Jamestown N.D.

World's largest buffalo and I have now been there.
First run in North Dakota, even the first time here, and the first invitation to work with Missouri Synod Lutheran Youth Fellowship. Enough firsts for this weekend.

morning alarm clock

the little one who persistently, even franticly insists the world be up and moving at 5 a.m.

morning being time

Working with youth I have always been intrigued by the experience.
What new experience will intrigue them, will wow them, stimulate them into wanting more?

Fr. Richard Rohr suggests that westerns have tried to change Descartes “I think, therefore I am,” into “I experience, therefore I am.” We have saturated ourselves, maybe even overdosed ourselves with experience.

We are not human doings, we are human beings.

An old saying… But I am still struck by the wisdom.

Again Richard Rohar, “I’m pretty much convinced experiences don’t change people; realization does. I think of all the powerful experiences that I’ve had. But only when I taste my experiences enough so they become realizations, do I change.”

Maybe the real job is to help people choose silence. My new innovative intriguing experience is lost unless there is given time to realize it, question it, reflect on it, and just let there be time for inner space to be emptied so that spirit can reclaim.

Click and Go to Gloria My Space!

American Pilgrimage

Rushmore... must be photographed several thousand times a day. It really is a pilgrimage that most Americans will take at some point in their life. Amazing leaders. But so are Dick and Cynthia Borrud our hosts, certainly legends, and dreamers. ––– The wild west week comes to an end as the sun sets, and coyote howls. But wait, Wall Drug, and free ice water awaits for us tomorrow!

Sunday Gulch

Hiked... and hiked and hiked and hiked
Sunday Gulch near Sylvan Lake, and then drove the Needles Highway home... still tired from hiking!

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Monument
"When the Legends Die The Dreams End When the Dreams End There is No More Greatness"
-Korczak Ziolkowski

When completed the Crazy Horse mountain carving will be 641 feet long by 563 feet high. Crazy Horse's completed head is 87 feet 6 inches high. The horse's head, currently the focus of work on the mountain, is 219 feet or 22 stories high.

The carving of Crazy Horse is more than bigness, more than time, it is about the dreams. When the dreams are worthy they become the force of creation. My prayer for the day is to have worthy dreams that meant to be followed, that lead me in creating life.

CO to S.D.

Our day of moving from Estes Park to the Black Hills was sandwiched with Cow experiences. On the highway leaving town the cowboys and cowgirls decided to drive the cattle down the road. Arriving at Lee Valley we had time to hunt garnets and explain the finer points of life and religion to a group of passing cow friends.

up the mountain

We decided it was time to climb, "No" ride the tram, "Yes," up the mountain. Conquering the mountain we found 10,000 munks... all starving. Fear not! We fed them all.

rainy tuesday

cook out in the rain! Pancakes... "Yes, folks that's what that is!"


"I've had enough of camping!" Brrrrrrr.....

Mountain Hike Day

A


Andrea "My favorite shirt!"

Rocky Mountain High

Estates State Park.

Wild Kingdom

Andrea trains the hummingbird to do unusual tricks as...

Lyle feeds the ferocious Chipmunk...

Then the wild bull elk charges us both but we manage to get a picture off just before Andrea swings onto his back riding him down the mountain and breaking him so small children can now ride him with out fear.

Hummingbird Greetings

© photo by Andrea

We sat sipping coffee for almost an hour as we watched, closer than nature has ever allowed us before, or witness the little winged creatures, as they busily collected nectar.

New Home!

Home for this week!

Estates Park, Colorado

Dayle Kitch

Dayle Nicole Kitch
CARROLL, IA

On this Blog go back to March 31. This was the last time I got to meet and work with Dayle. She has been an amazing light to many. She is someone who I hoped to work more with in the future. Thank you God for the blessing of Dayle.

Dayle Nicole Kitch, 19, of Carroll died Tuesday, May 29, 2007, at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines.

While at Carroll High she participated in band, pep band, choir, swing choir and cheerleading. At Kuemper she was a member of the LIFE Core Team, wrote for the Kuemper Charger and participated in speech, one-act play and large-group speech. She was also a member of and adult volunteer for Destination ImagiNation for five years.

Dayle completed her sophomore year at Luther College, where she was working toward a degree in social work with minors in Spanish and religion. She was a member of Lambda Theta chapter of Phi Alpha Honor Society for social work students and served as its co-president, played percussion in the varsity band and pep band, played recorder in the Collegium, sang in the Gospel choir, was a part of an outreach group, worked at the financial aid office and planned to be a writing tutor.

She was a member of St. John Lutheran Church in Carroll and was liaison to the National Lutheran Youth Organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, She was member of the Definitely-Abled Committee, attended and was a counselor at the Wholly Iowa Youth Leadership Discipling Event, was a member of and traveled the U.S. with the Beyond the Ramp Speakers Bureau and helped organize, plan, and lead the Definitely-Abled Youth Leadership Event. She was also a counselor for the State of Iowa Youth Leadership Forum and was scheduled to be a counselor at Ingham Bible Camp at East Okoboji this summer.

damp wood resists light

"And then Garion perceived yet another truth, a truth at once enormously simple and at the same time so profound that the scope of it shook every fiber of his being. There was son such thing as darkness! What seemed so vast and overwhelming was nothing more than the absence of light. So long as the Child of Light kept that firmly in mind, the Child of Dark could never win." – p.27 King of the Murgos: Book Two of the Malloreon by Eavid Eddings

Oh my… how that thinking could change the world. It is worth wondering. There are only sources for light. I can point to where light comes from. I am unable to point to a source for dark. Dark just is when light lacks.

I do understand the concepts of evil, pain and even sin. The assumption is that darkness can and should be fought. If we want to rid the world of evil and dark, we must fight it, sub due it, even win over it. Yes, I have seen Star Wars and know about the dark side. (“May the force be with you.” I still love them all.) But how do you battle something that has no source? What if it is not about a battle at all? What if the answer lies not in acts and attitudes of conquering, but instead the lighting of lights! How can we fight something that has no source?

So, “All we need is love?” It does sound too simplistic. Feed the poor, do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God? Proclaim the good news? Maybe all the ills of the world, the dark side, would just go away with a bit more love? We need to help build more assets? (Thank you Search Institute)

So maybe lighting lights is not all that easy? I did just try to light my back yard fire with wet wood. It resisted being lit for quit a long time. (Still seems to be more of a smolder than a dancing gleeful fire.) Maybe dark cannot be conquered into light, but maybe it does resist. You cannot light something that does not want to be lit.

Okay, I’m not the first to ponder this. But as for me, I’ll keep assuming a positive lighting and brightening is more effective than the energy of anger attacking or building walls for defending. Sounds a bit rosy. I know I still have my days when my wood seems a bit damp.

????