The Gator Wrestler

I just returned from three nights alone in a cabin in the woods near Tomahawk, WI with no electricity and no running water. When people heard of this, I was compared to Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), who wrote the very excellent album For Emma, Forever Ago in a cabin in the northern Wisconsin woods. On the flip side, I was also compared to Ted Kaczynski (aka The Unabomber), who sent bombs to people in the mail from his cabin in the woods. If you get a package from me, please don’t freak out.

This was all made possible by the generosity of a couple from Minnesota I’ve never met. So while my wife was hunting white-tail deer in northern Michigan and the kids were with Grandpa and Grandma, here’s what I learned over the last four days.

1. Indoor plumbing is incredibly awesome and very handy.

2. Back pain and rain can be a blessing. I threw out my back last weekend. That combined with the rain meant I spent a great deal of time on the floor reading, writing, and praying in front of the fire.

3. Extended reading and prayer time, uninterrupted by kids or computer, is extremely valuable.

4. Nothing gets one’s thoughts ticking like a fire in the fireplace.

5. Bacon’s great taste is directly proportional to the primitive means in which it is cooked.

6. Eugene Peterson kicked my butt. Following a couple on-line recommendations from people I’ve never met, I dusted off my copy of Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity and gave it a read. Highly convicting stuff: Am I in prayer? Am I listening to Scripture? Am I a Spiritual Director? This is a book that I need to re-read every year in order to avoid becoming a manager rather than a pastor. (Incidentally, I have personally known two “Eugene’s” and neither of them have kicked my butt, nor could they if they tried.

7. Domesticated dogs ruin remoteness. You can be standing on the side of this wilderness lake and when a stupid canine a half mile away barks, the peace is shattered. I’m glad I’m not a dog-owner.

8. Heat is more valued if you split the wood yourself. Of course, I never realized this when I was in high school and my dad made me chop wood for our furnace. Sorry for the grumbling, Dad.

9. Sometimes you don’t hear the Spirit of God because you’re not in a place to listen.

10. I really, really love my wife and kids.

11. I love my church.

12. Introverted pastors (like myself) can’t function like constantly on-the-go like extroverted pastors can. My friend Tom Nebel always encouraged me to divert daily, withdraw weekly, maintain monthly, and avert annually. Spend at minimum an hour per day, a half-day per week, a full day per month, and a few days a year alone with God. This is a minimum for me.

13. I read more when it rains. Since I went to seminary in Portland, OR, I have this rain trigger, that causes me to study and read when I hear raindrops. Love the rain.

14. The internet, TV, and electronic entertainment are totally unnecessary.

15. Books are very necessary. The imprisoned Apostle Paul told Timothy this: “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:13) Hey, it’s in the Bible.

16. Cell phones are very nice. I was able to talk to and text my wife and kids regularly. (And with as much flak as AT&T gets, be it noted that I had great coverage in the middle of nowhere. I’m not a hater. Now about that bill…)

16. One night doesn’t cut it for me. It needs to be multiples so there’s a full day of solitude and prayer in there.

17. I’ve got a lot of work to do as pastor of Living Hope, but I’m energized and geared up. Sunday’s message could be interesting.

18. Catch-22 is actually a good book. I had struggled through the first 150 pages and was ready to move to something easier (like Dostoevsky), but my friend Eric encouraged me to keep going and by the end I was laughing out loud. Crazy good, disturbing, and sad book.

19. The whole 4:30 sunset/darkness thing is nuts. Seriously, I’m not enjoying living on the eastern edge of a time zone. I’m ready to sleep by 7 PM.

20. Productivity is not always measured numerically.