I have heard this is the rainiest season Bowen has had in a long time. It is raining yet again today. Apparently they would be done with the rain. It is usually warmer by now as well. Fortunately I went on an exploration hike (by myself) yesterday before lunch, worked outside in the afternoon, and after dinner walked to town with a new friend.
This rainy day is reflecting how I feel at the moment. I am working with identity and confidence issues. Issues that I dealt with in KC, but have quickly come to the forefront here. It's hard, but I know it is good, or will be, and is necessary for growth. And I want to continue to grow. Overall my time has been good. I am learning about myself and living with other people. I am going over things with the Lord, and reading a lot. :)
In a few minutes I will be off to The Snug to sip on an americano and hopefully face time Ang. This afternoon some of us decided to do some baking. Should be fun times.
2.6.11
29.5.11
Due to computer malfunctions I will not be able to post pictures. Due to no wifi and town being at least a mile and a half from the property I will not be posting much.
Bowen is a friendly place. I have hitch-hiked for the first time in my life among a few other firsts. Life at L'Abri takes time to get the hang of. Study time in the mornings, and work in the afternoon. Both the morning and the afternoon are broken up by tea time. L'Abri is set at the top of an almost impossibly steep hill, and is surrounded by wonderfully tall trees. These trees cut us off from the rest of the island, and the water separates us from the mainland and all of the busyness that inhabits the mainland. The cove, where town is, where I am at the library, is pretty. I will soon be shown some of the favorite view spots from a new friend and fellow student. I'm excited about this. I love the trees and the green, but I am so much looking forward to a view of the beautifully snow-capped Cascades, and the other islands dotting the water around me.
Today I went to a beach with a few friends. This past week has been uncommonly rainy and cold, so the sunshine and warmth of today is extremely welcome.
I will begin meeting with my 'tutor' sometime this next week. I found out yesterday I am going to be meeting with the person I was hoping for.
Thursday I spent the afternoon and evening in Vancouver with Tiffany, a new friend, from Pennsylvania. We went 'off the beaten path' to a restaurant, we didn't want a chain we wanted something with an authentic Vancouver feel. We also walked along the English Bay portion of the sea wall, and visited Inukshuk. I decided, however, that I don't want to go into Vancouver very often on my day off. I would rather explore Bowen or lounge around the property. In a couple of weeks I am going to visit Regent with a few friends. AND I might go camping up near Whistler sometime this summer, and get this...I will be going with new friends from the states. Who knew I would be hanging out with a kid from Nebraska and another guy, whom I have yet to meet, from California.
Bowen is a friendly place. I have hitch-hiked for the first time in my life among a few other firsts. Life at L'Abri takes time to get the hang of. Study time in the mornings, and work in the afternoon. Both the morning and the afternoon are broken up by tea time. L'Abri is set at the top of an almost impossibly steep hill, and is surrounded by wonderfully tall trees. These trees cut us off from the rest of the island, and the water separates us from the mainland and all of the busyness that inhabits the mainland. The cove, where town is, where I am at the library, is pretty. I will soon be shown some of the favorite view spots from a new friend and fellow student. I'm excited about this. I love the trees and the green, but I am so much looking forward to a view of the beautifully snow-capped Cascades, and the other islands dotting the water around me.
Today I went to a beach with a few friends. This past week has been uncommonly rainy and cold, so the sunshine and warmth of today is extremely welcome.
I will begin meeting with my 'tutor' sometime this next week. I found out yesterday I am going to be meeting with the person I was hoping for.
Thursday I spent the afternoon and evening in Vancouver with Tiffany, a new friend, from Pennsylvania. We went 'off the beaten path' to a restaurant, we didn't want a chain we wanted something with an authentic Vancouver feel. We also walked along the English Bay portion of the sea wall, and visited Inukshuk. I decided, however, that I don't want to go into Vancouver very often on my day off. I would rather explore Bowen or lounge around the property. In a couple of weeks I am going to visit Regent with a few friends. AND I might go camping up near Whistler sometime this summer, and get this...I will be going with new friends from the states. Who knew I would be hanging out with a kid from Nebraska and another guy, whom I have yet to meet, from California.
11.5.11
23.4.11
"Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly towards me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it - if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it.”
“You mean it spoke?”
“I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden - trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well.“I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells - like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not.“I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.“But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this underskin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.“Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.“Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke – ‘You will have to let me undress you.’ I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.“The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” said Edmund.
“Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again. You'd think me simply phoney if I told you how I felt about my own arms. I know they've no muscle and are pretty mouldy compared with Caspian's, but I was so glad to see them. After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me –"
“Dressed you. With his paws?”
“Well, I don't exactly remember that bit. But he did somehow or other: in new clothes - the same I've got on now, as a matter of fact. And then suddenly I was back here. Which is what makes me think it must have been a dream.”
“No. It wasn't a dream,” said Edmund.
“Why not?”
“Well, there are the clothes, for one thing. And you have been - well, un-dragoned, for another.”
“What do you think it was, then?” asked Eustace.
“I think you've seen Aslan,” said Edmund."
“You mean it spoke?”
“I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden - trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well.“I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells - like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not.“I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.“But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this underskin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.“Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.“Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke – ‘You will have to let me undress you.’ I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.“The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” said Edmund.
“Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again. You'd think me simply phoney if I told you how I felt about my own arms. I know they've no muscle and are pretty mouldy compared with Caspian's, but I was so glad to see them. After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me –"
“Dressed you. With his paws?”
“Well, I don't exactly remember that bit. But he did somehow or other: in new clothes - the same I've got on now, as a matter of fact. And then suddenly I was back here. Which is what makes me think it must have been a dream.”
“No. It wasn't a dream,” said Edmund.
“Why not?”
“Well, there are the clothes, for one thing. And you have been - well, un-dragoned, for another.”
“What do you think it was, then?” asked Eustace.
“I think you've seen Aslan,” said Edmund."
19.4.11
George Gray
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me --
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire --
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
by Edgar Lee Masters
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me --
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire --
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
by Edgar Lee Masters
16.4.11
In 37 days I will embark on my, to date, biggest adventure. As I view images from the region of B.C. where I will be staying I am falling in love with it more and more. I don't know exactly what May 23rd throuh July 27th holds for me. A new and better understanding of the world around me? Of the Lord? Of myself? All of the above I hope. Since I decided to go to L'Abri in January I have had a number of trials, and have worked through deep faith issues I didn't know I had. I knew going to L'Abri would help shed light on questions I have, but I didn't realize the time leading up to it would be this dark, trying, hard and revealing.
I'm currently working harder than I ever have and it's worth it. To be able to study and be with the Lord in Canada for the summer is a dream come true, and it will be incredible. Plus I will be meeting new people! Exciting times. It's almost hard to believe they are my very own 'exciting times'. I take them with arms wide open.
I'm currently working harder than I ever have and it's worth it. To be able to study and be with the Lord in Canada for the summer is a dream come true, and it will be incredible. Plus I will be meeting new people! Exciting times. It's almost hard to believe they are my very own 'exciting times'. I take them with arms wide open.
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