My Journey North

The Roadtrip

It took Josh and me 12 days to get to Alaska…7 days in the car and 5 days on a boat.  We got to see some incredible things and spend time with great people during our trip.  We stayed in E. St. Louis IL, Olathe KS, Fraser CO, Pinedale WY, Jerome ID, and Seattle WA.  We stayed for free with either friends of ours or people that our friends knew.  At each place, we could take hot showers, had a comfortable place to sleep, and were fed really well.  We only had to buy one meal the entire trip… a waffle house in Denver.  Gas was about 20 cents cheaper per gallon than I had budgeted for, so that was a blessing as well!  My car held up just fine and is still running great in Alaska!  Our trip was very smooth.  It was wonderful to drive through the familiar mountains of Tennesse and then transition into the more flat, open areas of the midwest.  The long drive across Kansas was pretty, but it was also cold, and very windy, and boring!  We drove through the Rockies in Colorado and that was more tense because of the snow, but it was beautiful.   The drive from Denver to Seattle was beautiful.  Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington are all beautiful states.  Shortly, I will be putting up some pictures on Facebook so you can see some of the sights we got to drive through.  

The ferry ride was also a great experience!  I had never been on a boat overnight before, so to spend 5 nights on one was very unique.  The first 3 days were filled with wonder and awe at the vastness of God’s creation…riding through the ocean with mountainous islands on either side of us.  I had plenty of time to think, pray, and reflect about the past 22 years and the time to come in Alaska.  By the final two days of the boat ride, I was ready to get off and start doing things.  

Some very gracious people saved me a big chunk of money by allowing us to stay and eat for free.  I am deeply grateful for them.  To those of you who helped through physical means, and/or by praying for us, your care and love was definitely felt and known our entire trip.  Thank you so much.  

I think my next post will be about my time in Greenville right before I left…

Living in AK…

I’ve used this blog for about a year to update and organize my thoughts on my life as I pursued moving to Alaska.  And now that I am finally living here, I will continue to use this to update whoever is interested about my life in AK.  If no one reads it, my feelings will not be hurt; at the very least, this blog will just help me journal in an organized way.  Over the next few days, I will put a few posts to tell about this past semester, my road trip up here, my first few weeks here…

week 8

I leave tomorrow evening to go back to Greenville to finish my last semester of school.  It’s been a wonderful last week as things wind down here for me.  I went halibut fishing and floated the Kenai River last week.  Super cool experiences.  For the past 7 years I have been “visiting” Alaska.  But this is the end of my final visit.  When I come back in December, I won’t be visiting, I’ll be living here indefinitely.  It’s a bizarre sensation.  My last weekend in Nikiski has been awesome.  The weather has been perfect and I’ve had great fellowship with some of the people I’ve grown close to this summer in some really beautiful spots in Nikiski.  

God is giving me much peace about going back home for a few months.  I’m excited about seeing my family and other friends in Greenville.  I anticipate these next 4 months being some of the most cherish-able times of my life so far.  

I’ve gotten to do a lot of wonderful things this summer and have met some incredible people.  Though I don’t have living arrangements or job situations finalized as of now, I will not be homeless and jobless this winter.  God has hooked me up all summer with blessings, and I know he is going to provide this winter too.

week 7

Just finished my 7th week in Nikiski. One more to go before heading home.  

This past week was great, just like the other ones.  I got my Alaska driver’s license!  Which means that I start my residency now…which in a year will give me benefits from the state (hunting, fishing, oil dividend check, etc).  I had a free day, so I did it kinda spontaneously.

But I want to share about this past weekend…Friday through Sunday.  There was a music/envrionmental/hippie festival in Ninilchik called Salmonstock.  It was focused around raising awareness of certain industrial proposals that people think will damage ecosystems severely.  Lighthouse Church has a big inflatable slide and a bouncy house.  The festival paid the church to have some guys bring them down and run the inflatables so the kids would have a place to play.  So me and 3 other guys from church camped out at the fairgrounds and hung out with kids all day!  I met some really cool kids there and got to talk to some parents and people from various places from the state.  Hippies were prevalent, for sure!  One of our goals was to try to engage in conversation and relationship with people to get a vibe on the spiritual condition of that sub-culture.  I met a lot of people from Homer, Palmer, and Girdwood.  There are no southern Baptist churches from Soldotna to Homer.  Corey mentioned to us that maybe one day God might have us plant a church somewhere near Homer.  But essentially we were there to love the junk out of the kids!  It was such a blast.  I got to know some of the older men in the church more and had good fellowship with them.  There was live music all day, and I got to eat lots of caribou hot dogs :)

The biggest thing I came away with after this weekend in regards to evangelizing and reaching the lost hippie people is this:  share the gospel with your life.  For me, at least, I feel that God doesn’t want me focusing on telling the what to believe or preaching to them with words or “evangelizing” in the sense that most people think.  But the hippie community really is a community…a lot of them live together in random living arrangements and do things together.  They may believe some weird stuff about theology and the ultimate purpose of our lives, but they seem to value community.   And because they are a relational people, I think it is best to live my/our lives around and with them and let the love of Jesus flow out of my life and into theirs.  Obviously, conversations must be had, and words must be used to share life with them.  But they need to see that Jesus isn’t a set of beliefs, 5 theological points, or merely a book of wise words and weird stories.  Like, Jesus actually changes our lives.  I was once dead.  But He made me alive.  I was blind and deaf.  But he opened my eyes and ears.  He actually moves and lives in His people.  He really does restore fallen things and redeems enslaved people.  He mends the broken and fills us with a real, living hope that we are alive and will always be alive with Him.  His death and resurrection continues to manifest itself in our hearts.  

I wouldn’t mind at some point living in Homer and planting a church and sharing life with funky people.  And this stuff isn’t just true for these types of people.  Love outlasts all things and overpowers every other virtue.  I may sound like a hippie saying this, but love is the only way to evangelize and disciple and do lasting work in the Kingdom of God.

“Always preach the Gospel; use words if necessary”

week 6

Man.  My time in Nikiski this summer is winding down.  Only two weeks left!  Every single week I get to meet new people and experience and learn new things up here.  I had a few days off work this week, so I went hiking to with a group of people on Wednesday.  Thursday a bigger group of us paddled canoes down the Swanson River.    What a cool trip that was!  My abs are sore from laughing so much and my shoulders are super tight from paddling for 10 hours!  

I’ve gotten to meet others in the fishing industry and found out some more info about the school district this week too.  I am beyond thankful for the incredible people I’ve met and the connections I’ve made in Alaska this summer.  

I’ve still got enough work with Mike to last these next two weeks, so I’ll still be making some money.  I hope to go fishing for a day next week on the Kenai River.  Hopefully next week the Fish and Game Department will allow the commercial fishermen to start fishing.  Even thought the peak of the salmon run is over, they’re still coming in.  I’ve gotten to know the fishing crew really well, and I feel like I’m one of them.  So even though I’m not actually fishing, I will be very happy for them when/if they are allowed to fish!

week 5

Our Father gives ridiculously good gifts to His children.  He blesses us beyond measure.  He increases our faith even if we don’t ask for it.  

At least He’s been doing this with me the past week or two.  

Last week, the Alaska Fish and Game department shut down fishing for another week or two, which bummed me out because I wouldn’t have made as much money as I was anticipating.  But I still have consistent work with Mike (the guy I’ve been working for since I got here).  So not a big deal.  But then, out of no where, the fishing crew got connected with a job on the Kenai River.  They invited me to do it last night.  Basically we just get in the boats at the dock and throw thousands of pounds of salmon into big tubs attached to cranes.  The crane takes the fish and dumps it onto a big table where people sort through the different species.  That’s essentially all we do!  and we get $14/hr.  and all that work is at night.  So I can work with Mike in the morning and afternoon and then do the fish stuff at night.  And I can come when I want.  All the jobs God has given me here have been pretty flexible and I love the people I am meeting.  

Also, I am very close to buying my one way ferry ticket to Alaska.  Hopefully, soon I will have that done….it will be a big relief.  Stuff with Lighthouse is looking up too!  This morning at church was really good…God confirmed to me once again that He wants me to help lead his church and community and be a teacher in Alaska….even though I’m enjoying all the physical labor this summer, I still believe teaching is my “career”.  

God is stressing the importance of people to me.  Or, how important they are to Him.  Just like I’m scratching the surface of what it means to serve and give myself up, I also feel like we have a lot to learn about how much he really loves us and the people he has created.  

God is sending me to the place of Alaska.  He’s sending me to the people of Alaska.  The mountains.  The rivers.  The fishing jobs.  Seeing moose.  All of it is about making relationships with people.  And because Jesus has rescued me, my relationships are about Him.  We need to take our sandals off more often.  Because every moment is holy.  Every relationship is holy ground.  God is moving.  He’s always at work in us.  

Ecclesiastes is a book about the meaninglessness of life.  Verse after verse talks about how vain this world is.  But then the write ends the book with this…”Now all has been heard.  Here is the conclusion of the matter:  Fear God, and keep His commandments.  For this is the whole duty of man.”  Jesus answers the pharisees question about the greatest commandment with a two part answer: love God with every aspect of who you are, and love others just like you love yourself.  

Read Psalm 19. Romans 1.  Colossians 1.  All things point to Jesus!  we weren’t meant to do things alone.  But we also weren’t just made for each other.  We were made to have fellowship with one another, but more so together with the King of the universe.  

World Changers!

Dude.  This past week was a BLAST!!!   It was World Changers week at Lighthouse.  We had 150 kids from around the country stay at the church and work on people’s houses in the community.  It was such a sweet week for me because God used World Changers to get me up to Nikiski back in high school.  It was then that He planted the desire to move up here in me.  And now, if he continues to will it, I’m just a few months away from that desire being fulfilled.  But apart from my personal connection with World Changers and Nikiski, it was an incredible week.  I helped Bubba in the kitchen cooking and serving breakfast and dinner to the crews at the church.  Even though we had to be up at 3:30 a.m. it was a great time of fellowship with the others helping out.  Stuff like that creates strong bonds with my brothers and sisters.  It was such a joy to meet new people from different places.  Last summer, when me and my sister Maria helped with World Changers, there wasn’t a strong connection with the summer staffers.  But this week was the exact opposite.  Will, Candace, Caroline, and Erin were great to be around and hang out with during the week.  It was refreshing to me to be able to laugh and share stories with other brothers and sisters my age.  I laughed  A LOT this week.  Man, I’m so thankful for the joy that Christ brings to our lives.  If I weren’t His, waking up at 3:30, then going to work, then doing dinner at 4, then staying up till midnight with people would be draining and not fun!  But because of His life-giving Spirit, we were able to rejoice in being tired.  Laughing our faces off.  Taking late night 4-wheel excursions.  Looking for moose.  Watching the interview of Vern twelve times in a row.  I got to share my Alaska story with the staff, and combined with the rest of the week (and the past month), if there was ever any doubt in me about moving up here, it has been erased.  God continues to pile on grace and confirmation in my life.  I’m seeing how faith really is a gift from God.  I’m not even asking God to give me more faith or signs to move here.  He just keeps giving it to me!  During my conversation with Caroline about Alaska, I feel like God revealed to me that I still have a lot to learn about sacrifice and giving myself up for people.  If I ever thought I was good at serving or whatever, I think I’ve barely scratched the surface.  But the desire for God to use and stretch me for his kingdom are there.  I may not know what I’m getting myself into all the time, but that’s what faith and peace are for right? ;)  Shane and Shane have a song called “I Want It All”.  Some of the lyrics are:  

use me, break me, waste me on You, Lord
ruin me, take me, waste me on You
for to die is to live…

to starve is to feast
and less of me is more of Jesus
Lord, i want it all
Lord, i want it all
if i lose my life
i gain everything
and at the cross
away with all death’s sting
Lord, i want it all
Lord, i want it all

there is power in the blood
there is victory in Jesus
come in power, wash me clean
overwhelm me with Your presence
there is power in the blood
there is victory in Jesus
help me glory in the cross
help me find my gain in loss

That’s my prayer now, and for the future…that God would waste me.  pour me out.  empty me.  that I would always find my victory, power, and life in Jesus.  I can’t take my sleep and energy and money and possessions to the grave with me.  God gave us a day to rest.  But he gave us 6 more to work our butts off for Him.  

week 3

I’m in the middle of my third week in Nikiski.  I’m learning alot and feel like I’m becoming more of a grown-up!  I went camping this weekend with a friend and some other new friends from Homer.  It was awesome.  I learned how to clean fish that we caught…we probably caught about 15 trout, and kept and ate 10 of them.  I’m finishing up the work for Mike and Denise, and in perfect timing, God has hooked me up with a much better paying job starting next week.  The commercial fishing season starts July 9th, and the oil companies hire fishing boats to be a “safety boat” for the guys working on the loading docks.  The boats are there just in case someone falls off the dock in the cold water to rescue them.  The fishermen work the boat on their days off, but on the days they are fishing they need people to fill in.  James is fishing and he told his crew that I need a job and I went and talked to them today.  They are gonna put me on the rotating schedule of the safety boat.  Also, for the same guys who own the fishing operation, there are some construction projects and a few other projects around their shop they need to get done.  Between the safety boat and the other projects, I will make some pretty decent money (between 20-30 bucks an hour).  

Thought I’d share a quick update :)

Free Salmon!

Man, God is all over this new job I have!  First of all, he hooked me up with the work just a few days after I got here.  Second, the people I’m working for are very pleasant and friendly; Mike and his neighbor Denise.  Third, the craigslist ad said I would be paid $8/hr cash, but they’ve been paying me 9 an hour.  And this is untaxed, so it’s like 11 or 12 an hour, really.  Fourth, the work hasn’t been backbreaking…I’ve been putting in solid 7-8 hour days, but its just a bunch of odd-jobs around their property and their houses.  So I don’t get too bored doing the same thing all the time.  Fifth, today, Denise came to me and asked if I was a Christian.  I simply said yes, and she told me she just found out her dad was having some kind of heart trouble.  She let me pray with her.  Later in the day, she told me that the doctors put her dad on some medication and had it under control.  God totally revealed himself and his power and that he listens to us today to Denise.  Sixth, before I left, she gave me like 5 lbs of frozen salmon that they caught last year to take home and cook up.  So now we have a few more good meals!  

I’m hopeful about future opportunities to give witness to our God over the next few days as I finish up my work there.