Outdoors

So My Holidays Are Toast

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I have reluctantly concluded that my summer holidays are toast. They have officially vaporized. They are not going to happen. And I’m okay with that. We’re actually in a pretty nice place but here, here’s why they vaporized.

I’m currently serving as a transitional pastor and my basic contract there is up to 120 hours a month, which is a little less than three-quarter time. It’s actually functionally been less than that because I’ve got a very good associate who can preach and do music and pretty much everything else. He was fully producing the services and managing the online portal for our services, so that’s been great, but he recently went on an open-ended medical leave.

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Cross Over Day

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On November 24, 2019 I was 54 years 288 days old. That was the age my father was when he passed away.

So I decided to take a little retreat, heading out to a cutline where I knew there was a nice place to sit and maybe start a fire.

Here’s a video of a few of those moments down the line.

In addition to the thoughts I shared on the video, I grappled with the placed of online marketing in my life and how it interfaces with ministry…or not. I also thought about a time when I was in my teens and came to the brink of starting a bicycle repair shop but was talked out of it by my dad.

I wondered if that had been an early squelching of my entrepreneurial bent.

But he’s been gone 24 years now, and I have now lived longer than he did, so I have no excuses for not doing something I could or should.

Bottom line, I’m continuing to move ahead with these parallel tracks of online marketing and pastoral ministry, with my ministry focus being the transitional consultant role.

The two actually work together well, with the transitional role, which I usually fulfill part time, allowing for the online work. Likewise, the online work generates extra income and makes the transitional role sustainable.

Looking forward to the adventure ahead, continuing to be shaped by my father, but recognizing the path I walk is my own.

Missing the Tent

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Foster Lake near Lynn Lake Manitoba
Foster Lake, near Lynn Lake, Manitoba, winter 1984. I & E (Bjornson) Exploration

During my first three years out of high school, I spent several months each winter living in a tent.

One winter I did a solid three months, January-March with no days back in town.

The tents, usually 14×16 feet in size, made up the camps from which we cut survey lines or did geophysics for mineral exploration.

Since the camps were typically fly-in, with high costs for transporting gear, the weight and volume of our equipment was kept to a minimum.

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No Longer Interested

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west coast trail campingFor years, when asked to list my interests, I’ve said something like “Hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, canoeing, cross country skiing.”

So far this year I’ve discovered that two of those are not true.

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