Bear with me here guys, this might be a long read but it’s some valuable insight into my complicated mind and way of thinking.

If you have known me for any length of time, you know good and well that I miss Oregon. I miss my hometown Rainier, I miss Portland being only an hour away, and I miss the great people I grew up with and formed relationships with.

Keep that in the back of your mind for a few, and let me segue to tonight, where I shot some video of the Southwest Missouri All-Stars soccer games at Cooper Sports Complex.

In between getting shots, I had prime opportunities to meet some folks and have some cordial conversations. One of the good people I met was a gentleman who worked for Cox Health (I apologize for not remembering his name), presumably the sports medicine clinic, and I related how one of my first forays into videography was filming a couple friends run onto the field during a girls’ playoff soccer game back in Rainier.

He then said that believe it or not, he actually knew where Rainier was and had been there a couple times, on the Columbia River to go salmon fishing. Incredible. At that moment, for some reason, I imagined myself watching one of the many soccer games I watched up on the upper fields behind Old Rainier Road. Thoughts of back home came flooding into my mind, and for a second I had a hard time concentrating on the job at hand.

Home. Rainier. The scenery. The people. It all came back to me right there, and my
mind was 1,400 miles west of Cooper Sports Complex at the time.

It then occurred to me that lately I’ve been thinking a lot about home — NO, I am not moving back anytime soon, that is for sure — and what all it offered.

On a grander scale, I cannot help but wonder if me missing home so much is a huge test from the Lord. I mean, look at my life — I have a great job, just joined a great church and am getting plugged in like no other, I’m getting my own apartment soon — these are all things I didn’t have in my most recent stint back home in Portland. Well, I had them for awhile, but they disappeared. If I have all this here in Missouri, and God is blessing me, then why do I miss home so much?

There is a direct correlation between my life over the past year and the children of Israel being led out of Egypt by the hand of the Lord. In both situations, God made a way where man said there was no way; both have been delivered from the hands of their enemies, both physical and spiritual; God Himself leads by day and by night with a very tangible presence.

Yet me missing home is like the Israelites complaining. Remember the story? After days and weeks of the same crappy manna, they asked to actually go back to Egypt. “We were in slavery but we had a wide variety of food to choose from, at least.” As if food is everything…psssshhhttt.

I think my biggest spiritual problem is focusing on the past. Yes, my past was good, but there are greater things in store for the future. I daily acknowledge and thank the Lord for providing me with the great things in my life, and even the trials that brought the great things about…but for some reason I can’t stop thinking about the past and how good it was. I know there’s something greater but I can’t keep my focus on that.

Thanks for bearing with me through this, but it’s just kinda interesting to see how small reminders of a place I love and hold dear brings such a powerful spiritual message, something I need to take to heart and just simply live my life, expect great things to come and live in the daily blessings of Jesus.

Come to think of it now, the past was great, but I never had steady female companionship.

Yeah, the best is definitely to come.

This is TENTATIVE and could change, FYI…

The Seattle Mariners will be coming to Kansas City for a weekend series with the Royals June 11, 12 and 13. Considering both teams have been awful this year, Omar Lara and I have decided to bill this series Suckfest 2008.

Of course, the only reason Suckfest 2008 has any relevance to guys like Omar and myself is the fact that we peons from the Pacific Northwest will get only one chance to see our sucktastic team in action this year, and this is it. Give us a pair of Mariners jerseys, paper bags over our heads and WE SUCK signs (and we will add more K’s to the SUCK part given how many times they strike out) and we’ll make friends with the KC fans in no time.

We’re planning and hoping to make it on Saturday the 12th. Anyone wanna tag along? Shoot me an email.

My favorite church camp of all time is the Church of God of Prophecy camps in Washington state…a large percentage of my fun childhood and teenage memories came from my 13 years of Camp attendance there. I don’t know why but every year around this time I get excited for the camps there, even though I’m 2000 miles away from the Northwest — but it’s just a good feeling to remember the memories I had and the Lord’s many blessings, and anticipating those same memories and blessings for the youth of today.

(To get a bit of an idea of what the Camp was like last year when I was a staff member, check out this photo gallery.)

At this hour, actually right now as of the time of this posting, their Senior (age 13-19) camp is underway. I don’t have any figures on how many kids are there, but I imagine the number will be a bit bigger than last year.

I would like to ask that all my Christian brothers and sisters join with me in praying for the camps up there for the Washington State Church of God of Prophecy this year. Camps are their greatest yearly evangelistic push to the youth in the communities in which the COGOP ministers.

Let’s all pray for the camp leadership, that they receive Godly wisdom, physical strength and sustenance and the anointing to minister to the kids where they are at. Also don’t forget each camper — pray that they would be receptive to the Spirit of the Lord and be blessed mightily.

Senior Camp runs today through June 27; Young Adult camp runs June 27-29; and Junior (8-12 yrs) Camp runs June 29-July 4.

As a journalist, I am routinely given the opportunity to peek into everyday people’s lives and see what makes them tick, what they are concerned about or what issues they are currently dealing with.

Last Wednesday was a good opportunity for more of the same, as I traveled to Pierce City to tell the story of eight-year-old Wyatt Bowen for last Saturday’s edition of the News-Leader. Wyatt takes it upon himself to write local businesses that fly tattered American flags out front — and he has received good responses from most of them so far. The kid and his family were superb — he was very intelligent and he had a big heart, as the story reflects.

Fast forward to today. I checked my mailbox at work and noticed I had a letter.

It was from Wyatt, addressed to me.

It read as follows:

Needless to say, this letter will be kept for years. I can guarantee that.

I’ve written Wyatt back to tell him how I personally appreciate what he has done. I shared some other things as well, that I’ll have to tell you after he reads it first.

Hopefully we’re able to keep in touch. If I could catch a little more of Wyatt’s patriotic spirit, I wouldn’t feel so bad about the current problems looming over our country.

The book of Isaiah states that the lion will lay down with the lamb — and a little child shall lead them. Wyatt is making a good case to be that child and it was a privilege to get to know him.