This past weekend saw me, James, at the 2013 US Open Chainsaw Sculpture Championship in lovely Eau Claire, WI. After throwing on some blue jeans, beat-up work boots, my ever faithful Carhart cap, and rocking the beard, I blended right in with all the woodworkers and rednecks of my homeland in Northern Wisconsin. I stood there watching intently as competitors from four countries and several states worked intricately to sculpt their masterpieces out of gargantuan chunks of timber. The buzzing of the chainsaws in my ears, the smell of freshly cut timber, and the sight of such amazing sculptures was a memorable experience.
After pondering what I had experienced a few days later, I liked what came to my mind, I think. The past few months I've especially felt like I'm one of those pieces of timber. Shoot, it sucks sometimes to be cut away at like a piece of White Pine under the sharp chain of a Stihl chainsaw. I know it will continue throughout this coming year as God works on me and cuts away the pieces of me that aren't glorifying to Him. I'm beginning to see that happen already and I'm not even on the freaking race yet. Oh man! Here it comes!
I think I put God in a box. I think I doubted Him a lot. I think I was scared that He wasn't who He said He was. Fundraising always scared me and somehow I didn't believe I would actually be able to procure enough funds to embark on the race. God showed me different. He showed up. One week I was halfway funded and worrying about what I was going to do; the next I was almost fully funded! I couldn't believe it. I thought there was a mistake when I was informed of the status of my account. But there wasn't. God just showed up in the form of extremely generous friends from North Dakota. I didn't deserve it. I deserved to struggle much harder to get the rest of my support. But God, in His grace and kindness, showed me just how quickly and hugely He could work. He poured some love on this cynical sinner.
I know I'm far from fully grasping the provision of the Sovereign God of the Universe. I don't have a house or a wife or a kid or a mortgage or any other huge responsibilities like many of my friends. What I've seen so far in my short life though has made me a believer.
He's not finished with me yet, thank God He's not finished with me yet. 26 days until launch…Fire that chainsaw up!
