I Want My Mouth Guard Back

In the evening, as I sat on the bed to read before going to sleep, I saw Linda's mouth guard on the sheet at the foot of the bed between our two duvets. That would not be very exciting were it not for the events that led up to it.

On Tuesday evening, the 1st day of BSSM, Linda said her mouth guard was missing, and that was not good news. It helps her sleep, and it measurably increases her blood oxygenation. It is a custom-fitted appliance, and cost more than $2000 to study, design, build and fit. The story of the mouth guard is interesting in itself, but I'm going to stay on track.

We looked for it around the bed, in the duvets, and on the floor. I had washed clothes early the day of it's disappearance, and Linda wondered if she had put it in a pillowcase, as is her custom for keeping it safe when she takes it out. I even stopped by the apartment complex office to ask if it had been turned in from the laundry area.

We had heard the story from Bethel about the man who lost his knife (video below), and said to the Lord, "I want my knife back.". The knife mysteriously reappeared. Since then, others have prayed similarly and some have seen miraculous reappearances....like the man whose missing watch was on his thumb the next morning when he awoke!


Well, we prayed that, too. "Lord, we want that mouth guard back!" It is no stretch for the God who loves us to take care of the things that concern us, so we asked in faith for this small thing. Well......at $2000+ maybe it's more of a "medium thing". :)

And there it was....right in plain sight at the end of the day.

Some might scoff and say that it was tangled up in the bedding and it was just a coincidence that it appeared in that way. Maybe, but I have observed that we have more of these "coincidences" when we pray. From my perspective, it was a miracle.

So....we give praise to the God who loves us, and watches over our lives!

Should One be Nice or Dangerous?

Does it suffice as a Christian to be nice, or should one also be dangerous?  Three sentences in Bill Johnson's "When Heaven Invades Earth" say much:

Johnson wrote, "I’m not impressed with anyone’s life unless they have integrity. But I’m not happy with their life until they are dangerous.  As much as I have the ability to do so, I’ll not let those around me get away with just being nice people!"

Dangerous

I think in retrospect that I have tried most of my life to be nice.  There's kind of pleasant warm, fuzzy Christian-ness about being nice.   If nice means being a man of integrity, faithful, friendly, polite and genuine, I want to be those things in increasing measure.  And I want to be those things most of the time.

But Jesus was not always nice.  When I think about the chaotic scene in the temple with tables being turned over, coins hitting the stone floor, panicked cattle lowing, men yelling, and a passionate young man wielding a whip made of cords, "nice" would not be the adjective that would spring immediately to mind.  "Dangerous", yes; but not, "nice."

Jesus told the disciples,  preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.   In other words, preach the kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead,  and destroy the work of the devil.  That's our mission, too.

"Nice" is one component of preaching the kingdom of heaven, and for healing the sick and raising the dead, but as for destroying the works of the devil: that is where "dangerous" enters.

Dangerous builds an orphanage by faith in Tanzania to care for kids and teach them that as Christ followers, they are royalty in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Dangerous publishes and distributes Gospel literature in India, South America, and Russia.  Dangerous comes alongside a warring husband and wife and helps them find reconciliation in Christ.  Dangerous builds a ministry training city and local leaders.  Dangerous builds a business employing people and serving the city.  Dangerous brings uncompromising Godly principles and selfless love into the workplace.

Yes - I want to be nice.  But what I really want to be is really, really dangerous.

Revival Groups

There are many students at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) -- about 1,200 in the first year class of 2013.  That's a larger group than nearly all US churches.  The problem in any regular gathering of Christians this size is pastoral care.  BSSM has a novel solution to this: revival groups.

Linda and I attended our first revival group gathering yesterday at a Redding yogurt shop.  I'm sure the shop owners were delighted with our "flash mob" -- there must have been 30 of us.  The excitement of young people from all over America and as far away as England and Switzerland meeting for the first time was palpable!

Revival groups at BSSM consist of around sixty students, a pastor and a third-year student intern.  Surprise: one of our interns is Mariah, the daughter of former Anchorage City Churchers Steve and Kelly!   (Ask me privately if you want to know the family name).  Our group pastor is Abi, another focused young woman..

Our next meeting will be....at the lake.  Sometimes the best thing we can do is develop relationships with other believers.  Thanks, Abi.

I like the name: revival groups.  It gives an instant and important focus to these groups.

I love small groups and understand at a personal level the significance of them in the lives of individual Christ followers and churches of which they are a part.  There are also small groups at BSSM and the local church here at Bethel/Redding.  I'll cover this more in the days and weeks ahead.  But perhaps something like revival groups could play a role in larger churches.  I'm going to give that more thought.

Necessitites

My friend Steve DuBois and I roomed together through much of our college days.  We also partnered on various projects as wildlife students, both in college, and later as Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists.  We learned many things together, and one that I remember was this:  I tend to estimate projects will take much less than the time they eventually wind up taking and Steve overestimates....a much better approach to project management.  Underestimating has stayed with me.

So it is with the organization of the necessities of life in our culture -- things like a bed, chairs, food preparation.  I am still underestimating.  All I can say is that I am glad we are here a good week before school starts!

Our new apartment in Redding on 9/1...empty, empty, empty.
But Linda is here, so it is home!

We have a nice two bedroom apartment, but it was empty, empty, empty.  We haven't had to furnish an empty apartment in a LONG time....decades, actually.  To make it more interesting, we don't really want to go out and buy the furnishings retail because we expect to be here less than a year, and because selling new items at second hand prices will return only dimes on the dollar.  And then there is the difficulty of moving furniture in a sedan.

Looking back on it, I can see that once again I vastly underestimated the time it would take to get set up in a new place.  Happily, my lady thrives on finding just the right item for our home, wherever it is.  If she had full use of her legs, I suspect we would be much further along.  As it is, she has found a very comfortable bed for us, a nice used kitchen table and chairs, and most of the components we need to prepare food.  More will come in the days and weeks ahead.

We are in a good location, just minutes by car from the church and the school.  Shopping is nearby.  The apartment complex is pleasant, with a fitness center and a pool. It overlooks the Sacramento River, although our apartment looks out into a wooded greenbelt, which is great!  Our first morning here, I watched four mule deer daintily walk by less than 100 feet (30 meters) away from my breakfast spot on the back deck.  I have never seen so many hummingbirds.

Mornings are pleasant with temperatures now in the upper 50's or low 60's before dawn.  Daytime temperatures have risen each afternoon into the mid 90s.  We found pretty quickly that early morning is the best time of day to do things that require being outside.  Except swimming.

Since our arrival on Saturday, we have been to Bethel Church once, for the Sunday evening service.  One does not arrive a few minutes early and find either a good parking place or a place in the main auditorium.  One arrives 45 minutes early or more to find those things.  We sat in the overflow room and participated in the service via one very large screen and a couple of large flatscreens.  School starts next Tuesday.  Registration is Monday.

Our "revival group" gathers later today for an informal meetup.  The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry is large....about 1,200 this year.  The school is divided into perhaps 20 revival groups of about 60 with a pastor caring for each group.

So, today, more work on the necessities.

Enroute to Redding - September 1, 2012

Long time friends Jan & Frank outside their Gold Beach home 

We had a great visit with our friends Jan & Frank at their Gold Beach home.  Another great friend named Åsa, once remarked about friends that they fill up our emotional tank.  That was the case here.

We left Gold Beach early so we could arrive in Redding in time to sign the lease for our apartment, and receive the keys.  It would be a long three-day weekend without those keys!

The drive along the California coast began to reveal taller trees until we were rolling through groves of immense trees.  The Redwood Highway was built to conserve as many trees on the right of way as possible.  In some places, trees grew within a foot of the asphalt road surface.  Fog rolled off the Pacific and wisped through the verdant branches of trees far older than the American republic.

Our wheels had mostly been pointing southward near the west edge of the continent for the past few days.  At Arcata, we turned them east and entered the Klamath Mountains.  The scenery was impressive but Highway 299 is a windy road, and not very fast, just as Frank warned.

The temperature climbed as we headed east.  When we left the coast it was 59F (15C), by the time we were most of the way through the mountains, it was around 86F (30C)

We pulled into Redding about 3:30 PM and went straight to our apartment manager office where staff gave us the lease paperwork to sign and then the keys.  The pool outside the office was inviting!

In the 9 days before classes start we will be finding the pieces we need to tailor our apartment to us....starting with a bed.  It's empty now except for what we brought along and the boxes that Katie mailed to us.

We're here!


Enroute to Redding - August 18 & 19, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 20 & 21, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 22, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 23 & 24, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 25, 26 and 27, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 28, 29, 30 & 31, 2012
Enroute to Redding - September 1, 2012

All pictures

Enroute to Redding

Enroute to Redding - August 29,30 & 31, 2012

These are the last days of our trip along the Northwest coast of North America.  We started at our home a few hundred meters from Alaska's Cook Inlet, wended our way through the Inside Passage aboard the MV Columbia, and for the last few days by car along the coast of Washington and Oregon.  Tomorrow we turn our wheels inland to our destination, Redding, California.

On August 29, we took off from Ocean Shores, Washington where we had stayed overnight. Our room overlooked the Pacific Ocean....which during the time we were there lived up to its name. It stayed "pacific" -- peaceful -- under a warm sun with comfortable breezes. I kept thinking about how this coastal country looks when the weather is less....pacific....like in winter when gales sweep off the vast ocean. 

We stopped a second night at Newport, Oregon.  US Route 101 along the coast is beautiful in many places, like the picture at left shows.  It's a bit slow because of the many towns along the road.

Our friend Frank said the towns are 27 miles apart because that's how far it was judged that horses could be pushed in a single day.

We picked up Frank in Bandon, Oregon, about an hour north of his home, where he had dropped off his Cessna 182 for its annual inspection.

Long time friends Frank and Jan have lived in Gold Beach for 12 years.  It's a pleasant community of about 2,000 in the very southwest corner of Oregon.  We stayed up to all hours last night chattering about everything.  We'll stay again tonight.

The climate here is fascinating to me.  It is almost always sunny and pleasantly warm in the summers.  Frank says winters are cool with period rain events.  The area stays cooler than inland Oregon and California because of cool coastal breezes.

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Enroute to Redding - August 18 & 19, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 20 & 21, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 22, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 23 & 24, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 25, 26 and 27, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 28, 29, 30 & 31, 2012
Enroute to Redding - September 1, 2012

All pictures

Enroute to Redding

Enroute to Redding - August 25, 26, 27 & 28, 2012

Our Canadian friends Ryan, Sara, Amy and Alyssa met us on Saturday morning in Kamloops.  I've not been to this community before, but it has a pleasant Canadian feel to it.  Kamloops brought back memories of Calgary where I lived with my family 1968-1971.  Ryan says it is growing with older people because of its pleasant climate.

Amy and Alyssa were READY to swim just about anywhere.  We all went to Riverside Park along the Thompson Rivers in the center of Kamloops.  They waded, swam, checked out rocks, had their faces painted, and generally had a great time.  After Mexican food, the girls wanted to swim some more so we came back to the hotel and had more fun in the water. :)

  

Linda and I met Ryan at Bible School in Sweden in 2003, and he has been a great friend ever since.  Sara and the girls are a great delight to us, too.  We're happy to be part of their lives!

We reluctantly parted company on Sunday morning and headed for Seattle where Linda's twin brother Larry lives with his wife Jenny and children Sarah and Emma.  Larry and I became friends early in my college experience at La. Tech as a result of our mutual interest in ham radio.  Then I found out he had a sister!  

 

From North Seattle we set course for IKEA in Renton.  I wish there was an IKEA in Anchorage!  We discovered IKEA in Uppsala 10 years ago, and were more than delighted to find there were branches in the USA.

Linda's younger brother Warren and his family live also on our route, so we went there for the night.

Enroute to Olympia, WAZE, the iPhone social GPS app showed another facet of its value. Interstate 5 is known for its traffic jams, and on Monday evening, WAZE demonstrated its ability to detect traffic jams and route us around them.  Because WAZE connects our driving experience....and that of many others....back to a central computer, it is able to detect traffic snarls and send that information out in real time to other users.  Here's some more about WAZE.  As you can perhaps tell, I'm a fan. :)

Warren and his family live in a pleasant wooded area near Olympia.  When we arrived, Warren was cooking massive pieces of steak and venison on his BBQ.  Awesome!

We helped them eat that...and some pecan pie.

On the following morning, Warren and I went out to Costco and Cabela's.  First time for me in a Cabela's store.  Note to women reading this:  men don't "shop" in Cabela's.  They drool.

Later in the day, we headed west for Ocean Shores in Gray's Harbor county.  It is just west of Aberdeen on the edge of the continent.  Our room had an ocean view.  Lovely!

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Enroute to Redding - August 18 & 19, 2012

Enroute to Redding - August 20 & 21, 2012

Enroute to Redding - August 22, 2012

Enroute to Redding - August 23 & 24, 2012

Enroute to Redding - August 25, 26 and 27, 2012

Enroute to Redding - August 28, 29, 30 & 31, 2012

Enroute to Redding - September 1, 2012

All pictures

Enroute to Redding

Enroute to Redding - August 23 & 24, 2012

August 23rd was our last full day on the ferry for this trip.  It is our first time on the ferry through these Canadian waters.  The sea- and waterscapes look a lot like Southeast Alaska...similar vegetation, land formations and rocky beaches.

The topography is remarkable in many ways, and sometimes quite interesting.  Grenville Channel is nearly 50 nautical miles long; a nearly straight strait.  Most of the passage through Canadian waters is protected from the rollers coming from the open Pacific.  

We transited the few open water passages on a revlatively calm day.  It can get much less comfortable than we found it for the few hours required for passing through them.

I got up early today and washed clothes.  The Columbia has washers and dryers...which were in heavy demand the rest of the day.

We made a point to wake up early on the morning of Friday, August 24th, as the ship would come into Bellingham at 7 AM ship's time (8 AM PDST) and we needed to have all in readiness.

The ferry cleared out quickly.  Even those of us on the upper car deck were moved out rapidly.

It felt strange to be on land again after the slight vibration and motion of the ferry.  We quickly gassed up and shaped a course for Kamloops, BC to meet some friends from Calgary on Saturday.  

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Enroute to Redding - August 18 & 19, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 20 & 21, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 22, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 23 & 24, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 25, 26 and 27, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 28, 29, 30 & 31, 2012
Enroute to Redding - September 1, 2012

All pictures

Enroute to Redding

Enroute to Redding - August 22, 2012

The ferry trip aboard the MV Columbia from Haines, Alaska to Bellingham, Washington goes remarkably quickly.  Five calendar days are involved, but the trip is really only four nights, three full days and parts of two others.  We boarded on Monday evening and got off early on Friday morning....not bad for 1,800 miles.

While Columbia's 17 knots can't compete with its faster cousins in the fleet (Chenga and Fairweather) with their 32 knot service speeds, it rocks right along through darkness and foul weather.  It goes while we are sleeping.

The ferry is more expensive than travelling by land, especially for people who can travel long, fast and light.  However, it is easier on our backs and we can do other things while travelling.  And the scenery is always pretty and sometimes spectacular.

Our suspicion that we really do use the `Net a great deal was confirmed on the ferry.  Other than 3G cellular data available in Juneau and Ketchikan, there wasn't much Internet available during these days aboard the Columbia.  We turned off our data roaming once we entered Canadian waters.....at almost $16/mb for data, we thought we could live without it for a little while longer.  Barely.

I woke up on August 23 with fog out the port and no forward movement on the ship.  It turned out we were just about to leave Wrangell.  The fog dissipated somewhat as we headed down Clarence Strait towards Ketchikan.

We arrived in Ketchikan at noon.  It is a busy place with jets arriving and departing Gravina Island, across the narrows from the city, ferries shuttling back and forth, fishing boats coming and going and a constant roar of float planes using the narrows as a runway.

We transited the Alaska / Canada border in Dixon Entrance just as the sun was going down in a spectacular fashion over Prince of Wales Island.  

The ferry did make an unscheduled stop at Prince Rupert for a medical evacuation.  Fortunately for the ill individual, it was only a few hours distant, and not far from the normal course.

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Enroute to Redding - August 18 & 19, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 20 & 21, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 22, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 23 & 24, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 25, 26 and 27, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 28, 29, 30 & 31, 2012
Enroute to Redding - September 1, 2012

All pictures

Enroute to Redding

Enroute to Redding - August 20 & 21, 2012

I am writing this as the MV Columbia steams south through Peril Strait toward Sitka.  It is morning and I have just breakfasted in the dining room.  Baranof and its surrounding islands are a particularly lovely part of the Alexander Archipelago, and Peril Strait one of the loveliest and most interesting.

Peril Strait is narrow -- in some places, very narrow.  As I finished my breakfast we were quite close to the rocks.  I could easily have softball pitched to the forested shore.  Low hills and higher peaks marched away from my view into the cloud-shrouded distance.

Around another turn in the narrow passage is a view to the west and the open Pacific.  Fishing boats dot the horizon. This is fishing country and commercial and sport fishermen work hard and play hard in the summer months when the silvery salmon are returning to natal streams.  Here and there, salmon jump completely put of the water. There is a sense of energy and purpose in the air.

We had boarded Columbia the previous afternoon in Haines, and we had started that day in Haines Junction, Yukon Territory.  We had awoken that morning at the Raven Hotel, and the very nice complimentary breakfast added to my already stratospheric estimation of this impressive small hotel.  One does not expect to find places of this calibre along the Alaska Highway. Clean is usually about as good as it gets.

We also did not expect the highway from Haines Junction to Haines to be so smooth.  Our first trip over is this road had been 40 years earlier, and it was gravel and dirt at that time, with some asphalt on the American side.  This time, we traveled  on a broad, smoothly-paved highway that left more time for sightseeing as so little effort was needed for pothole avoidance.  Kluane National and Tatshenshini Provincial parks are immediately west of the road, and their mountains are stunning.  Only an under-construction stretch of gravel near the middle of the trip slowed us down.

The treeless high country near the Haines Road summit was our first look into such country as newly minted married folk.  I recalled to Linda the small lake where we had stopped to allow me to identify a bird -- a Barrows goldeneye -- a life bird for me back then. We talked about the excitement in our hearts of those days.  It only takes passing through this beautiful country to fan it into flame once again!

We did listen to a sermon as we drove along.  The tall mountains, late summer snowfields and wild creeks seemed to punctuate the preacher's words as he spoke about hearing the voice of God.  When we strain to hear Him, the preacher said, we are using logic and usually fail to hear.   It is often when we are about other "non-religious activity" that His voice comes.

I have always liked the downhill trip from the Haines Road summit.  It feels like a quick slice of the north, from the high mountain tundra through the coastal forest to tidewater.

Haines was more difficult for us than in the past, but people were very willing to help.  We stopped at the local IGA grocery, and a friendly checker brought out a ramp for us to get over the high step into the building.  Sidewalk curbs and construction made it feel a bit forbidding.

That Alaska friendliness extended to the ferry.  When I asked at the terminal about parking close to the onboard elevator, we wound up on the upper car deck with our car's trunk next to the door into pursers office area!

UPPER car deck???  Yep.  First time ever for us riding a car elevator.  They had two such elevators.  There was room up there for about 25 vehicles.   It was tight, but an easy trip for our gear out of the car up one flight of stairs or elevator trip to the stateroom.

And when we got to the purser's desk, the purser asked if we would prefer a handicap-accessible cabin.  Wow!  Thanks, Lord!   It had not been available when I booked many weeks earlier.   It is perfect for us.

We stopped in Sitka for several hours.  Because the ferry most easily navigates Sergius Narrows near high or low slack tide, it stays longer at this port than most others.  The crew used the time for fire and lifesaving drills.

If you miss the tight passageway into Sitka, you can see it again on the way out, as it is the only protected waterway in and out of Sitka.  Linda and I sat in the observation lounge and watched the verdant shores glide by.

Later, we ate dinner in the restaurant as the Columbia steamed south in Chatham Strait.  We could easily see the ABC islands - Admiralty to the east, Baranof to the west, and dimly to the north, Chichagof.  Interestingly, we had cell phone coverage - probably from the community of Angoon - for a couple of hours. As we turned the corner into Frederick Sound, we had coverage from Kake.  Those who installed the cell phone systems in these communities....did they know their work would allow travelers along the inside Passage to keep in touch with friends and family?

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Enroute to Redding - August 18 & 19, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 20 & 21, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 22, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 23 & 24, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 25, 26 and 27, 2012
Enroute to Redding - August 28, 29, 30 & 31, 2012
Enroute to Redding - September 1, 2012

All pictures

Enroute to Redding