No technology, no time of day, no civilization, no showers, just the required needs for four days. Food and Clothes. Load this up into a canoe in the Lake of the Woods and you have all you need to delve deep into the beauty and brokeness around us.
The whole trip was catered around removing barriers in our lives in order to reach a point of simplicity, where it often becomes easier to connect with God. While there was lots of contemplation we had loads of fun which include great inside jokes and a myriad of random quotes. Who could leave out pigeon sitings and late night campfire talks. All great times that help a development of close-knit community and relationships with each other.
Our theme over the trip was beauty and brokeness and each day we focuses on something else. We first discussed beauty. It is not very difficult to find beauty around us when we`re in the unadultered wilderness. Whether it`s the incredible sunrise with the fog floating just above the water or the unique effect of the bright sunlight reflecting on the water or even the beauty of the people around us and the cohesive community we create. The beauty of God that is displayed around us everywhere.
Brokeness can be more difficult to spot or think of in nature, but it is everywhere, it can be tangible like broken trees or bad weather, it is all around. Often our spirituality is a hidden brokeness where we shelter ourselves from God until we don`t recognize his voice. For myself I saw brokeness as I canoed with two people whos` bodies were failing them. It`s a simple reminder of how our physical bodies are breaking but God will give us new ones as we join him in heaven.
I think our guide Chris summed up the trip perfectly with the connection of beauty and brokeness. The cross is the perfect balance of beauty and brokeness, it combines pain and sacrifice with the beauty of the salvation of our sins. Nothing displays more beauty and brokeness then the cross.
By Blayne Stobbe
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