Standing in the Canyon, painted hills around, and the wind against my skin

So far, I have driven about 4,000 miles through the Northwest visiting staff teams and community friends. I stopped over at a hotel in Idaho and, tomorrow, I am heading the rest of the way to my fourth and final "site" in Yakama.

I have been trying my best to take pictures along the way. I have a little extra down time in my hotel tonight so I thought I would share some of my favorites....







With some great friends and co-workers at Lookout Mountain in Denver







...A prarie home in Montana....









One of my Cheyenne friends, Shannon. --we have a lot of fun together.






Welcome to Heart Butte, MT. Home of the Blackfeet Nation






A beautiful, sunny sky on my drive to Washington





My family: Jo, McKenna, Kades, and McKendall-
dancing for Culture Night in Blackfeet




Ask and I'll give the Nations to you, O Lord, that's the cry of my heart....

It is the way the master trod: should not the servant tread it still?

(Just returned from Glacier National Park and from an incredible talk by Ranger)

Everyone breaks off into groups and I find an empty hallway to pray and reflect alone.
"Leadership is a lonely road." I have heard this statement over and over again but, it is in these times that I feel it the most. I skip around from city to city, team to team, and community to community. With each journey, I find myself often feeling like an onlooker or an outsider. One who is painfully attempting to break into preestablished rhythms with little success. Other times, there is nothing sweeter than blessings I receive through leadership and the belonging I experience with old friends and new.

I think of the way of my Creator and His promise that He, too, fully identifies with my journey.
He goes before me and He is my rear guard. He is good. I lean on that tonight.

He gives strength to the weary

(a journal entry from last week's morning devos)

Today, I am tired. Tired from running around; from solving problems; from talking and listening non-stop;from giving what seems like hundreds of piggy back rides, and the list goes on. I reflect on these past three weeks and I realize that I am tired FROM all of these things but I am not tired OF them-my heart is glad. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

In the context of my current purpose, there has been (and will be) necessary detail work involved in reaching the kingdom goal that is set before me. I think about the many conversations that will be had, floors that will be mopped, kids that will be carried around, and logistics that will be managed. Sometimes, it makes me crazy-ask any of my staff that have been around me for the past 3 1/2 weeks. But, in the midst of all of this chaos there is a covering of serenity that keeps my pace steady and my gaze fixed.

Jesus is in these places. His spirit is alive and active, and His passion is within me.
I have not been given anything except for the moment set before me....let this day begin.

and I want to live with wider eyes...there's far too much to see

(A couple weeks ago)

I have been doing a lot of traveling back and forth lately and I have been involved in a lot of different things with so many new people. So far, one of my favorites is this night:

I got to Lame Deer (Northern Cheyenne Reservation) around dinnertime and hung out with the four staff who are living here. We finished up work for the night then headed on over to Lonnie’s dad’s house in Ashland, MT. to help prepare for the sweat that night.

Native Americans are very spiritual people and they place high value on prayer. Many times, they gather to pray for a specific purpose. When this happens, they call people together to the sweat lodge- a dome shaped/adobe structure made out of intertwined wood and covered in blankets. When they call people together, they make sure it is a group of people who will pray with them and for them. There are many different types of sweats within each culture and tribe. We were invited to what the Northern Cheyenne people refer to as a Young man’s sweat. The Young Man’s sweat is a very relaxed sweat with few strict traditional rules. Many times, men and women are not permitted to sweat together, you are not allowed to have water, you have to sit up perfectly straight, etc. This sweat was a little more relaxed as far as guidelines go but it was very intense in the heat factor.

We were brought together to pray for Lonnie’s dad and the healing of his sickness as well as Lonnie’s sister and her relatives. When you go into a sweat there are traditional guidelines that must be followed upon entering the sweat, staying in the sweat, and exiting the sweat. The leader of the sweat enters the lodge first and sits to the left of the door. After this, each person goes in counter-clockwise and sits in the next available spot. The sweat is only about 5 feet off of the ground so you have to crawl all the way around it. Once everyone is seated, the hot rocks are brought in and placed in a pit in the middle of the lodge. After this, the doorman (the person in charge of rocks, water, and opening/closing the doors) comes in, closes the flap, and sits down. Then, the sweat begins. Everyone “smudges”-a symbolic cleansing. After this, the sweat begins. The host will either give a prayer or call on someone to share what is on their heart. After this, the rocks are sprinkled with sage, and the water is poured on the rocks. It gets very steamy and very hot really quickly. Many times, rattles are used, songs are sung, and everyone prays out loud for the given requests, other people, and themselves.

There are four official rounds to a sweat as well as a “cowboy” round (where ALL of the remaining water is dumped onto the hottest rocks-it gets to 160-180 degrees in the lodge). Each round lasts from 15 minutes to an hour-depending on the host. Our rounds lasted around 15 minutes each. I made it through all four rounds and the cowboy round. Each round is different because each person shares different thoughts. Lonnie made me stay-he was proud of me for making it through…I may or may not have almost died. It is hot beyond belief in there. After the sweat, we prepared a meal together (it was around midnight at this point) and ate with all 20 people who were gathered from all over the United States.

I was honored to participate in the sweat that night. I love the idea that each person has an opportunity to share their hearts and thoughts with everyone else. Then, everyone in the lodge commits to praying for that request throughout the round. I got to speak one round and I shared on staff, communities, and thankfulness for being accepted into such a sacred and valued place that night. The sweat is spiritually and physically cleansing and it brought me close to Christ that night. Not only did I get to spend 3 hours in prayer-I got to grow closer to my Cheyenne brothers and sisters and experience a piece of what they value. I am thankful for these friendships.

Resurfacing

After a long silence, I have resurfaced. I have been without cell phone service or internet capabilities for two weeks now. In many ways, I appreciate the forced silence while, in other ways, I have missed the connectedness that technology affords. But, don't you worry, I have been thinking and journaling quite a bit so I am looking forward to posting on my thoughts and experiences thus far.

I just arrived in Blackfeet country and I couldn't be happier to be back "home." I am getting up at 7 to cook breakfast for my staff before our long, jam-packed day. I am headed to bed for now but I will post backdated stories soon.

The mystery of the beginning

I am currently sitting on my air mattress at the high school in Lame Deer, MT (N. Cheyenne Reservation). I am listening to pipes clang, floors squeak, and fans running on full blast-oh the sounds of summer. This is a place I have come to love.

In some ways, it is hard to believe that it is already Wednesday of our first "prep week" before summer programming starts. In other ways, I cannot believe that it is only Wednesday. It seems like time has raced by and dragged on simultaneously since I stepped foot on an airplane to Denver almost 2 weeks ago.

A lot has happened since then so I will give you short updates today. I will try to be more consistent in the future but I am often without internet access so we will see how that plays out.

Until then, here goes nothing....

In pure YouthWorks fashion, I was picked up from the airport by 3 guys in a huge, flatbed towtruck...people stared, I just smiled.

I got to drive a huge, Ford F-150 through Sonic to get a diet coke-doesn't get much better in my book.

May 22 marked the beginning of our summer staff training-I have 16 great staff this summer (more on these people later).

I sat with my staff and heard them describe their feelings about the summer-they used some of the following words: anticipatory, expectant, humbled, anxious, hopeful, and the list goes on...I cannot wait to see where this journey takes them.

I attended a hip-hop church service and now have a new love-the music has kept me company on the road.

I went up into the mountains with a great group of people-I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

I spent a day with Anna roadtripping from Colorado through Wyoming. There are too many stories to share but the memories are priceless.

I dropped my cell phone in a toilet at a random McDonalds-my cell phone never recovered-sad.

I hiked to the top of a hill then back down again completely barefoot-as God intended it :)

I reconnected with friends in Lodge Grass and Lame Deer as I sat and talked with Wales, Lonnie, Jason, Andre, Shannon, and Candi. It makes my heart happy to see them again.

I went to an arrowthrowing competition at the Casino in Crow Agency. It was cold and rainy but totally worth it.

I just learned the first half of the dance for, "We're all in this together" out of high school musical. My staff are learning it for a skit and, I thought it was necessary that I join in. It was hysterical.

I have spent countless hours on the phone with staff, trip leaders, my managers, and community members. It has given me life and worn me out at the same time. I love it.

I feel like these one liners don't even begin to describe the past two weeks but they are a fun start. As I sit here and think about everything that has happened up to this point, my mind floods with details and logistics but, stronger than these thoughts, are those of people. I am reminded of the incredible opportunity and resonsibility this job is. I get to meet and work with some great people in the coming days, weeks, and months. My prayer for this summer is growth, wisdom, and an increased capacity to love-no matter what that looks like.

**Note:

I do not claim to be a gifted (or interesting) writer so I suppose that entertainment is not the goal of this summer blog. Rather, my hope is that I can share my thoughts, experiences, and lessons learned along the way.

The people I will write about are some of the truest friends I have ever had and these places host some of the most incredible landscapes I have ever seen. I am excited to share my journey with you and I appreciate your thoughts and prayers along the way.

Here's to the beginning....