Holy Week

I began this week last Friday night attending the "Ignite" Conference that our pastor's cluster worked to plan. Although I haven't done anything since the sabbatical I was glad that I could join Pastors Sheila, Trevor, Anton & Chris by at least attending. The goal of this is a prelude to the "Dunamis" training in the work and power of the Holy Spirit. We were grateful for the 50 plus who attended and saw Jesus taking us deeper into receiving the fullness of His Holy Spirit.
 Sunday morning I slipped into the early worship service at Cannan Baptist Church but Rev. Graham still spied me and called me out but allowed me to stay in the congregation. It is good to be neighbors in Christ as we carry out Jesus mission.

This  week I also spent 2 days at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY. This is only 75 miles away and in a beautiful setting on the Hudson River just across from Hyde Park.  This is a Episcopal/Anglican Benedictine Community that I only recently found out about from Tom Postema.

The motto of the community is found here above the main entrance in Latin and means " The Cross is the Medicine for the World." How true. It has existed for 100 years and now has about 15 monks. I had a wonderful time of worship, eucharist, quite, Liturgy, Scripture and reading. I also am praying that one of the monks will be willing to serve as a spiritual director for me.  I hope to continue to make us of this monastery in the future to better keep my commitment of a day a month for the Lord. I think I'll go here. While there I spent one morning praying for our entire congregation by name...calling their names to the Lord. I also memorized a Psalm for Holy Week. I offer it to you as your own prayer.  Psalm 67

"May God be gracious to us and bless us, 

and make His face to shine upon us. 

so that your ways may be known on the earth,

your salvation among all nations.

May the peoples praise you, God

may all the people praise you.

May the nations be glad and sing for joy, 

for your rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.

May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.

Then the land will yield its harvest and God our God will bless us.

God will bless us and all the ends of the earth will fear Him. 

Scripture Engagement:  During this sabbatical I have been trying not just to read Scripture but to engage it by Reading- Reflecting- Praying - Responding.  To this purpose I have been using some different Bibles to help me do this. I have been using a large print calligraphy copy of The Psalms for reading out loud 10 Psalms a day. 8 in the morning and 2 before bed. This has been a great blessing that I hope to continue. This means that I read/reflect/pray/respond to all 150 Psalms twice a month. 

 This past week I used a special edition of the Four Gospels - Matthew- Mark - Luke - John to read one each day at one sitting. This is a profound way to experience Jesus and his life and takes less time than watching a moving. Try it sometime. In addition I have been continuing my Bible reading in chronological order. I'm just up to the end of King/Chronicles and Isaiah and Jeremiah. I'm working at not "getting through" the Bible but the Bible "getting through" me.

 For Good Friday I decided to go the the St. John the Baptist Cathedral live  Stations of the Cross. This begins inside and then goes to the street. The Stations of the Cross also called the
"Via Dolorosa" or "Way of Suffering" have been used as a devotional practice by Christians for thousands of years. It begins with Jesus condemned to death and ends with him placed in the tomb. Usually there are 14 different stations but the numbers vary.   We began at the Cathedral, went up Grand St. to Marshall St. and then back around. There were thousands of people attending and it was all in Spanish.

 I was very personally touched when Monsignor Mark Giordani the Pastor of the Cathedral saw me in the crowd and stepped out of the procession to give me a hug. It reminded me of how important it is for us to support each other in the body of Christ.

In addition to this I have been doing alot of reading the last two week. Here's a list of the books with a comment on each

Geography of Grace - Doing Theology from Below: Kris Rocke & Joel Van Dyke:  A profound book exploring learning from the poorest of the poor and Jesus presence with them. Joel is a missionary/pastor/teacher/friend in Guatemala City.

The Heart of the World - An Introduction to Contemplative Christianity  Thomas Keating.  Keating is a foundational teacher of Centering Prayer & contemplation. Great intro.

The Imitation of Christ: Thomas a'Kempis.  This Christian classic explores all aspect of the Christian life. What I love is how he writes as the Lord speaking to us.

Space for God: Study and Practice of Spirituality and Prayer: Don Postema.  Don is the dad of former Madison Ave. member Tom Postema. This is not a book to read but to do. I took a chapter a day to meditate on and practice. Wonderful.

Coming Home to Your Ture Self: Leaving the Emptiness of False Attractions. Albert Haase. I reread this because it is so profound. He reminds us so well that God hasen't gone away but is home is us. We are the ones wandering. Outstanding book.

The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society. Henri J. M Nouwen.  As the other subtitle state "In our own woundedness, we can be a source of life for others. This is a Christian classic.

Passage through the Wilderness: A Journey of the Soul: Zeb Bradford Long: This explores the wilderness not of the wild but of our lives and how we experience God presence or absence in them. Great book.

Christian Outdoor Leadership: Theology, Theory and Practice: Ashley Denton. Still reading this one and it gets at some practical applications of disciplemaking in wilderness places.

I will post another blog in a few days with details of our trip to Jordan, Israel & Egypt.

Experiencing God in the Everglades Challenge

Paddling into sunrise in Chokoloskee Bay

Florida Bay

Sunset at Key Largo

 Since the theme of this sabbatical is "Experiencing God in the Wilderness" I have been reflecting some on how this has happened this past month. It was just 3 weeks ago that Ben and I were preparing to do the Everglades Challenge beginning in Tampa Bay. However, in reflecting on this I realize that I have been experiencing God's presence and reality not only in the beauty of a sunrise, sunset or in all of the life in the Florida Bay. These were amazing times of experiencing God's creative power up close and personal and I cherish each one.  But I also experience God's presence in the beauty of a father- son relationship and later in times with Debra, Emily, Sara, David & Joshua and other family and friends.  What a gift to cherish our families are. Let us not take them for granted. In addition I experienced God's presence in the wildness of the waves when I was afraid and the sound of the breakers on the surf while I slept.  It is good to know that no matter what the circumstance or situation we are in God's hands.
I also experience God's presence in all of the other people I met this past month. Precious times on the water with conversations with others. God gives us the gift of each other. I experience God in the love that allowed my congregation to give me the freedom of this time. Finally I experience God our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the still small voice whispering in my ear "You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." What a time to glorify God by enjoying God.

Ben has completed a video or each day of our journey and if your interested they are here.
Just click on the title and it will take you directly to the video. The higher quality you can set it at the better it will look. Have fun watching.

Setup and Day 1:   March 1 & 2
Day 2:                    March 3
Day 3:                    March 4
Day 4:                    March 5  (this was my favorite morning)
Day 5: Part 1:         March 6 (morning through the Nightmare - amazing video & music)
Day 5: Part 2:         March 6 (afternoon through night)
Day 6:                    March 7
Highlights of 6 days in 5 minutes:

In addition to the amazing time we had paddling I really had a great time Driving from Paterson to Tampa to Key Largo to Ft. Lauderdale to Boynton Beach to Holland Mi, to Traverse City MI and finally home.  I listened to the following 6 audio books during the 4,500 miles.

Deep Survival: Who lives, who dies and why? by Laurence Gonzales:
A great book that anyone paddling the everglades should listen to. Most significant is the one key thing that separates survivors of all kinds from those who do not survive.....care to guess???? "A positive mental attitude.

Outliers: The Story of Success  by Malcolm Gladwell
A profound book exploring the story behind the story of those who are successful and the often untold circumstances and opportunities that they had. An outstanding book.

Good News about Injustice by Gary A Haugen.
This was a gift from Pastor Ken & Carolyn VanderWall and is a profound book exploring how Christians can really live out God's justice in the world today.

Mere Christianity, by C S Lewis
A Christian classic that is always profound and relevant. A great book for someone who is not a Christian or even opposed to Christianity.

Crazy Love; Overwhelmed by a Relentless God: Francis Chan
This is Chan challenge to a lunk-warm and complacent American Church. OK

What we talk about when we talk about God:  Rob Bell
A great book for someone who may not even believe in God or is hung up by all the churchy talk about God. I really appreciate Bell's attempt to get down to the basics and getting past all the jargon and superficial stuff. Great book!

So, in driving, listening, paddling, singing, praying, laughing, alone and with others I have had a wonderful month of experiencing God's presence in amazing ways.

Family & travel times

 Since the conclusion of the Everglades Challenge we have had some good family time together. We enjoyed being with Ben, Emily and the kids at our little rooms at Bay Cove in Key Largo. This was right where all the boats finished so we got to watch everyone come in. If you want to view all the results you can see them by clicking this LINK . My paddling name is PassaicPaddler. Ben and I were in the top 4 finishers who completed the more difficult Wilderness Waterway through Everglades National Park.
 Ben and Emily flew home last Sunday and then I took Debra for an upgrade to "Ocean House" in Islamorada, Fl. This is about 20 miles further south in the Keys.  Our room was Key Lime Pie...which by the way is a Florida Key favorite and very good. So was the Ocean House.

Heres the view from our rooms patio which faced a beautiful garden with the ocean just over it. We enjoyed a relaxing day here and then drove up to visit here Dad in Boynton Beach, Fl.  Dad Abma and Harriett live there for the winter and NJ for the spring/summer. We spent the night, visited the ocean and had a great time together.

 Tuesday night I dropped Debra off at the West Palm Beach airport for her flight that was again delayed and then drove several hours to northern Florida. I continued driving on Wednesday and by Thursday noon was at South Bend, IN and visited with William Kiptoo. William is in a special Masters program of "Peace Studies" at the University of Notre Dame. He gave me a tour of the campus and we had lunch together. He will return back to Kenya in May. It was good to see him again.

 I arrived in Holland MI on Thursday afternoon to spend some time with Ben and Emily and the kids. On Friday I drove up to Traverse City to visit my friend Jon DeBruyn who has been dealing with some serious cancer. We had a wonderful visit and time of prayer together. Jon has been a wonderful example to me of someone using all the medical options he has, using all the alternative diet therapies available and taking prayer seriously with a prayer team coming to pray with him every day for healing. Please remember Jon a moment now in your prayers.

I concluded my time in Holland with a "Family Fun night at Sara's school and headed for home about 10 a.m. Saturday morning. I was really feeling that it was time to get home and anxious to be back with Debra.

I arrived home 9:15 Saturday night for a record drive of just over 11 hours from Holland MI. The total miles I drove from leaving NJ just under 3 weeks ago was 4,590.3  I am very grateful to the Lord for safety in traveling all those miles. Ben and my boats traveld this far on roads in order to be sailed & paddled 300 miles on water.

Ben has been producing some great videos of our time together. If your interested you can view them here by clicking on each title & day below.

EC2013 Day 1

EC2013 Day 2

I'll post the others as he completes them or you can check my facebook page

We Made it!

 Ben and I completed the Everglades Challenge at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7. We paddled at total of 298 miles from Tampa Bay to Key Largo. It was a marvelous journey.

We launched Saturday, March 2 from the beach of Ft. DeSoto Park on Tampa Bay. About 90 boats started. There were a great variety from larger sail boats to kayaks and even an 8 ft. pram (small rowboat) with a sail.   The requirement is that you have to launch the boat by yourself (or team) without any help.

 The first few days we had NW winds which made for rough seas but great sailing. Ben and I have 1 meter sails on our boats which can move it 4-5 mph without paddling. Since I do not have a rudder on my kayak I have to use my paddle for steering as well.  In Sarasota Bay we were surfing sometimes up to 9 mph down the face of waves. Pretty wild trying to say upright, but lots of fun. We got to the first check point (60 miles) at 10 p.m. Saturday night. Ben wanted to press on for a few hours to camp on an island which we got to as it started pouring.  We had paddle/sailed 65 miles the first day.Sunday morning we headed out (with lots of stuff all wet) n the way south toward Sanabele  Island. Again NW winds made for very rough seas but great sailing. We camped out Sunday night at Wiggins Pass (inlet). At this point there was no intercoastal waterway and we would have to paddle in the Gulf.  Monday was a beautiful day and after paddling through the breakers in Wiggins Pass had a great paddle/sail down the Gulf to Marco Island. Here we went back into the intercoastal waterway. We paddle/sailed all day and spent the night on a small island 8 miles from the National Park office where we would have to get camping permits the next day.

 Tuesday we were on the water at 5 am and had an amazing paddle under the stars and moon.  Our morning Psalm for the week was Psalm 8 and I would recite it each morning.

Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth.

 You have set your glory above the heavens.

 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise,

 because of your enemies, 

to silence the foe and avenger.

When I think of your heavens the work of your fingers, 

the moon and stars that you have set in place, 

what is man that you are mindful of him,

or the son of man that your care for him. 

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings 

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler of the works of your hands and you you have put everything  under his feet.

all the flocks and heads and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, and all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

Ben with legend Watertribers Kiwi Bird & Sandy Bottom

   It was so beautiful under the stars and moon and experiencing the majesty and glory of God in this way. And then we paddled into a beautiful sunrise in Chockolosky bay as you see above.   After getting our camping permits for Everglades National Park on the Wilderness Waterway we stopped at checkpoint 2 and headed out. The wilderness Waterway is a 99 miles watertrail through the Everglades. There are some ground camping sites and some “Chickees” which is like a little dock in the mille of a bay or river where you can camp.   We had about 45 miles to our campsite for the night and enjoyed dinner and a good sleep once there.  We only saw one alligator in Alligator Creek that day. I was reassured that they are more afraid of us then we are of them. I was also reassured by Psalm 8 that the Lord has placed us over all the “creatures that swim the paths of the sea”, including alligators. 

entering "The Nightmare"

sunset

 Wednesday morning we again were on the water at 5 am in order to get to a section called the “Nightmare” by high tide. This is an area that you can only get through on high tide.   It is very narrow and windy and only the smaller kayaks and canoes can make it through at all. But we did very well and didn’t encounter any boas or alligators just lots of birdlife.  We had a long day of paddling and finally arrived at our chickee for the night at 7 p.m. only to find it in the middle of a bay with a 20 mph cold wind blowing over it. I was so ready to stop and looking forward to a last special night with Ben when he said it was too cold to say on it. I protested and said I couldn’t go on. We had been on the water for 14 hours with only one ½ hour stop all day.  He said I would go hypothermic if I got up there but I did any way and yes, imminently began shivering. (since most of me was wet). So I changed clothes and we got back in the boats for a 3 hour paddle to check point 3 at Flamingo.   What I didn’t know yet at this point was what kind of paddle that was going to be.  Heres a clue. It was about 50 degrees, 20 mph winds blowing out of the NW and we had to cross the bottom of Whitewater Bay where the wind has had 10 miles to pick up the ways.   This was my most frightening time on the trip. It was dark, the water was wild and I was having all I could do to hold my own. We had over an hour of this. I was singing the gospel song…”The wind and the waves they obey his will, Peace be still, peace be still…” and although the wind and waves didn’t stop the Lord gave me peace inside. We finally made it into quieter water and go to Flamingo around11 p.m.  We were out of the wind, cooked supper, set up camp and got a good nights sleep.

 Thursday morning  we slept in to 6:30 and actually got a hot sandwich (microwaved) in the marina store. We had to portage our gear and boats over from the Wildnerness Waterway into Florida Bay and were back on the water by 8:30 a.m. Only 35 miles to go across Florida Bay.  We had a wonderful day of paddle sailing with a slight SW wind that built during the day.  We were welcomed into the finishing beach by all the Watertribe folks who had finished before us.

at the finish in Key Largo

Ben told me that we had exceeded all of his time projections.  Although we was often waiting up for me I did really well and felt good the whole trip.  The physical preparation was important but the mental and spiritual preparation is what really sustains one on a trip like this.  Although this was not as had as some other years there are many lessons of life that are lived out in the midst of difficult and stressful situations.   Probably on of the most important is a positive mental attitude of what is possible.

Joshua Luke liked getting held

David enjoyed throwing stones in the water

 This was a wonderful father-son expedition for Ben and I to do together and I'm so grateful for the time to do it. Emily, Sara, David and baby Joshua flew down from Michigan on Thursday night. It took Debra all day Friday to get out of Newark due to the snow but she finally made it. We had some good family time together.  The big aware ceremony  was on Saturday and here are Ben and I with our shark tooth, alligator tooth and Watertribe paddle awards.