Annual Backpacking Trip

It’s getting to be that time of year again when the first signs of Spring get me thinking about the annual backpacking trip.  This year the tentative plan is to make a trip to the Eagle Cap Wilderness in Oregon for a visit to Bear Lake and surrounding environs.  There are several other lakes nearby that can be visited including: Looking Glass, Culver, and Eagle.  If I'm feeling really energetic I might even summit nearby Needlepoint.

I look forward to this trip all year long, every year. It's a time when I can get together with my family and closest friends and spend time together in some of the most beautiful settings in God's creation. No matter the weather or the fishing, I always have a great time. Heck, we even took the wrong canyon last year and never made it to our destination but all of us still had a good time. We just found somewhere else to go the next day.

It's been around 10 years since I've visited Bear Lake. It's one of those places I think of as home. I'm hoping God will let me put one of my mansions there someday. This will mark my fifth time there. One trip I remember in particular was right after I graduated from college. It's the one where Sharon ran into mama bear and her cubs. If you haven't already heard the story, you should ask her about it .

I think the wilderness calls to be because it's in my nature. It was also part of my nurturing as my dad and my grandfather took me along practically as soon as I could tie my hand-me-down boots. I guess it's one of those John Eldredge "Wild at Heart" things. There is something about hiking around in the wilderness that gets me in touch with my manhood. In fact, we also refer to this as the "Guy Trip". We started out calling it that because we planned trips that most of our wives wouldn't want to go one. Now that we're older and wiser we invite our wives (and daughters) to go along too. Of course we could still do those 10 mile 75lb backpack trips if we wanted to...

It's a busy summer so I am planning early with everyone. I'll post the dates when we have decided on them.

The picture above is a shot of Bear Lake.

Dynamic Marriage

Sharon and I made a trip to Portland over the first weekend in March to take a facilitator training class for a marriage enrichment course called Dynamic Marriage. We just received our certification in the mail yesterday so I thought I would make mention of it in my blog. We'd like to offer this to couples right away but we're very busy with other commitments right now and we want to spend more time with Brendon during his last few months at home. So, we are tentatively offering our first course sometime in the Sept./Oct. timeframe pending approval from our church leadership.

The Dynamic Marriage course is a fantastic program. It's highly interactive and involves a considerable commitment of time but we anticipate that it will be a major blessing for any couple's marriage. It’s an 8’ish week course with a pre-session and 8 classes. Each couple will be expected to devote around 1 hour per day to homework so it is designed for those who are serious about their marriages. The course utilizes a self-directed learning approach with facilitative leadership. One thing I really liked about the course is that it is based on two bestselling marriage books by Dr. Willard Harley that I have found to be some of the best marriage material available. Sharon and I gave a very short 90 minute overview during one of our Marriage on Purpose events a few years ago and received a lot of good feedback from the couples in attendance.

Be sure to let us know if this is something that would interest you. We are really excited about it. We got to go through a sampling of it during our training and even that small amount was very rewarding for us.

Blessings,
Greg

Totally Focused

On Sunday, February 25th I graduated from Focus (see my earlier entry). Though my journey began close to two years ago and will continue on, Sunday marked a transition, a kairos moment. My point-of-view on life has changed significantly.

What did Focus do for me? It has changed the way I see everything. My God, myself, and others. It was a major dose of excelsior. I choose to live life differently now. Much has changed virtually overnight and yet much remains to be done.

And here I will chose not to write a book. Instead, I will simply say, "Watch and see."