Go Beyond

I have a raging thirst for service and adventure.

There are few things, in my estimation, that are as satisfying to the soul as helping those in need — without expecting anything in return. I believe that the world would be a better place if more of the members of our human race would regard others as more important than themselves. The Bible certainly affirms as much, calling us to not merely look out for our own personal interests but for the interests of others as well.

As for adventure, it is the ultimate antidote to boredom and all of the dull blahs that come with living life in the safe zone. I am determined to seek adventure for as long as I am able — to embracing new challenges that stretch me. I want for my feet to take me to places that make my muscles hurt and that lead to vistas that take my breath away. Why settle for anything less?

I believe that God has placed within us the capacity to serve others and also some measure of curiosity about what lies beyond our comforts. We will, however, experience neither unless we are intentional — unless we are willing to move in the direction of people in need and toward distant horizons.

Our men’s ministry at Kingsland is about so much more than just spending time in shared study. We also challenge men to participate in shared mission (or service initiatives) and shared adventure. I was privileged to help lead a team of men to Alaska this past week to serve our ministry partner in Anchorage and to share an adventure.

For the second year, our men’s team traveled to Anchorage to service the ministry vehicles for GraceWorks Alaska. This ministry will host over one-thousand volunteers this summer, including a team of eighty tenth-grade students and sponsors from Kingsland. GraceWorks depends on their fleet of vehicles to transport these volunteers to ministry points in and around Anchorage.

In addition to our team of mechanics, we also took a team of men to take on the challenge of completely gutting and remodeling a bathroom in the parsonage of Calvary Baptist Church, in just four days. The 1950’s-era bathroom required a lot of work, a lot of runs to the building supply store, and some long hours. On our longest day we worked from morning to midnight.

We completed all of our assigned tasks and still had time for adventure. We hiked in the snow to Byron Glacier, took pics of wildlife near Portage Glacier, and took three bush planes to visit an Indian village along the shores of Cook Inlet where our hosts treated us to some delicious moose stew. Really good stuff.

In addition to all this, Gil Harris, our men’s ministry director, led us in a time of Bible study and discussion every morning. As men, we are committed to doing life in community because alone is dangerous. We all enjoyed a good week, made new friends, strengthened old friendships, helped our ministry partner, and blessed a faithful older pastor and his wife with a new bathroom.