Tuesday, March 27, 2007

My Shower in Zeballos



In Zeballos, I ran early in the morning.

From heavy seasonal rains, forest veins of water made their way to the sea. Every 100 yards or so these water lines gushed open from above, establishing waterfalls that crashed onto the gravel road where my feet pounded. Their beauty varied as each one molded and shaped itself a different path over rock and moss.

I felt spray periodically as I ran by them. Their waters were just shy of becoming ice, by far colder than this early Spring rain that danced around me. My clothes were saturated, and my flesh chilled. A warm shower would have been a relief, but there was none where I was staying. Generally, I love any opportunity to bath in river or lake. Absence of humanity, any one of these falls would make a perfect spot. Better left for summer given this temperature of water and air. Oh, but they would be dried beds by July.

It was the only opportunity.

I could stand barely seconds. In for a burst of heart-pounding cleansing and out when agony won out. Repeat five times.

It wasn’t comfort by any stretch of the brain. Yet, every part of me was touched. Water, cold, and air pricked every cell and ricocheted through every vein. And I was alive. Alive like never before.

Zeballos, BC

My bed the previous week was a dusty floor in an end-of-the-road town named Zeballos. We planted ourselves for 5 days at this 1st Nations reserve. We were continually running and playing with the children, visiting shut-ins, and connecting with the teens of the community. It was our fourth visit.

We go to connect. There has never been a big plan or project with these folks. It has simply been to form relationship with people who are hungry for what we take for granted. We don’t seek to change or fix, just be. We with them, they with us.

If there has been any goal it has been this. About two years ago a beautiful teenage girl was brutally killed. About the same time, their school principal died. We were told, “This is a community in loss, and try to connect with that.” My goodness, how? I’ve never felt our visits came to the point of touching on this deep family and community injury.

This time was different. The parents, who lost that young girl to the hands of some devil on earth, were often with us at our meals, events, and hang times. They talked and opened up, “I’ve not discussed this before, and it’s good to do so, finally.”

Ah, the one other thing I have taken for granted, the opportunity I have to talk to so many people and my culture that allows, even promotes it. Oh, but there is still one other I neglect. Time. Time to allow things to unfold, take their course, and occur when fully ripened.

The clouds hung heavy every day on this journey of faith. The rain so constant, we were no longer being rained upon but were standing in it. The water-clogged air we breathed reminded us of the lives many live in this town. Bored, hopeless, and static. Yet, sun broke through the clouds as we drove away that day, and it was the metaphor we needed. There was a ray of light that burned deep within our Zeballos friends and us. I think we all felt it.



daily...












...daily


and we left...

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

stream shots of the day




Tuesday, March 20, 2007

leaves of the day




tree of the day


Sunday, March 18, 2007

Thursday, March 15, 2007


Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Footprints

It's lent, a time to anticipate the resurrection. This easter day came following death. Between the two, darkness and waiting.

You experience death. Often. Death to something that brought you comfort, a relationship that is no longer the same, your hopes, expectations, something familiar or an importance. And life rarely happens following these little and large deaths. There is always the wait, the unkown darkness before new life comes to you.

In this limbo, there are questions. Why did you have to experience this death? What waits ahead on this new and winding path you now travel? You want life. And now.

But this is a time to draw near to God. In the moment of death there is too much brokeness to cry out. In the newness that will eventually come, there is too much contentment, and God becomes forgotten.

There is only one action. Seek. Not the clarity at the end of the path but the one who guides you on a seemingly unknown way. Just one step at a time.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Weather

I felt a personal storm last week, and it still lasts to a degree.

Just one moment.
Epiphany.

I went for a run on the trails during a battle of fierce wind and rain . I came to the top of a high point and onto a rock outcropping. I could see all of Victoria, the Olympics and Coastal Mtns. Actually, I had to visualize them given the poor visibility. I stood facing the wind-driven rain and saw the stately firs and twisted arbutus bent and heaving to the roar of the wind. I thought of how strong they become in these storms and how they grip the rock beneath them more firmly.

I trust for a similar result.

Sky of the Day




the god of environmentalism - a response

In the Times Colonist, a pastor wrote a letter to the editor regarding the recent climate change buzz. He wrote:

I agree with the analysis that "it may even be that the new environmentalism evolves into a secular religion."

The rapid shift to the protection of our Earth and its climate arising out of the present climate change "crisis" is the shifting of our worship of the God who created us to worhip of the creation which God made.

This is not surprising since this process has repeated itself throughout history. The Earth and its climate has become our god.

I wrote him the following.

It’s true. The secular world will work on climate issues without God. It’s the secular world. Pointing the finger back at ourselves, our call is to step forward and speak to matters regarding creation to include God.

In the process, we have to start with some hard questions. What are we doing regarding God’s natural, created world? Do we not work for the good of the natural world believing that Creation reflects God's glory (Ps 19) and is made by God (Gen 1)? Is our only response to judge? "Look at the secular world! They are making a god out of nature." Will this present the world a path to know God and see the Earth as God’s?

I wonder if many of us Christians have lost touch with, respect for and appreciation of God's created world. He made it for us to inhabit, and it is a gift to us. Just as we are stewards of all God-given gifts, we are to exercise stewardship of this land. Worshipping God does not mean avoidance of responsibility to the Earth, present crisis or not.

I have heard comments such as "tree-hugger" or "earth worshipper" directed toward those seeking to bring change of how we live on Earth. Yes, there is always a caution that we place nothing above God. No, we don’t need to panic because we realize that God is sovereign, has a plan and is in control. Maybe, we have used these as excuses to sit back and offer a critique of the world as our only response.

At least…at the very least…there is a concerted effort on the world’s part to promote stewardship of this home where we dwell, and that is commendable.

Do we need to take the speck out of our own eye and confess our lack of care for something God has entrusted us?

To myself, I have a caution. May I not judge Christians for lack of care. Many are doing their part. I will be content with my own knees on the floor.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

lichen and old nail



Mist and Fog


Friday, March 09, 2007