Canada

Canada, Canada, Canada

i got back from the Beach Trip on a late Saturday night, spent Sunday packing, then left again early Monday morning. This caper started a few months back after my mom read a book called Love Does by Bob Goff. This is an incredible story that shares the experience of witnessing the love that Jesus was talking about, and shows what it looks like today’s world. Bob Goff, giving just one example of what love does, put his phone number in the back cover of the book so that people could call him with any questions or comments about the book, or if they just wanted to say hey. Because Love does things like this, we decided to send him a message on Twitter (we thought calling him would be weird), and he responded! He happened to be a fan of our show so my mom emailed him after he responded saying we would send him some books. He responded with an invitation for our whole family to come to his summer retreat/camp in Canada. We only received two more emails: the first giving us the date of it, and giving us directions on how to get there plus saying 150 other people we did not know would also be attending. Because Love does great things, my Mom, my Dad, Sadie, MK (aka: bæ, or for the older; my girlfriend) and i packed our things and left for Canada. After a quick stop at Disneyland in L.A. and coffee from the first Starbuck's ever located in Seattle, we made it to Canada. It was beautiful! As soon as we opened up the door to the seaplane Bob was there waiting with a big smile. He gave each of us a hug and told us “Welcome home!”...even though we had never been there or actually met him before. It was the best welcoming i have ever had! After the rest of the 150 people got there, i quickly realized that hardly anyone else had any more information than i had. There were musicians, songwriters, rappers, tv stars, directors, producers, news anchors, bloggers, authors, artists, psychiatrists, doctors, lawyers, diplomats, Olympic athletes, chefs, Americans, Canadians, Ugandans, and some people who really didn't do anything. We all had one thing in common: all we had received was an invite and directions. Not one bit of other information about it was given to anyone attending, but that was how it was supposed to be. This is uniquely similar to Heaven, nobody was really sure what they were getting themselves into or who else would be there, but despite their lack of information they said yes and committed themselves and that is what’s important. We ended up having an amazing time in Canada and learned so many things, but unfortunately too many things to talk about on this. 

The main things that i do not feel will never leave me are:

1.) Sometimes you faced with things that you just have to make a blind decision on in order to experience great things, like the great things love does. When considering whether or not to take someone’s offer to experience what we did, don't look at who else is going to be there or little unnecessary details like that. Consider the person who invited you, and whether or not if saying yes in that situation is the most loving thing possible to that person.

2.) Love does great things. ALWAYS make your decisions by determining if it is the most loving thing possible. 1 Corinthians 13 is a good list of guidelines for what the most loving thing usually looks like if you need help with that.

3.) The trip allowed me to watch my dad learn. The Bearded Men never stop learning. As far as i can tell, my dad could go the rest of his life not knowing anything new, but he doesn't. He is constantly studying and learning new skills and gaining more knowledge. That is a mark of a great man. Hopefully i will still be learning when i am no longer Young and Beardless.

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