When Your Leader Is Dutch, Bible Study Ends With Beer

Quote of the Day #1: “Don’t confuse critical thinking with a critical spirit.” — Mike Jordahl, head of the Navigator U.S. collegiate ministry

Quote of the Day #2: “I have tasted enough of God to know there’s got to be more.” — Vic Black, head of the Navigator prayer ministry

It’s Sunday! Well, sort of. Tuesday and Wednesday are my two days off from work, so it feels like today should be Sunday. The first week here was great. I really like my job. Okay, so as if driving a pickup and a golf cart weren’t enough perks, I’ve also been given a master key to the property. Score! They also gave me a photo ID to get me into the headquarters and international office (which are both right next to the Glen) so that I can do mail runs. They’re really trusting me with a lot. I’m not sure how I got this job but I’m not sorry I got it.

We finally stopped having orientation. I worked a half day on Friday and a full day Saturday through Monday. The work hasn’t been too hard yet because for whatever reason there weren’t a lot of groups coming on to the Glen last weekend. But this weekend… woah. Besides the fact that there are a lot of groups coming there’s also a wedding on Saturday. I’ve already heard horror stories about bride-zilla and mom-zilla from past weddings so I’m a little worried.

As you can see from the quotes, we’ve had some pretty high profile people come in a talk with us. Mike Jordahl talked to us about vision, calling, and destiny and how they’re related. He challenged us with two big questions: (1) “What is my vision for what will be true about me on August 1?” and (2) “What is my vision for my life?” Deep stuff. I’m starting to get an idea of the answer to the first one; that second one I haven’t enough touched yet. Vic Black, who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting before this NCP, talked about our relationship with God. He told us that it is both experimental and experiential in nature. Both men told us a lot of personal experiences that were really inspiring. After Vic spoke he stuck around for a while teaching some more. He had quite a crowd around him. One thing he has been experimenting with is rewriting the Psalms in his own words. Nothing heretical, just using the way it’s written as a template to put what the author said into words you would use. He shared a couple of them with us and I was amazed at what he had written.

Yesterday we were encouraged to begin our day off with some extended time alone with God. I went onto the castle roof (in all this did I mention there’s a castle at Glen Eyrie?), using my master key to get there of course, and sat out there alone for a few hours. I decided to rewrite Psalm 73, my favorite psalm, the way Vic had done. I have to say it was pretty amazing, not just the way it turned out but the way God was speaking to me as I was writing. I got a totally different perspective on that psalm.

After lunch most of the guys went out to one of the open fields to play paintball. We used slingshots instead of guns (thankfully). Among the games we played were capture the flag, king of the hill, downed pilot, and civil war. Civil war is when you line up in two lines shoulder to shoulder standing across from each other. One side shoots at the other. All those hit are out. The side just shot at takes one step forward and then they shoot, and so on. It’s so exhilarating.

I’ve had a few times out with my team so far. We went out to dinner last week, we went over our Bible study on Sunday (the real Sunday), and last night we went out for some drinks. Weird huh? Not your typical Nav activity I know. I blame Dutch influence. Actually it was a lot of fun and we had some great conversation. We got back late, which resulted in my sleeping in until 8:30 (yes, that’s sleeping in).

Today I’ve got a lot of little things I’d like to do. I want to explore the grounds a little more. Most of what I do at work is on the main roads, but I’d like to see some of the greens. I’ll probably write some letter, take some pictures. Nothing too crazy. I have to wake up at around 5 AM tomorrow. I’ll be working the first few hours of my shift alone for the first time.

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