So, What’s Going on Now?

Right now, we are in the midst of Robinson Crusoe. The book makes people pretty polarized – and I’m on the side that loves it. Most of what I love is how Defoe writes. He wrote when English was used properly, and doesn’t go easy on the reader with his long, complex sentences. Still, I love it.

I’m working this weekend at the Timbers. It’s really cool to work the retreats right there alongside the full time staff. In fact, it’s hard to think of it like ‘work’. More like serving and playing in good fun. If that’s work, let me know where you can do that!

Next week we’re going on a trip. We don’t know where.

In other news, I’m in love with the band mewithoutyou. You need to listen to their album Brother, Sister. The entire album is told from the perspective of a shipwrecked guy and has this ‘rock-piratey’ feel all throughout. Also, it’s all about his lyrics – the man is a fine wordsmith. So, here’s a few lyrics, but really, they are just the tip!

“If ever you come near I'll hold up high a mirror,

Lord, I could never show you anything as beautiful as You”

“what good is each good thing we think we do?”

“Shadow am I!

Like a suspicion that's never confirmed

But it's never denied.

Wolf am I,

no, "shadow" - I think - is better

cause I'm not something - more like the absence of something -

So SHADOW AM I!”

“you're a door-without-a-key, a field-without-a-fence

you made a holy fool of me and I've thanked you ever since.

…

but if I'm a crown without a king, if I'm a broken open seed

if I come without a thing, then I come with all I need

no boat out in the blue, no place to rest your head,

the trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead!

I do not exist

Only You exist”

Those last words have been on my mind a ton during the forge. I do not exist, only You exist.

The Covenant

Okay, so, the Covenant is a major part of the Forge. As a group, of 24 guys and girls, we had to come up with rules regarding how we will relate to different topics such as media, the outside world, alcohol, etc. All of the rules we created were not because these things are inherently bad, but we chose to not partake in a lot of things so that we could focus on each other as well as other important things while we are in the Forge. This being said, you should know some things that I won’t be doing along with my Forge class until May 1. We decided to only listen to not watch any television, not watch any movies, only listen to christian music, not drink alcohol or smoke tobacco, not do any Forge work on Sundays, and not date each other or resident staff. Again, none of these things are bad, but for each one we have a specific reason. For instance, we are not only choosing to not watch TV to rid ourselves of distractions, but we also decided to challenge one another by forcing us to change how we relate to our families, and friends when we go home. Trust me, we’ve had hours of discussion about each of these topics.

That being said, we’ve been ‘practicing’ the covenant for two weeks now. It was hard at first, but now it’s easy to follow. It was tough when I went home, but I looked at it as a challenge. I think I was able to communicate with my family much better by not watching TV.

So, yeah… that’s the covenant.

The First Two Months Real Fast!

• · First two weeks – introductory; lots of getting to know names; ropes training*
• · Began Covenant meetings (see next post).
• · Knocked over a huge, dead tree… found baby squirrels living there… [bad times]
• · Started P2 in the mornings… [soreness]
• · Started classes.
• · Began reading Life Together.
• · We went somewhere.
• · More classes, more assignments.
• · Finished Life Together.
• · I’ve worked 4 weekends so far – 1 conference, 3 retreats [tons of fun!]
• · Went home this weekend for med school interview at MU!
• · Visited Rolla for about 3 hours after said med school interview.
• · Finished Covenant. (see next post)
• Yeah, that pretty much covers it.
• *NOTE: I hate heights, but ropes training mitigated a lot of that fear. Did you know a zip tether’s breaking strength was around 10,000 pounds?

Here at the Forge…

Everything is perfect. All right, that’s not true, but it’s also not far off.

When I was at Rolla, I was always looking for time to just get away from the busy-ness of life to really think about what was important, to learn more about myself, and dig into the Bible. But, school always disrupted my thoughts, breaking them up. However, the Forge focuses time for each of these subjects and more. Thus, I’ve really enjoyed the first two months here.

Now, I can’t just talk about anything here, since we are sworn to secrecy by Matt (the director). So, I’m going to be bluntly vague sometimes, and you’re just gonna have to deal with it! But really, if you’re seriously considering doing the Forge, just don’t read this… it’ll be much more fun that way!