Author: Trevor Rupe

Hello all,

It’s nice to come back home after a vacation. Not because I didn’t enjoy my time away, but after 7 nights of being 2,000+ miles away, you start to long for your own shower and bed. During my volunteer work at camp, I got to know the awesome staff there and they took me around Seattle. Went to a couple coffee shops, checked the out Pike Place market, and walked around downtown. Key takeaway from this experience is that Seattle is definitely different from west Texas! One aspect that I enjoyed was their attitude about the world we live in. From all the fresh organic produce, the 4 different trash bins to separate your trash into, the amount of people who ride bikes, and the strong affiliation with the mountain/outdoor culture, its hard not to acknowledge their desire to protect and be good stewards of the world around us. Seattle would definitely be considered a more “progressive” culture in many ways, but I think this is something that everyone, especially us Texans, could do a little better.

After finishing up my time at camp, I rented a car and drove up to Whistler in Canada. I usually dread the thought of being in a car for 5 hours, but driving through mountains with the coast on your left made this drive not only tolerable, but beautiful. Got pretty interesting when I realized in Canada that I didn’t purchase an international data plan before leaving, so had to figure out how to get where I was going without a phone. A couple stops and asking people through the windows at stop lights got me to my destination. Whistler is known for hosting the Olympics winter games back in 2010 so people from all around the world come to ski, but it turns into a big mountain bike park during the summer. I ride mountain bikes a lot around Texas and can ride some pretty technical trails, but this was a whole different experience. When you ride down a mountain, you go FAST. Basically just flying downhill using both brakes at all times, hitting jumps and avoiding trees. I probably rode 50+ miles of trails, but only pedalled about 1% of it. It really was awesome. Bear sightings are very common up there and was kind of hoping to see one (when I was riding up the lift of course) but didn’t run into any (that I know of).

Coming back down to my flight out of Seattle, I had to cross back over the border. I got there about 7:30 in the morning and was expecting a line of cars but drove right up to the patrol booth. Told him I rented a car and drove up to bike and he wanted to know where all my bike stuff was. Told him I rented it all and he just was having a really hard time with my story that I had been volunteering in Seattle and drove up for two nights to Canada and all I had was one bag and I was doing this all alone. It is a little out of the ordinary when I think about it now! So I got the pleasure of a nice search and interrogation at the secondary stop before they let me back in the USA. Fun stuff!

So this is my last weekend before coming back to work. Crazy how fast a month flies by but looking back on it Ive really really enjoyed the time off and it really had been energizing both spiritually and physically. Outside of the trips, I built a bed for us. Working in finance, you don’t have the ability to design/build physical things (bond ladders don’t count) so this was a lot of fun for me. I didn’t follow a plan, just looked at some pictures and went from there. We are made in the image of God who is a creator, thus instilled with the desire to create, so we find fulfillment and take pleasure in creating. I think that is why we are also drawn to art, music, and culture in general, because of these attributes given to us by God. It truly was fulfilling to plan out an image, buy a ton of wood, measure, measure, cut, stain, and see that image come to life.

Thanks for reading and I will see everyone next week!

Trevor

Hello all!

Currently writing this on my iPhone sitting on a bench I found while on a hike. Not trying to make you too jealous but sitting under 100ft tall pine trees with sunny 74 degree weather  surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation here in Black Diamond Washington, just outside of Seattle. I’m doing some volunteer work with an organization I’ve worked a couple of summers for in college that runs outdoor adventure camps. They recently bought this camp and summer is in full swing with campers and all the excitement that they bring. Busted out my chacos and nalgene and trying my best to blend in, but have to say it’s getting harder to distinguish between the campers and the college counselors (hard to believe it’s already been 6 years since college!). They are admittedly short handed so I’ve been jumping in and helping in all kinds of capacities. The camps mission statement is to inspire Christlike change through outdoor adventure, biblical truths, and authentic relationships. I love the summer camp culture that challanges your comfort zone, pulls you out of the digital world and into the moment. Being out here and having some intentional quiet time has really opened my eyes to how much I’ve made an effort to make my life so busy back home that it’s hard to just “be” at times without the feeling of being “lazy.” That’s obviously not God intends you to feel about rest as demonstrated in Isaiah 30:15 that states “in returning to me and and resting in me you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.” Only took me a couple weeks to start understanding rest a little more 🙂

Ill be here the rest of this week then renting a car and driving up to whistler to do some mountain biking for a couple days so pray I don’t come home with any broken bones!

Until next time,

Trevor

Today marks the second Monday of my sabbatical and I thought it would be a good time to spend some time and reflect on the time that has passed. It’s crazy how fast a week goes by, whether at work or not. I will say it has been action packed which most likely has contributed to the pace of the time flying by. I spent the beginning of last week working on some stuff around the house and preparing for our 7/12-7/16 trip to Florida. On Monday, the official first day of my sabbatical, I woke up about the same time I normally do (what happened to being able to sleep to 9 or 10am?!) and tried to focus on beginning this time of rest on actually resting.

It’s a hard thing to “reprogram” your brain from a “to-do” list to “just-being” and decided to run to Mardel’s to get my devotional/book to read. Picked up Jesus Calling, but they didn’t have the other book I planned to read so I decided I’d just order the electronic copy on Kindle and headed to Lowe’s to grab some stain for the fence, not knowing this trip would turn into a “God thing.” I say that because I think some events are just coincidence but not all can be chalked up as such. While checking out, the man behind me randomly asks if I am a Christian which from my experience, is not the most normal way to start a conversation with someone in line. I tell him I was and he explained to me that he had just finished a book and he felt the Holy Spirit tell him that I needed to read it. I like to think myself as a logical analytical person and I can count on one finger how many times someone in a Lowe’s checkout line has asked me about my faith and then proceeded to give me a book, but on top of that right after I literally just left a book store looking for a book to read during my time of rest. I told him I about my sabbatical and why this was pretty crazy and we both walked away blessed because of the experience. Pretty surreal right?

Then spent 5 days in heaven’s waiting room aka Florida with my wife’s family (14 of us in total). Did all the touristy stuff including eating a ton of food, laying on the beach, going on an awesome offshore fishing trip, riding jet skis, and having an overall great time. This was the first trip I have been on with her family and got a chance to really connect with them in a way that only vacations can do. I will say it’s nice to get back from vacation and not have to immediately go back to work though 🙂

Planning on building a bed this week and spending some more intentional time in the Word and resting.

Until next time,

Trevor