The downhills provided a little excitement for the work of getting up the other side. It was really peaceful to be out there with only a few others joining me (and the bears being in hibernation by now). Also, I don’t mind so much the cold anymore (twenty degrees now feels quite warm). Portions of the trails are also lit during the night time (which I am going to enjoy soon).

This is the time of the year that the memories of camp have usually left me (and I stop drinking pop; a habit I pick up at the many gas station stops over the summers). The scars of the summer are all healed and the suntan has long faded. I stop sounding like a broken record, “at camp we did…” and the winter reunion at camp is still almost two months away. But, this year I have been thinking about camp more than usual for the middle of November. Part of this is attributed to a sense that I am more in a camp environment (something that I have been trying to escape and to which I cling). The reasoning for the camp-esque feel is due to the temporality of some of the relationships. I have broken that barrier of distrust with many of the students and we are able to share vulnerable feelings with one another. In short, we are starting to feel more like friends. But, there have been a some students who have had to leave, due to discipline, or grades, or their family “needing” them at home. Again, I am reminded of a Chris Radloff (director of youth ministries at camp) cliché, “Camp is a place of comings and goings.” The campers who you really wished could stay with you for the whole summer were gone before you knew it. Similarly the ones that were a handful, well they left shortly also.

I was excited about coming to ACC because the duration for which I could build into the lives of students was quite a bit longer than the week to ten days that I had with campers at camp. If anything, the notion that at any time someone could leave the school gives me a greater sense of urgency. But it blindsides you when loose ends are left just when a student seemed to be making some spiritual progress.

God recently provided some comfort for me in this frustration. I got a facebook message from a new member of the Hollenbeck House (my home in LA). What she said is that she had met someone on the Gold Line of the Metro Rail who upon hearing that she lived in the Hollenbeck House got excited. This man, Juan, said that a blonde haired guy had prayed for him from the house (he had a messed up leg from getting shot). The exciting part is that he was now back to running! God had answered his prayer and had even provided continuity of relationships with this seemingly random encounter.

What an awesome God who, even though I had forgotten about this man, has been working in his life through others.

In other news, I went out on a limb and played a harmonica accompaniment at chapel. Playing mostly hymns and older worship songs I got a chance to put a little folky spin on the classics. 

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We also recently had our first school basketball game. We drove down to Homer to play Alaska Bible Institute (an even smaller school that feels even more like camp). Well there were actually two games: a staff game and a student game. I got to play representing the staff and play hard I did! It felt really good to compete in a sport. My b-ball skills are improving, but I still have a ways to go. The one thing that I have on the other team is being able to outrun them (we lost for those who are keeping score...but it was close). 

View from Homer, AK pre-basketball game vs. ABI

Frozen Goatee after XC Skiing

Skiing near the Kenai River