Staying Flexible

As a 37 year old ex-football player and weightlifter, flexibility has never been a strong suit of mine. As a physical therapist, I understand that flexibility and mobility is a cornerstone in overall fitness, yet has always continued to challenge me. Apart from physical flexibility, I have been less than flexible in several facets of life as well, a stark contrast to my beautiful bride. This is a constant battle for us, and a lesson that is being taught during these wild times.

Imagine this crazy scenario: a middle aged man with a doctorate degree, gives up the comforts of a steady, professional occupation in effort to live more simply all in the name of pursuing life’s joys with his family. However, 7 months into this effort, a pandemic hits, temporarily (fingers crossed) dismantling the platform on which he hoped he and his wife would be able to financially provide for his family. He then moves his family in to live with his mother-in-law with long weekend visits to his parents for an indefinite amount of time, while collecting unemployment. Pinning many hopes to the chance that jobs will become available yet again, and the traveling journey can recommence.

Oh, and here’s the punch-line: that is me! Stating the blatant facts in that manner can provide the imagery of a crash and burn, depressing story for a man who prides himself in leadership and caring for his family. And, I will be the first to admit; I have allowed myself to see just this picture at times, and trust me, it has caused much disruption and anxiety within me. However, it is what is behind the scenes, when described more precisely, that is beautifully exciting. I have found it takes constant flexibility in perception and desire to see this beauty.

First, I would like to say thank you to my mother-in-law, sister and brother-in-law in Auburn for being so wonderfully hospitable. You guys have made it clear as day that what is yours is ours too. We have had a free place to park our fifth wheel (Arrow – we’ll be back on the road again soon!), a super comfortable space to live with a large finished basement and full bath, as well as two bedrooms for the kids to have their space. More than that, we have been able to share wonderful meals and laughs while soaking up fantastic family time.

Thank you for sharing your space and life with us! We were even able to see Leah’s grandmother on her 95th Birthday!

To my mom and dad, brother and sister-in-law: thank you so much for not blinking an eye, always letting us know we are welcome to stay at your place. We have loved sharing our lives with you during this time. I was able to meet the newest addition to our family, my brother’s third son, for the first time and celebrate the other nephews’ 7th and 4th birthdays with them. The cousins were able to spend some rocking sleep-overs, and celebrate Faith’s 7th, and Fisher’s 4th birthday together. Nothing will ever replace the warm hugs and genuine smiles of family when reunited.

Awesome time with the cousins!

Beautiful connections with my folks!

Each of my kids had 2 birthday parties, plus a party for each of my nephews = 6 birthday cakes!

The other crazy beauty of this period for us has been agenda free time spent with the kids. I honestly don’t know any other fathers that have had the opportunity to spend this much time with their kids during this very impressionable age. Although, being in the world of a seven and four year old day after day is extremely trying and exhausting, I have been able to watch them grow in such a close and personal way. Yes, I can become grumpy amidst the roller coaster of highs and lows of just one hour in these little peoples’ lives, but I pray my influence on them during this close time is mostly positive. And… I have been able to fish with the kids… lots and lots of fishing!

New skills and experiences from building a birdhouse from scraps, ninja, baseball, catching crawdads, horse riding, to riding in a huge harvester!

I told you there was a lot of fishing!!

The grandest gift this unforeseen, and at first glance unfortunate, turn in worldly events has provided us with is time. Time for the invaluable interpersonal experiences mentioned above, but also time to take advantage of new possibilities. This brings us to our big decision made somewhere while driving across Montana late April.

First a little background from both Leah and I is required to understand how we arrived a the open door of this opportunity. For me, I have been searching for quite some time within my personal purpose in line with my occupation. I have been told I am a good physical therapist, that I really help people on many levels, yet I continue to be frustrated by the barriers within the profession (of which I won’t go into here). This eventually led to the acceptance of changing our lifestyle and becoming travel physical therapists whilst exploring the country with our family.

OK, that happened, however I continued to have two big notions gnaw at me from within. One of them being the desire to fuse my love of the wilderness with impacting the community. Several years ago, Leah and I, along with some friends, had actually begun the penciling of a business plan for adaptive outdoor experiences, fusing our knowledge of physical therapy and growing experience within the wilderness, years ago. However, kids and life stalled those plans for the time being. The second gnawing notion within me was a memory of a junior high Christian camp experience. This was at Lutheran Hills where the premise was to match a teen with a mentally handicapped adult for the week, putting us in charge of all their care taking. Being responsible for another person’s hygiene, meals, schedule, safety and activity was a huge deal as a young teenager. This was certainly an impactful experience, however what my mentoring pastor through the camp mentioned to me upon debriefing from the week has haunted me for quite some time. He, with prayerfully chosen words, shared with me that he felt very strongly I consider ministry as my occupation. As I continued on with education and choice of profession, I continually brushed this memory in an effort to stay “more relevant” with positions that would provide me with “more”… Look where that has gotten me.

Well, back to the night before a travel day somewhere through Montana in late April. I found it very difficult to sleep as the memory of the camp experience was very strong, and half sleeping/half awake I had a very vivid vision. I was around 65 years old with long white beard, rowing a gear raft down a sun soaked river. As I passed other rafters and campers along the shore, I waved back as they shouted with smiles on their faces, “Hey, look! It’s the rafting pastor!”

The next morning while driving through Montana, Leah shared with me a new program she had gotten an email about through a company called Revelation Wellness. She thought it sounded like a program I should consider. Revelation Wellness is a company that has trained coaches and personal trainers to lead people through improved and regular fitness of their body, but also the renewing and refreshing of their mind and heart through the gospel. Well, they were beginning registration for “RevWild” -an outdoor Christian leadership program! I then immediately shared by dream with Leah, and it seemed to be divine intervention. So…. I guess that answered how we were to use our time this summer!

The mission statement of RevWild is “Inviting people outdoors to encounter the presence of God to know who they are and what they are living for”. They truly believe in making disciples who make disciples. I will be equipped with the knowledge of how to turn this into my own business and take it on the road with us! What exactly all that will look like will be evolving, of course, but man… too perfect and timely to not say YES!

Over the last two months, I have been gifted the time and space to fulfill the curriculum requirements including assigned reading, Bible study, physical conditioning, weekly zoom meetings with the other 60 participants across the country. Oh, and I have had to turn in the data from progressively more difficult hikes that include weight carried in back pack, time on feet, miles traveled and elevation gain. Yeah, I said elevation….I’m currently living in Indiana! Of all the places I have lived in the last decade, I am in Indiana trying to find a hills big enough to do repeats in an effort to gain assimilation to the elevation gains required. Not an easy task – yet again, staying flexible and open, just enough was granted me to meet the requirements. The program culminates with a five night excursion in the Rockies August 9-14th.

So there is the lemonade, folks! We have just picked up our RV after having it in the shop for two months for warranty work (again, another nod to the gift of time and family support!). Upon my rejuvenated return from the August excursion, we hope to be back on the road near the end of August. It is looking like we will be required to have a plan A,B,C, and possibly D as we head out with the ever-changing state by state laws and requirements in regards to the “Rona”, but as Leah and God are showing me daily – we need to hold our plans loosely and stay flexible!

“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

Proverbs 16:9