Adventure

Life is boring without adventure. This past week I have had three adventures. The first was last Saturday. I took Cahill, one of the young men in our youth department, paddling. We loaded up the 'yaks and headed to Middle Creek Lake south of Louisburg, KS. We put in at the boat ramp and followed Middle Creek as far as we could. We were within two miles of the Missouri state line. We saw huge turtles floating on the surface, huge carp sunbathing in the shallows, and just had a generally pleasant afternoon paddling. The second adventure was Monday as I paddled my favorite lake Hillsdale. I put in at the Antioch boat ramp and made a round trip around the island on the south side of the lake. Yes, there is a small island at the lake. (See the picture). I also followed a small unnamed creek as far as physically possible. (See the picture. This was another pleasant day on the lake. The third adventure will take place this afternoon as Kaitlin and I will bike around the hiking trail at Hillsdale Lake. Kaitlin is out of school and Deb is still finishing out the week at Trojan Elementary, so we are going biking. O.K., these are not the most dangerous adventures, but they do break up the monotony of the routine. Incidentally, if you are bored with your Christian life, why don't you go out and give the gospel to several people. I promise you will have all the adventure and excitement you can handle.

Launch Out Into the Deep

This week I loaded up my kayak and headed to Melvern Lake just west of Melvern, Kansas. I thought this lake was farther from Osawatomie than it is. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the lake is just an hour's drive away. Melvern is a large and scenic lake. The lake appears to be about 8 miles long and was created when the Marais De Cygne river was dammed near the town of Melvern. I took my Humminbird fish and depthfinder and launched out into the main part of the lake. I found an area of 72 feet of depth! That is the deepest water that I have ever paddled. Yes, I had my PFD handy and all of my electronic gear safe in dryboxes. 72 feet! That is the equivalent of 7 basketball goals stacked up on top of each other. It reminds me of the command Jesus gave to His disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus told them to "Launch out into the deep". When they obeyed they were successful. I beleive that Jesus is calling us today to "launch out into the deep". I am tired of "just good enough", normal, average, status quo, mediocre, comfortable, shallow, stay close to the shore, "play it safe" kind of Christianity. I believe Jesus wants us to go deeper with Him! The Bible still says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Christian, launch out into the deep! Be willing to go the distance with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bald Eagle @ Hillsdale

I put in at the primitive boat ramp on the Little Bull Creek arm of Hillsdale Lake and paddled as far as I could up Little Bull Creek. It would be possible to paddle past the 235th St. Bridge, except for a huge logjam on the creek. I paddled to the logjam and then back. In all it is about a hour and a half trip. On the way back I paddled past the eagles nest on the north side of the lake. I noticed the bald eagle nesting in the huge nest. I snapped several pictures from different distances. As I was directly underneath the nest, she (I assume the bird was a she) took off in flight. I snapped a couple of pictures of her in flight. I assume she was protecting her young from the intruder in the bright yellow, orange, and red kayak. After taking the shots of our national emblem in flight, I got out of there pretty fast. The whole incident reminded me of the Scripture in Isaiah 40:31, "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." It was an awesome sight to see the eagle mount up with wings and fly! But, that is what she was created to do (among other things)! I noticed that she did not flap her wings much. She just spread them and coasted on the air currents. If we are tired, weary, or just plain exhausted, we need only wait on the Lord, and we have the promise that we will be strengthened and be able to mount up with eagles wings. And once there, we should spread our wings and soar on those winds of adversity.