Living the Right Life Better Than The Seal Song

Baby seals sing about life?  Huh?  I’ll explain the title at the end of this post.

It’s Sunday night and I’m reflecting on the Right Life.

As I think about my incredible wife and our three amazing sons, I am convinced that this is the right life.

As I learn that the Biblical truth of trusting God in every situation not only brings me peace of mind, but it also leads to amazing outcomes, I am convinced that this is the right life.

As I watch my heart break with compassion where it didn’t even bend before, I am convinced that this is the right life.

As I face choices and challenges with no clear direction other than knowing that Jesus is guiding my thoughts, I an convinced that this is the right life.

As I watch my 4 year old write his name, my 2 year old begin to draw, and my 3 month old begin to giggle, I am convinced that this is the right life.

As I learn to be more and more comfortable in my own skin, I am convinced that this is the right life.

As I find my interests and focus becoming more and more outward focused and less about me,  I am convinced that this is the right life.

I could go on and on.  For those of us that are on this journey with God, we need to remember and be reminded that he created us, he knows our path, he knows right where we are right now, and that he is always there.  His Spirit is inside us, guiding us, molding our thoughts and lives into who we are destined to become.  He never makes mistakes, and he did not make a mistake with you.

There is no wrong life.  There is error when we begin to think that we’re in control, but that too is part of the learning, part of the path that’s meant for us.

About the title of this post… “Living the Right Life” is a song by Seal, the guy who sang “Kissed By a Rose” from one of the Batman movies.  He also happens to be married to supermodel Heidi Klum.  Not too shabby.

Here a few new pics of our crew.

My New Favorite Picture

The boys, the dogs, the truck, and Saddlerock... fun.

The crew on our big train ride.

White Water Rafting, Rock Climbing, and Lost Keys – Part 3

Finally, here’s part 3 of the Camping Adventure Trip Saga.  It’s the part you’ve all been waiting for… the story of the lost keys.

I mentioned in part 2 of the saga that we awoke on morning number 2 to the sound of my car alarm.  No one wanted to go through that again, so in my infinite wisdom, I decided to give my keys to the camp early bird, Bethany.  This way she could wake up as early as she wanted and the rest of us could sleep in.  My plan worked beautifully… sort of.

Bethany was not the only one to wake up early that next morning.  Vanessa got up early to make crepes for breakfast.  “Crepes on a camping trip?” you may be thinking.  So was I, but they were awesome.  Huge kudos to Vanessa for hitting a home run with the crepes.  It was pretty civilized fare for our outfit.

After breakfast we began to pack up camp.  As usual, the girls totally outdid the guys and had their stuff ready to go while us guys were still scratching our bellies and yawning (we were in a crepe coma).  As the guys got their stuff together, Vanessa and Sarah packed their car, said their goodbyes, and hit the road.  They had a date with a west coast road trip and were motivated to move.  After they left, the students and I packed up our SUV, tied tons of stuff to the top so we would all fit, got in the car, buckled our seat belts, then I said…

“Alright.  Behtany, hand me the keys.”

Bethany didn’t have the keys.  Neither did I or anyone else in the SUV.  As it turns out, she had given the keys to Vanessa so she could prepare breakfast.  At that moment, Vanessa was already an hour down the road on her way to Denver.  No problem… I could call her on my cell phone.

Oh wait, we were in a deep valley between two 14,000 feet tall peaks with no cell reception!  And my cell phone was dead.  No problem, I have a car charger… oh wait, a car charger only works when a car is turned on!  Arrrrgggghhhh!

Luckily, the camp host had a good old fashioned land based phone line.  I connected with Jodi in Branson and asked her to get a hold of Vanessa any way she could.  Cell phone, text message, smoke signal, carrier pigeon… whatever it took.

Not knowing if and when Vanessa would get our message, I decided to make the students hoof it to our next destination: a hot springs pool about three miles down the road.  They grabbed their swimming gear and their towels and we began our trek.  We kicked and tossed pine cones, stopped for a roadside nature break, sang songs, and spoke in silly accents on our hike down the hill. About halfway there, clouds began to roll in and rain began to sprinkle when I made the executive decision to hitchhike to the pool if we could.  How bad could it be, right?

After Zack and Stephen tried to run down several vehicles, one Isuzu Rodeo came to our rescue.  Our chauffeurs were two college-aged guys (one of them had a huge red afro – it was awesome) who gladly dropped us off at the hot springs. The students went in to swim and I was able to trade my gold teeth for use of the resort’s phone.  I quickly found out that Jodi eventually got in touch with Vanessa, who had nearly reached Denver.  Vanessa and Sarah had turned around and would reach us in a little over an hour.  Whew.  It was safe to breathe now.

The students and I had a great time at the hot springs (Mt. Princeton Hot Springs if you’re interested) playing Marco Polo, making up zany races, and just plain goofing off.  It was a great way to wind up the week.  Vanessa and Sarah did show up… what a sight for sore eyes.  Vanessa said she was driving like an “L.A. woman” to get there as quickly as she did.  As soon as they arrived, we changed into our dry clothes and got on the road.

The trip back to Branson was pretty uneventful, which was okay at that point.

We had an awesome week.  The planned adventures rocked.  The best lessons for me were learned in the midst of the unplanned… but isn’t that the way it always seems to happen?  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks for reading.   –Brad

Playing the Waiting Game

Jodi and I are waiting in Evergreen.

We’re waiting for our third baby, which should arrive in about a week.  If the ultrasound pictures are accurate, it should be our third boy in 4 years.  Living in Branson where boys can be boys is exciting.  Thinking about how to train our boys on when and how to “man up” is exhilarating.  The faith exercise deepens as we look at the monthly math of finances and remember that (1) God has always provided and (2) that God is bigger than math.  The thought of getting beat-down by 3 little Jedis in our lightsaber battles makes me grin.  The waiting is the hard part.  There really is nothing I can do to speed up the baby arrival time… which is strangely similar to the second thing we’re waiting on.

We’re waiting for direction and insight into the best way to minister in Branson.  Small town ministry is very different than ministry in larger towns.  In a small town, you know everyone and everyone knows you.  Jodi and I see this as a positive; we desire to live transparent lives and we want people to know what makes us tick.  We’re finding that many people in our little community want more privacy in their lives than we want in ours.   Some of that is healthy.  When everyone knows (almost) everything you do, there’s comfort in having part of your personal life that’s private.  As I study what the Bible says about Christians living in community, transparency is key to how it’s supposed to work.  Getting people to open up to God and to each other is proving to be a very slow, prayerful process.  I’m learning that pace is okay.  Maybe God wants to work in peoples’ lives at his pace, not at our microwave-western-give-it-to-me-5-minutes-ago pace.

What are you waiting on?

Fun at the Playground Before the Big Change

Jodi and the boys leave tomorrow for Denver. I’ll be joining them in Denver on Sunday afternoon. The gameplan is to hang with her parents until the baby is born and stay up there a few days after the little man arrives before heading back to Branson. I’ve let her and the boys go up north without me before, but this is different. This is harder.

Stay the Course

“Staying the course” is a sailing term (I think). Ocean goers used to navigate by the stars and the sun. It must have been kinda tricky to learn to navigate by the sky (personally I like Google Earth, MapQuest, and my on-board GPS in our car), but once you learned it, you always had the sky. Sort of.

Imagine trying to steer a ship during a storm. The sky is always there, but during a storm, you can’t see the sun or the stars. Add to that the fact that the wind probably constantly changes direction, your boat was probably doing it’s best roller-coaster imitation, and your lunch is
trying to get out of Dodge fast.

I’ve never been on the sea in a storm, but I imagine the only real tools you have to work with are your compass and the helm (the big steering wheel thingy for you landlubbers). You have to constantly check your compass to make sure you’re headed in the right direction, then correct your direction by turning the helm if you’ve got off course. Then re-check your compass. This would have been an ongoing process during any storm.

If you talk to anyone in our community right now, they’d say our town’s in the middle of a storm. I’ve never felt more hurt, fear, anxiety, and doom-and-gloom from people around here. People have forgotten what course they should be on. Our town needs to be reminded that tough, smart, motivated, proactive, driven people pioneered this area… and that those kinds of people still fill this town and need to re-emerge. Once we get our bearings back, we’ll be alright.

My fellow Jesus followers must remember that Jesus calms storms, but he let the disciples sweat it for a little while. I think losing our lunch on the roller-coaster waves is part of the process God wants us to experience: it won’t kill us, it’s not fun, it makes us stronger by proving to us (again) that Jesus is the only one that can calm the storm.

Our church is on a course towards grace, openness, vulnerability, and authenticity (what I’m convinced is the New Testament ideal). It’s a slow trek, but that’s where God’s taking us.

God is moving in our community in a significant way. It’s our job to stay the course and let him move the ship.