Thursday, July 19, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Socially acceptable
Now the last thing I want to be be is a hypocrite. However lately this seems to be the case. I will not try and beat around the bush here when I say that ever since I got to Fairbanks things have gotten a bit out of hand. I have definitely not been living the example of the the man I would like to be. While pondering this dilemma this morning I was reminded of a song by an old band named DC Talk. My parents wouldn't let me listen to secular music when I was a kid so I rocked out to the Christian contemporary variety. At the time I thought they were being ridiculous and unfair but hindsight I realize they were doing it to protect me from the crap that is on the radio. Anyways, the song is called "what if I stumble" and the lyric that I was reminded of is,
"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today
Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
I fully feel like this is what I am doing and it makes me sad. Then if that wasn't enough as I was reading the Word this morning I came across a passage in Psalms 116 vs 18 that said "I will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people" Even though it hurts to hear about our shortcomings in life sometimes thats exactly what we need.
Back to the beginning and the reason I labeled this post "socially acceptable" is because of another song of good old DC Talk that I heard while searching for the first . The song talks about how we as society are allowing so many thing to pass as acceptable now a days compared to the old days where we stood up for injustice and moral values. I had a friend tell me the other night that I was old fashoned because I held the door open for her amongst some other things she noticed. What has happened to society as a whole? Where did chivalry go?
So if your reading this I ask you for a favor. Please pray for me that I will pull out of this Fairbanks funk that I am in.
And now for some fixie picks...
Hipster...
"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today
Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
I fully feel like this is what I am doing and it makes me sad. Then if that wasn't enough as I was reading the Word this morning I came across a passage in Psalms 116 vs 18 that said "I will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people" Even though it hurts to hear about our shortcomings in life sometimes thats exactly what we need.
Back to the beginning and the reason I labeled this post "socially acceptable" is because of another song of good old DC Talk that I heard while searching for the first . The song talks about how we as society are allowing so many thing to pass as acceptable now a days compared to the old days where we stood up for injustice and moral values. I had a friend tell me the other night that I was old fashoned because I held the door open for her amongst some other things she noticed. What has happened to society as a whole? Where did chivalry go?
So if your reading this I ask you for a favor. Please pray for me that I will pull out of this Fairbanks funk that I am in.
And now for some fixie picks...
Hipster...
Old fashioned...
If it aint broken, don't fix it
Friday, June 15, 2012
The outlaw living in the woods
 |
| My home in the woods, and yes that is a 45lc on my hip. AMERICA! |
Local adventures are not out of the question but the woods are so infested with mosquitos and super marshy, so the fun and motivation gets sucked out of hiking pretty quick. So in my non active boredom I decided to buy a motorcycle. Its an old 1981 Susuki GS650E. I rode the bike for about a week then it started craping out on me then wouldn't idle at all. So now I have a big hunk o metal in my front yard that I tinker on from time to time. I didn't want it to but my yurt is turing into a typical Alaskan homestead complete with non running motor vehicles in the front yard.
As you see in the pictures I did get to fly to this remote town in the middle of Wrangel St Elias NP to burn some piles at some remote historic cabins. This was by far the most breathtaking country I have ever seen. The glaciers were indescribably beautiful. A small glimpse of Heaven. I also did a trip up to the town of Eagle NE of Fairbanks to float the Yukon river. I didn't take any pictures of that trip though due to the overwhelming amount of mosquitos. I have never experienced them like this. The country was not nearly as dramatic as Wrangel but had a beauty in its own way. We saw two black bear and a bunch of moose. One was in the middle of the river swimming to the other side. Crazy. That river is at least a mile wide and flows pretty fast. He mad it though. Well thats about all i have for now. Be sure and check out the new pics on Photobucket.
Seth Bently if your reading this, my next post will consist of something pertaining to fixies.
Choss free, Jah love
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Life in Fairbanks...
Every weekend I set a goal to update this blog with pictures and stories of my adventures in the north country so far. Needless to say, when the weekend rolls around I usually end up devoting my time else where, hence why there has been a huge gap.
The weather is finally taking a turn for the better, and people seem to be shaking off the winter cobwebs and coming out of their hibernation. I am glad I didn't get here any earlier than I did, apparently it was a wicked cold winter up here with temps reaching -40 F. I like to think that I am hardcore at times but I have no desire to experience that in the town I am living in. If I was sacrificing warmth to climb a peak that is another story, but not in my everyday life. I was talking to a gal last night about the winter and she said that at -40 when you go outside and run the gel inside your running shoes freeze and if you don't have a respirator you will damage your lungs from breathing the cold air so rapidly. I have no desire to experience that at all. Fairbanks is growing on me though. The farmers market just started up and I found a local coop of sorts that supplies fresher veggies than the local grocery stores offer. Food is expensive up here and eating healthy is even pricier. I was greatly bless though by a friend who gave me a whole freezer full of Caribou to eat for the summer. He also tossed in a rabbit and a few assortment of fish. So I bought a little Smokey Joe and I am grilling on the reg. Life is good!
As for what I have been up to since I got up here... Well so far I have had the opportunity to check out Palmer and McCarthy. Both are towns that were on the list to see and I was able to do it on the Gov's dime for work and this made it all the better. Palmer was absolutely beautiful. It sits in valley with mountains almost all the way around. One of the ranges is the infamous Chugach that many ski movies are shot in. I was there for a class for one week and my hotel room window faced them so I woke up instantly stoked each morning. When I left Palmer, a buddy from work and I drove to the Wrangell St Elias town of McCarthy. To get there you have to drive way into the park down hard pack road for 60 miles. Epic views all around. We were there burning piles for about a week and since it was in the mountains there was still a bunch of snow on the road. It was quite a taxing walking around in the snow with snowshoes on but the drive to and from the work site everyday made the hiking totally worth it. Since there was to much snow we couldn't use the truck and had to utilize 4 wheelers instead. It was hard to believe that I was working when I riding my quad home at the end of the day. I tried to take a video one day on the drive out to help you understand my disbelief but since I don't have the video uploaded yet but here is a brief description till I do. During the day the sun would melt the snow into a slushy mess and riding quad on slush is amazing. So on the way out my buddies and I would stay in the back of everyone so we could basically drive around like idiots and see how much we could drift sideways before we tipped or got stuck. I pretty much had a smile on my face the whole time, and to top it all off were were driving towards Mt Blackburn (16,390 ft) and the Kennicot glacier. I will upload picks when I find my camera cord.
I am so glad that I made the decision to come up here, I wasn't sure at first but I know now this was the right decision. I am however heading back down to the lower 48 for the winter. The skiing would be epic up here just a bit south from where I am at now, but there is more to life than fresh pow pow.
As of this minute I think I am headed back to Whitefish in the wonderful state of MT. While sitting at church the other day I was thinking back to my winter and how awesome Whitefish was and that I would like to possibly call it home for a while. I also decided that having a church where you really feel like you belong at is essential for growth in your walk with the Lord and for me that church was Fresh Life. Its been long overdue for me to dive into my walk with the Lord and to not continue sitting on the fence dabbling in both aspects of life. I am not sure what verse it is but I remember reading once that God said for us to not be luke warm for if we ware he will spit us out of His mouth. Its time to settle down and be serious about doing my part in advancing the kingdom of heaven. I hope that those of you reading this will ask yourself the same same question... What am I doing to advance the kingdom of heaven? As well as evaluate your current relationship with the Lord. He is always there waiting with arms wide open, and all we have to do is accept Him into out lives and follow Him without hesitation. There are no shenanigans we have to go through, no saying hail mary 7 times to be forgiven or giving up of the sweet nectar of life (coffee) in order to call yourself a follower. Its simple, confess your sins to Him, tell him you believe in Him and that he is the one and only God and that Jesus was His Son sent to die for out sins and POW, you are forgiven.
Well thats all I have for now. Like I said, when I find my camera cord I will put pictures up.
The weather is finally taking a turn for the better, and people seem to be shaking off the winter cobwebs and coming out of their hibernation. I am glad I didn't get here any earlier than I did, apparently it was a wicked cold winter up here with temps reaching -40 F. I like to think that I am hardcore at times but I have no desire to experience that in the town I am living in. If I was sacrificing warmth to climb a peak that is another story, but not in my everyday life. I was talking to a gal last night about the winter and she said that at -40 when you go outside and run the gel inside your running shoes freeze and if you don't have a respirator you will damage your lungs from breathing the cold air so rapidly. I have no desire to experience that at all. Fairbanks is growing on me though. The farmers market just started up and I found a local coop of sorts that supplies fresher veggies than the local grocery stores offer. Food is expensive up here and eating healthy is even pricier. I was greatly bless though by a friend who gave me a whole freezer full of Caribou to eat for the summer. He also tossed in a rabbit and a few assortment of fish. So I bought a little Smokey Joe and I am grilling on the reg. Life is good!
As for what I have been up to since I got up here... Well so far I have had the opportunity to check out Palmer and McCarthy. Both are towns that were on the list to see and I was able to do it on the Gov's dime for work and this made it all the better. Palmer was absolutely beautiful. It sits in valley with mountains almost all the way around. One of the ranges is the infamous Chugach that many ski movies are shot in. I was there for a class for one week and my hotel room window faced them so I woke up instantly stoked each morning. When I left Palmer, a buddy from work and I drove to the Wrangell St Elias town of McCarthy. To get there you have to drive way into the park down hard pack road for 60 miles. Epic views all around. We were there burning piles for about a week and since it was in the mountains there was still a bunch of snow on the road. It was quite a taxing walking around in the snow with snowshoes on but the drive to and from the work site everyday made the hiking totally worth it. Since there was to much snow we couldn't use the truck and had to utilize 4 wheelers instead. It was hard to believe that I was working when I riding my quad home at the end of the day. I tried to take a video one day on the drive out to help you understand my disbelief but since I don't have the video uploaded yet but here is a brief description till I do. During the day the sun would melt the snow into a slushy mess and riding quad on slush is amazing. So on the way out my buddies and I would stay in the back of everyone so we could basically drive around like idiots and see how much we could drift sideways before we tipped or got stuck. I pretty much had a smile on my face the whole time, and to top it all off were were driving towards Mt Blackburn (16,390 ft) and the Kennicot glacier. I will upload picks when I find my camera cord.
I am so glad that I made the decision to come up here, I wasn't sure at first but I know now this was the right decision. I am however heading back down to the lower 48 for the winter. The skiing would be epic up here just a bit south from where I am at now, but there is more to life than fresh pow pow.
As of this minute I think I am headed back to Whitefish in the wonderful state of MT. While sitting at church the other day I was thinking back to my winter and how awesome Whitefish was and that I would like to possibly call it home for a while. I also decided that having a church where you really feel like you belong at is essential for growth in your walk with the Lord and for me that church was Fresh Life. Its been long overdue for me to dive into my walk with the Lord and to not continue sitting on the fence dabbling in both aspects of life. I am not sure what verse it is but I remember reading once that God said for us to not be luke warm for if we ware he will spit us out of His mouth. Its time to settle down and be serious about doing my part in advancing the kingdom of heaven. I hope that those of you reading this will ask yourself the same same question... What am I doing to advance the kingdom of heaven? As well as evaluate your current relationship with the Lord. He is always there waiting with arms wide open, and all we have to do is accept Him into out lives and follow Him without hesitation. There are no shenanigans we have to go through, no saying hail mary 7 times to be forgiven or giving up of the sweet nectar of life (coffee) in order to call yourself a follower. Its simple, confess your sins to Him, tell him you believe in Him and that he is the one and only God and that Jesus was His Son sent to die for out sins and POW, you are forgiven.
Well thats all I have for now. Like I said, when I find my camera cord I will put pictures up.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Greeting from Fairbanks
Well I finally made it! It only took me 42 hours to drive a total of 2,200 miles. I started to go crazy on the fourth day, so I pushed heard to make it to Fairbanks that night. I was met with open arms and a place to stay for the first few nights from an old okie friend. I don't have much to say so I will let the pictures do the talking...Trip to Alaska
Monday, March 19, 2012
Fresh Life
I realize I have not left the lower 48 yet and this blog is quickly becoming something other than just pics of my trip, but whatever. I was blown away by the amazingness (I don't actually think that is a word) of the Lord yesterday, and felt like I should share it.
It has been a struggle of mine in the past to discern what are the actual words of the Holy Spirit being spoken to me from what are my own thoughts or destructive thoughts of the enemy. It has been a long and tedious process to try and figure this one out, and I am still learning. I had a moment yesterday however that is was almost as if the Holy Spirit had a mega phone and was speaking directly to me. The message was exactly what I needed to hear, but I believe it will be powerful to anyone else that listens to it as well. It is a bit long but I encourage you to listen to it all the way through. This church has been very influential to me this past season in my life and I believe it will continue to be in the future. Their use of technology to get the Good Word out is so awesome. Check it out! The church is Fresh Life and yesterdays message is Unscrambling the Eggs. Enjoy.
It has been a struggle of mine in the past to discern what are the actual words of the Holy Spirit being spoken to me from what are my own thoughts or destructive thoughts of the enemy. It has been a long and tedious process to try and figure this one out, and I am still learning. I had a moment yesterday however that is was almost as if the Holy Spirit had a mega phone and was speaking directly to me. The message was exactly what I needed to hear, but I believe it will be powerful to anyone else that listens to it as well. It is a bit long but I encourage you to listen to it all the way through. This church has been very influential to me this past season in my life and I believe it will continue to be in the future. Their use of technology to get the Good Word out is so awesome. Check it out! The church is Fresh Life and yesterdays message is Unscrambling the Eggs. Enjoy.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Whitefish Wrap up
Well my time in Whitefish is coming to an end. It has been an amazing winter even though the snow hasn't been epic. The Flathead valley is for lack of a better word "magical" as a friend put it. I think he hit the nail on the head. People up here are so full of life. They acknowledge you on the street and seem to be overall happy to be alive. There is a lot to be said for that in the modern day we live in. It nice to be up here away from the mainstream way of living. To live of the land and to work for your food and warmth is quickly becoming extinct way of life. Now your probably thinking that your so happy for all the modern day convinces that enable such an easy existence, but stop an think about it for a minute. A lot of us, not excluding myself create unneeded drama and chaos that don't do anything for us except stress us out. Or we start delving into destructive habits and extracurricular activities that we don't have any business getting involved in. Lets break free of that, and get back to the simple way of living.
I have been very blessed to live the places I have lived and experience the full life the Lord offers. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank Him for this. If the Lord can shower me, the ragamuffin I am, with the amazing grace that he offers, then He can do the same for any of you. He loves each and everyone of you with more passion than you can possibly imagine. If you haven't already stop reading this now and give your life over to him and experience the amazing adventure He has waiting for you.
Here are a few picks of the past season I have been through. Enjoy!
I have been very blessed to live the places I have lived and experience the full life the Lord offers. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank Him for this. If the Lord can shower me, the ragamuffin I am, with the amazing grace that he offers, then He can do the same for any of you. He loves each and everyone of you with more passion than you can possibly imagine. If you haven't already stop reading this now and give your life over to him and experience the amazing adventure He has waiting for you.
Here are a few picks of the past season I have been through. Enjoy!
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