Why College Students???

This is where the "lightbulb" went on!

In the previous post, we talked about the journey.  During that 5 years, God began placing college students in our path.

Originally we were helping a couple of times per year with a campus ministry and we had a few students in our Community Group.  Our church experimented with having a formal college ministry...which we REALLY enjoyed.  Then I taught about 10 students to kayak one summer...which was great as well.  But what we noticed was that they seemed to enjoy having a home to visit...and we really enjoyed having them in our lives.

Meanwhile, with the advent of the biggest part of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), there was real uncertainty with my health insurance business.  If the answers to one or two key questions came back wrong, then the company would fold.

As I considered what I might do if the worst came to pass, I remembered a question my former boss and mentor in Chattanooga would ask every young interviewee..."If money were no object, what would you like to do for the rest of your life?"  Their answers varied widely...and as I asked myself the same question, mine did too.  After some thought, I realized I had four very different possibilities:

1) I could stay in insurance.  But it was not the insurance that is exciting to me.  It is the relationships with my clients (many are friends) and being able to take something complicated and make it simple...give clear direction and not be manipulative in my interactions.  I could truly help people and not care whether I sold anything or not (but that will be a different post).  I also like the teaching aspect of employee meetings where I walked employees through how their benefits worked, how much everything costs, and how to best use their plans.

2) I asked some of the college students that know us well, "pretend you did not know I worked in insurance...what could you see me doing?"  Almost all of the answers involved teaching...either kayaking or rock climbing, or the like.  Which led to inquiring with one of my old Clemson professors about teaching a "Leisure Skills" class at Clemson.  He explained most of those slots are reserved for grad students.  Well if my company folds, getting a doctorate in Parks and Recreation (same as my undergrad degree) might be a great fit...which led to:

3) College professor.  I would get to teach and have access to college students.  I could even do research on work-life balance and a Biblical view of work...which I had been pondering since starting my own company and working from home.  The only challenge was it would require at least 5 years of school and I would probably have to teach somewhere else before applying to work at Clemson.  And lastly...

4) We could be international missionaries.  We looked seriously at Eleuthera about two years earlier.  The time we have spent outside of the US has given us a great appreciation for what God is doing in other parts of the world.  We see great value in our time with believers in other countries and partnering with them for mutual growth and encouragement.

Which led to "the comment."  Sometimes it is the smallest things (the whisper)...that God uses to shift our direction to where He wants us.  I had a long meeting with one of our pastors and I was bouncing ideas off of him when the topic (ever so briefly) turned to college students.  He commented "If you want to do that, you need to go talk to ____" (and he named a large campus ministry).  Then the topic changed and we considered several other things.

Well, a couple of months passed and that comment popped back in my head.  I did not even know who ran that ministry at Clemson...and it was a complete long shot, but I figured I would see if I could buy him breakfast and run some thoughts by him.  At breakfast, I walked him through each option in detail.  I then said "now that I talked way too much, but I would love to hear your thoughts and I am going to eat my biscuit" (which was cold by then).

He simply sat back in his chair and said "You realize we do all of that..."  I think I gave him a puzzled look.  He continued, "Everything you like about each of those options is present in campus ministry."

1) Taking the complicated and making it simple, applicable, and helping people with their problems...that's life-on-life discipleship.  2) We have a program that uses adventure recreation as a shared experience to begin to build relationships.  We would love for you to take students rock climbing, kayaking, etc. 3) You obviously have all the access to college students you want and we could start you out teaching a freshman Bible study in the Fall.  And 4) we will send you anywhere in the world you want to go for two months every summer.

I could barely contain my enthusiasm...and I left that breakfast secretly hoping the ACA would sink my company and make the decision really easy.

So Steph and I started to take small steps and pray through what The Lord would have for us, each step was confirmed...and often in a way that was really encouraging.

While I am slow to use the word "calling" and put a "God stamp" on something...this feels more like calling than anything we have experienced before.

Small steps...

It has been almost a 5 year process...

...of feeling God pulling us in a direction, then we would take a small step (sometimes quickly and sometime not so quickly), then He would show us our need for Him (and our lack of trust), followed by a deeper understanding of His faithfulness, and amazement at His provision.  Sometimes our perception of an opportunity was overly romantic.   Sometimes it was not as good a fit as we originally thought.  However taking the step often brought new perspective or led to a different opportunity that we had not considered.  Matt speaks to it really well at 19:20 here...

All the while The Lord continued (and continues) to refine us and clarify direction.

As I look back at where small steps have led in the last 5 years, I am still getting my arms around it.

• I left a great paying job and started a small business with the goal of having more time for volunteering and ministry (which was really scary but really incredible).  
• Steph and I both worked on a church staff for awhile.  
• We even looked seriously at being missionaries in Eleuthera and flew the whole family down to "try it on".

There were seasons of great blessing, great uncertainty, great joy, and great pain...all of which God in His sovereignty used/is using for His glory.  For example, I can give three or four tangible examples of God's financial provision at exactly the right moment in the midst of great uncertainty.

So here's the conclusion...after 5 years of starting and stopping...of taking small steps...of being crushed and uplifted, we finally have some real clarity around direction in our next season (which will be in the next post).

But here is a question for you...what small step is God calling you toward?  Is there an area where He is asking you to trust Him and to take that first small step of faithfulness...not knowing where it will lead?

If there is one thing He continues to teach us, it is "I have you!"  "I created this universe...with all of its complexity and diversity and beauty...and I can provide for you."  Luke 12:22-32

Even when we are faithless, he is faithful.

Adventure...

The term "adventure" has a connotations of high-risk and adrenaline.

Climbing mountains, jumping off of tall things, exploring the unknown, running long distances, and the like certainly qualify as adventure...and yes...I do enjoy those recreational activities.  However for our family, "adventure" also has a much more encompassing definition...thus the blog title.

It is funny, when I asked Steph to marry me (on top of a mountain...in the freezing cold...light rain...with about a 20mph wind blowing), I told her "I cannot make you any promises about where we are going to be or what we will be doing...in fact, I have this nagging feeling that one day we will be completely broke.  But I can guarantee one thing...life with me will not be boring."

We were telling that story to some friends recently and she added, "and he has lived up to that promise!"

But it is not because our family hikes big mountains, or jumps out of airplanes (which is still on my list), or some other adrenaline-based adventure.  We have just been taking small steps, learning to die to our own selfish desires (which is an ongoing process), while trying to be faithful with what God is doing in and around us.  I have heard it called a long obedience in the same direction.

So by that definition, we are all called in a general sense to our own "adventures."

It looks a lot more like moving out of our areas of comfort and (generally) toward what we as humanity were created for...as well as (specifically) to be "on mission" with God is doing around us.  This can look different for everyone.  For some it means running a company where employees are respected and excess revenues go toward various ministries.  For others it means seeing their job as a repairman as reflecting God's glory as a Restorer of things that are broken and by being a part of His redemptive work by treating customers exceptionally well and fixing things that are broken (understanding that brokenness is a general effect of The Fall).  For our family it means trying to hold possessions loosely.  It means jobs are an opportunity to help solve problems, lead through chaos, invest in the next generation, and try to create shade for others.  It means relationships are valued. All while we work through what it looks like to be authentic followers of Jesus wherever He has us.

As I write that...it sounds both idealistic and impossible...and it is impossible without God breaking our hearts and showing us where we fail to trust him.  And that challenge...is a great adventure.

And our adventure is entering a new season!  Which we will explain over the next few days...

Irene Relief

Hurricane Irene did quite a bit of damage to New England but not before hitting Eleuthera "head-on." Mike and Shannan Fastzkie fared safely but lost all of the shingles off the front half of their house in the storm. Subsequently their roof was leaking terribly and when it rained (which was almost daily), Shannan was breaking out the mop and trying to keep things relatively dry.

When we arrived 10 days after the storm, they still had no power but were able to run lights and fans off of a generator. The storm snapped all of the power poles in their settlement, overturned small buildings, and dumped tons of rancid sea grass inland.

I did not get many pictures of the surrounding community or "before" shots of our jobsites because we got off the plane, dropped our bags in our rooms, and got straight to work.

Here are a few photos from the trip...

We drove to Ft. Pierce, Fl and caught a Missionary Flights International (MFI) flight over to the island. While our task was in the forefront of our minds, the flight over and back on a small private plane was a highlight.

It also brought challenges...when the five of us arrived at the MFI hangar, Dick Snook (our pilot and the president of MFI) informed us that we had about 200lbs of capacity for luggage, supplies, etc. When we weighed our bags, we were originally 100lbs over weight. We knew the air compressor, nailguns, and nails had to make the trip so we began dumping clothes, handtools, snacks, toiletries and any non-necessities. Kudos to Keith Doster who stipped down in the hangar to change into one of the two changes of clothes we wore the whole weekend.

It was a bit snug but the Cessna 310 was a highlight for us all.

I did not get a "before" shot but you can see our progress from day one. The right side of the pic is what the whole front roof looked like when we arrived. The left side shows what we were able to complete in the first afternoon in spite of the rain showers.

Jeremy Keever cleaning nails and getting ready for tar paper...

Keith working on tar paper...

Charlie was tasked with cleaning up the corners so the ridge caps could go down.

For the most part we worked from 7:30 in the morning to 8:30 in the evening. This is Jerry surveying our Day 2 progress as the sun was setting.

The finished product. While there was still much patching to do, we were able to get the Fastzkie's in the dry so they did not have to worry about any more furniture being ruined or the need to break out the mops with every little shower.

We also put tarps on several other homes that were still leaking even after the first round of tarps went on. Charlie spent most of one day traveling the central par of the island with Martin and Kevin (two locals) checking on folks and applying tarps where they were still needed.

Brenda Lee's house was hit particularly hard. They are having to decide whether to try to save the walls or just start over. While thing look ok from a distance, the trip inside tells a very different story.

This is what was left of a back room.

We overlayed existing tarps with a bigger one where this roof was still leaking in Hatchet Bay.

There is still much work to be done on the island. Hopefully the repairs will hold with more storms on the way. It was nice to see the roof of the clinic (where we worked in May) was in perfect shape. Not a shingle was bent or out of place.

There is another team expected to head down this weekend and continue the work...Godspeed!

Olivia's Mess

It's official...Olivia is on the move. She isn't crawling yet but she can army crawl anywhere she wants to go. Tonight I was in the kitchen and heard a strange thud in the den. Rob and Zac were outside so there was no one else to blame. I found Olivia with this mess. She had turned over the plant on the hearth.

Let the fun begin!

9 Months

While we were in Eleuthera Sweet Olivia turned 9 months old. I decided to take advantage of the surroundings and have a little photo shoot. I love the way they turned out. I can't believe she's getting so big!

A few things about Olivia...

She is doing well sitting up on her own now but is not crawling just yet. She and Zac are beginning to interact more and more. She likes the attention but he doesn't always like that she is playing with his toys.

She still says "Da Da" a lot and sometimes we think that she is trying to say "Zac".

Just this week she has started eating Cheerios...she still has no teeth.

Her first time at the beach was in Eleuthera and she LOVED the water. Since then we have been to the pool several times and she enjoys lounging in her float and watching the action around her.

At her 9 month appt she was 27 3/4" (50th percentile) and 16lbs 10 oz (22nd percentile).

Zac wanted in on the photo shoot. As usual he was hard to catch.
He wouldn't sit in the chair with O. My independent child had to sit in his own "boy" chair. Here they are checking out the Fastzkie's chocolate lab named "Peanut Butter. "

Is that a real smile I see on my little man?

I just love these little cuties!

Eleuthera Part 3 (The fun stuff)

Once the work was done each day we packed up and headed to the beach to cool off . Most days this included snorkeling and spear fishing. Unfortunately I don't have great shots of the beaches (we were too busy playing) but you get the idea from the shots below.

One evening we went to visit "The Cliffs".

For supper the last night we went to a local cookout by the beach. You can see Z playing with his new buddy Wayne. They had fun throwing rocks in the water.

On the way to the airport the last morning we went to "Preacher's Cave".

Where's Zac?

Here is the team at the "Glass Window Bridge". It used to be a natural land bridge until a storm made it collapse. Now it is a one lane wide road. This is the spot on the island where the Atlantic and Caribbean meet. The Atlantic side is deep blue and you can see the Caribbean side behind us in this picture.