A Long Time Coming

It has been far too long since we wrote last. Luckily, however, for those of you who aren’t interested in reading a painfully thorough account of our (relatively) mundane lives, this post will touch just the highlights. All is pretty much routine at our jobs, more so in mine than in Susan’s, though. A typical day at the golf course, which is quite understaffed, begins with course setup. This means that the first four hours of my day often consist of either mowing the greens or preparing the tee boxes for that day’s play. The remainder of my day if filled with, you guessed it, mowing. Fairways, tees, approaches, and rough are all mowed twice weekly, which is all a staff of six people can accomplish. Although I do really like being out on the mower, I am also thankful when other projects, such as sodding a tee or raking bunkers, present themselves. Susan, similarly, has fallen into a nice routine at work – three afternoons each week at the historical Von Hoffman house, where she informs guests about the house and leads a daily walking tour of the town, and five nights a week at the musical gift shop.

 One of the most fruitful aspects of our work is the relationships that we are beginning to build. We have each gotten a chance to connect with coworkers and to have meaningful and impactful conversations. For several reasons, Susan is able to have more of these than I am. For one, she is naturally more conversational and outgoing. Further, her job allows her to interact more frequently and more substantially with coworkers (there really isn’t anybody to talk to on a lawn mower and I couldn’t be heard if there was). Finally, men aren’t nearly as open to deep talks as women. Even so, I can tell that the conversations I am having are growing deeper. I am confident that, by the time we are through here, they will have grown deeper still.

As a ministry team, we are finally beginning to take on some projects. This year, the TRMF has a brand new building that houses a host of resources for employees, including a lounge, classrooms, prayer space, music rehearsal rooms, and a cafeteria. One thing this building lacks, however, is recycling; thus, we placed a recycling bin in the lounge. Also in the lounge, we have placed a prayer box for people to anonymously and confidentially place prayer requests, which we pray for at our weekly team meetings. Further, we have begun an adult Bible study, for there are a number of people working here who are past college age. Finally, we are going to bake cookies for the National Park Service staff this week.

As far as RV life goes, this week has seemed unending. We first had an AC compressor sticking on, which meant that we were running it all the time to keep it from burning up. In case you were curious, non-stop AC in a small bedroom on a 60° evening is waaay too much cooling. But, after cycling the power through the control module things seem to be working fine. Second, we had a leaky toilet (just the intake water, thankfully). This fix was not quite as simple as the AC – we ended up just replacing the whole thing. Finally, last Saturday saw the fiercest storm we’ve seen yet. Unfortunately, we did not know it was coming. Thus, at 11:30 the RV began rocking and before we knew what was happening the awning had been torn down. I was able to salvage most of structure, but the fabric is a total loss. Luckily, awnings are unnecessary to the proper function of an RV, so this is a fix that will have to wait until we are back home.

Despite being busy and dealing with a host of RV complications, we have managed to find time for adventures. A few weeks ago we made the nearly 300 mile drive to Keystone, SD to see Mount Rushmore. Although it was awesome to see and I am glad that we did it, I was ultimately under impressed. While I would definitely recommend going to see it, I don’t feel that it is something that I need to see again. The best part of that trip, though, was driving back through South Dakota’s Black Hills. The two lane highway curving through densely spruce covered, yet jagged hillsides led to stunningly beautiful views around each bend. Words really do fail to describe that place, but the one I keep coming back to is enchantment. As soon as we left the hills and crossed onto the plains I longed to be back. Even now as I write about them, my heart longs to return to the Black Hills to hike and play and camp and climb until I am absolutely worn out with contentment.

 

Last Tuesday, we took the slightly shorter, though much less scenic drive to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. In fact, we drove from North Dakota to Montana to Wyoming to South Dakota and back to north Dakota that day, which means that we were in nearly 10% of the states that day. I was far more impressed with the enormous cluster of rock that explodes dramatically out of the surrounding ground. What I really liked most was the fact that is allowed me the opportunity to play on some rocks. If one wants to reach the base of the tower (which I obviously did) he or she has to navigate through a boulder field several hundred feet wide. I did this, several times, so I can report with the utmost certainty that Devils Tower is, indeed, a 360° tower and not a cliff.

Finally, I spent this past Saturday in our own Theodore Roosevelt National Park. For as long as we’ve been here (over 2 months!) I had not yet done any serious hiking there. So, with a belly full of pancakes, a half-gallon of water, and a map and my trusty compass, I set out on a 12 mile trek through the Badlands. I was, at the same time, in awe and in want. One cannot go into the Badlands without feeling a sense of awe, for they are incredibly and indescribably oppressive; how, one wonders, can such a place exist on the same planet with soft sandy beaches and gentle rolling hills. Nevertheless, as I walk through the Badlands, I cannot help but want more. I want the trickle of a mountain stream and the beauty of unruly Appalachian rhododendron. I want trees, pines and oaks and hickories. And flowers; I long for the beauty of wildflowers along a Carolina trail. Even so, I am learning to appreciate the rugged beauty of the Badlands’ barrenness.

In that, I think, is a worthwhile lesson. Growing up, I had but one definition and one example of a beautiful wilderness. Had I only ever seen that, however, I would have been missing out big time. Having had the opportunity to see Alaska, the Caribbean, the Rocky Mountains, and now the Badlands, my horizons have been expanded and I have come to recognize and appreciate the multifaceted beauty of Creation. The same sort of things can be said of how we understand God. Growing up, we may have a single, basic definition and understanding of God. As we grow in the faith, though, we should come to recognize that God is far larger than a single role. In the same way that I’ve come to know that beauty is not limited to North Carolina, so too have I come to know that God is more than one thing. God is Savior, but God is also Creator, Convicter, Encourager, Helper, Judge, Giver, and so much more. So, as you look for beauty in the new places you might find yourself, look also for the new ways that God might be present in your life.