2nd Year Begins

This has been a good month so far.

I got to hang out in Idaho for a week with my family. It was a nice way to end the summer. We went rafting, zip-lining, played a lot of disk golf, hung out in the spa, got massages- all in all a solid vacation.

Idaho is beautiful. I spent a couple nights outside on the hammock, gazing into the heavens. I could see so many stars from up there. I thought about Abraham and how God told him to look at the stars and dwell on his destiny to be father of a multitude. I guess we are the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. It's cool to me that God chose to describe us this way. He didn't tell Abraham we'd be like the sand on the seashore, the trees in the forest, the grass, or pebbles on the ground- all of which could speak of a great multitude. But God said we'd be like the stars! I like that.

Here's some pictures from the trip...


Check out the misty river. I guess the water was warmer than the air, which created this misty effect (it was really steam). It was dreamy...



The Smurf Twins, ready to raft...



This river, the Payette, was cool to raft. For the last rapid me and Kim decided to be hard core and go for a 360 spin in the middle of the rapid! The guide said we had a 50/50 chance of making it, and we pulled it off perfectly. You have to use your imagination for that one though- no pictures being taken at that moment.



Taking a break at the zip-line course. Zip-lining was fun. The view was amazing.



Here's the view from the house we stayed at, which was a family friends' house. You can see the smoke in the background from the wild fires burning in the mountains. We actually drove through them on the way to the house. We saw things burning, and they were still letting people drive through!



So the day after I got back from Idaho, I started school. Still getting moved in, working for Kris, going to school, and a few other responsibilities I'm taking on this year that required my time, made for a really full week. I'm kind of a Nazi about my personal free-time, so it's taking some adjusting to make life work with these new things on my plate. But it's all good stuff.

Bill and Kris both spoke multiple times this week in school, which was a special treat. One thing that is very interesting to me is how the leaders can share stuff that seems contradictory. I think it has something to do with shaping us as students. One leader might emphasize one side, and then another the other side, so that it has an effect like rubbing a stone to make the rough parts in us smooth. And since truth lies in tensions, this is good.


Quote(s) of the day:

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." (Marcel Proust)

"Your call is to go on the endless journey of discovering God." (Corey Russell)