Tod Bolsinger

Vacating with a purpose...

I wonderfully, wondrously dropped off the treadmill of living and entered into the blissful space called vacation.  Two families, two RVs and a lot of tooling through beautiful terrain has been the order of the past two weeks. Past years led me to blog on the positive impact that vacations, done purposely, can have on family life.

These kinds of trips do get me thinking about what's important in life.  I'll share some posts (now that I have internet access for a bit) and then we'll see how this most recent adventure leads to other insights...or not.

What's a Sabbath For?

In his most recent response to my posts on Vacation and Creation, Brad Hightower writes:

I would like to make one little challenge to your perspective of Sabbath. How did Jesus spend the Sabbath? One answer is in all the healing stories. He did good. So a great way to get peace and rest is to "Do unto others". The rest is from self-centeredness and into otherliness. Under the New Covenant, we can enter this Sabbath of deliverance from self-centeredness every day. In fact, we ought to strive to enter into this rest.

I believe your model for leisure time is still really a therapeutic model. My soul finds rest not in leisure or recovery time but in taking His yoke and learning a new way of living day by day that is based entirely on "doing the will of God" and being of service to others...I am challenging your readers to possible re-evaluate the foundation upon we really live. If our daily life produces stress this is a serious spiritual problem. The answer is in learning a new foundation to build upon in seeking to walk in the spiritual principles of Jesus.

Brad's challenge is well worth taking up.  And oddly enough, that is exactly what I propose that I have been trying to do in these posts.  My intention for challenging what I call "X-Box Living" has been to help Christians see that there is a different and I believe better way to spend our leisure time than plug into media, amused at a theme park or indulging ourselves in some bloated, expensive vacation.  Indeed, I want more Christians to spend more time with their friends and families outside so that they will stay connected to the very creation we are called to "cultivate and keep" (how stewardship is best defined, biblically).  I also believe that re-thinking our "discretionary" time is one of the best ways to begin "reconsidering our strategies for living based on the presence and availability of God's Kingdom" (to use Dallas Willard's definition of repentance.

BUT, and here is probably where Brad and I differ, I do think that the model of God in the garden speaks to both the need to spend some time NOT doing even good things so that we can enjoy what God has made and what we have been able to accomplish in service to him.  In the same way that an all powerful God "rested" and communed with his good creation when his work was accomplished, we too are called--no commanded with grave consequences I might add (Ex 31-12-17)--to rest and commune on the sabbath as a sign of what it means to be God's people, called and saved by his work and not their own efforts (Dt 5:15). 

Yes, Jesus healed people on the sabbath (Mt 12:9-14 and parallels). But the gospel accounts of those healings show that he was doing deliberate prophetic acts to assert both his lordship (Mt. 12:8, Mk. 2:27) and to challenge the legalistic sabbath rules of the day that I believe were in direct contradiction to the purposes of God's divine decree.  Brad's assessment that my model is "therapeutic" is accurate.  Isn't that what Jesus was saying in Mark 2:27 that the Sabbath is really all about: healing, restoration--dare I say, "therapy" for humans, not to be a burden of service.   

Brad's larger issue should also not be ignored. 

I am challenging your readers to possible re-evaluate the foundation upon we really live. If our daily life produces stress this is a serious spiritual problem. The answer is in learning a new foundation to build upon in seeking to walk in the spiritual principles of Jesus.

Indeed, this is also what I want to "stress".  I see the harsh and bitter fruit of the lives of the "worried well" all around me.  People who live in comfort and security that few people have ever known are also terribly stressed, terribly driven, terribly disconnected from the reality that everything they have been given came from their father who loves them and calls them to walk with Jesus the road of the Kingdom.  We are instead so consumed with the things of Mammon that we lose the perspective of how much we have here and now available to us as "kingdom people."

I just happen to think that sometimes we need to "unplug" and "get away from it all" to see this.

PS. Since I am starting a new series on Becoming a Kingdom Community using the Gospel of Matthew in my messages at church, I'll also be using this blog space to further ruminate on the themes of living here and now in the Kingdom. Let me also encourage you all to check out Brad's good teaching on discipleship as living in the Kingdom at his blog site.

Vacating or Re-Creating?

Last week before I felt the need to join the blogging support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, I entered a dialogue with Brad Hightower about a biblical understanding of vacation.  Brad wondered whether our culture’s high view of vacations didn’t really amount to a deep misunderstanding of the nature of our work.  I understood that Brad argued that vacations have become a sort of idol that takes us away from our true spiritual calling and instead are another form of self-indulgence that leads to even less peace and more stress. 

And in most ways that matter, I agree with him.  I really do believe that the way people spend their leisure time says something about the state of their hearts.  Observing what I “have” to do is not nearly as revealing as what I “choose” to do. And many people choose deeply destructive or at best wasteful amusements in their “free time.”  Bill Cosby once did a comedy sketch about people who work all week only to get trashed on the weekend.  When they are asked about it, their response is “I deserve it.”

But biblically, we have a different model woven into the creation accounts that is inextricable with our understanding of “sabbath”.  Sabbath is not primarily about rest, it is about communion and reflection.  When God “rests” in the first Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3) it’s not because he is tired or needs to “get away from it all” (he just created a perfect place for a vacation!), but instead he simply stops working and enjoys what he has made.  Indeed, one of my favorite images is from Genesis 3:8 when God is walking in the garden in the evening.  (Can’t you just picture God strolling down a trail through the trees in flip-flops with a cold one in his hand?)

It is this understanding of Sabbath as communion that leads us to re-cast our leisure time from a “vacating” as Brad called it, to a time of recreation—re-creation.  I want to encourage Christians to have far more restful, peaceful, relational, educational, experiential, and dare I say, spiritual vacations by re-connecting them to creation.  I have become deeply aware of how truly stressed out and disconnected from the Earth, our own souls and each other we become through the hurly burly of every day life.

This is why I have been critical of media as escape, video games as leisure, and amusement parks or Las Vegas excursions as the sole focus of our vacation time.  That is not to say that a day at Disneyland is somehow “unchristian.”  (I actually like roller coasters a lot.) I just want to challenge Christian families to reconsider their next trip to a resort where they will sit by a pool with a waterslide and spend too much on umbrella drinks when they could be snorkeling in a reef, hiking to a waterfall or looking for wildlife in a national park.  I have also challenged Christian families to use their vacation time for mission trips, cross-cultural excursions or opportunities to see and reflect on more of the world.

I really believe that the more we “recreate” by “re-connecting” with “creation” the more our worldviews and our souls will be centered on what truly restores.

A Path to Peace: A dissenting View

Blogger and pastor Brad Hightower wrote me a personal and thoughtful email, disagreeing with the "path" that I am heading with these series of posts on creation, nature and recreation.  Brad is a smart, sincere and committed guy (whom I really enjoyed getting to know over lunch one day) and I appreciate and respect his perspective.  We obviously disagree a bit on some of these things and so in the name of healthy dialogue, I asked Brad if I could post his email and then my response.  So, today, Brad's email. Then next post, my response and we'll see where this heads.  Thanks Brad for stirring things up a bit!

Tod,
I really have an honest question or maybe an honest
contention.

Let me state my perspective and a bit of my story.

I used to be a pretty stressed out guy. In fact three
years ago I was driven away in an ambulance for "chest
pains". It turned out to be stress. Well, today that
is totally changed. I work probably twice as hard as I
used to, I haven't had any vacations to speak of, but
I am as peaceful as Mother Teresa. In fact since that
time three years ago, I have started to pastor a
church on top of my six kids and my day job.

This has come about by redoubling my use of the
teachings of Jesus as the kingdom way to true
happiness and a heavenly quality of life.

I think this relates to our culture considerably. We
live in a stressed out culture and we as spiritual men
and women have a perfect answer to a stress free life.

What do most people use to relieve stress. Answer:
creation. Yep, most of my pagan friends (and I have a
lot) go on vacation. In the church, the same is true.
We enjoy the creation. That is the way that the world
finds peace. Of course this path takes a lot of money.
So usually we buy a travel trailer and seek to retire.
Is it possible that anyone in your church has likewise
choosen this less than spiritual path? (or is that
only a problem up here in south Los Angeles). LOL

I think this is simply another way to medicate.
Instead, there is a better way, a way of spirituality
and being of service.

So my point is a pretty big one: "Is your approach to
"seeing God's glory in all the earth" the spiritual
path by which we are actually called to "see God's
glory in all the earth"?"

I have found that when we take an orientation toward
life which is pure in heart, then in all things we see
God. When we live one day at a time, when we purify
our hearts of all resentments and fear and the love of
money, when we see the care of God and then simply do
unto others, then we see God in all the earth and live
in perfect peace. I have found that this relieves me
of any need to get away from it all.

This is basically my take on the sabbath.

Love ya,
brad

PS. Also, so you can get a bit more on where I am coming from with the "path to peace" stuff I talk about in this comment. You might
look at an essay I posted. I posted a very extensive essay on my discipleship method called Discipleship 101. This is my whole blog point in one post.

Last Child in the Woods

As a boy, I was unaware that my woods were ecologically connected with any other forests.  Nobody in the 1950s talked about acid rain or holes in the ozone layer or global warming.  But I knew my woods and my fields; I knew every bend in the creek and dip in the beaten paths. I wandered those woods even in my dreams.  A kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rain forest--but not the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude or lay in a field listening to the wind or watching the clouds move.

Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, p. 1

When I was a kid I lived in a vanilla-white, bland suburb.  It was simply a housing tract.  It had no town center, no downtown blvd. Not even a Tastee-Freeze.  But for most of my growing up, my house backed onto an open field with orange groves and trails to ride our bikes.   

In our neighborhood were lots of other fields and hills all for exploring, card-board sliding and catching pollywogs in the creeks. 

(Note: They are all gone now.  If you go back to my old town you'll find no fields, no cardboard sliding hills and a lot more houses.)

When I was four we moved for a year back to my parents' hometown that was smack in the middle of a redwood tree grove.  And every vacation we visited places like Sequoia National Park with it's giant trees.  Orange trees, redwood trees, Giant Sequoias.  It's amazing that for a kid who grew up in a suburb east of Los Angeles, I have so many memories of trees.

Last year, when our family went on vacation to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons with some friends, all the kids discovered the joy of climbing trees or walking in the woods, of exploring trails. 

Yesterday my son came home from seventh grade concerned that his life science teacher was going to object to the trip we have planned next May to go to Costa Rica for spanish language school.  He said, "Dad, the teacher said that every week we have a mandatory science lab class and we can't miss it.  What am I going to do about Costa Rica?"

I said, "Do you think that we could convince your life science teacher that living in a rainforest for two weeks is a good lab class?" 

He shrugged.  (I sure hope so.)

P.S. My friend Steve writes about watching the clouds move with his family in Kaui. 

Where Do You Want to Play Today—Inside or Out?

It was 97 degrees outside and 42 degrees inside.  And we were inside.  Way inside.  No, we weren’t pumping the air conditioner, we were spelunking.  Actually spelunking is a bit too technical for this mile long hike through a lava cave.  It was mostly just a cool walk with an old Coleman lantern lighting the way.  But we were a good 80 feet underground hiking through the cold, crowded darkness toward nothing more than the dirt end of the tunnel.  No marker, no view, nothing really.  Just a solid sand wall that meant that you had to turn back and head out.  (So I guess we were outside.)

And we were having a blast. 

The further we went into the cave, the lower the ceiling became.  It was dark and cold and kind of creepy.  As we came upon the last 300 yards or so, anyone over 5 feet tall needed to get on hands and knees and crawl. 

Some of the adults in our party decided that a nice “comfortable” rock would be a good resting place while I crawled along with the four kids.  Ages 12, 11, 10, 8 they hooted and hollered and encouraged big, old, slow Dad along.  For the two youngest kids in our party, this was heaven.  They had to lead, my young daughter even got to carry the lantern because I couldn’t crawl through the cave and shine the light at the same time.  (“C’mon people we’re heading on!” My daughter yelled as the commander of this cave exploration team.) We finally got to the end of the tunnel, cheered and exchanged low “fives”. 

When we came upon the rest of the adults on the way out, the kids were a good 20 feet ahead of me.  My crawling pace was no match for their scampering little legs.  When I finally caught up, my wife said to me, “You should have seen the girls’ faces. They were so proud of themselves, so excited.”  They were genuinely having fun playing in a cave marching a mile in the cold dirt, hanging onto a old gas lantern.

This memory is in such stark contrast to the now famous quote from Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Louv cites a fourth grader who says to him, “I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”

And I have to admit that left to themselves, my kids will often opt for playing indoors.  They’d gladly watch TV all morning long if we let them.  When we trudge through some long miles in the car on the way to a beautiful spot, will let them watch a DVD.  (I even jumped in the back seat and watched “Because of Winn Dixie” with my daughter while my wife drove us down the I-5 heading out of Sacramento.)  But something happens to us when we get out and play. 

Not only did we hike in a cave this year but we last year we walked seven miles through the Narrows River canyon in Utah.  This year we hiked in the rainforest, plunged off of rocks into huge pools in a river in Belize and swam in Crater Lake in Oregon. 

According to Louv, this is not only fun, but important and healthy to a growing generation of kids who can use the internet to find and spout out more facts on the rainforests than they can possibly remember but rarely get to climb a tree, catch tadpoles or watch clouds go by during the day and stars at night. 

After ten years of research Louv is convinced that kids’ disconnection from nature is a contributor to a number of different dire consequences including a diminished use of the senses, attention problems, and increased emotional and physical diseases.  What is most interesting is that kids who actually live in areas most proximate to nature don’t necessarily experience any more nature than kids in urban and suburban settings.

We live in a beach town.  It’s the end of August.  And yesterday my kids started back to school (their summer cut obscenely short by the current emphasis on test scores and increasing school funding).  When my seventh grade son did a quick “get to know” discussion in one of his classes, he asked his partner what his favorite hobby was.  The boy said, “Video games.” 

Better than X Box

I looked back up the river to where I’d heard his voice.  The cry was both excited and a little nervous.  “Fish on! Fish on!”  My 12 year-old had hooked and was awkwardly stripping line to reel in his first “big” fish on a fly rod.  Our guide ran back to help him and soon he was holding in his hands the slimy, beautiful prize.  

A few hours later as we hiked back to the car, we found ourselves nervously high-stepping down the stream side path like a couple of drum majors, our hearts racing, adrenaline pumping, our subconscious kicked into gear by the unmistakable clatter of not one but five different rattlesnakes.

The beauty of the canyon, the thrill of catching some fish, the excitement of a little danger, a slightly warm turkey sandwich, a few melted Mint Milanos and some cold water to slake the hunger that we hadn’t even noticed until then--I looked at Brooks and said, “This is way better than X-Box!” 

To my delight, my soon-to-be teenager agreed.  And this was just one day of many of just one vacation of many that we have enjoyed together. 

“Better than X Box.”  It became our motto the past two weeks. 

When looking at the blue of Crater Lake and then diving off a rock into the cold, clear water. 
When going through a class 2 rapid with only our life vests. 
When watching an osprey effortlessly pull a trout out of the Rogue River or watching giant Chinook break water for just a brief moment. 
When staring silently at a bald eagle soaring to a lofty perch.
When riding our bikes across the Golden Gate bridge or looking at a full moon so big it seemed to make daylight out of night.

It was all “Better than X Box.”  Not that my son doesn’t like X Box.  In fact, he likes playing video games a lot.  Since we don’t have an X Box or a PlayStation in our house, it is always a treat when he can play at his cousin’s house or at a friend’s.  And sometimes I worry that he’ll become like so many kids who think the ultimate adventure is lived in cyberspace or through a video screen.  So when we go on vacation, we are deliberate about trying to teach our kids that life is best enjoyed and true re-creation is best experienced as close to God’s earth as possible. 

Over the next few days, I’ll share some more stories, some more pictures and some reflections from a book I am reading called, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.”   In the meantime, please check out my photo albums for some updated pictures of some of the beautiful places that we were able to see.