This week we were supposed to make "compasses" of sorts.  In them we were to draw (or cut and paste) pictures to represent the following quadrants in our circles:

The south is the direction of creativity, imagination, spontaneity and play.
    This became my Alaska quadrant.

The East is the direction of new beginnings.
    This became my church quadrant.

The West is the direction of endings and letting go.
    This became my road system quadrant.

The North is the direction of guidance and salvation.
    This became my family and mentors quadrant.

Last week was Spring Break, so there wasn’t any journal posting.  This week we are supposed to look forward to the future.  In particular we are challenged to list at least 50 goals we have (large or small) for the future and then reflect on them.

1.       Become a village pastor

2.       Go on mission trips to Russia

3.       Visit China

4.       Visit Japan

5.       Learn to play guitar better

6.       Learn to play piano better

7.       Lean Inupiaq better

8.       Get in better physical shape

9.       Finish Seminary

10.   Become licensed in the Covenant

11.   Become ordained

12.   Have more children

13.   Teach my children to love and serve the Lord

14.   Write the 125 year history of the Covenant in Alaska

15.   Write a youth ministry manual for the village

16.   Mentor a young Native who wants to do youth ministry

17.   Regularly visit elders

18.   Create a vibrant student leadership team

19.   Be a part of getting youth back into the church

20.   Pay off our house

21.   Start saving for retirement (even though I don’t plan to retire…I plan to pastor until I am no longer able)

22.   Take my children on mission trips

23.   Visit Hawaii often

24.   Buy a snow machine

25.   Learn to fix small engines better

26.   Learn to make ulus

27.   Learn to hunt better

28.   Learn more survival skills

29.   Snow machine to other villages

30.   Go on mission trips to other villages

31.   Partner with other villages to do ministry

32.   Be a part of getting young leaders to attend Alaska Christian College

33.   Be a part of getting gifted young Natives to become pastors

34.   Give financially to as many ministries as possible

35.   Learn to be a better servant

36.   Create more free time with my family

37.   Plant a successful garden

38.   Teach my children to fish

39.   Teach my children to hunt

40.   Teach my children to pick berries

41.   Teach my children to survive in the wilderness

42.   Teach my children how to serve others

43.   Become a better shot at basketball

44.   Become a better ping pong player

45.   Spend more time in prayer

46.   Spend more time reading the Bible

47.   Spend more time talking with relatives

48.   Spend more time alone

49.   Be given a warm parka

50.   Read all the books in my library

Whew!  That was a lot harder than I thought!  It turns out that even though I focus most of my time on thinking of the future, I usually think about only a few things at a time.  I really had to work to get to 50 goals, and some were a real stretch.  As I am much more detail oriented rather than vision oriented, I like to pick a few good goals and do all that I can to make them into a reality.  Looking at my list, I see a few areas that stick out more than others.  These are: growing more Godly, raising my children, and growing closer to the Native culture.  As I look back at my list, I realize that I missed a very important goal, and that is to be a better husband.  Of course, maybe I was thinking that I was already there. :-P

This week we are asked to journal about various parts of the Prayer of Examen.  The Examen suggested has 4 parts:

                Praying for Light

                Looking back in thankfulness

                Praying into the heart of the day

                Letting go and holding on

For this post I will focus on “looking back in thankfulness.”  Our journal prompts say that we should try to list the first 5 things that come to our mind that we are thankful for and to write about them a bit.  Here we go.

1.       God, my redeemer

I am always amazed by prayers of Native elders.  They express thankfulness to Jesus like no one else.  In the past few Wednesday prayer meetings and in this past Monday in giving communion to shut-ins, I have heard many elders pray, and a common phrase repeated throughout virtually every prayer is, “Quyana, Jesus, you are so good.”  One elder in particular may say this phrase 20 times in one prayer.  How often do we glance over God’s redeeming power with a quick word of thanks?  I am challenged to really meditate on how Good God is to us and how we should thank him with every breath.  Christ has saved me from my sins, and God continues to sustain me and redeem Creation around me.

2.       My family

My family is wonderful.  I love waking up every morning and knowing that I love my family and they love me.  Not only do I have a wonderful wife and two cute kids, but the rest of my family is also very supportive of me and I look forward to seeing many of them this summer!

3.       Pastor Joel

I have been very thankful that Pastor Joel has been willing to mentor me and to invite me to see how he pastors the church here.  I look forward to how God will teach us both and how Joel will teach me.

4.       The Church

The Church sure is awesome.  I love to see the Body of Christ working the way that it should be; taking care of those within the Body and reaching out to those who have yet to join.  We have experienced the Body taking care of us many times in many ways.   Sure, we are all broken people, but when we come together under Jesus, a united Church is a force to be reckoned with. 

5.       Friends

I am particularly thankful for our friends Nick and Nikki today as they called us last night to tell us they are engaged.  We are very happy for them and look forward to celebrating the marriage with them.  God has big plans for them and will use them in a mighty way.  Friends like them help make life exciting.

Today we were supposed to journal after doing some physical exercise, just journal, also spending some time to reflect on how exercise might affect our journaling.

For exercise I moved furniture around for 30 minutes as we are preparing to house 6 people at our place tonight.  3 of the folks are with Mission Aviation Repair Center (MARC).  Those boys sure are good to us.  They fly missionaries all over Alaska for the price of gas.  Although, gas sure is expensive these days.  10 years ago a round trip from Anchorage to Unalakleet was $150 per person to Bible Camp.  Now it’s $500.  What can you do?  The other 3 are with the Native Christian band, Broken Walls.  They are doing a 5 village tour promoting suicide intervention in the schools and doing outreach concerts at night.  Pretty cool.  They definitely have a little different theology than me, but we both love Jesus, so I’m good with it.

It feels good to do some exercise.  I wish I had more time to do it.  I’ve been playing games with the youth at youth group and they sure get me tired!  I unpacked the Chuck Norris machine the other day and put it together (the Norditrack).  I hope to get on it a couple of times a week.  I’m not sure how much exercise would affect my journaling specifically, but I do know that exercise does help your body out, gives you more energy, and often helps clear your mind…so I imagine the overall effect would be good, but I’m not sure my journal would reflect much change if I did it on a regular basis before.  In any case, I do think it is good to think about your body as a Christian though.  If we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, we should take care of it right?