Nephews, Prophetic Imagination, & Barn Painting

Ok, so the three items in the list above are not necessarily related, except by the fact that they are highlights of three of my weeks in May. Most of the month I was away from home:

May 8-15 I spent with my family near Ocean City, MD. It was a wonderful & fun week full of sun, playing with my nephews (Andrea's boys), laughter, long bike rides, card games, walks along the beach, and sand everywhere. :-) My highlight was watching the boys' enthusiasm and delight in the smallest things of life. For example, Stephen (4 yrs. old) saw sea shells and asked full of wonder, "What are those?" And another day while walking through deep sand on the shore he exclaimed, "It's a giant sandbox!" I was reminded to slow down, look around me and marvel at the beauty I see.

The family: Dad (John), Susanna, Emily, Izayah, Andrea, Jonathan holding Stephen & Mom (Pauline)

Exploring our new environment with Stephen & Izayah

May 17-21 was Spring Institute with CCO, during which all the staff gathered for continued education, encouragement and training. I took an Old Testament Prophets class. I expected to learn about what was written in those books - perhaps some facts that I've heard and forgotten many times before. Instead, I discovered meaningful discussion on the concept of "prophetic imagination" (based on Walter Bruggemann's book by the same title). I was struck with the idea that as Christians we can and should be a voice that breaks through the status quo and speaks of an alternate reality - life as it could be and as God has intended it to be. Essentially, it's the idea of a Kingdom vision spoken to those who are unable to see for themselves. What a powerful and hopeful calling we have.

For May 26-29 I joined the Outdoor Leadership Team of CCO for Spring Institute II, a week devoted to the development of OLT staff. In addition to honing our skills, increasing knowledge and strengthening our community, we spent Friday in service to the owner of our equipment room barn. Take a look at these photos and you can probably figure out what we did!

You'd never guess how big a barn is until you start painting it by hand!

We got coated in paint & wood dust from scraping the barn, but the painting wasn't half bad.

My highlight! I got to maneuver a bucket lift that allowed us to reach the highest parts of the barn! That was so much fun!