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.