Thanksgiving

Here in the States, we're all back to work from our Thanksgiving break. With no classes, I was able to take most of the week off. I had planned to use the time off to finally do some overnight kayaking down on the coast. Apparently God had other plans. Although I had a nice paddle on the reservoir on Tuesday, shortly thereafter I managed to break (as best I can determine) a toe in a freak accident at home. So I reluctantly determined that I needed to stay close to home for a while. It's feeling much better now, as long as I'm careful how I walk/limp.

In the mean time, I was able to talk through a lot of ideas about the PrayerPaddle with Gary Smith on the Church Starting team of the Canadian National Baptist Convention. I also spent some time preparing customized maps of the coast, by combining topographic maps, satellite imagery, church locations, and tentative paddling route. Sometime this week I should be posting about volunteer opportunities for the PrayerPaddle on the "Bridge" website of the North American Mission Board. I have lots that I need to get done...

It was nice to spend Thanksgiving together at home for the first time in several years. We have much to be thankful for. Yet it's also sobering to remember how great the spiritual needs are. Someone said that Thanksgiving is the most frustrating day of the year for atheists because they can't figure out who to give thanks for. Perhaps even sadder is the huge proportion of Canadians and Americans who believe that God probably exists, but don't have the relationship with Him to be able to enjoy giving thanks to Him.

Volunteer Opportunities

Are you a Christian from outside the area of the PrayerPaddle?
The recommended time commitment is at least one week.

Are you a Christian living in the general area of the Prayer Paddle?
Flexible time commitments as short as a couple of hours are possible.

What you can do:
Prayer
· You can pray “on-site with insight” for revival.
· You can pray beforehand or at home for success of the PrayerPaddle.

Service
· You can assist with setting up, taking down, food preparation, and/or transportation for prayer and evangelistic meetings.
· You can assist with publicity: contacting churches, radio stations, newspapers; making flyers for posting.
· You can make sure that camping and food logistics of kayakers are taken care of.
· You can help with transport of volunteers who are arriving by air, rail, or bus.

Outreach
· You can share your testimony with unbelievers and with fellow Christians along the route of the PrayerPaddle.
· You can lead short devotions, preach evangelistic messages, share messages of encouragement with believers, etc.
· You can participate in dramatic witness through skits.
· You can distribute tracts or Bibles.

Specialized Contributions
· You can help provide music at prayer and evangelistic meetings.
· You can help with translation (both oral and written).
· You can paddle along, while praying for revival in the communities. (Requires suitable sea kayaking equipment, either your own or rented. Please discuss your capabilities and expectations.)
· You can help with uploading daily internet updates to the blog.
· You can retrieve daily weather, currents, and tide data from the internet for forecasting along the route. (We’ll tell you what information to get.)
· You can share any personal knowledge you may have of local currents, surf conditions, etc.

General
· You can encourage local believers and churches.
· You can develop relationships and explore future ministry opportunities in the region.
· You can provide hospitality for other volunteers.
· Host churches are needed for revival-oriented worship services on Sundays.
· You can donate money, food, or other supplies.

Success

I have written up a set of six questions that I think the "success" of next summer's PrayerPaddle should be measured against. Sort of a different way of articulating the goals of the ministry.

1) Were communities, churches, social institutions, households, and individuals along the coast prayed for specifically?
2) Were Christians in the region challenged and encouraged with the Great Commission to make disciples?
3) Were unbelievers challenged with the Gospel?
4) Were relationships established between locals (Christian or non-Christian) and external volunteers that can lead to future ministry partnerships and church starts?
5) Did people experience the love and unity of Christ across ethnic and denominational barriers?
6) Were new interdenominational prayer groups started in each county that the PrayerPaddle passed through?

Family Matters

One question that has come up occasionally is how my family will fit in with the PrayerPaddle. I admit that I haven't exactly figured out all the logistics yet and there's no way to know exactly how things will work out. But there are two main points that seem fairly clear.

Most of the time during the PrayerPaddle I my wife and kids will probably be in Bathurst, NB enjoying an extended visit with my wife's family. This will give them a chance to help out with the market garden, house painting, any medical problems, etc. (like we did this last summer). When I was figuring out the planned schedule, I was surprised that it worked out just right so that I will be passing through Bathurst just in time to spend Father's Day with my father-in-law.

Since I don't want to spend over a month away from my family, the hope is that they will be able to come help on-site with the PrayerPaddle a couple days each week, probably on the weekends. Hopefully that will give a reasonable balance. Of course, I also plan to stay in touch with them daily by cell phone.

A Few Busy Thoughts

We finished up a busy week of homecoming/revival, redoing my tenure application to address some concerns of the departmental committee, and our neighborhood fall festival. On Tuesday my oldest son, Jesse (age 6), made his public profession of faith. This week the church is doing a Halloween alternative event for the kids on Friday night, together with New Vineyard church. And I need to rush out now for a special meeting of Mission Mississippi...

Recently I was attending my university's Founder's Day assembly, and was reminded of the PrayerPaddle by the story of our "founder". Henry P. Jacobs was a slave who managed to learn how to read and write, and then used that knowledge in order to escape to Canada. After reaching the freedom of Canada, he became a Baptist minister. During the Reconstruction years after the Civil War, Mr. Jacobs and others became concerned about how newly emancipated blacks in Mississippi could be educated and trained for the ministry. Returning to Mississippi, he was chosen in 1869 as the first "permanent president" of the General Baptist Missionary Convention of Mississippi. He worked with the American Baptist mission board to establish in 1877 a seminary (Natchez Seminary) that was the precursor to what is now Jackson State University. So what does that have to do with the PrayerPaddle? Well, once again it appears that God has linked together Canada and Mississippi. The differences are huge of course between the PrayerPaddle and the task that God gave Mr. Jacobs. Yet the parallels are still compelling, in light of how completely unrelated Canada and Mississippi would appear to be.

Trying to Make the Transition

After turning in my tenure application, I thought I would find much more time to work on PrayerPaddle stuff. Instead, it seems that I’ve just ended up busy with other things. Right now I’m in the Atlanta airport on my way back from the National Weather Association meeting in Louisville, KY. Last week we made visits to the state fair with the kids and to help at the Pro-Life Mississippi booth. This week is also mid-term exams at JSU. And of course, we’re about to begin the homecoming/revival at our church this Sunday.

Last Saturday we took the whole family out to the reservoir to paddle around a bit. It was a little rougher than I'd expected, so Cynthia had some trouble controlling the inflatable kayak. But Nancy and the boys did pretty good in the canoe. Rebecca got a ride with me in the sea kayak. I also got to practice a few rolls for the first time in waves.

Finally, I’ve started trying to follow up individually by phone with key people about the PrayerPaddle. Also, I wrote up drafts last night of suggested activities for volunteers, a statement of doctrinal fundamentals, and questions of how the success of the PrayerPaddle will be gauged. These will be posted online soon, probably via the blog first.

Busy, Roll, Life

This last week has been pretty busy. Many of you probably saw the update letter that I sent out by email. Mainly, I'm in the home stretch now of getting my tenure package turned in. I have to turn in seven 4" thick binders of documentation to the committee on Wednesday. And then pray for a favorable review! Needless to say I still have work left to do on it. My schedule was made busier by having to teach applications of trigonometry to a class of physics and meteorology majors for the week. I also turned in a manuscript for peer-reviewed publication.

My kayak roll class went a lot smoother this time. I was able to roll about 15 times with no assistance or trouble, except for a couple times when I tried to do some different stuff. The failed attempts were when I tried on my off side, when I tried to roll with just my hands, and maybe once when I didn't use the nose clips (don't remember for sure). I also practiced rolling a few times with a really short whitewater kayak that someone else brought. Although I have yet to make the transition from rolling in a warm pool to rolling in a cold ocean, I'm confident enough now to continue practicing on my own. My problem for the remaining roll clinic session now is holding back the temptations of pride, when others are really struggling with rolling.

At church, we're gearing up to get everything in place for the revival. And the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil began on Wednesday. The goal is to have at least two people praying in hourly slots from 6 am to 6 pm in front of the abortion clinic. I was shocked at how little participation there was on the weekend. Including myself, there were only four people signed up today! For a city of 200,000 in the Bible Belt on a day when most people don't have to work and the weather was perfect, that's just plain incomprehensible to me. I will definitely agree that it is not the funnest way to spend an hour. But since when are we called only to do things that are fun? Some things are just the right thing to do, no matter how you feel about it or even whether you feel a calling toward it. Personally, going out there on a regular basis does not appeal to me, especially on the days when they're open for "business". But I believe that 40 Days for Life is an unusual opportunity for the church in Jackson to get serious about ending the scourge of abortion in our state. I couldn't help but wonder what came up that prevented so many Christians from being able to take a stand for life today. And I felt sorry for the boy whose mother brought him along while she worked her shift as security guard for the abortion clinic. (Lest you think I'm getting too self-righteous, I do admit that I've spent plenty of years on the sidelines myself, due to fear, forgetfulness, or distractions.)

Jehovah Rapha

The combination of prayer, medicine, and some exercise has done wonders for my shoulder! Between Sunday and Tuesday, it didn't seem like my shoulder was improving. If anything, it seemed a little worse when I left for the roll clinic on Tuesday evening. So I was afraid that it might turn out to be too bad for me to work much on getting the roll figured out. Instead, I ended up having a much more productive session, with several unassisted rolls. I was able to keep my sprayskirt on most times and only had a couple of failed attempts.

When I got home, I was cautiously excited. But I was also kinda sore. After some analgesic, a hot pad, and a night's rest though, I woke up feeling almost completely healed. Now I pretty much only feel a little bit of pain if I reach far back with my arm. On Tuesday it hurt just to drive the car, and on Wednesday I was doing pushups! God is good!

I've moved forward a bit more on stuff for the website. I uploaded a bunch of photos from the summer onto a Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30696625@N08/) that I'll be linking to the website. Also I've created an account with wishlist.com that I'll be using to make supporters aware of equipment needs.

Tonight I'm alone with the older three kids while Nancy chaperones for a youth/college lock-in at church. Depending how things work out with picking Nancy and Rebecca up from the church in the morning, I'm hoping we can also make it to a special prayer vigil at the abortion clinic. Pro-Life Mississippi will be kicking off the local 40 Days for Life prayer emphasis, leading up to the presidential election.

A Paddling Song and Wave Watching

I got up to the reservoir today to see how rough conditions were, since we were under a lake wind advisory. It looked like a pretty rough chop, but definitely not unmanageable for the kayak. I didn't bother with paddling, partly because I was taking care of the kids while Nancy helped with a "Positive Parenting Fair". The kids enjoyed watching the waves crash onshore, except that Cynthia kept insisting that she wanted to go swimming. The other reason to take a break from paddling is to give more time for my shoulder to heal. It has definitely improved, but I'm afraid it's gonna be a while before it's 100% healed.

Tonight while trying to decide on a song to sing in church next Sunday, I came across a song that fits really good with the PrayerPaddle. Near the end of "Boat of Life", it says:

So why not call on Jesus?
He'll help you safely on
Oh my friend it's foolish
To paddle all alone

Amen!

Pool Paddle

Last night I had my first session to learn how to "roll" the kayak. Although many kayakers don't ever bother with learning the Eskimo roll, it's still considered a good safety skill to have. I was hoping it wouldn't be too much of a challenge since I feel pretty competent otherwise in the kayak. But it's amazing how disorienting it can be to be upside down in the water!

In the first place, it felt strange to be taking my kayak into the roped-off shallow end of the pool at one of the local fitness centers. We had around 10 or 11 of us trying to learn. Me and two others had sea kayaks (as opposed to shorter whitewater river kayaks). Other than an intense dislike for the strong dose of chlorine in the water, I thought I was doing pretty good at first, when the instructor was helping out more. As I started trying to get it right with less help, it became more of a struggle. I also discovered that the sprayskirt that I got with the kayak was not nearly secure enough for rolling.

We're scheduled to continue the sessions for the next three Tuesdays. So hopefully that should be enough time for my body to figure out what it's supposed to be doing. Today I'm pretty sore. I'm also a bit concerned right now about my right shoulder, after my arm "popped" in the socket during a couple of my messed-up rolls. I was able to continue practicing and to carry the kayak afterwards, but I really don't like the possibility that it may have been damaged instead of just hurt. So I'm praying that it won't be a problem. These kinds of things always make me think of Jacob. I hope that God didn't decide that I needed to be permanently crippled a bit to get me to trust in Him instead of in my own abilities. But I know our Lord is sovereign and pray that He will be glorified one way or the other.

I'll have to decide whether to get out and paddle on the reservoir again this weekend or to let my arm just rest. Hopefully normal paddling would not aggravate the injury. It looks like we might also have some interesting paddling weather this Saturday from the outer bands of Hurricane Ike.

A Cool Paddle

I managed to get out for a couple hours of paddling yesterday before I was scheduled to meet a colleague for lunch. As I was about to leave the house I had a bit of a surprise from our cat, Kitty Black. Didn't take him long to find a new high place to nap on.



It was an unusually cool day for Mississippi. The air temperature was around 75 F and a water temperature of 78 F. That sure beats paddling when the temperatures were 95 and 87, respectively. I went across Ross Barnett Reservoir and back, for a total of about 7.7 miles in 2 hours 15 minutes. And I needed a lot less drinking water than previous paddles! Hopefully we won't have too much impact from Hurricane Ike at the end of the week.

A Tentative Schedule

While I didn't get any paddling in over the weekend (partly due to Hurricane Gustav), I did sit down and come up with a tentative overall schedule for the PrayerPaddle. From the beginning, I've been torn between trying to do the whole length in one summer or dividing it up over two years. I'm now thinking that it should be possible to complete the trip from Tide Head, NB to Pleasant Bay, NS in summer 2009, Lord willing. In order to do that, I won't be able to spend time scouting out the route before starting like I had hoped. And I may be a couple days late getting back to work for the fall semester.

Anyhow, here is the schedule of approximately where I hope to be on each Sunday and holiday of the paddle, as well as the cumulative distance.

• June 17 Tide Head, NB Wednesday 0 mi (0 km)
• June 21 Bathurst, NB Father's Day 76 mi (122 km)
• June 28 Inkerman, NB Sunday 218 mi (351 km)
• July 1 Val-Comeau, NB Canada Day
  
• July 5 Miramichi, NB Sunday 339 mi (546 km)
• July 12 Richibucto, NB Sunday 468 mi (753 km)
• July 19 Cap Pelé, NB Sunday 618 mi (995 km)
  
• July 26 River John, NS Sunday 768 mi (1236 km)
• August 2 Antigonish, NS Sunday 924 mi (1488 km)
• August 8 Pleasant Bay, NS Saturday 1081 mi (1740 km)
  

Some Quotes from the 17th Century

I got back into reading one of my favorite books tonight, "The Reformed Pastor" by Richard Baxter. It's one of the few books I've read that has such profound statements that I feel the need to keep track of favorite quotes from it. The parts that stood out to me tonight were dealing with the need for an uncompromising recognition of the seriousness of Biblical preaching and the call for believers (especially pastors) to seek the unity of the catholic (not "Catholic") church rather than just of their own "party".

"O sirs, how plainly, how closely, how earnestly, should we deliver a message of such moment as ours, when the everlasting life or everlasting death of our fellow-men is involved in it!"
"You cannot break men's hearts by jesting with them, or telling them a smooth tale, or pronouncing a gaudy oration."

"It is a great and common sin throughout the Christian world, to take up religion in a way of faction; and instead of a love and tender care of the universal Church, to confine that love and respect to a party [e.g. a denomination]."
"If there be some called Lutherans, some Calvinists, some subordinate divisions among these, and so of other parties among us, most of them will pray hard for the prosperity of their party, and rejoice and give thanks when it goes well with them; but if any other party suffer, they little regard it, as if it were no loss at all to the Church."
"The peace of their party they take for the peace of the Church."
"How rare it is to meet with a man that smarteth or bleedeth with the Church's wounds, or sensibly taketh them to heart as his own, or that ever had solicitous thoughts of a cure!"

I think these quotes hit close at some of the requirements for revival in the Maritimes. There must be solid Biblical preaching that seeks to please God rather than men. And we must break out of partisan bigotry that effectively confines the breadth of God's kingdom to our own church or denomination or clique or ethnic group.

Hope for the Website!

After a good prayer breakfast with Mission Mississippi this morning, I finally got together with a friend about the PrayerPaddle website. In case you hadn't noticed, it's still pretty much in "temporary" mode. Hopefully that will change over the next few weeks as we get it spruced up, resolve some browser-dependent problems, and add a lot more goodies. My immediate action item was to get this blog started. So put me into your blog reader (I like Google Reader within iGoogle) and come along for the ride!

With the start of a new semester and the approaching due date for my university tenure application, work has been keeping me pretty busy lately. Hurricane season is proving to be a bit of a distraction too. Although Fay didn't really have much impact on our area, it looks like Gustav could be a bit messier to deal with. I've also been busy with two community meetings this week, a "Men's Night Out" last week, preparations for my church's revival/homecoming, and family dentist appointments. In any case, I'm trying to make sure I get in a some paddling each week, to build up my kayak skills and strength for next summer. So I plan to head back out to Ross Barnett Reservoir this weekend before Gustav gets too close.