For the Outdoor Enthusiast

2024 - Lets go! As I reflect back to my trips in 2023, I am grateful for my friend Chris, who always says yes to my trip plans. Our trips to Telegraph Cove and South Brooks Peninsula differed in their challenge level and scenery, but both will endure in my memory as exceptional trips. My first trip with James to North Brooks will break all the records for the longest drive before launch and the biggest salmon caught – what a trip – thanks, James, for restoring my enthusiasm for fishing. 

My numerous solo trips continue to be precious for the challenge of being alone with my thoughts and forcing some personal reflection. I recommend a solo trip for anyone who can muster up the courage to try it. Let me know if you need any help in planning.  

I introduced a few people this year to the kayaking experience, even if it was for just a half day. Let me know if you are considering purchasing a kayak and want to try a sit-on-top kayak. If anyone is interested in a three to five-day adventure on the West Coast – I am sure I can make it a trip you will never forget.  

Meister Eckhart said, “God is unnameable and (therefore) Omni-nameable,” and so Meister Eckhart prays, I pray (to the unnameable) God to rid me of (the idol I have named) God.” 

Chasing the unnameable God is the joy of my life. 

My writing this year has re-imagined church. I have explored the failure of the gods of Pure Reason and Science. I have written about embracing the unknown as an alternative to certainty and how the flames of the imagination can bring much-needed novelty into a hurting world. 

For the remainder of this year, I will finish a series of articles exploring our presuppositions of “loss” and how an alternative supposition of “lack” can be a game changer in understanding ourselves, others, and God. 

I have been a hockey player, pastor, and entrepreneur. I love life, the outdoors, and listening to people's stories. I have been married forty years to my wife, Kelly. Together, we have raised four boys. We now have two beautiful daughters-in-law and three grandsons. 

I have always carried questions about life and death and what is on the other side of the stars. I have discovered that I will need more lifetimes to read and study the information now available at our fingertips. My curiosity has led me to study theology and philosophy and, narrowly, the theology of the mystics, continental philosophy, and some psychanalytical thought. All writing has a bias – mine is no different. We all have a unique lens to see and understand the world, so welcome to my world. 

My overall theme might be obscure, but I am exploring what is behind or what is common in all ideologies. What is one thing we can agree on? Is there a way to move forward in all the chaos we are experiencing?