In five days, on Tuesday Nov. 2nd, I will be waking at 3am so that I and a group of ten other people can head to JFK International Airport that we might fly twelve hours into the future and arrive in Thailand.
This is very exciting, and also very nerve wrecking. I expect to be challenged in ways I never expected, and hopefully in a few ways I am expecting. The prayer of my heart is that I come back with a greater awareness of God and his love, and can apply that to my life and the realationships I've developed with the people around me.
This being said, I desire your prayers. Prayers for safety and growth, and prayer that I would be open to Gods voice in my Life. There are also specific things you can pray for also:
- Preparation. I want to be as wholistically prepared as possible. With the stuff that I need to bring, and I want my heart in the right place before I go
- Pray for our group of interns. We are about to head to a place where we will be with eachother 24/7. To be honest, there is alot of tension within the group right now. some issues have come up that are really straining relationships. Pray for reconciliation.
I thank you all for your support in this way, and hope God blesses you as you stay here.
Cheers!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Alright I get it, I'm not really the blogging type. As you can tell by the crazy gap between my posts. But, I suppose I'll take some time out of my hectic life to tell you about a few things that are going on in my life.This lovely picture to my left is a snapshot from family fun day. This was a fabulous time where we opened the property up to the community and had games, hayrides, wagon rides, pony rides, food, a film showing, and lot's of fun. This was a day planned by us interns and we got to use it as a time to fund raise as well. over the course of two weekends, we raised over two thousand dollars!!
This is the last week for field trips, which means that after Friday, I will never again have to give a presentation on turkeys to a bunch of rowdy little preschoolers. It has been fun however, and I have enjoyed being the "Turkey Guy" for a couple weeks. The end of field trips means the end of the turkeys for me. I will enjoy not having to worry about those feathered creatures.
Another update on horses: I got to run on a horse through the open pasture! After a group trail rise the last weekend, a couple of us took the horses out again and had some fun trotting and cantering. A canter is just slower than a gallop. I'll be honest, I was holding on for dear life, but it was awesome!!
A little more than a week ago, some of the other interns and I had an adventure in Philly. We drove down after field trips to see the band, "Two Door Cinema Club" in concert at the First Unitarian Church. It was a great show, and we drove back that same night, arriving back at the farm after 3am. A fun adventure.
Well, at the beginning of the year, we interns filmed a movie on the book a Joshua. Here it is for your enjoyment:http://vimeo.com/15676456
Cheers!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Well, the horses are gone.
So, the story I'm about to tell takes place roughly a few weeks ago, but I thought it's never too late to share a good story, right?
My subconcious senses told me that a damp and overcast morning awaited my return to the world of the wakeful. I wasn't ready for that, so I decided a few more minutes slumber would be just the thing to combat the dreainess that I was sure to face in the near future. Fate would make other plans.
"Chad," a soft voice pierced the stillnes. My limp body wasn't ready to respond. "Chad, the horses are gone."
"What do you mean gone?" I didn't really want the answer. There was no logical solution to the dissapearance 16 creatures with the combined weight of over 8 tons that I could reasonbly process at that moment.
"They're gone, I think they've escaped." Shelby, and Alyssa seemed to be in earnest. Of course, this could be a joke. We at Three Springs liked to have a deal of fun now and then.
"I think they're for real," not the reassurance I wanted TJ. His muffled voice shot over to me from his dark bunk.
Begrudginly I realized that this problem wasn't going to disapear the same way my hope for a few extra moments of bliss had. Action had to be taken, as painful as that was.
"Alright, I'll help you look for them," slowly I got up and put my sweatpants on. The cold would not have mercy on an act of goodwill.
The ATV took a bit of coaxing to get going. It wasn't any more ready for the day to start than I was. Finnaly it found life from somewhere deep within it's bowels, and let out a deafening roar. We were off, not knowing what awaited us up the hill. The biting chill soon brought tears to my eye's. I could feel the blood rush to my nose and cheeks, trying desperately to fiend off the sting. The fields were blanketed by a dense cloud as Shelby and I crested the hill, keeping our vision from extending too far.
We came into the first pasture. It was as empty as the tomb of the good Lord himself. To my left I could see another pasture, as empty as the first. My stomach was moving up into my throat slightly. Ahead the far pasture loomed, a white wall sitting forebodingly in front of us. Gradually our vision probed the dense cover before us. Little by little hope was fading. This might be a long search after all.
Suddenly, before us was revealed from the thick of the fog, a tall dark beast, grazing lazily at the grass. One by one, 16 of the most beautiful beings that I'd ever laid eyes on were displayed before me. Never had I been more happy to see those God forsaken horses. I looked back at Shelby who sheepishly yelled to me over the roar of the ATV engine,
"I swear they weren't there before."
Of course they weren't. Luckily the elusive horse snatching fairy, perhaps striken by guilt, had seen fit to return the horses in time for the morning trail ride.
Cheers
My subconcious senses told me that a damp and overcast morning awaited my return to the world of the wakeful. I wasn't ready for that, so I decided a few more minutes slumber would be just the thing to combat the dreainess that I was sure to face in the near future. Fate would make other plans.
"Chad," a soft voice pierced the stillnes. My limp body wasn't ready to respond. "Chad, the horses are gone."
"What do you mean gone?" I didn't really want the answer. There was no logical solution to the dissapearance 16 creatures with the combined weight of over 8 tons that I could reasonbly process at that moment.
"They're gone, I think they've escaped." Shelby, and Alyssa seemed to be in earnest. Of course, this could be a joke. We at Three Springs liked to have a deal of fun now and then.
"I think they're for real," not the reassurance I wanted TJ. His muffled voice shot over to me from his dark bunk.
Begrudginly I realized that this problem wasn't going to disapear the same way my hope for a few extra moments of bliss had. Action had to be taken, as painful as that was.
"Alright, I'll help you look for them," slowly I got up and put my sweatpants on. The cold would not have mercy on an act of goodwill.
The ATV took a bit of coaxing to get going. It wasn't any more ready for the day to start than I was. Finnaly it found life from somewhere deep within it's bowels, and let out a deafening roar. We were off, not knowing what awaited us up the hill. The biting chill soon brought tears to my eye's. I could feel the blood rush to my nose and cheeks, trying desperately to fiend off the sting. The fields were blanketed by a dense cloud as Shelby and I crested the hill, keeping our vision from extending too far.
We came into the first pasture. It was as empty as the tomb of the good Lord himself. To my left I could see another pasture, as empty as the first. My stomach was moving up into my throat slightly. Ahead the far pasture loomed, a white wall sitting forebodingly in front of us. Gradually our vision probed the dense cover before us. Little by little hope was fading. This might be a long search after all.
Suddenly, before us was revealed from the thick of the fog, a tall dark beast, grazing lazily at the grass. One by one, 16 of the most beautiful beings that I'd ever laid eyes on were displayed before me. Never had I been more happy to see those God forsaken horses. I looked back at Shelby who sheepishly yelled to me over the roar of the ATV engine,
"I swear they weren't there before."
Of course they weren't. Luckily the elusive horse snatching fairy, perhaps striken by guilt, had seen fit to return the horses in time for the morning trail ride.
Cheers
Saturday, October 2, 2010
More preschoolers?
Well, field trip season is in full swing here on the farm, and I, the "Turkey Guy" am very busy. This coming week, we have four straight days of field trips. This means I will be giving roughly two dozen talks about turkeys. Did you know that Ben Franklin wanted to make the turkey the national bird? Or that turkeys can have heart attacks? Resulting in fields of dead turkeys at the time the air force was trying break the speed of sound.
When a field trip comes, we gather all the kids on the pavilion and get them outfitted with name tags. Then we split them into groups and I start presentations. I make the kids act like turkeys, and then let them hold turkeys. It's great. Then we get to get lost in our giant corn maze, followed by a diesel power hay ride (the smell is fantastic,) which ends at the "pumpkin patch" where kids get to pick a pumpkin to take home. Obviously they all want the big one, and the adults stand around and laugh at them try to pick it up. Exhausted and hungry, we finally get to send them home.
In other news, our intern group finished our Project on the book of Joshua, which was a film reenactment of the story. It was complete with a dramatic battle of Ai, slow motion stoning of Achan, Gold-lame-jacket-wearing-God, and dance battle for the conquest of Canaan. I hope to get it up on vimeo soon, we'll see.
Well, that's all by way of update.
Cheers.
When a field trip comes, we gather all the kids on the pavilion and get them outfitted with name tags. Then we split them into groups and I start presentations. I make the kids act like turkeys, and then let them hold turkeys. It's great. Then we get to get lost in our giant corn maze, followed by a diesel power hay ride (the smell is fantastic,) which ends at the "pumpkin patch" where kids get to pick a pumpkin to take home. Obviously they all want the big one, and the adults stand around and laugh at them try to pick it up. Exhausted and hungry, we finally get to send them home.
In other news, our intern group finished our Project on the book of Joshua, which was a film reenactment of the story. It was complete with a dramatic battle of Ai, slow motion stoning of Achan, Gold-lame-jacket-wearing-God, and dance battle for the conquest of Canaan. I hope to get it up on vimeo soon, we'll see.
Well, that's all by way of update.
Cheers.
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