Tuesday, May 18, 2010

A Year in the Service


It was one year ago today that I started as a park ranger at Wind Cave National Park. It seems like much longer ago than that! What a year this has been! As I approach my 27th birthday and Memorial Day I thought it might be appropriate to recount a few of the things that have changed for me in this last year. 

A year ago I was just beginning the adventure of working for the parks service having quit my job and picked up and moved from California to South Dakota for a three month seasonal position. I ended up working at Wind Cave for more than 5 1/2 months and now find myself working on the National Mall in Washington DC. I definitely did not see that one coming! And since being here in DC I have continued to expand the breadth of what I am doing. I gave another exciting MLK talk at Lincoln on Sunday, gave a talk at Jefferson incorporating things I learned visiting at Monticello yesterday, and also got to go out on bike patrol for part of yesterday for the first time. I rode the entirety of the park and got paid to do it!

I have been blessed with the opportunity to see much of the country in the last year. I have seen 29 of the 50 states (36 if you include all of 2009).

California
Nevada
Oregon
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
South Dakota
North Dakota
Nebraska
Colorado
New Mexico
Arizona
Utah
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Iowa
Missouri
Kansas
Texas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
North Carolina
Maryland
Virginia
West Virginia

I have also had the pleasure of visiting a fair number of National Park sites. I can think of 42 off the top of my head. (again you can add 6-8 more if you count all of 2009)

Yellowstone
Wind Cave
Mt. Rushmore
Jewel Cave
Little Bighorn
Theodore Roosevelt
Devil's Tower
Badlands
Minuteman Missile
Scott's Bluff
Ft. Laramie
Rocky Mountain
Mesa Verde
Wupatki
Sunset Crater
Grand Canyon
Brown vs. The Board of Education
Colorado
Arches
Canyonlands
Bryce
Great Basin
Guadalupe Mountains
Carlsbad
Jean Lafitte
Chalmette Battlefield
Ft.Sumter
Fredericksburg
Chancellorsville
The Wilderness
Spotslylvania Court House
Harper's Ferry
Prince William Forest Park
Ford's Theater
George Washington Memorial Parkway
Theodore Roosevelt Island
The National Mall (could count each site separately)
Rock Creek Park
President's Park
Great Falls Virginia
C & O Canal
Shenandoah

So all that is to say that I have had the pleasure of doing much during this last year and I believe that I am exactly where I should be, following God and working for His kingdom in the midst of the National Mall.

Living in dangerous wonder...

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