Tangboy's Blog

This is going to be a pretty heavy blog on a topic I am pretty inspired about. So if you do not want to read about something I am trying to develop stop reading here…

Tonight I called my long time friend and bud Mr. Bill. As many of you may know he is fighting the same little demon I am fighting… the cancer demon. He is currently going through some treatments and is making progress although it leaves him exhausted and sick. We have been pulling each other through some tough times and I am proud to call him a very close friend, much closer since our recent developments.

After talking with Mr. Bill about our progresses we started talking about a need to do something for the Lord. I was suddenly inspired/impressed to share with him an epiphoney I just had. I have a need to share how God is very REAL in my life and has done things in my life to better not only my life but the lives of the people I am in contact with.

I realized that I have been very lazy with my faith and love in God. I have not shared my gifts/abilities that are talked about in I Peter 4:10 “Each one should use whatever gift he has recieved to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms (I like to use the word ‘flavors’ instead of forms). If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” This text has been with me ever since Grant Wolters shared it with me… 8 years ago in FLAG Camp. I wish to claim the promise and the challenge of this text.

I know that I have had people come up to me, people I don’t even know, and tell me that I have been an inspiration to them about my stand point on this cancer thing. I first wish to say thank you for your support of prayers and comments, they mean a lot and I could not do this without the encouragement and prayers everyone is sending. Second I wish to say that it is not I who is inspiring, its God, hopefully, shinning THROUGH me because I want to be as transparent as possible so that my sinful ways do not marr the beauty of God.

To the chase… I was inspired to start a plan with Mr. Bill to sometime this summer… get a group of kids together to take some risks, enjoy some nature, build some memorable friendships and to know God more. Here is how it would work. I am working on collaborating with some of my friends who share this burning desire to share what we have been through in our lives. Friends who have a story to share, a tale to pass on. Friends who spiritually want to show God that they are using their lives to show others about Him. Here is a rough outline of activities that would be used to build trust, faith, and friendship between the kids and the experts (experts is used loosely here… experts meaning they have knowledge in one or all of the activities that are considered risky).

Kids would come on a Wednesday, set up tents/bunks in cabins whatever, unpack, team building and ice breakers, then a nice brisk hike somewhere before dinner. Dinner… prepared by my wife and whomever wants to chip in. After dinner there would be a worship every night. A song service (lead out by Joe Lipscomb?) with a guitar and those who WANT to sing, not required thank goodness (hey they didn’t kick me out of choir for nothing). Small devotion on an important life topic like trust, faith, forgiveness or whatnot… whatever God is inspiring. Prayer, some down time, then head to bed.

Thursyday – weather permitting canoe/kayak day (lead out by Tommy, Bill, Kevin, Joe, Myself, Matt whomever). Breakfast, pack a sack lunch, devotions (small song service, small thought/challenge for the day), bit of a class.. 15-30 minutes on safety of canoeing/yaking, important info for the trip. Get gear together and head out. Canoe for couple hours, lunch, chance to chat and fish, then back on the river… switch up yakers and canoers if needed etc, canoe for a few hours. Take out and head back to basecamp. Freetime for some interesting group activites/games that inspire trust and communication. Dinner, devotions again.

Friday – Rockclimbing, Rapelling, Caving day (lead out by Tommy, Myself, Joe, Matthew, Kevin – especially on caving) Breakfast, sack lunch, devotions then head to the rocks. Bit of safety instructions and Do’s and Dont’s. Climb it up, play some climbing/rapelling “games” til lunch. Sack lunch on the way to a cave, more instructions, and let Kevin lead us in a wonderful freak out trip on “how to run in a cave because I am claustrophobic!” Friday get back in time to clean up, dinner, then a vespers.

Vespers will be a more developed worship with songs that really pull the Holy Spirit in. There won’t be a specific “talk” more of a chance for the “experts” to share some of the times in their life where life was just plain ole “crappy” but God worked His plan, will, and miracles for the better of everyone around. This is a chance to show some of the kids that God works in everyones lives whether or not they can see Him working. A chance to see that there are people out there that have gone through a lot like friends suicides, friends dying in avalanches, going through cancer, women issues, having a murderer/rapist with a knife in your room and only stealing your pizza and alarm clock (for a better explanation check out Matts blog at www.islandsharkz.com) hopefully pulling some stories from the kids, letting the Holy Spirit work pretty intensely in their hearts, offering the chance for some one on one talks, etc. Prayer at the end and bed.

Saturday, not so activity oriented… late brunch… “church” worship if you will… hike… chance to lay around near a stream or lake and chat… always letting the Holy Spirit have a chance in all the activites to do what he needs. Pizza or something fun Saturday night and a chance to play some games with the kids like Capture the Flag or Search and Rescue.

Sunday – little more yaking or something and then kids would head out around noonish after a nice worship and a break down of the week. Seeing what the kids liked and didn’t like, what could improve on, chance to share some contact numbers, and email addresses for future chats etc.

The main point of this whole thing is building a relationship with the kids without intense “sermons” or “preaching”. Letting them see us while we are out having fun in some risky activities that require rules, consequences, fun, protection, and comradery. The devotions during the week are used to plant the seed and show the kids that we try and have God in all parts of our lives, praying for safety and fun before each activity specifically etc. Showing God through our actions is HUGE, plus with a climax on Friday night will give the kids a chance to see God in our lives in a REAL and HUGE way… a way that is life/death… emotional and real.

This is a work in progress and I am making lots of contacts to get this ball rolling. Any advice is welcome and needed as I am not good with the organizing. I am making contacts with people who have experience in the different activites as well as being spiritual leaders. PLEASE contact me with anything you have to say about this, try and keep it constructive though… I know the devil will be sending people my way to try and not allow this to happen, I have seen it before in other things people have tried to get started. This gives me a chance to use my gifts/abilities that God has given me to do something for Him and I need your help and prayers.

Another concern that has been expressed is $$$ and age groups. First the money issue… I am expecting not to have the kids have to pay, it seems like only certain kids attend these things and they usually have the money to do these activities at summer camps and such. I want to give this opportunity to those who don’t always have the funds to do it. So I will start petitioning to churches and schools as well as other organizations to raise some money for the food and bit of equipment we might need. I will put the matter into Gods hands and let Him guide me financially where to go with this. Age groups of kids I am gearing this toward (God willing) is the teen years…. 13-19 ish, please advise if you have thoughts otherwise. Also number of kids, if we could have a ratio of 1-3 per “expert” that would be awesome. Right now I have a list of about 5 other people other then myself that I want to actually be involved in the activities, but that does not count anyone who wants to cook, or help make contacts. So that is roughly 6X1-3 = 6-18 kids. May not seem like many but you would be amazed how many kids that can be when climbing, camping, and canoeing etc.

I am tired of typing… had chemo today and my emotional, spiritual and, physical energies are wearing down. Had a good talk with Bill, Tommy, and Amy about it. Everyone is putting their thinking caps on, still have a few phone calls to make tonight.

Once again any support you can give in the form of prayer being number 1, advice, gear, money or anything would be great. Its time for me to put my faith and love for God into action… I am going through this life for a reason and I am going to give the opportunity for God to use this life for His work hopefully to some kids this summer. Thanks everyone for listening!
love ya
geoff w

PS this is not going to be tied specifically to a church view point of whatever… and its not tied specifically to pathfinders either… just a group of God loving people showing God.

PSS My father, Joe, and I have created a website, email address, and paypal account for this ministry. Pretty soon you will be able to go to the website, or email me specifically about this ministry and others at the email and donate money to sponser a camper, some needed gear, or food to keep this a free experience for the kids. Look on the right side of this blogg to see a “Make A Donation” button that you can use to access for a donation. We are NOT making money from this! All funds go to the ministry we are creating and all the money goes towards Gods work. If you have questions please email me at the following email and such…

Website – Currently Under Construction Until Further Development
email: WalkinOnWaterMinistries@gmail.com

Thanks again!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 3rd, 2006 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.