Red letters & Tennessee

Writing again...  It can be intimidating.  This first paragraph is for you...  re-familiarize yourself with these keys...  open the stream of consciousness, let your fingers flow freely, and encourage their exploration of new places...  this is a place where you ought feel free, where you ought freely drop the murmurings of your spirit... today... now.  Always.  I want to write again, I want to inspire, I want to be inspired, I want to be re-centered in my own understandings, and find new footing through digging into scripture, seeing it in new ways, observing and recording its flow as it - a living word - pierces me in new ways, making raw my spiritual flesh to His calling on my life.  My journey through scripture this summer, while I haven't shared much of it, has been nothing short of raw...  And as after a long season on the river my body longs for the healing powers of the ocean, my spirit too longs for cleansing as - after a long and very different summer - it stares at itself in the mirror with evolved eyes to see where it falls short...   

In my journey cycling through the gospels I found myself in Mark the other night...  I had my hammock hung down by the river and I got all warm in my sleeping bag, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the nearly full moon over the mosquito mountains.  I called it in early that night as a small group of us were waking up at 5 to go do a sunrise kayak down the upper sections of the Arkansas..  we did, and it was glorious.  I laid there in my hammock, turned on my headlamp, and opened to the gospel of Mark.  Now, I don't usually use the red light setting on my headlamp (it's intended for reading), but this time I did.  As I started reading with this red light, I got a paragraph or two and realized that with the red light, I couldn't make out even a hint of the words of Jesus (they're in red letters).  How interesting... I read on a bit like this, only reading the words surrounding the words of Jesus...  I didn't enjoy it much...  

So I thought about something...  I thought it might be interesting to just read the words of Jesus, and nothing that surrounds them.  So I turned my normal light on a dim setting, and I began reading just the red letters from about chapter four, on until the end of the book. What I read, was beautiful... And while having a basic understanding of the surrounding stories helps, the words of Jesus, will meet anyone.  "Let us go over to the other side... Quite!  Be still!... Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?...  Come out of this man, you evil spirit!...  What is your name?... Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."   For me, reading it this way was nothing more than an interesting experiment, but what I got out of it was pretty rich.  In reading it this way (and again, having a basic understanding of the stories surrounding his words helps) I found myself putting my own character into the stories, it was more natural, it was as if in the stories, Jesus was talking to me.  And in dealing with the teachers of the law, the priests and people who thought highly of themselves, it was also a very real experience in hearing Jesus talk directly to me in pointing to the areas I hold back from God.  But in reading only His words - the words in red - I felt throughout as if I were floating on top of an unimaginably deep & swift current of love which we are gifted the opportunity to experience, if we give our lives to Him...  and what he tells us is, it's worth it.. and with even the slightest amount of faith, the word comes alive.  So hang a hammock, watch the full moon rise, and wonder...  It's worth it.  

This summer's gone by fast.  Guiding low water has been tough, but a far better experience from what I had imagined.  My love affair with Anha (my kayak) has only grown deeper as I explore new and tougher sections of whitewater.  I couldn't be happier about the people I work with, each completely unique and necessary to create such a beautiful family of guides.  As the summer closes, I have now just a few weeks left on the river, and it seems my nose has sniffed out a desire to explore more rivers in the east.  I'll be pointing my nose towards tennessee come labor day... just for a few months.  It's good:) 

I plan on writing more, as reading often times seems empty afterwards without the discipline of exploring it at new depths on paper, slowing the brain to the confines of the hands.,  I've much I could use writing about...  

But if you're the praying type, pray for me these last weeks... I hope to finish with a healthy spirit, and a healthy body, tying up summer relationships here with sturdy knots that will last on until next summer when we all come back yet again (high water!!).  Pray my spirit would bloom in these next weeks, that the light would shine, and I would respond and align my life to reflect that light.  

I'm in my hammock now, and it's just startin' ta rain... I'm gonna be off to bed now.  more to come...  g'night.