Winding Down.

Student ministry is definitely starting to speak a little more quietly as of late. Youth Group at AFMC is over for the year. There are just three 2 1/2 weeks left of school. It looks like Monday Night Bible Study won't meet again until August....and I'm sitting in my office wondering if I will be too bored, or, if there will be enough time to plan for next year.


Water Fighting on the Wenatchee...it's colder than it looks, considering that 30 hours ago, that water was snow.

For Memorial weekend I was on the Wenatchee River again. The long weekend included two full day runs down the river and a full day off to explore Leavenworth on Sunday. Although my number of river miles is growing, I'm still anxious everytime I step into the guide seat...but my crews are beginning to respond well to me, and my senior guides are very affirming...and so I keep at it.

Yesterday, I had a student in my boat whose goal was to fall into the river at least twenty times. I think he fell in 26. This meant that during every patch of still water, where normally I would try to engage students in group discussion or team-building activities, I was helping pull student after student back into our boat. It was a long day, and I definitely was challenged to evaluate how important it is to see 'my goals' followed through to completion.

Regardless...my weekend was amazing....

Icicle Creek

On Sunday night, my friend Heidi and I split off from our group of rafting guides, headed back towards our cabin in hopes of a quiet evening. On the way home, we ended up taking a detour through Icicle Canyon and spent an hour scouting out Class IV/V rapids. It was one of those spontaneous evenings that as you're driving home, you think, "that was so good. that was the kind of good night I get once a year. just perfect"...to sit on big boulders with her, talking about life, lost loves, and how much it means to us that we get to spend our weekends up in the mountains in this beautiful place on these amazing rivers... I found a kindred spirit in her...

...and now I have hiked back down to the Stillaguamish Valley, where I have the names of 41 students posted on my wall whom I am pursuing and praying for every week.