Many of you know that I get to go to Alaska each summer – yes it is a job, yes it is hard – sometimes so much so I cuss at myself each time I move my body on the boat. But despite that I keep going back. I love the adventure, the open beauty of Alaskan sea and wilderness, the camaraderie I feel with the other men on my crew. But more than those things I keep returning to work my back because it is an empty space. Not just the vast expanse of tundra and sea so far you don’t know where water ends and sky begins, it’s the emptiness created in the heart. It’s a place to experience neediness, one that can only be satisfied by Jesus. I tell people I typically find myself emptied emotionally, physically, and spiritually which leaves room for only one thing; the Best thing.
Each summer I’ve gone to fish I’ve been in a different place in my life. True that’s the nature of time – but each has been formative of who I am. I first went for simple adventure. the next summer I was wanting something so bad I compromised who I cared for to get it. Last summer I was in a place where it seemed I had lost everything I really wanted. This summer looks like a space for waiting. I have learned and grown a lot over the last year and a half and I look forward to this waiting. It’s man-forming. It mind-captivating. It’s heart-guiding. It reminds me of the space after Jesus ascends into heaven and he tells his disciples to go home and wait for the Holy Spirit – they wait for 10 days. They pray. They seek God and come together. I pray that heart to faithfully wait is in me.
Today I was invited to the beach on the South Carolina coast – a gift to see the Atlantic the day before I fly and get to see the Pacific. It’s a day of waiting. A day of friendship. A day for honoring God with space. And I get to spend it with my good friend Greg, a humble and an as encouraging human being as there ever was. We’re excited for his girlfriend and her friend to join us so we can play in the sun.
Tomorrow will be my last day to post until I return from Alaska in August. I would like to remind you if you feel led to please support me financially for this mission.
