Pioneers vs. Settlers

Thanks for the encouragement many of you left on the last post. It'll take me a while to get ramped up, but I'll commit to blogging my thoughts as they hit me - they just don't hit that often. :)

I've been thinking about what it means to be a "pioneer". Those who risked so much to pursue a dream. Those who see what ought to be and are willing to pay any price to pursue it. Has our culture lost this? Have we conquered all that we can see and become settlers? Where do we see pioneering taking place in our culture? Who are the people paying the price to pursue what ought to be?

I guess the reason I'm thinking about this is because I had a conversation with a guy who has been coming to Pathways for a year or so. He informed me that his family is stepping away. They feel like it costs too much to be involved here. They don't have the time to invest in what we are doing.

What does it mean to be a pioneer when it comes to following Jesus? Have the church let the pioneering spirit be quenched because we "conquered the land"? Why do the settlers seem to shoot at all of the pioneers?

I don't have answers, but this is what I'm thinking about today.

Refresh vs. Refuel

Well, we are coming to the end of the baseball season. Andrew and Brett had their last game on Saturday. We took 4th in a tournament of 12 teams and lost to the eventual first place team. It was so much fun to see and be a part of them playing "real" baseball. Now, I am getting ready to leave home for the second to last game (Saturday is the last) for Josh's team and Sunday marks two team parties. We had the opportunity to play on some summer tournament teams but have turned them down so that we can actually go on vacation and have family time.

Today, I had a great conversation with my friend Ryan and he was kicking my butt (in a nice way) about writing something on my blog beyond baseball. So here it goes...today was a good day. It started with a pretty lousy hour and half drive to a meeting that I didn't end up having (another story), but on the drive there I spent it listening to a podcast that really challenged my thinking about the priority of where I spend my time. That was followed by an hour long conversation with Ryan and our conversations are always both encouraging and challenging. I made it back to Mill Creek to engage in a conversation with Josh Williams, our Worship Pastor in which I was talking about all of the challenging things that I was processing. It was a great morning.

Bottom line: I am discovering the difference between being "Refreshed" and "Refueled". When I am exhausted, either physically, emotionally or spiritually, my first response is to run toward refreshment. What does that look like for me? Baseball games, away time with my family, or simply quiet time alone. Those all refresh me. However, when I get back to the grind of church planting, the exhaustion overwhelms me almost instantly. Why? Because I have not refueled. It's like taking your car to the car wash, but never gassing up. The car feels good, looks good, and smells good, but it's still not going anywhere. What I often fail to do is gas up the engine of my soul. That happens for me through Bible Study, listening to leaders speak about leading and pastoring, challenging conversations with friends, and getting away from it all to listen to God (not necessarily talking to Him). Those things cost. They require investment, but the dividends are outrageous - it fuels me.

I obviously need both refreshment and refueling. How do you find each of these things in your life? (I'm veclempt. Talk amongst yourselves.)

I Don't Know Words

My parents are missionaries, but not missionaries in the sense of being planted in one place overseas and staying there. They live here in Washington, but travel about seven months of the year to differing locations to teach and lead leaders. Last week my parents came home from one of their many overseas trips. They often bring back things for my boys and tell them a little bit about what they experienced on the trip. This trip was to Tajikistan (a first for them) and they brought back some handmade bookmarks for the boys (who are avid readers). Jamie, my youngest, is about to turn four this month and did not understand the purpose of the bookmark he had been given. I explained that when you read a book and want to stop, you put the bookmark in the book so that you will remember where you stopped reading.

Jamie's face got really sad and he looked at me and said, "But I don't know words". Pretty dang cute. Now he wants Mom to teach him to read. We'll give it shot this summer.

This is June???

For some odd reason, they canceled our tournament game today. I must admit that at this time of year, I long for Arizona weather to play baseball in.

The Seattle Aquarium with 2nd Graders

This past Thursday I went to the Seattle Aquarium with Brett's class. I love going on field trips with my kids. I was a volunteer in their class all year, so the kids know me pretty well, which makes it all the more fun. I did this trip with Andrew's class last year, so I knew the drill, but this year they added something that we did not do last year, which was a classroom experience where a marine biologist talked to the kids about things that you might find in a tide pool.

Why am I blogging this? I guess it's a follow-up to the "Gulper Eels Don't Poop" post.
We learned:

• Starfish vomit their stomachs onto their food and digest it outside of their body and then reswallow their stomachs with the food.


• When you disturb a sea cucumber, it will completely poop out it's intestines and stomach, hoping that the predator will eat that and leave it alone. It then regrows it's innards.


• Sea cucumbers also smell through their butt.

With information like that in a classroom of second graders - you cannot fail!

Awards Banquet

Last night I accompanied Kyle to the end of the year awards banquet for his school. It was yet another reminder to me of a thought I had thunk years before (yes, I know "thunk" is not a word). Schools need to hire church worship pastors to help them figure out how to do banquets, concerts, graduations, etc...because they either don't put any thought into it or they just stink at it.

Anyways, this banquet was a big deal because the varsity team won the state championship this year, something that they last did in 1998. I enjoyed seeing the varsity coach get all veclempt as he talked about his team. Next year, another high school will be opening (which Kyle will be a part of) so this was the final year of one school in Snohomish - it's a big deal in this little town.

It was awesome to be there as the Freshmen were honored by their coach. There were only four special awards given to individual players and Kyle was one of those. He was named the Most Improved Player of the Year. For a kid who has never played with players of this caliber, I was pretty stoked for him. He hit .421 on the year, had some good pitching outings and struggled through a couple of tough ones, and played some awesome first base. In fact, after the coach had announced the individual awards, he said he wanted to name the top offensive and defensive plays of the year. He ended up calling Kyle back up to give him the C0-Defensive Play of the Year award for a "Willie Mays" catch he made running to right field with his back to home plate.

I guess a blog that few people read is as good a place to brag about your kids as any.