Conduit September 22- Postcard From Alaska

The thing about Alaska that is different from where I live is the disparity between the numbers of things that can kill you. While it’s not entirely likely it is in fact possible that an innocent walk through the Anchorage City park could end as a piece for “When Animals Attack.” Putting all rationally statistical arguments aside, it is an option.

I found myself very curious about this and quizzed just about any local who would talk to me about their experiences growing up in Alaska. It seemed everyone had a story of an encounter that had either happened to he or she personally, or someone they knew. Stories of hunkering down on a golf course while a herd of Moosen (the plural for moose?) surrounded them. There was a story of getting lost and dying. There was the youth pastor who crashed his plane into the mountain, someone taken out by the bore tide, and of course, the bears.

For some reason the bears really stuck in my mind like my irrational fear of flying. The thing that I found the most disturbing was the complete lack of continuity on the advice for what I should do in the highly unlikely yet entirely possible event that I would encounter a bear.

I was told by one person that I should look the bear in the eye. Another local when I suggested that I would look the bear straight in the eye responded with “what would you do that for? That’s crazy.” I was told to hunker down and play dead, covering my neck and head, I was told to stand firm and “act big”. I asked, like should I raise my arms over my head? This was met with a phrase I would come to hear often in Alaska: “What would you do that for?”

The lady at a local grocery/ bait shop/ bakery told Adam Agee and I that we shouldn’t worry because it’s the fall and unlike the Spring they’re full. She earnestly suggested that if we were going to walk in the woods we should wear bright colors and make a lot of noise. I was wearing black and scared silent. As we headed out the door she offered helpfully, “you know you ought to be careful the bears might be hunting.” As we drove away I was struck by the fact that if they’re not hungry then were they hunting for sport?

The one resolute piece of advice that was absolutely the same from everyone was that I should not, under any circumstances, for any reason, run. This was very sad to me because in that situation, the only response I could see myself mustering was a sort of muppet like flailing of my arms and wilding running away.
It was clear with all the conflicting advice we were getting that we were going to have to come up with our own plan.

Brian Calcara, Stellar Kart bass player/ former Iowan suggested very helpfully and quite seriously that we should yodel. He was pretty certain that he had heard this before. I was pretty certain that I was going to let him do the yodeling. Draw attention to himself while I snuck off.

There were 4 of us wandering around on foot on Saturday and I figured that should we encounter a bear that my odds went down to 1 in 4 of getting taken down. The fatal flaw in my thought process of course being that I was with a bunch of skinny musicians. Any God fearing, flag waving, American bear would go for the big meal instead of the skimpy one given the chance. There was also the chance of using one of the skinny guys as an appetizer and me as the entrée.

Alas, after all this mental energy that I had expended, we never saw a single solitary bear. In fact our entire wild life experience was a bald eagle at about 2,000 feet away, a ground squirrel and a guppy looking baby fish in the lake.

Yodelleheehoo

The thing I found most frustrating about Alaska was the results of my photography. I would see this majestic mountain range, or vast expansive view, or towering glacier and eagerly snap pictures. When I looked at the photos I realized that it was so one dimensional. There was no depth. No perspective. No reality of just how overwhelming it was. It was just a picture.

I guess that’s how the people of Israel must have felt and maybe still feel when participating in the feasts outlined in Exodus 23. In these festivals we find pictures of a Messiah who was yet to come. These weren’t just dinners like our Thanksgiving feast. They were much more deep, much more profound.

When we look at these feasts, it’s like a photo album of Jesus. The beautiful part is that you and I don’t have to live in the photo album, we have the real thing. And just like Alaska, He’s way better in real life.

When I got home today, I didn’t walk past my wife and go inside to kiss the picture of her on the wall. No way, I wanted to real thing.

At Conduit tomorrow night we’re going to get a look at some of the pictures of Christ in Exodus 23. As always the more we get to know the Lord the more in love we are with Him. Our love for Him has resulted in over $100,000 being distributed to our brothers and sisters in Africa, Haiti, and right here in Middle Tennessee. That’s not just a picture of Jesus, it is Jesus in action through you and I.

We’ll kick off at 730pm at Journey Church. Building 8 in the Factory. I hope you can make it.

Darren

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