Living Inside Out, Even on Vacation by Erin Kirkland

My work is to travel within Alaska. Here, there, and everywhere, most weekends our family is packing up and taking off to one destination or another.

We are committed to living "inside out" as members of Trinity, our community, and the world; this filled-up/poured-out value system existed within us even before we began attending church at Trinity. I will say, though, when we travel it is rare to come across others in the biz who hold the same consciousness. Not just a sense of caring for others; I see that all the time. After all, people normally do not make it in the tourism and travel industry without a genuine sense of feeling for people. I'm talking about something different. "Everybody has an angle," Bing Crosby said to Danny Kaye in the movie White Christmas. And in my industry, working the system by being charming often trumps genuine compassion, so sometimes I'm never sure who is being nice because they want something.

Up north in Denali State Park sits a lodge owned by one of the state's premier tour companies. Invited to stay for two nights and review the lodge's family-friendliness, we trucked up Thursday for a few days of relaxation and came home today with a bit of awe at how God sometimes puts people in our lives when we least expect it.

Acquainted with the manager of the lodge by name only, we were greeted warmly by staff and offered the usual amenities a travel writer would expect for "good ink" later on. In person, Manager was warm and pleasant, insisting on a tour of the property and goodies for the entire crew. It wasn't until about halfway through this tour and our resulting discussions that I realized he and I had gone to the same college and shared many of the same management styles and perspectives about things. Nice enough, but in Alaska the "small world" concept happens all the time. I had an agenda and didn't delve too far into the personal side of things until he invited my husband to tour the employee area and talk HR (my husband's passion and profession).

Not until this morning did I come to understand the nature of the discussion between my husband and Manager as they shared similarities in each other's lives and the connectiveness between them as fathers; Manager is a step-parent, as is my husband, and both were feeling the pull at being away from their children (our oldest is away in a residential school, Manager works 7 days on, two off at his job). Manager was in need of support and insight from someone, my husband was there, and vice versa.

Suddenly, my part in this seemed so, so small. Good for my career, this weekend may have been, but it was even better for us as followers of Jesus.

How Can You Help? Anaktuvuk Pass Trip Needs YOU by Erin Kirkland

Trinity's team to Anaktuvuk Pass is busily preparing for their upcoming trip June 3-10. This is one of the highlights of the year for everybody, for those who make the long journey are witness to a life-changing week of study and fellowship with this small community. Can't go along this year? Mission trip members still need help.

Pray for those attending, that the Holy Spirit will be within and around them as they work with children, youth, and adults of AKP. Donate time or funds towards food and other expenses. Bake/freeze/pack homemade goodies for team members and the community.

LeeAnn Crumbley will be at the AKP table at Trinity this Sunday to answer questions and offer insight about this wonderful mission experience. Everyone is invited to reach out to our partner church.

Picture link for GA and Tom's travels by Tom Letts

FYI, Trinity's facebook page will have lots of pics from the assembly and my pre-assembly travels. To find the link on Trinity's home page click here.
Go to bottom left of the page and click on the TRINITY icon. You're in!

Chicago pre assembly training by Tom Letts

Just back from the first GA training (in Chicago). So helpful. The prep for moderating a meeting was a great start. I met lots of people that will be helpful in the Twin Cities this July. The intrigue surrounding the major issues of this assembly has begun (ordination standards, the re-definition of marriage and worship with Muslims are the big ones). Stay tuned for some key web-sites and pages to look for updates.

Insights from General Assembly 2010

General Assembly 2010 is right around the corner. Pastor Tom Letts has been selected as a moderator, and will be providing Trinity with daily happenings via InsideOut.

Tom will be posting the latest news and his insights on subjects of interest for everyone involved with the PC, USA. InsideOut will be the only source of regular updates, so it is now more important than ever for blog readers to encourage others at Trinity to "get on the blog".

Look for Tom's posts beginning in a few weeks, and do comment on your thoughts. A few reminders, however:
-Keep on topic, relating to the issue at hand
-Remember civility is the key to effective dialogue; offensive language or accusatory statements will be removed at the discretion of Trinity's leadership.

Thanks!

Trail Time and Spring Cleaning

The neighborhood surrounding Trinity was busy today as close to 30 people spent the morning working on various projects at the church and Huffman Park.

Painting, weeding, sweeping, and general maintenance tasks were performed on the church grounds, and about 15 people dove into a mega-maintenance project at Huffman Park next door. Armed with pruning saws, loppers, and a lot of goodwill, these folks spent four hours cutting, clearing, and otherwise spiffing up a previously overgrown and not-to-well maintained park.

The weather was beautiful, the company good, and the lunch delicious, thanks to Milt Tanora and his barbeque.

Many, many thanks to those who participated, in particular the members of Huffman PTA and O'Malley-Huffman Community Council for their time. A big thanks goes to the Municipality of Anchorage for loaning a bunch of tools. We couldn't have done it without you.

If you have a chance this week, take a walk through the trail system and see what a few hours of teamwork can do.

Feeling Forsaken by Erin Kirkland

This has not been one of my better days. It started this morning with a trip to Costco, where I carefully crossed each item off my long, long list as I put it in the cart, then forgot about the coupons in my bag until I reached the parking lot.

Things didn't get much better as I reached a downtown church to turn in the registration form for an upcoming VBS week and failed to notice, as I pulled my chattering, whining child in the front doors, that a funeral was in progress.

The day ended with Home Group and our final discussion of "Start> Becoming a Good Samaritan", but I lost all feelings of goodness when another mom and I came upstairs to discover our unsupervised children were engaged in a hair cutting and styling party led by my son, whose only excuse was "She told me to."

Did Jesus ever have days like this? A truly terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day? Maybe just cranky? It would make me feel even better about trying to live in his image if I knew he did.

Tonight our Home Group watched the last segment of the current study about the forsaken and imprisoned and disabled... My day was only a brief glimpse of feeling as if the world was against me. I have no inkling at all of having it actually happen. Oppression, imprisonment, abuse, disability; the list is endless of ways people feel forsaken and/or disenfranchised. It is daily life for some people.

A bad day? Surely. But mine will (hopefully) will be temporary, and maybe, just maybe, today taught me something.

Huffman Community Park Project Takes Off by Erin Kirkland

Saturday's scheduled Clean-Up day is growing like the grass! While we spiff up Trinity's inside and out, a bunch of folks from Trinity, Huffman Elementary, and the O'Malley/Huffman Community Council will be across the street spiffing up the often-used but seldom-maintained Huffman Community Park.

I walked the park last week with the Municipality of Anchorage's Forester and we agreed the park needs some serious help to support its use. Between then and now our volunteer roster jumped by leaps and bounds and now we are anticipating upwards of 40 people on Saturday morning. Whoa. I'd better get more gloves.

The project will begin at Trinity no later than 8 a.m. this Saturday, May 15, so if you want in on this morning/early afternoon of clearing Devil's Club (now doesn't that sound like fun), piling brush, and meeting your neighbors, meet in front of Trinity's front doors with gloves on, to help us. I promise it will be a rewarding day.

Did I mention a fabulous barbeque lunch will also be served? Yep. The greatest.

Participants should bring and/or wear:

Long pants/shirts, raingear (we'll be working rain or shine)

Sturdy gloves

Pruning saws (no power tools)

Loppers for cutting brush

Boots

Any questions? Call Trinity at 345-4823, or Erin Kirkland 575-3935. We'll do our best to answer them.

Start>ing Again...

Our home group last night began Chapter 5 of "Start>Becoming a Good Samaritan", and about halfway through the DVD portion, I heard the best line in a long, long time.

It came from Matthew sleeth, an emergency room physician-turned-environmentalist.

"Get off your donkey and do something." As in get off your high horse of telling people what ought to be done and just do it. Or quit driving right on by the person sitting in the ditch and see how you can help. Like perhaps putting down the cell phone and talking to the kid who has no friends.

My donkey is parked. I'm ready. What about you?

Follow Up to WIFY by Erin Kirkland

I had an interesting experience yesterday that relates to Megan's post about the "what's in it for me" concept.

As a sponsor of a local organization's upcoming event, I was in a meeting with the executive director and education director to talk about their strategies for obtaining volunteers. Volunteerism is a funny thing; people like to help for all the right reasons, but many hope to gain something tangible from the experience.

Indeed, part of the discussion yesterday was in respect to the "reward" given to those who donate their time to the event. "What do they get?" was the question.

WIFY?

WIFM or WIFY: Which station are you tuned into? by Megan Holliday

Several years ago I was at a conference where the main speaker said that all people are tuned into the same "radio station" - WIFM or What's In It For Me? He said that in any and every situation we are evaluating our personal gain and if there's not enough gain for the time, money or energy put in we won't participate.

Honestly, this is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. Jesus leads us to tune into WIFY - What's In It For You? As we continue to be transformed into his likeness, we switch frequencies and stop thinking about how we benefit and start looking at how things benefit others around us.

The Huffman Park Project is a perfect example of how Trinity is beginning to switch frequencies. We are joining with the Municipality of Anchorage, Huffman Elementary PTA and the Community Council of this area to fix a park we all share. What's In It For Me? Not a lot. I'm going to work hard and try to fix up a park I don't use much. What's In It For You (in this case our neighborhood)? A lot! The kids at school next door will have a better functioning park for walking to and from school, for extra-curricular activities like cross-country running and skiing. The neighborhood gets a park where they can walk their dogs, have family picnics and ride their bikes.

This project is not about me or us at Trinity...it's about our community. We'll see you on Saturday, May 15th from 8-2 as we fix up our own building a bit and begin work on the biggest and best community project South Anchorage has ever seen!