The Beach

For the up and coming beach pictures here is a short poem I wrote.  It doesn't do justice to the great poem writters of ages past, but it's a start.

The Beach Is A Place

The beach is a place where we all like to go

To play on the sand and the shore

The beach is a place where we can rest our head

From the weariness of love and of war

The beach is a place that reminds of might and of power

As we listen to the waves on the shore

The beach is a place of solice and cosolation

For those who are weary of their oar

The beach is a place where we can stare at the clear crystal water

To see the suns reflection once more

The beach is a place to discover God's creation

His beauty, His peace, and His roar

Into The Amazon

http://www.intotheamazon.org/
Speaking about boyhood and adventure...I figure I should mention some special video and audio broadcasts that are taking place. If any of you are familiar with Vision Forum Ministries then you have probably heard about this already. Right now 30 men have been and are continuing to travel into the amazon to explore answers to mysteries. (All these mysteries are eventually related back to Biblical passages.) These mysteries include: 

1. The Mystery of the Meaning of the Amazon
2. The Mystery of the Legacy of Adventure and Dominion
3. The Mystery of the Lost Tribes
4. The Mystery of the Plants of the Amazon
5. The Mystery of the Strange Creatures of the Amazon
6. The Mystery of the Mighty Inca Empire
7. The Mystery of the Inca Stones and the Great Peruvian Desert 

So far it is a very interesting and looks like it will continue to be. If you have an interest in the Amazon, and even if you don't, I would definitely recommend looking into this.  Not only do they travel into the Amazon but they also visit a tribe in the Amazon, visit Manchu Picchu , and go to the Great Peruvian Desert.
There is a fee to receive the live videos and audio ($48) but after the series is over one receives a DVD. Also, there is a study guide that comes with the video that relates it all to Him and looks deeper into worldviews surrounding the Amazon. The link above will take you to the online site where there is a video that explains "Into the Amazon" to a fuller extent. 

Here is a short description from their blog:
"This year marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Inca stronghold Machu Picchu by famed explorer Hiram Bingham. It is also nearly the 100th anniversary of the historic father-and-son expedition into the Amazon down the River of Doubt by Teddy Roosevelt and his son Kermit. Now, as the world welcomes a new year, Doug Phillips leads a thrill-packed expedition of thirty fathers and sons into the heart of the Amazon and then high into the Andes Mountains. For the better part of a week, our team will be living on a boat and in the Rainforest in the heart of Amazonia. They will sometimes catch their own food, debate, dialogue, explore, and investigate. They will build relationships like men and emphasize the importance of fathers and sons working together for the glory of God. Now you can join these thirty men as they travel into a lost world, and seek to share these great experiences and hope to shed light on seven mysteries of importance to Christians in the 21st century: "

Also for the women out there, there is also a trip that Doug Philips wife and daughters went on. They went to the city of Chincherro and learned to how to weave from the locals. What they learn to do is quite beautiful and intricate. Links to her blog, videos, pictures and audio about the technique, and their trip, are all included in the fee for "Into the Amazon."  

By the way, "Into the Amazon" has already begun so if you are interested I would look into it as soon as possible in order to start watching the live videos, listen to the live question and answer time, and viewing the pictures! Hope you enjoy.

Friendship, Boyhood, and Courage

 As Christine, my sister, and I were beginning a new babysitting adventure we sat down to play some Wii with two young boys. Although they were not allowed to play much they enjoyed the game heavily and it was quite enjoyable, though at times intense, to watch them. As they slung the controllers onto their wrists it seemed as if they where strapping on guns, preparing to battle mushrooms, attacking turtles and poisonous flowers in Mario Brothers. The game especially became intense as they came to a particularly difficult section of the game. They had to defeat a creepy castle in which there was lava instead of water, black turtles and turning knobs similar to those in a clock. The boys had to make sure that they both didn't die at the same time or the game would soon be over. During a particularly intense moment the below was said:

Brother A said to his brother: "You have to wait for me!!"

Brother B: "Of course I'll wait for you, even if I have to die I'll wait for you because you’re my brother. We are going to make it through this together."

And as lava was boiling about him he did wait for his brother and although they didn't beat the level it seemed as if they bonded. Brother B said his sentences with such passion that it struck me. At that moment I could picture them on a field of battle apart from the game due to the passion of the boy’s statements. I suppose it shouldn't have struck me so much, men wanting to wait for each other and fight a battle to the end, but in this world, in which men are so feminized and brothers are not often taught to stick up for each other, it is amazing to see any two boys have such passion over something so minimal as a game. It seems in the world of the men and boys such a game isn't minimal, though, because to those boys that castle was the same as any battlefield and they were just showing their true allegiance to each other. Boy B could have been selfish and try to finish the game by himself but their father, it seems, had taught them that they needed to stick by each other no matter the consequences.

It sort of reminded me of Psalm 133, especially verse 1 (I included verse 2 for context):

Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers dwell in unity!

It is like the precious oil on the head,

running down on the beard,

on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
 

And in a very small way it also seemed to be a picture of John 15:3-

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
  

I just thought the above was a wonderful picture of friendship, boyhood, and ultimately manliness in a generation that doesn't always think about or cultivate such qualities.