Cran SNOW Hill SNOW Ranch

It's been a while since I blogged, I know. Brother-in-law Kyle reminded me that I did, indeed, have more speaking things to write about since my last post, but my last major speaking thing between this past weekend, and the last one I posted was so gruesome that I figured I shouldn't spill too many details so as not to offend anyone.

Let's just say that if you can't say something nice about an event, don't say anything at all. (And for all of you who may be rushing to the Happy the Dog calendar to see which event I didn't blog about, sorry, but it's not on the web calendar!)

I was in Michigan this past weekend catching up with some old Convention friends for a big retreat at this really cool camp called Cran Hill Ranch.

Dawn, Troy, and I all headed up on Friday. I had a nine hour car ride. Dawn and Troy had 14 hours as they drove five hours before picking me up.

Rides were a bit tricky as my Lumina refused to start and Andrea had recently hit a deer with the new HHR. The good news was that the HHR was still good enough to get me to Newton to hook up with the HTD crew, so it all worked out.

It started snowing on us heavily on the way there, and didn't let up for three days. It was a heavy, thick, almost movie-fake looking type of snow that just fell straight down and kept piling up. There had to be a good foot of it before we left.

Met a guy named Eric who plays host at Cran Hill. He's a twenty-one year old guy who went into ministry straight from his training as a professional welder. I guess that's not so wierd considering I came straight from pig farming.

The Big Rapids and McBain students and adults that attended the event were just really great all the way around. We had three rocking worship services where I got to explore my "You Are Known" theme a little farther.

Deb and Roger, who I've met when they were running security at Convention, were the retreat hosts and they treated us really well. We got to stay in a little cottage (called Bayview since it was on the bay of a lake), and it was fun to see them again.

I've been devouring one book after another recently as I can't seem to get enough to read. This cycle usually follows a period where I tried to be creative, and as I just wrote a play that might possibly get produced by a college soon, the cycle makes sense.

I'm midway through reading the Ender and Shadow series by Orson Scott Card, and they're just as good as I remember them. To break them up a bit, I'm reading journals from the 90's by Henry Rollins.

And here's where I'll get in trouble as all the folk who read this blog and don't know Henry will start googling and youtubing him. I'll just qualify it by saying that I saw Henry Rollins do a spoken word show at Iowa State once and it was amazing. He's got a real, raw, forceful, complete honesty, type delivery that I think I could learn a lot from.

Do I like his punk rock style, heavy duty, thrashing music from Black Flag or The Rollins Band? Eh, not really.

Do I agree with a majority if his opinions concerning any number of relevant topics to today's society - especially God? Definately not. But I feel like there are so many mediocre books out there for Christians on trying to understand the blue collar, youth rage, depressed, angry, bitter, tired, lonely, and unloved part of our world - and I rather read a book by a guy who's living it.

He's funny, insightful, incredibly intelligent, and a great writer.

That said, I've gone way off topic and will get a good tongue lashing by the HTD folks when they read this and say, "Why didn't you write more about the retreat?"

We did have a really cool moment in the retreat where Troy invited anyone to stand up on Saturday night and share some of the problems/concerns/joys/fears with their spiritual life, and several kids really stepped up to the challenge and shared some amazing stuff.

It's during those moments that I realize who I'm really trying to speak to in those retreats - those in the crowd that were a lot like me when I was that age.

Another interesting thing I'm realizing more and more (especially after trekking all by my lonesome up to White Pass, Washington a month and a half ago) after this trip, is that I tend to be two different speakers when I travel with and without the band.

When I'm alone, as I was in White Pass, I'm forced to break out of the little, social anxietal(word? probably not) box I'm in and meet people. I gravitate towards the kids and adults who remind me of myself.

When I'm traveling with the band, they're so outspoken, friendly, and cool that I slip into the background more often and let them handle a lot of the more social moments of ministry.

Nothing I can change since I would never give up the opportunity of traveling with them, but something I can probably work on as the events where I'm alone force me into such amazing situations where I meet kids who, much like me, won't really speak unless spoken to.

Well look at how reflective I've been this blog already! And it's a long one.

I'm also thinking more and more about my severe addiction to all things food and soda. I really, really like food. I really, really, really like diet cherry pops. I wish my psyche wasn't so dependant on either one.

I often muse about going a week where I research the bare nourishment essentials and then eat only those for a week while drinking water and taking a multi-vitamin to make sure I'm staying as healthy as possible.

But for a guy my size who exercizes as little as he does, I shouldn't be craving pizza, 6 sodas, chocolate, and chinese 7 days a week.

Okay, that's all for now.

Book review of the week - read (or reread) Ender's Game. What a great book with lots of tidbits about leadership.

Till next time,

Jason