Planning for a Fuller Life

Spring has officially sprung in Northern Virginia. Although it was rainy this weekend, was fairly blustery yesterday, and was below freezing last night (a random anomaly and the coldest night in the last couple of months!)), overall things are warming up. Or at least they would be if they had ever really cooled off! Since Winter never really showed up, spring has come all that much sooner, which means that blossoms are already giving way to green leaves. This phenomenon has particular significance for the cherry trees ringing the tidal basin in DC.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the original planting of cherry trees in 1912. That being the case, the plan was for an extra long cherry blossom festival this year in order to really call attention to the beauty and significance of the trees. Unfortunately, though significant effort went into planning the celebration no one though to check with the trees to see if their blossoms would  want to attend. As it turns out, the cherry blossoms elected not to attend the festivities, but to rather come to the site of the party early as a special treat to locals and much to the chagrin of the thousands of people who had made plans to come and see them.  

Each of the last three Sundays Alison and I went down to the tidal basin after church (except for this past Sunday when she had to go to work, so I went down on my own), enjoyed the lovely weather, and took pictures of the trees. It was a dramatic way to see the changes that occurred with the passage of a single week. Amongst the pictures we took was one looking through a tree, across the basin at the Jefferson Memorial. I took that same picture from the same place all three Sundays and it looks quite different every time.Check out my album "Spring 2012" to see these pictures and others demonstrating the beauty of spring.

We went down to the tidal basin for three consecutive Sundays and took the same picture each time. It definitely illustrates how quickly things change! This is March 11, week one

As you will readily see in the first picture the buds are just starting to appear on the branches,  in the second the blossoms have shown up in abundance.

March 18, week two

In the third they are nearly gone completely. It is truly amazing how fast the entire atmosphere of the tidal basin changes.

March 25, week three

The blossoms mean many different things to different people, but their greatest significance in my mind is as symbols of the value of life and beauty. Since that was a topic of an message I wrote two years ago when I was working on the mall, I won't spend much time on it here, except to say that the significance has not lessened in the past two years. If anything, it is even more poignant now.

We are called to live our lives to the fullest, and designed to bloom in beauty and wonder. None of know how long we have. Some of us may have another 80 years, while others a matter of days or months. But it shouldn't matter. We are all called to fill the world with life, color, and vibrancy, even if it is only for a fleeting moment. In the space of two weeks those trees were transformed from sticks with some little buds on them, to absolutely vibrant explosions of life, to a few petals stubbornly hanging on before they too fall to the earth. If we hadn't gone down on that middle Sunday we would have missed it. All the thousands of people who had made plans to attend the festival did miss it. We can make our plans and think that we know what the future holds, but the truth is that we don't know. Sometimes the blossoms show up early and if we aren't available to react to the unexpected we will miss the beauty and wonder altogether.

Quite fittingly the sermon this past Sunday was taken from James Chapter 4 and was all about our approach to life.

James 4:13-17Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

The truth is that we don't know what is going to happen tomorrow and we would do well indeed to approach life with the mindset James speaks of, a mindset which recognizes that God is sovereign and we live only by and through his grace and love.

Like the blossoms, we must face the reality of death by living our lives to the fullest in the time that we have, shining forth in brilliance and reflecting joy and love to those who gaze upon us.

These next six weeks are going to be pretty challenging for me as I both finish my first semester of grad school, and also enter into the beginning of the Civil War anniversary season. The first major anniversary is the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, which is April 6-7. I will not be attending that event, but both the rangers I work with will be in Tennessee for a week and a half, which leaves me to take care of things in the office. The primary "thing" that will need taking care of is the design and development of a 35 page magazine that will be distributed to battlefields and other NPS and historic sites around the region in June. This magazine is something new, specifically designed to augment the sesquicentennial as a whole. We are doing the final review of the spring edition right now, but most of the burden for creating the summer edition (July/August/September) of the magazine will fall upon me.

So even as I am facing what appears to be a daunting task ahead I get to help to create something which will inform, educate, and help visitors to better understand and appreciate the sacrifice of so many young men on the field of battle in 1862. It is not only a responsibility, but an opportunity to participate in something bigger than myself. At least that's the plan. But as we know, plans are subject God's determination.

It is well with my soul

For the first time since I started working for the Park Service I am in a position where I usually have a normal work schedule of 8:30--5:00 Mon-Fri. One of the many benefits of working that sort of schedule is that I will have Sundays off and will actually be able to attend church with regularity, something I have not been able to do since I left Oroville.

One of the things that I enjoy the very most about being a part of the church services is the singing. We are attending a Baptist Church in Washington, DC which means that much of the music is made up of songs I do not know (having been raised in a Nazarene tradition). I have become much more familiar which many of these songs, but it is still always more exciting for me when a song like "how great thou art," "great is thou faithfulness" or "and can it be" shows up in the program. There are certain songs that most people know and therefore sing with more confidence. That confidence, in turn, creates a much more powerful sound. Many of the people in our congregation have significant musical talent and enough sing the other parts so that all four (SATB) can be distinctly heard. This is especially true when the piano drops out for the final verse of a song, leaving only the voices, as it often does.

It is nearly always moving when this occurs, but especially so when it is one of the aforementioned songs that most people know well and sing with greater confidence. There is one song, however, that never fails to move me in any context, and sung in this fashion, is virtually guaranteed to do so. That song is "it is well with my soul." If you don't know this song, or the story behind it, this webpage gives a pretty good account.  http://www.faithclipart.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/it-is-well-with-my-soul-the-song-and-the-story.html

When you understand the story behind the song it makes it much more meaningful, and gives even greater significance to the sound of hundreds of voices simultaneously declaring, "And Lord haste the day, when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul."

There is great power in communion and in sharing a declaration of faith in such a manner. There is even greater power in understanding the meaning, emotion, and sorrow which lie behind the words. They come alive in richness when you know the story.

As I prepare to once again be employed in a role in which I will be bringing stories to life I am reminded of the power of evocative imagery, as it is typified in an acapella public singing of "it is well with my soul." Our lives mean a great deal more when viewed in the context of that larger picture.

Much of this last week was spent attempting to tie up loose ends before I start working full time again. Many of those loose ends concerned changing Alison's identity, officially making her a resident of Virginia, and establishing ourselves as a married couple. We had to have vehicles inspected and reinspected, both for the State of Virginia and in order to get insurance. We attempted to get her a Virginia drivers license in her new name, but the system was down throughout the entire state so we could not get it. Everything else is done though. We have insurance on both vehicles for both of us, we have a joint bank account in her new name, and we are both registered to vote in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Our story has changed. Our identity (hers especially) has changed. Our identity as individuals has been modified into an identity as a couple.  We have become more than the sum of our individual parts. We, as individuals, have become a part of something bigger.

We do not know what the days ahead will bring, but we know that we will face them together. We know that we are a part of something bigger.

And it is well with my soul.

Expanding Possibilities

We have come it it at last, only a few more days until I begin my new position with NPS at Manasssas National Battlefield. It continues to be exciting to look ahead to what these next few years will hold, but I have also been doing a lot of thinking about how much has changed and how many different opportunities I have had in the past few years.

~Six years ago I was entering into my final semester at Point Loma thinking that I would be starting at Regent College in Vancouver, BC the next Fall.

~Five years ago I working with the youth of the Oroville Church of the Nazarene in CA after moving to the area to work in the tree business with two dear friends from college. I had just returned to Oroville from a trip to Regent in Vancouver with my Dad, still thinking that is where I would end up in the next few years. As it turned out, later that year I was offered a full tuition scholarship to Regent right as I was involved in the opening of the Axiom Youth Center in Oroville, and I chose to stay in Oroville.

~Four years ago I had just ceased working with the youth in Oroville after helping to open the Axiom in the downtown area and was at home in Phoenix about to embark an a journey across the Grand Canyon.

~Three years ago I was working at a bookkeeper in a Locksmith shop while applying for positions all over the country in all sorts of different areas (including but not limited to being a white water rafting guide, a wildland firefighter for several different agencies, helping run large scale Christian camps in CA, being an RD or working in International Ministries at Point Loma, and being a Park Ranger). Little did I know that in another month I would, for the first time, be offered a position with the Park Service and would quit my job and move out to South Dakota for what was only guaranteed to be a three month position at Wind Cave National Park.

~Two years ago I was preparing for the National Cherry Blossom Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Five weeks later I would meet Alison.

~Last year I had been engaged for three weeks and was a week away from going to CA to look at potential wedding sites with Alison and her Mom. I was also a couple weeks away from starting out at Shenandoah National Park.

Every year for the past six years has seen me in a remarkably different position, with a distinct vision of what the future might hold. I certainly did not know that I would now be married, studying American history in graduate school in Virginia, and about to start working for the Park Service on interpreting the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.

It is truly amazing to look back and see where God has brought me over these past six years. It has been a journey, but I would not be where I am today without each chapter in the story falling into place when it did.

When I left Point Loma I thought I was going to go learn about theology in Canada. Instead I am about to start my fourth position with the National Park Service and am learning about history in Virginia.

In the past three years I have been in every state in the Union except for six (Alaska, Washington, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine) and I was in Washington in February, 2007. Our hope is to visit the four upper New England states I am missing in the early fall sometime in the next few years since they are within driving distance. That will leave only Alaska before I can claim all 50 of the United States. Four years ago I had been in about 12 of the states.

Life changes quickly. Opportunities arise and we have to choose how we will respond to them. We rarely know as much about out future as we think we do, and we would do well to remember that it could change at any time. For me, life has changed dramatically, but I wouldn't go back and change a bit of it. Each experience has contributed invaluably to shaping me into the man I am and in leading me into the frontier of  discovery. It has been and will continue to be a life willed with dangerous wonder.

The New Wonders of 2012

I am officially a married man, and have been for more than a month. That is pretty strange to think about! These last six weeks have been filled with changes and new developments, which is why it has taken me this long to successfully set down some of my thoughts to share with you. Marrying Alison is unquestionably the highlight of 2012, but much else that has happened also deserves mention.  

Saturday, January 14 dawned as brilliant and clear a day as one could wish for. While we didn't have the added touch of snow in the valley, its natural majesty was all the more impressive due to the clarity of the day. It was marvelous. Despite some setbacks we had successfully completed all the details for the wedding and resolved a few hiccups along the way. A few minutes after 2:30 in the afternoon I found myself standing next to four of my dearest friends looking down the aisle at a vision of such spectacular magnificence that it not only took my breath away, but nearly instantaneously brought tears to my eyes and overwhelmed me with the force of the emotions.

The wedding was beautiful. Each of the elements came together and created a tapestry of love and celebration. There were only two "hitches" that I am aware of, and both were successfully resolved. About half an hour before the ceremony began one of the bridesmaid's dates realized his pants were not with the rest of his suit and went down to the concierge to ask for assistance. The concierge went to his own home in the valley and returned a few minutes later with a pair of his pants which he loaned out for the duration of the wedding. A few minutes after successfully reaching her place on stage this same bridesmaid and the maid of honor realized they had forgotten to bring my ring with them, but during a prayer she successfully retrieved it and got it where it needed to be so that neither Alison and I were even aware anything had gone wrong!

The day after the wedding we enjoyed brunch at the Ahwahnee and a hike to Yosemite Falls before heading to San Francisco from whence we departed the next morning for Hawaii. We spent ten days in the islands, four on Maui, and six on Kauai. The beautiful weather continued and we enjoyed a wealth of beauty and wonder in the time we were there. Highlights include watching the sun set from the top of Haleakala, driving along the coast of Maui all the way around the East side of the island (including a five mile section of treacherous dirt road along the cliffs we weren't exactly supposed to be traveling on), and lots and lots of snorkeling alongside a plethora of brilliantly colored marine life and sea turtles. On one occasion we heard Humpback Whales singing underwater.

We also saw humpbacks on several occasions, most notably from a boat of the Napali Coast in Kauai. While traveling alongside one of the most impressive stretches of coastline in America (the opening sequence of flying into Jurassic Park in a helicopter [amongst other things] was filmed here) a whole pod of 40+ spinner dolphins swam up alongside the boat and entranced us with their spins and jumps. In the midst of watching the dolphins off the port side someone spotted a whale on the starboard, and we turned just in time to see a whale jump completely out of the water about 150 yards away from the boat.

We did a great deal else as well including several short hikes in the mountains and on the Napali Coast and kayaking two different rivers in Kauai and generally just enjoyed the chance to spend that time together. We returned to San Francisco late Thursday night, only to turn around Friday morning and drive to Phoenix where we enjoyed a reception for Arizona friends and family the following day. It was a great chance to include all the people that were unable to attend the actual wedding and an excellent excuse for us to dress up again!

From Arizona we proceeded to drive across the southern United States in order to return to Virginia in time for me to attend my first class of graduate school on Wednesday night. I am now in my third week of classes and continuing to enjoy the chance to return to the classroom while trying to develop good strategies to successfully complete all of the reading!

We have nearly finished finding a place for everything in our new home, complete with many new additions to the walls and all sorts of fun new kitchen items. We have used nearly all of our new dishes, pots, pans, and glasses, as well as many of the other items in the past two weeks since we returned and feel blessed indeed by the gifts that so many people have lavished upon us.

Alison has returned to Starbucks, but this time at one in McLean, a mile from where we live. That will be a huge help while she continues to look for other employment opportunities in the DC area.

The final big piece of news in our lives concerns my employment. After more than 130 applications to Park Service positions around the country, I have secured one that I did not apply for. One of my former co-workers from the Mall is now in charge of  developing, implementing, and maintaining interpretive media for the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the Civil War. Because I am now officially a student of history in the classroom once again, he was able to bring me on to work with him.

Starting March 12 I will be working out of Manassas National Battlefield (about 30 minutes away) on interpreting the Civil War. I will be involved in magazine, newspaper, and pamphlet creation and publishing, website development, social media maintenance and usage (particularly facebook pages for several of the different battlefields), and any number of other things. I will actually be at many of the anniversary celebrations at the different battlefields in order to document the events through pictures and writing. So in essence I will be getting paid to help people to gain a better understanding of the meaning behind the Civil War while also attending nearly every major battle anniversary for the next two years.

This position is a huge blessing, and answer to prayer, and an opportunity I could not pass up. I get to be a part of creating something new, do something few people in the Park Service get to do, help to interpret the Civil War, and have job that is only a half hour away from where we are living for the next 2-3 years. In the world of NPS positions and federal budget cuts that is truly remarkable!

We have much to be thankful for, and the Lord has blessed us so much already in 2012. We are truly living in dangerous wonder.

Giving Thanks as we Move Toward Christmas

December has arrived and with it a notable increase in cold and wet weather. There continues to be a great deal of uncertainty in our lives right now, especially in the area of employment, and there have been some pretty frustrating hassles and complications in recent days, but in the bigger picture we have a great deal for which to give thanks.

I have begun to settle into the idea of living in our new home after coming back to Virginia following a visit home for Thanksgiving and stuff sorting. I now have a pile of items waiting in Phoenix that Alison and I will attempt to pack into our rented vehicle when we leave Phoenix to drive back to Virginia at the end of January. These things, along with things Alison wishes to add from her home in Livermore and wedding related items promise to do a pretty effective job of filling up both the vehicle and also any available space that we still have here. Things are going to be a bit tight, but we are thankful indeed to have this place to live. It is going to serve us well in the coming months. I have certainly been thankful to have the heat in recent days!

We were successful in finding a bed, which I have enjoyed sleeping on this past week. We have begun to bring Alison's stuff over here, a little at a time, and slowly make the transition to her living here as well. In preparation for the coming holiday we have done our best to make the house as Christmasy as possible, adding our very own tree, along with candy canes, lights, stockings, and nativity. It isn't going to win any awards, but it certainly helps to create a holiday atmosphere for both of our first Christmas away from our families.

Things continue to look promising for me to return to the National Mall as a ranger, though there are still a great many unresolved variables (such as congress passing a budget!), and the timeline of that working out remains in question. Still, there is reason to hope! I also found out that I successfully appealed and was granted in state status (and as a result in state tuition) for GMU for this spring. That is exceedingly good news, and means that I will for sure begin my graduate studies at the end of January.   

Details continue to come together for the wedding, an event which is rapidly approaching. In fact the wedding itself is exactly five weeks from today! There is nothing for which I am more thankful than that in five more weeks Alison will be my wife.

The Transformative Power of Love and Forgiveness

"Not long after sunrise on a Sunday in December, a pilot guided a small plane over...the northern tip of Oahu Island...Far above (Pearl Harbor) the pilot counted eight battleships, the Pacific Fleet's full complement... The pilot's name was Mitsuo Fuchida...Behind Fuchida, 180 Japanese planes peeled away and dove for Oahu. On the deck of the Arizona, the men looked up."

So begins Laura Hillenbrand's account of the attack on Pearl Harbor in her book Unbroken a chronicle which she herself describes as "A World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption." Though the focus of the book is not upon December 7 and the attack on Pearl plays a supporting role in the larger context of the story Hillenbrand relates to her readers, I can think of no better tribute to the men who were lost 70 years ago this morning then the story of Olympic runner and WWII Bombardier Louis Zamperini.

Unbroken is indeed a story of survival, resilience, and redemption. After missing out on the race he wanted in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Zamperini had set his sights on Tokyo where he hoped to have a second chance. Fate, the Empire of Japan, and Nazi Germany conspired against him, however, and his Olympic dreams came to an abrupt end following the invasions of Poland and China and subsequent cancellation of the 1940 Olympic Games. As a result of seeing his dream of running in a second Olympics fade away Zamperini redirected his passion into the defense of his country and began training to be a bombardier in the US Army Air Corps. The story of Unbroken relates a stirring account of the incredible trials and atrocities that Louie went on to face, first at the mercy of the Pacific Ocean, and then at the hands of the Empire of Japan, in particular the merciless and domineering grasp of Mutsuhiro Watanabe, one of the most notorious of Japan's war criminals and more commonly identified by his nickname, "The Bird."

As I read the account of what Louie went through I was overwhelmed with simultaneous feelings of admiration for Louie and anger at the Japanese. I would have left the book maintaining this anger had it not been for the most profound and moving element of Louie's story, which comes near the end of the book when Louie attends a revival led by Billy Graham. For years after the war Louie had been consumed by rage, despair, and a profound passion of vengeance, toward The Bird in particular. At the close of the sermon Graham gave an altar call and Louie arose from his seat intending to flee from the tent and wallow in his anger. Instead, when he reached the aisle he found himself engulfed in memories and his feet led him, not in retreat, but rather toward the altar. The following day Louie left home with his old military issue bible and began reading it while sitting under a tree in a local park. It was in this moment, combined with his experience the night before, that the true transformation of the story occurred.

"Resting in the shade and the stillness, Louie felt profound peace. When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him. He was not the worthless, broken, forsaken man that the Bird had striven to make of him. In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation and helplessness, had fallen away. That morning, he believed, he was a new creation."

There was something more profound, deeper, and more meaningful than pain, loss, and destruction, and in the end this something more is what came to control the life of Louie Zamperini.

Louie's story is not unique. There are many other accounts of hate and misunderstanding resulting from the Japanese treatment of prisoners during WWII turned into love and affection through the redemptive power of God's love. Interestingly these stories are not restricted only to those who suffered at the hands of the Japanese, but also to the Japanese themselves. One of the most potent examples is that of the young Japanese Captain mentioned in the opening lines of this account, the man who was responsible for the coordination of the entire aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, the man who gave the command to drop the bombs on that fateful day in December, Captain Mitsuo Fuchida.

As was the case for many of his Japanese compatriots, allied outrage concerning the Japanese treatment of POWs was inexplicable for Fuchida. Under the Bushido code that typified the Samurai tradition of Japan, revenge toward a captured enemy was not only permitted, but was a responsibility in order to restore one's honor. After encountering stories of American kindness toward captured Japanese soldiers and seeing the anger of the allied nations toward Japan for their actions during the war, Fuchida embarked on a journey to try and understand why anyone would treat their enemies with such love and forgiveness.

This journey ultimately led Fuchida to a New Testament where he encountered the story of the crucifixion of Christ. The words Jesus spoke from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) arrested his heart and became the catalyst that would transform his life.

Fuchida went on to become a Christian evangelist, traveling throughout the United States to tell the story of a love that has the power to change human hearts. His forgiveness of his enemies extended so far, in fact, that he became a United States citizen in 1966. Among the many places where Fuchida spoke after the war was the Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, where he stayed at the home of Alison's grandparents.

One of his last actions as president of the United States was a presidential proclamation, delivered on December 5, 2008 by George W. Bush, authorizing the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, which encompasses the whole expanse of the many battles fought between the Americans and Japanese in the Pacific and includes the final resting place of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor. http://www.nps.gov/valr

The Arizona remains the centerpiece of the monument, lying only 25 feet beneath the surface as an enduring underwater memorial dedicated to the honor and sacrifice of not only the 1,177 servicemen who went down with her, but all Americans who fought, suffered, and died in the fight against Japan. To this day the Arizona continues to bleed engine oil, a poignant reminder of the blood that was spilled 70 years ago. But the Arizona, like Fuchida and Zamperini, is a symbol, not only of pain and death, but also of new life and transformation. Despite the leaking oil the sea has taken over the Arizona, transforming her into an reef filled with marine life. This great symbol and loss and sacrifice has become the progenitor of new life and greater purpose.

This is a day of remembrance for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice 70 years ago this morning, and in the ensuing battle for the soul of the world. But let us not only remember the pain and the sorrow, but rather look also to the new life and transformation wrought by love and forgiveness.

Both Fuchida and Zamperini were men whose lives were intimately tied to the chaos that reigned in Pearl Harbor. Each was consumed by hate and a thirst for vengeance, and each was transformed by the loving power of the cross and forgiveness.

Let us remember their stories this day and join with them in partnering with God to bring his kingdom here to earth and bring about the redemption of his creation.

The mistreatment Louis Zamperini suffered at the hands of the Japanese meant that he would never compete in the Olympics again, but it did not mean that he would not run in them.

In 1998 the Winter Olympics were held in Nagano Japan. The man selected to run the torch through the former Japanese POW camp of Naoetsu (one of the most notorious, and the final location where Louie was imprisoned) was none other than Louis Zamperini.

"On the morning of January 22, 1998, snow sifted gently over the village once known as Naoetsu. Louis Zamperini, four days short of his eighty first birthday, stood in a swirl of white beside a road flanked in bright drifts...At last it was time. Louie extended his hand, and in it was placed the Olympic torch. His legs could no longer reach and push as they once had, but they were still sure beneath him. He raised the torch, bowed, and began running. All he could see, in every direction, were smiling Japanese faces. There were children peeking out of hooded coats, men who had once worked beside the POW slaves in the steel mill, civilians snapping photographs, clapping, waving, cheering Louie on, and 120 Japanese soldiers, formed into two columns, parting to let him pass. Louie ran through the place where cages had once held him, where a black-eyed man had crawled inside him. But the cages were long gone, and so was the Bird. There was no trace of them here among the voices, the falling snow, and the old and joyful man, running."


http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/gallery/album13.htm

Summer of a Hundred Bears

The transition has officially come to pass. I write to you this morning from my new home in McLean, VA having departed from Shenandoah National Park for the last time. I am once again officially unemployed, and am scheduled to depart for Thanksgiving in Arizona later today. When I return to Virginia on November 30 I return in hope that congress will have done something about the budget and that progress will have been made to bring me back into the folds of the park service. I also return to enter into the final 45 day countdown before the wedding. The pieces continue to fall into place to bring that day into reality and now that I am back in civilization it will make it significantly easier to finish the puzzle of wedding preparation.

I am certainly in quite a different place now than I was a year ago as I prepared to finish the last few weeks on the National Mall. Life can change pretty fast.

The eight months I spent in Shenandoah were filled with adventure, exploration, disturbingly stupid and odd questions from visitors, and quite a lot of hiking and American Black Bears.


I learned a great deal about Black Bears this summer as they were one of the most common subjects of questions from visitors as well as the centerpoint of one of the terrace talks I developed. But I did more than simply learn about them. I also had the wonderful opportunity to observe them in the wild in a myriad of different situations. I saw young bears, old bears, male bears, baby bears, mother bears, and Smokey Bear (okay, that was in a video, but I did see him in the park!) All told it was a rather productive bear summer.

Prior to this year I had never had a confirmed bear sighting in the wild. In the eight months that I spent in Shenandoah National Park I spotted a total of 102 bears in all sorts of different situations. Amongst my favorite sightings was the mother bear descending a tree holding her four cubs to chase away a juvenile bear, a bear flipping rocks to search for food in a stream, a bear up in a giant oak tree out on tiny limbs in pursuit of acorns, and the bear I saw traipsing through my "backyard" out my bathroom window. I'd say I improved my bear average a bit this summer!

I also did a great deal of hiking. My most notable accomplishment was completing the 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail that lie within Shenandoah National Park. It was in a lot of sections, but I officially traversed every inch of those 101 miles. I added to that an additional 241 miles of different trails within the park for a total of 342 of the 516 miles of hiking trails that lie within the park. I also doubled up on a lot of the trails and hiked several of them several times. The total mileage that I hiked in Shenandoah this summer comes out at greater than 485 miles.

It was a wonderful opportunity to see and experience the backcountry of the park in a manner unprecedented in my life up to this point. I backpacked in for an overnight trip three different times and spent countless hours on the trails, sometimes in an official ranger capacity, but much more often in my off hours. Considering that nearly every weekend was spent traveling to DC or elsewhere with Alison I feel pretty good about my final tally for the summer!

It is amazing how much things change in a relatively short distance. Last Saturday I made the final trip from Shenandoah back to the DC area and the very next morning I drove from our new home in McLean in to Alison's house in order to go to church. In a matter of a couple of hours I had traveled from a wilderness park to our nation's capitol.
 
It takes about 25 minutes to drive from McLean to Alison's house on Capitol Hill in DC. That journey takes me along the Potomac River on the George Washington Memorial Parkway (itself a national park unit) and passes within sight of memorials to seven US presidents (Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson),  Robert E. Lee, and (now) Martin Luther King Jr. Also viewable
(amongst others) are Arlington National Cemetery, the National Cathedral (still being repaired after the August earthquake), memorials to the Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Air force, the Pentagon, the Supreme Court building, the Library of Congress, and the United States Capitol. Those are some rather significant sights along the route to church!

We know not what the days ahead will hold, but we know that we are living our lives to the full, in humble thanksgiving for the many blessings that the Lord has lavished upon us.

Celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday in dangerous wonder!