AtomBuilding Character - One Challenge at a Time
“And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5
We held our coffee cups a little tighter on the first Saturday in October. “We” were camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the temperature that morning was 29 degrees. It was a little hard to crawl out of the sleeping bag and into the morning air. A fire would have been nice. But the dry conditions and the fire already burning in the BWCAW had led to a burning ban during all but the hours between 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. The warmth from the coffee (or hot chocolate) that early morning was most welcome!
When folks ask, “How was the canoe trip,” I often answer, “Wonderful! But also one of the more challenging we have made in the past eleven years.” It started with the fire that has become one of the largest burns in Minnesota history. Because the fire started only a couple of miles from our camping destination, we had to choose another site farther West – poorer fishing, but safer. Then…on the trip up, we lost a wheel on the trailer! With a few tools from passersby and a quick trip into Park Rapids for a new wheel, we were back on the road after only a two hour delay.
The rest of the trip to Ely was uneventful, if late, but we woke up on Thursday morning to rain and howling winds (never a good thing when canoeing). The outfitter shook his head when we checked in, “Doesn’t look too good out there today.” We all had to agree. “You know,” he offered, “The site you originally wanted to get to is going to be re-opened tomorrow, if you want to wait a day.” It didn’t take much convincing. The winds and the rain would have made for a difficult trip and cold, wet night. We had to hunt for a motel room for an extra night’s stay, however, as 500 fire fighters were still working the fire and the motel from our previous night was already booked. A resort open for its last weekend of the season became our refuge.
The next morning left us only a few sprinkles and low clouds, but lots of wind. When we arrived at the entry point, we were the only vehicles there (go figure). The portage to the river went fine – we have 9 hardy adventurers this year and some fine strong backs – but when we put onto the water we faced rolling white caps. Great…
You know from this writing that we survived…paddling longer and harder than we could have wished and negotiating portages more rocky and difficult because of drought and low water and shivering through several cold nights and mornings…but we survived. And more than survived – thoroughly enjoyed our adventure.
We did the usual things, of course: fished and ate lots of food…sat around the campfire in the evenings (a little closer than some years)…talked about faith and life – fishing adventures with Jesus and fishing adventures with our families…prayed and celebrated Holy Communion. But what will make this trip more memorable than most will be the misadventures and the challenges that went with it…the fire and the wheel and the wind and the rain, an extra night in Ely and bowling in our fishing gear, and cold weather and a fire-ban…adventures that we worked together to overcome.
A week later at the Youth Team meeting, I was telling this story and Scott Sonstegaard said, “What a great adventure! It seems that the difficulties and the ways the group pulls together is what makes them memorable. It’s the way people respond to adversity that makes for real learning. Remember the Youth trip and the flat tire and the tornado? Remember when the air-conditioning went out on the van?”
Of course we did. We may not remember a lot of other things about that trip, but we remember the difficulties and the way the leaders and the groups responded – constructively and faithfully – and how we grew closer and more confident in each others’ support as a group.
I have to believe this is something of what Paul is speaking of in his letter to the Roman church that I cite above. “Sufferings – difficulties/challenges – produce endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Why? Because we discover that the challenge is “survivable” with a little help from our friends and from our God. And that produces the hope that next time we will be able to survive it too! As we face various challenges as a congregation, they do not excite me, but it is in these challenges and difficulties that God is developing our character and our faithfulness as followers of Christ. For that I am thankful and blessed!
Thanking God for you,
Pastor Wade
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.Page 1 of 1 comment pages