Cannibalistic Christmas Bear

I got home from church today to find my bear skull decked out with a Santa hat, red ball nose and a teddy bear in its mouth.  They called it the Cannibalistic Christmas Bear, because it's eating one of its own.  Works for me.  While Daphne and the girls were away in Alabama I put all the Christmas lights up on the house (Daphne asked me how I got them up on the edge of the roof . . . very carefully I said), cut down a Christmas tree (a blue spruce - don't tell anyone), hauled it up the hill on top of Daphne's Blazer, drug it up the stairs into the living room, and set it up in the tree stand.  This is more impressive when you know the tree is 11 feet tall and very prickly.  I was covered with pine wounds that evening and yes, I'm looking for sympathy.  It was all worth the girls' look of surprise and delight when they got home last night.  Our friends the Larsons came over for lunch and all six girls got busy and decorated the tree.  It looks great.


Mike preached a sermon from Psalm 23 this morning.  The high school was packed again - I would guess well over 400 adults.  Anyway, the sermon was great and very compelling - great job Mike.  Before the sermon he briefly commented on the upcoming installation of our elders next Sunday, and his main point had to do with our vision as a church to encourage women to use their God-given gifts and abilities, including serving in the role of elder.  Yes, I know this is a controversial topic, and we've lost church members who disagree with us theologically on this point.  That's fine, as our church isn't for everyone and it takes all flavors to make up the rich diversity that is the body of Christ.  I do find it interesting, however, that the strongest disagreements almost always come from religious people rather than new believers (or unbelievers) who are simply trying to find God.   I'm not saying that we shouldn't exercise spiritual discernment or ever question what appears to be unbiblical teaching.  We should - in the right spirit and out of a heart of love and concern.  Unfortunately, this almost never happens, and the pastor and church staff are often the last ones to discover the true reasons why someone has left the church.  We learn to shrug our shoulders, wish them the best and move on.  What else can we do?


     One of the things we love about The Journey is the vision to reach those who are far from God and see them become fully devoted followers of Christ, and we'll try almost any crazy idea to accomplish this purpose.  In the process we see many new people join the church who are excited about rediscovering God, and a few who leave because of an offense taken, or because they disagree with some leadership decision.  Maybe our experience is unique, but Daphne and I were part of one congregation in Senegal for 10 years, then another church in France for another 10 years.  Both churches had their share of "issues", and we certainly disagreed with the church leadership at different times.  But we also knew that God had placed us in those churches for a reason, and we deeply valued the fellowship and relationships we enjoyed there.  As the Scriptures say, "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins."  All too often our decision to leave a church - however justified the decision may be - results in an almost complete break of fellowship, and leads to awkward conversations when we inevitably meet up again in the supermarket; "Uhhm, Hi!  How are you?" (awkward moment of silence) "Fine, how are you?"  "Good, good."  " Soooo, I guess I better get on with my shopping..." 


  In the end, how many issues are really worth breaking fellowship over?  The centrality of the cross perhaps, or salvation by grace, but I have never personally known of a church split that happened over a truly foundational Biblical principle being violated.  Instead, we leave because we feel offended over not being asked to lead a particular ministry, or because we can't get along with another church member.  Jesus said that the world would know we are His disciples by the love we have for one another. . . and we wonder why the watching world wants nothing to do with organized religion.  

Boone & Crockett

Bodacious Bear

I picked up the cleaned bear skull a couple of days ago, and the fellow who does the cleaning told me that my bear may qualify to be in the record book! We measured it together and the total length plus width is close to 20.5 inches.  For black bears, anything over 20 is considered a record, and above 21 is considered in the "all-time" record category.  The closest official scorer for Boone & Crockett (the "Guiness Book" of records for all animals killed with a gun world-wide) lives down in Denver, so I need to find time to get "down the hill" (as we say up here) to get it scored.  If he agrees with our unofficial score, then I can get my name in the book!  I knew the bear was big when I saw him. . . I just had no idea how big he really was.  Who'd of thought the missionary-turned-mountain man would bag a record sized bear on his first attempt?  Not this boy.  Now I just need to get a monster-sized elk :)

I am a bachelor this week while Daphne and the girls are in Alabama for Thanksgiving.  I would have gone with them but I was gone all last week and we have ongoing counseling appointments here.  I'll be with my sister Cathi and her family for Thanksgiving day.  Daphne, Nicole and Jacqueline took a girls' road trip and spent two days driving to Birmingham to save the considerable cost to fly all three of them down there.  They had a great time on the way, and the second day they drove along parts of historic Route 66 and stopped to see some famous landmarks.  
     Karine knew nothing about them coming, even though I almost gave it away by mistake when I was on the phone with her the week before I left for Turkey (more on that below).  The rest of the family were in on the surprise, so when Daph and the girls pulled up outside the house Bill started filming.  Karine was literally speechless as they walked in the house - it is hilarious.  They'll spend Thanksgiving with the Birmingham Myers crew and then start driving back home on Friday.


My folks are in Birmingham as well right now.  Dad had surgery on his vocal cords yesterday to remove what was left of a cancerous polyp, and they'll follow up with a laser treatment when the surgery has healed.  Bill told me the growth was deeper than they'd anticipated, but that the surgeon was fairly sure to have gotten what was left. 

The hotel where I spent the night in Istanbul
on my trip home.

As I mentioned above, I was in Antalya, Turkey all of last week attending the last combined NAMESTAN conference before the region is divided into
two new regions.  Henri had invited all those who had 
served on the leadership team over the past 10-12 years to attend the last three days of the conference to honor us for our years of service.  I had mixed emotions when I read the email invitation: our leave taking was difficult for us and for the team we were a part of, and I wasn't looking forward to opening new relational wounds.  However, my time there went much better than I had hoped and I had many good conversations with former teammates.  In the end I felt like I gained some more closure emotionally, and I am better able to close that chapter on our lives in a good way.  At the closing banquet I, along with the other current and former members of the leadership team, was honored with a very nice plaque to thank each of us for our contribution to the ministry in NAMESTAN.  It was a good memory to end on.

I 

Pray for each other? That would be weird.

As Daphne and I continue to meet with couples and individuals for counseling, we can begin to see patterns developing - the same attitudes and behavior being repeated over and over in different situations.  In other words, there's nothing new under the sun, even though in almost every situation the couple/individual honestly believe that no one else could possibly have struggled in the same way.  I'm not discounting the reality of their pain, or the fact that for THEM this is a new struggle.  I'm just saying that we're all human, and as the Bible states, "No temptation has come upon you except that which is common to man..."  So there seems to be a balance between treating each situation as unique, while at the same time recognizing that God has given us principles that are applicable to any similar problem.

We recently met with a couple who've been married for 20+ years.  When they first came I would say the wife was at the absolute end of her rope, and that she saw counseling as the last option before she called it quits.  No pressure for the counselors!  Actually, we've gotten to the place where we don't feel pressure anymore because we weren't the ones who got them to where they are, and they have to embrace the hard work that's required to see healing and restoration in their relationship.  Anyway, as we listened to this couple talk I found myself praying and asking the Lord for His supernatural wisdom and discernment to understand what the REAL issues are.  After awhile I asked them, "Do you ever pray together?"  This may seem like a stupid question for a Christian counselor to ask, but we've realized how seldom most couples even consider the spiritual aspect of their relationship.  We can offer suggestions for different ways of communicating, or how to de-escalate a highly charged argument - but this doesn't necessarily require any spiritual input.  Pagans can learn to get along better than they currently do, and a happy marriage is not reserved only for "spiritual" people.  But if we truly want to experience healing at the deepest levels of our heart and soul, sooner or later we have to reach the point of seeking God's intervention.  The human heart is the realm of the Holy Spirit, and when He gets hold of us at that level it can be a wonder to behold.  We may not begin by talking about God, but at some point in the marriage counseling we need to direct their hearts towards the only one who can truly transform us from the inside out

     Anyway, when I asked the prayer question, they replied that they pray over their dinner, and that they pray together with their daughter at bedtime.  "That's great" I said, "But do you ever pray together, out loud, for each other?"  They looked at each other, then at us with blank expressions on their faces.  After 26 years of marriage this was a totally novel idea.  "Wow, that would be weird", the wife said.  Funny thing about prayer:  we're fine to pray in our heads all day long, but as soon as a situation requires us to pray out loud we get all nervous and self-conscious.  I lead a men's bible study on Saturday mornings, and after eight weeks of talking and sharing with each other - very vulnerably at times - some of the guys are still unwilling to pray out loud in front of the group.  I think it must have to do with the fact that even though prayer is essentially just talking with God like we talk with one another, it feels so much more intimate and private than other conversations.  In the end the couple we were counseling agreed to try praying with and for each other as homework for our next session.  I would bet money that when they sit down together the first time to pray for each other and for their marriage, they won't be able to do it without shedding some tears.  That's the power of prayer.

A "Fair" Event

I finally entered an arts & crafts show on Saturday - my first foray into selling my own artwork.  Boy, it's a lot of work setting up a booth for a one day fair!  Not sure if this was the best venue to display fine art prints: the gal to my right was selling glass angels, and the one to my left was the tie-dye queen.  And a sweet old lady across the way made a killing with her bees-wax lotion... she even wore a little bee antenna hat.  Hmmm - maybe next time I should look for a wild-west art show.  Seriously though, we did meet a lot of people and I got some good exposure as a local artist.  We didn't do too badly on the day either - I think in the end we made up our booth cost and then some.

   It felt kind of weird just sitting there all day - kind of like we were on display too.  It's one thing when you're selling a product for someone else, but something completely different when it's your own artwork.  In hindsight I should have hired some guy named Guido from Queens to stand in the aisle: "Hey you - you wanna buy a nice piece of artwork?  No?  How's about I pays you a visit wit my cousin Vinny some evening?  Oh, you DO wanna buy it - now that's more like it!"  We met some interesting people too.  One guy was chatting quite freely until I mentioned that I'm a pastor at The Journey.  He kind of muttered under his breath that he attends a different church (where the pastor makes no bones about not being a fan of our church) and then beat a hasty retreat.  It's sad, really.  Whatever happened to Jesus's words, "By this shall all men know you are my disciples, by the love you have for one another?"  To be fair, I did meet a great family who moved here from Georgia two years ago.  I was wearing my "Booger Holler" shirt from a restaurant in Blairsville, GA, and he stopped me as I was walking out of the gym thinking I was from there (I had to confess that someone gave me the shirt).  Turns out they're Christians and they attend a church in Bailey, and we compared notes as fellow Colorado greenhorns about our experiences in moving to the mountains.

Speaking of living in the mountains: yesterday evening Danny came over with his electronic fox call to see if we could call in a fox.  I've been trying to trap one for weeks, but they always seem to steal the bait without setting the pressure switch.  Probably a good thing too, since I found out that fox season only just started November 1st.  The fox call worked like a charm, and we shot a black/silver fox after playing the call for about 30 minutes.  This is the perfect time of year for foxes too, because their pelts are thick and healthy.  This particular fox was old, with broken teeth and diseased gums.  It took a little while to skin it, and in the process Danny says, "You smell that?  That's just the way they taste, too."  I'll take his word for it.  Once skinned it looked kind of like an evil zombie cat - really weird.
     Of course, my girls are mad at me this morning for killing it.  They felt sorry for the bear I killed too.  Hey, we live in the mountains now. Apparently our neighbors have been feeding this fox to the point that it was almost tame.  Not anymore they're not.  These are wild animals folks, not neighborhood pets!  They carry diseases and can be a danger to children and small pets.  Deer are one thing, but foxes and coyotes are predators by nature.  Maybe we should put meat out at night so we can get to know the cougars too.

Now I know why plowing snow is hazardous duty

We had our second... no, our third winter storm of the season yesterday.  I would guess that we had about 12 inches at our house by the time it was over.  It's a little hard to see in the picture to the right, but there's a snow plow attached to the front of my truck.   I am hoping to earn a few extra dollars plowing snow this season, thanks to my good friend Scott who basically gifted me with the plow blade.  Anyway, yesterday was my second time to plow "professionally" and it didn't take long for me to realize how potentially hazardous plowing can be. Hidden curbs and telephone poles aside, it would be frighteningly easy to do serious damage to my truck or to someone else's property.  Case in point:  I plow a few driveways just to help out a few friends who haven't been blessed to own their own snow plow.  My friend Tom lives at the top of a very long (200 yards?), very steep (vertical), concrete (very slippery) driveway.  During the last storm I made a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to plow going uphill.... until Big Brian (my neighbor) suggested using gravity by plowing downhill, not up.  Why didn't they teach me that at Auburn?  So, armed with this new, high-tech knowledge I drove to the top of Tom's driveway and plowed going back down.  Wow, so this really works!  Only one problem: as I reached the crest of Mount Everest on my third trip up I realized that by clearing the snow I'd very effectively created a bobsled track - but I wasn't driving a bobsled.  As the truck started sliding backwards I quickly realized that I had two choices: slide off the downward slope and over the edge, or slide into the wooden retaining wall on the other side.  I chose the wall - but my momentum carried me over the wall and smack into a couple of pine trees.  In the process I dislodged a huge (I'm not exaggerating this time) boulder that was now wedged firmly under the truck.  I spent the next 90 minutes on my butt or on my knees in the snow, digging under the boulder in hopes that it would settle low enough for me to drive over.  Didn't work.  Long story, but we finally managed to get the truck out by attaching three tow ropes to the rock and pulling it out from underneath the truck with Tom's Four Runner.  I guess I'm now in the snow plowing, wall rebuilding business.

First Art Show


This Saturday I will have my own booth at the 34th annual Conifer Holiday Boutique along with some 80 other artisans.  I'm a bit nervous, this being the first time I will be selling my own work on a large scale (they expect around 5000 visitors to attend the one-day event).  I plan to display prints of my paintings and my wildlife photography, as well as a few of the wooden signs that I've created over the past few months.  I have to build my own shelves/ walls to display my work in a 10x10 foot area, so most of my evenings and days off for the past two weeks have been spent in the garage hammering and sawing.  I'll only find out tomorrow evening (when I set up my booth) if what I've built is appropriate for the venue or not.  We'll see.  More to come!