Transformative Transformation

There are priorities in life. We are either overtaken by the binding, consuming, worldly ones, or discover the freeing, life giving ones transforming our lives and the world with hope and power. We are bound to priorities, a set of things or events that will govern our days. There are those we hold with joy, and others seemingly consume us with angst, weighing like an eighty pound backpack upon our shoulders. It is not always that the backpack should not be carried, but it is the understanding of the journey and the carrying of only necessary tools that transforms the way in which we carry our loads.

Grown to love backpacking, I cannot say that I have always enjoyed it, especially in the early days. My first backpacking trip was excruciating as I just joined a Boy Scout troop not instructed how to go about a two day, thirty mile excursion, but allowed to go. My dad and I purchased a large canvas backpack, new work boots and then I packed everything on the list from the Scout handbook, my stuff, like my flashlight, was twin D-cell powered, took my entire mess kit, and my sleeping bag weighed fifteen pounds along with many much unneeded articles. There were many other faux pas making my backpack far to heavy for a little 11 year old Japanese boy to carry thirty miles. On the trip, my leaders and cohorts, realizing my dilemma the second day, spread parts of my silly load amongst them so that I would finish the trip, my aching feet blistering in my new and incorrectly purchased unbroken in 'hiking' boots.

I don't know why that experience didn't ruin backpacking forever, but I did quickly change Boy Scout troops, taking my new found knowledge to a fledgling group of boys that wanted to learn how to backpack. Subsequent trips were mildly better, but I was driven by a new priority, to take all the 'essentials' (which I found were far fewer than everything on the packing list in the Boy Scout handbook) as well as figure out ways to make or purchase far lighter accoutrements. It became a priority in my backpacking life with the challenge to make the trip the most comfortable at the expense of one thing or another that was far less required. Never was safety or potential emergency survival equipment sacrificed, but the essentials were greatly reduced in mass. For instance, I would work my toothbrush handled to it's minimum length for effective use and weight, and eventually would abandon it all together, realizing I could whittle toothpicks that when used correctly would clean my teeth just fine for the weekend.

For most 'newbies', the thirty mile, two day backpacking trip was a terrible experience, even when taught well, and for some, the challenge ended their scouting experience, at least in our troop. Though we spent many meetings preparing them ahead of time, showing them what we learned from our mistakes along the way, they would determine that they were not cut out to be a part of a primarily backpacking troop. For us, we knew the journey was coming, we prepared for it, and even found new ways to make it more enjoyable, and as we matured, added new challenges (besides trying to get the new boys to endure and discover the wonders of long backpack trips) like cooking contests (who could bring the most exotic food etc.). My first win was having steak on the second day (and yes I kept it frozen and then cold until I cooked it for dinner day two) and eventually used my secret method to make lobster on day two.

My love for backpacking would press me to week long excursions in the south sierras, escaping humanity (with the exception of my hiking buddy Curt) and all the 'comforts' of home. What I have come to discover through the years was how to survive, in relative comfort, the things nature would throw at us. Both failures, proper preparation (bringing the correct essentials for each trip), and preparation were key to making the trip memorably enjoyable.


I share these memories because they have so much in common with life and living. Whether we choose to live life as adventure or not, the journey will come and there are many ways to get through it, and rise to it's challenges. Some of us enjoy making life as adventurous as possible, others try to avoid adventure trying to escape it's bumps, with the entirety of humanity stretched in between the two. My living fits closer to the choosing of adventure yet I am not as adventurous as some thrill seekers I know. Yet, one thing is sure, we will all face moments of calm in our lives spanning bridges all the way to moments of terror. So how do we forge through all that life will throw at us?

Some of life's challenges can be prepared for, like facing a time of unemployment, even if such never befalls us, or getting to and through 'retirement', or more realistically, helping your kids tackle homework or cooking dinner. The truth is, life, living and even the mundane tasks can overwhelm us, their pressing like throwing us into a cavern filled with...lions. Or, the cuts of incredibly difficult situations ravaging our bodies and then throwing us into shark infested waters!

Some of us have experienced all of these and more, and yet, I have been amazed as I watched some of my friends, my God fearing, God believing friends endure such angst and challenge with a far different attitude than others, and, I have discovered for myself, how this occurs.

From where does such freeing, life giving priorities, hope and power come? It is disclosed to those who discover the heart, nature and desire of our designer and Creator, God, and His priorities for our lives. I can honestly state that this is not a cop out, not a ploy, not a false hope. I have been to the door of death, and struggled through many of the same challenges all of us have endured. I am confident that if you ask my believing and non-believing friends who knew of my plights and struggles, they would speak of a calm that seemed to rise from my life, and I will state, that this calm did not come in and of myself, nor was it a conjuring of my own positive attitude. When your doctor tells you that they are looking for a heart to transplant into you, and that your blood type will make it a challenge, no amount of positive thinking will make that one occur.

So now, some twelve years later and after a miraculous recovery, I believe I can sit here and speak of challenge in the journey, and who has brought meaning, healing and direction in and through my life's struggles. Sure, my gracious and precious wife has been part of His definitive provision in my life, but even she, at the grace of His almighty blessing.

So there is a choice we have been given; to ignore the gentle callings of The One who can help it all make sense, or graciously embrace the development of a relationship that promises to bring transformative transformation into your life extensively infusing a luminous perspective to our being. It is a journey of refining our load with some planning and some mistakes along the way, but always one that promises to have powerful impact to those who take the journey seriously and invest in listening and learning from the one who is trying to get our attention in and through it, the most holy God.

A Simple and Unastounding Man

Is there a difference between one who is seriously dedicated to knowing God and one who isn't? Absolutely. The 'seriously dedicated' part needs some definition, because many claim to be followers of Jesus, but are they really? The Bible speaks of the road to heaven as a narrow one, and even speaks of many who arrive at the door of heaven speaking of all they did for the glory of God, with Jesus' response? "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:15-23). The key to this passage, isn't what we know about, or 'did' for Jesus, but if He knows us. While some might say, He is God, doesn't He know all? Of course. But knowing about and fully knowing someone are two different things. Fully knowing, requires our response and affects our purpose in life. The idea of knowing here, refers to a relationship.

Over the years, the more I "know" about my wife, the more I have found my purpose (response), and living is driven by her life, her desires, her dreams (affects). All this, requires a relationship, not just a casual one, but one of searching and learning, understanding and exploring the details of what forms her heart and drives her through her days. In fact, there is little that brings me more earthly joy than seeing her laugh, struggle, and live in my presence, as I sacrifice my own desires to complete hers. This kind of knowing requires time, a sincere investment in understanding her complexities, seeing her as a partner in the adventurous sailing we embark, not an anchor. While God 'knows us', His desires is that we serve as His partner in the living, not doing what we want (an anchor), but in response to Him (the adventure).

I am always amazed at how a supreme God demonstrates His power and supremacy through acts of incredible humility. Why would God, subject Himself to abuse and ridicule of His creation? Why would God take on the nature, character, becoming bound by time and space, to walk the earth and serve His creation? Why does the all powerful God allow His creation to 'walk away' from the joy and restoration of His love? Because His humility is also bound by justice and righteousness.

As a man, a simple and unastounding one at that, I continue to ponder the significance God has charged me with, into the lives of others. I wrestle with what makes a life one that will become and exist as one known by Jesus, in such a way that there are no surprises for me, when I arrive at the gate of heaven. I have filled my life with 'doing', and maybe the doing that will be unrecognizable by my Lord. But I want, seriously desire, all this to change. My desire is to be seriously dedicated to Jesus, in such a way that my life accomplishes 'even greater things' than He was able to accomplish as He walked the earth (Jesus' prayer for us in John 17)...however, the only way that these things can happen, is if we all, together, ask and let Him empower our daily lives in such a way that His glory is evident; not our glory, not our fame, not our deeds, His.

Can it be that my life continues, unastounding, while His life, His leading, overtakes those who encounter Jesus, through me in such a way that Jesus Himself knows me? This is my desire.