2024… A Year To Remember

How does one measure a year? How does one encapsulate the hundreds of conversations and experiences that brought you to where you are? Luckily, pictures help to remember days that revealed your heart work engaged. A year in review.

January

I love the adventure of the road. The miles between the smiles is therapy which prepares me for the time to be fully engaged with friends. The road will also kill you, in so many ways. My dear friend, Louis Hamilton, almost left us way to early. Thank God that the friend following behind was able to call, via satellite, to get help. Touch and go led into 5 months of rehab and a renewed sense of the value of life.

Rick and I felt like we needed more time with Fred. He wasn’t always glad we were coming but he was glad when we were there:-) Sitting with Rick, recounting stories, Fred told Rick “ Please don’t ever stop telling the stories! “ We didn’t know that this would be our last time together. Treasured moments.

February

I am a visionary gatherer of people. I deeply value connection. Several years ago, Greg Birchell and I started a winter retreat at his cabin that overlooks Priest Lake. He calls it the Priesthood:-) If it’s really cold a couple other names come to mind. 4-6 guys gather and we talk into the deep…sharing faith and friendship. Also, I had the opportunity for a solo retreat at Holden Village on Lake Chelan. The opportunity to isolate/connect with other folks out of culture was incredibly worthwhile.

Leslie Aragon was a student of mine when I taught at Orangewood Academy. He has since become one of the finest basketball coaches in Southern California. Here he is acquiring his 500th win. Little did we know that church politics would oust him within 60 days. Travesty.

March

Carter is the son of a former student who I meet with every month or two. He was asked to give a Week of Prayer talk and his dad suggested we do coffee, the three of us. I asked a lot of questions, he processed what he thought he wanted to say and HE KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK!

Coach Leslie Aragon.

Watching the brightest and best, laid to rest, politically, kills me.

Casey was a former student and mentee. Had some tough years. Everyday I see him living his best life is a good day for me.

April

Fred passed away, as well as my father in law, James Locke Perry. In retrospect, there was foreshadowing that went unnoticed.

Had brunch with Al and Amparo. He, Casey and I would meet every month for years engaging the four C’s…coffee, cigarettes, conversation and Christ. Only Al and I carried the Christ torch. He and Amparo prayed for me every day…every day! This was our last meal together. Al would pass away in May.

Mark Rogers is a dear friend from academy, college and life continued. He and Ray have been inseparable for years. A couple years ago, Ray got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and fought the good fight! Mark was amazing in his care and compassion. This was the last time we were together where Ray could participate, full-heartedly.

Ernie Unruh was the head dean at Thunderbird Academy where I was task force assistant dean. His influence has been a life changer. An older brother I never asked for and I’ll always be “the kid “.

Monte and Cheri were in my class at Mt. Ellis Academy. Amazing people who suffer my presence whenever I can get to Chico. Folks with a great heart for Jesus.

May

I thought the Dieters still lived in Lewiston/Clarkston and that would have been right on the way to wherever was next…but NO, they moved to Moses Lake and that was in the opposite direction…if you had somewhere to be…but I didn’t. Lyndon met me for dinner and it was hours of Jesus talk and life purpose dialogue. Hope next time Kim can join us.

Stephanie pretends to be a city girl now and then…she’s great at it. And if you never rode behind her on a quad up onto the plateau at the ranch in Idaho you might never know how much a country lady she is. Handled that quad like she was changing lanes going 80 on the 55! And then she’ll hand you a sandwich, sit on the porch and share her journey with Jesus. If you have to be on the road for your birthday, this certainly works!

Another Stephanie shared the privilege of her Doctoral graduation with me. I sat in the cheap seats with a couple hotdogs, a beverage and reflected on the journey she’s been on. ( I love it when they sell food at multi hour events ) This has been years and years in the making and I am so proud of her!

Chorus of Charlie and Jo…A Montana Lullaby.

Charlie and Jo were lovers, you know. Lived in a pink house on the triangle road. With Lady and Luke and four kids to boot and they taught me much about love.

Charlie and Jo Smith were a second set of parents for me in my high school years. They passed away this year and I got to serve at their memorial service. That’s where the FIRST MIRACLE of the summer took place. I was playing guitar for a special music. Pretty simple song that I had spent hours on. Rehearsal went fine. Right before I went up I asked God to make sure that, no matter what I played, people would hear what they needed to hear. I played the worst guitar of my life and folks kept complimenting me on how good it sounded. I got nothing but Grace.

June

Coach Aragon left Orangewood Academy at the end of March. However, he had a legacy of giving Bible studies to students in the spring. So he invited students to weekly Bible studies at his parents house, about a mile or so from the school. 30-40 students would attend the meal his mother prepared and most stayed for the Jesus dialogue. 10 students made commitments to follow Jesus. So cool.

Josh is one of the finest guitarists I know. However, he battles anxiety and so stays home most of the time. I love it when I can stop by, bring him a bar-b-q chicken pizza and see what he’s cooking up in his studio. He loves The Chosen:-)

Graduation’s are a big deal and Noah Wescott has worked hard for that privilege. Was awesome to get an invitation to witness his success. We’ve been walking the journey together for a few years now.

Sometimes the best part of dying is the memorial celebration that allows folks to gather and share stories of how their lives were influenced. Al Mendenhall had a service at the community center in Seaside, OR. It was standing room only. When my turn to speak came, I invited his wife, Amparo, up with me. I asked the audience to stand if Al had influenced them at church. A few stood. And then I asked folks to stand if Al influenced them riding Harley’s. A few stood. Lastly, I asked if Al had influenced them at AA to please stand. The room rose in unison. When the service was over, folks came by and told me story after story how Al changed their life. Legacy.

July

It was our second year doing Music and Mission …an outreach program that facilitates living an intentional life and using music to connect to people in a variety of settings. The first three weeks are focused on our Spiritual growth, songwriting skills, daily physical workouts, managing our dietary needs and 6-8 hours of practice a day. The second three weeks we are on the road. This year it was Portland, Bend, Walla Walla, Boise and Burlington. The last two weeks were spent in an expedited process of advanced lessons, 4 hours of practice a day and closing with a sharing process at the end of the day. Then we took a field trip to Los Angeles to talk with professional musicians, tour a music school and attend The Baked Potato…an all ages music program that highlights some of the best contemporary artists in the world. Every year we swing for the fences. Every student responds differently. At the end, we hope they have grown spiritually, musically and relationally.

August

Leadership development with Steven Shomler…branding and marketing expert… and Kurtis Lamberton…brilliant drummer, photographer and music business entrepreneur. Grateful for their time and insight.

The Baked Potato is an intimate musical venue that serves…baked potato’s…and showcases world class musicians in an all ages environment.

Larry Unterseher died unexpectedly. He was an amazing youth advocate within the west coast Adventist culture. A huge loss for his family and friends as well as to the schools and students he cared for. If you met him once, you were in. His story, as laid out by friends and family, was hilarious ( like Larry ) and truly inspirational and touching. He and I had been working for several years to get the Big Red Bus to his students in Northern California as well as songwriting opportunities.

Ben and Christina George playing for a worship service in the Gorge…imagine a new version of the Tomfest.

September

Starting to think about how to approach the walking of the Camino De Santiago. April Fools day will be here sooner than I can imagine. The old man with the guitar is AI’s version of me on the Camino. Jaime Mathis is my Camino Coordinator. She’s who you’ll reach out to if you think you might want to join me walking across Spain for a few days. She is magnificent at helping out the Camino Community. ja***@ja*********.com

And then we had church on a boat:-)
Project Phoenix, a small Adventist community is stretching it’s wings to facilitate a broader range of influence. It was a great day. Project Phoenix is also building a storage container recording studio as a means to connect with the artistic community in Portland.

It is a fantastic day when a young man you’ve been working with for years invites you to his church to worship with him. Great job, Zach! God has big plans!

October ( I may have indulged in visualizing the relational context of my ministry. )

As you put the car in drive and turn out onto the highway you have no idea who is going to show up…it’s tangential at best because as your
driving, you’re praying over who you should reach out to. Sometimes you find yourself at Bob’s Red Mill or the food carts in Willamette…perhaps a coffee shop in Bend or the kitchen of an old student who makes you breakfast and you share the Jesus journey for an hour before he heads to work…or maybe at a Jazz concert at a vineyard in Walla Walla. Sometimes you find your self on the porch of a friend or the deck of a cabin at Priest Lake…or perhaps alone out on the dock or collaborating on a new song before the fire. Your days are filled with alternating, revolving moments of
together/aloneness and it’s fulfilling.

And sometimes you wander onto holy ground with a friend who’s leaning into the veil that separates this life from the next. He asks for a blessing and you ask for one in return and the sacred seeps out of every cell and nuance and joins you all together because you both realize that LOVE is the catalyst that connects us, shapes us and sends us on beyond the realm of our understanding…one goes on and two remain and the silence is deafening.

And perhaps the sacred continues in coffee with an old friend who’s one third your age but living so magnficiently…the connect is early and easy. And that was October.

November ( And now it gets crazy! 1 road trip in no particular order )

4500 miles. Only two funerals. Tom Sanford…Raymond Rourke…men who shaped me in ways still unfolding. Every picture is a commitment to hours of travel and the willingness to live in The Deep…like a scuba diver that goes so deep, for so long, that they have to come up slowly…but there is often little time for that, relationally. So the Quiet becomes an essential edge of support. It rebirths your energies and internal structures. It allows for the pieces of the human puzzle to slip into place, connected and meaningful. And you take insights from one conversation and hang it in the closet of tools and affirmations…to be used anonymously when called upon.

And one day you wake up and realize your heading home and it can’t get there fast enough. Your life has been poured out as a web of connection and your resources are drained… physically, mentally and spiritually. And it’s not that you didn’t love it, it’s that you know that if you want to continue to love it…you need rest.

December

The days get shorter and the light gets brighter.