Monday, September 02, 2002 :::
Hey guys!
Speaking of hot air balloons, I got up close and personal with one last night.
Yesterday I was at a congregation member's cottage over on Devil's Lake (hehe.. yeah, what a great name for a place where a bunch of Lutheran's gathered, right?). The lady who invited me was definitely blessed with the spiritual gift of hospitality. You know the type - the Lord has blessed her immensely with a beautiful cottage on a popular lake, a pontoon boat, a swarm of kids and grandkids, and a talent for making good food. Well, she didn't hesitate at all to share her gifts with us, so there I was on a pontoon boat, soaking up the warm breeze at Devil's lake.
The big action of the night came when a Re-Max hot-air balloon came soaring in from the distance.. It quickly made its way towards the lake, and the multitude of boats started gathering at the point where the balloon seemed to hover. We were no exception. We kicked the pontoon into hyperdrive (hehe.. yeah right), so that we could get in on this rare spectacle. A little girl in the pontoon with us, Vanessa, didn't seem to appreciate the fact that we were getting closer to the balloon.. *laugh* she asked all of us if it was going to pop..! Well, this wasn't your momma's birthday-sized balloons, that's for sure. This was a giant mass of glory (okay, so i'm a little overly poetic) hovering over the water.
Well, with its audience in place (a swarm of boats, pontoons, and waverunners), the balloon-engineer (hehe) slowly lowered the balloon yard by yard, foot by foot, inch by inch, until the basket of the balloon was hovering just a few feet above the lake. Well, we were all going crazy by then - you could hear the 'hootin' and hollerin'' of all of us intrigued balloon gawkers. It definitely seemed like this last bit of space between the basket and the water was the hardest to overcome - this would be a tricky procedure.. (Not to be anti-climactic or anything), but after a minute of careful maneuvering, the balloon finally touched down to an eruption of rowdy applause. The balloon pilot and his female passenger gave a polite nod and wave to the audience, and then the pilot produced some serious flame-age and the balloon darted up into the sky and soon vanished.
I don't want to sound like i'm full of hot air (*wink*), but that was such an awesome moment. To a lot of people, it was probably just a balloon.. but to me it was much more. The atmosphere there was electric. I'm pretty confident in saying that this was the first time anybody on that lake had seen something like this.. It was unique, It was unusual, and it was just really really cool.
I guess on a deeper note (i'm getting serious now), call me crazy, but I'm just starting to really feel like this is where God wants me to be. Nonono, not on Devil's lake.. but at St. John's. It's been great getting to know how everybody at that congregation lives their lives and has fun. It's awesome seeing the many different ways that the Lord allows people to give of themselves. Like this wonderful woman who invited me up to this big shindig last night.
Anyway, a lot of the time we just can't see whether God is working in our situations. Other times, we KNOW He's working but we don't necessarily feel it. And then there comes those rare God-given moments when you KNOW and FEEL that you're where He wants you to be. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, we do have to be careful because feelings can be extremely misleading (i have oodles of stories about that), but I also know that God gives us reassurances that He is with us, and that everything is under His control. If this is bad theology, feel free to discuss it with me, josh@kittleman.org .
Okay.. I've written too much about Hot air balloons and stuff.. I'll talk to you later.. I'd love to hear what's on your mind, feel free to drop me a note.
Josh
::: posted by kittlesnbits at 7:55 AM
Sunday, September 01, 2002 :::
Back in action..
Yeah.. so, I'm realizing that the life of a full-time church worker is pretty crazy and unpredictable.. My schedule is filling up faster than helium in a hot air balloon (okay, so that's not really fast.. but it's pretty gradual)..
There's so much about ministry that i can and WILL eventually write about. One thing is pretty sure - I need a place to sort my thoughts out, so I'm definitely going to keep this journal updated regularly, er.. at least more regularly than the last time i tried this.. yeahhhhhhhhh.. Here's the thing.. for those of you expecting this journal to be stuffed full of Iditarod commentary and random ranting... well, I hate to disappoint, but i'm going to have to say "No soup for you!!".. I'm kind of switching gears a bit. Sure, i guarantee you wild bits of randomness, but I also guarantee a little more depth to this site.. i know, Josh kittleman and depth might not go together as well as batman & robin, but we're going to give it a good ol' Concordia shot!
Good times.. Good Times..
Until tommorrow
Jigga J
::: posted by kittlesnbits at 1:18 PM
