I'm back in Canada again - the land foul smells and powdered soymilk. I drove up here this week. I drove up through the Rockey Mountains into Eastern BC and then drove west through the Okanagan.

If you stick to the interstates, the trip is usually pretty quick...but it's boring. So I drove on highways and state routes all the way. It took me an extra day, but it made it very interesting - got to see a lot of the Rockies.

Have you ever watched hail stones hit the concrete? Have you noticed how there's a bit of spray as it impacts, and then it bounces? When you're driving about 70mph bugs look very similar when they hit your windshield... Which begs the question, "Why do bug guts on your windshield dry so hard - why aren't they more water-soluble?"

I listened to my iPod until it died, then I listened to all my CDs, and then I listened to 16 hours of country music... Though, at times, even that would fade out in static.

I pushed the scan button on the radio... After about 3 cycles I hit the AM button and pressed scan again... Still nothing. So I continued to watch bugs hurdle toward my windshield at 70mph.

Eventually I found an AM station. Anyone who's listened to the radio in the last week will know that the biggest news item in America is the results of the obesity census. The most obese state is Missouri. Montana, the state through which I was driving, was 5th. The slimmest state is none other than the great Colorado. A friend of mine had said, while attending Andrews Univ. in Michigan, that she was shocked by the number of obese people in Michigan because, being from Colorado, you don't see it as much. This raises another interesting question, "What if animals were obese?"

Whoa! Picture that thundering across the African planes. Thankfully, giraffes aren't obese.

I stopped for the night in northern Wyoming where my truck nearly blew away. The wind was so strong it was still splattering bugs all over my windshield while I was parked. I woke up at 2AM to get pictures of the lunar eclipse.

Most of the next day was similar. Around noon I got to Glacier Ntnl. Park in Northern Montana. This is a huge family vacation spot. It's truely beautiful - huge mountains, cliffs, canyons, rivers, snow, wildflowers. Of course it costs $20 to get in, like every other park in the US. I wasn't about to pay $20 though, so I just drove around the outside... As I drove, I noticed a myriad of attractions outside the park. Things like, "Wildlife Museum," and "The Great Bear Adventure - where your car is your cage!" Now, to me, this defeats the purpose of a park like Glacier Ntnl. Park, I mean, after all, isn't the reason you went there to see the wildlife in the wild? You can go to a wildlife museum in downtown Chicago if you want to see stuffed animals! Why drive 1,200 miles to northern Montana, scraping dried bugs off your windshield, only to see what you could have seen at home?

But what really got me were the other attractions: minature golf, family arcades, and gocart racing? Need I say any more...

So I drove around the southern side of the park in hopes of seeing something cool, but all I saw was attractions for city-folk. A short while later I crossed into Canada. It's not any different... Same country music on the radio. Just as many obese people. Maybe it smells a bit worse.

I got to RL on Wednesday. I moved into Evan's old room because it has a window. Then I set to work outside, mowing and cleaning up. Today I'll finish unpacking, and hopefully feel ready when Sunday rolls around. Though I still need to scrape the dried bug guts off my truck.

Goodbye, summer; goodbye, Colorado...

"Describe the perfect church."

Andre asked me this question; and, had it not been 2:30 a.m. I'd gladly have answered it. It's an excellent question, and one for which we should each have an answer. Though I doubt most of us have ever even cogitated upon such a notion as the manifestation of a "perfect church."

This is a small glimpse of that church:

Nobody that walked through the door of this 'perfect church' would be greeted by an assigned greeter. In fact, there wouldn't even be any assigned greeters. Why not? Because there would be no need for that in this 'perfect church'. Every visitor would be welcomed by a very observant 'perfect church' member - a member who has taken it upon themselves to be the kind of person to which everyone is attracted; that is, a universally interesting person (the key to a universally interesting person is that he is universally interested).

And so, showing universal interest in each visitor they would not simply shake their hand, give them a bulletin and point them in the direction of a Sabbath School class. No. The encounter would be more like this:

"Hello friend! My name is Jason, what's yours?"

"Fred."

"I'm glad you're here, Fred. Are you visiting family in the area or just passing through?"

Now, Jason, being the 'perfect church' member that he is, is so familiar with his church family that he can't help but notice that Fred is a visitor. Jason wouldn't make the insipid mistake of asking a long-time church member if they're just visiting.

"I'm just passing through," comes Fred's response.

After chatting with Fred for a couple of minutes Jason says:

"Fred, I was just on my way to Jim's class - his class is great. I'm really looking forward to it. Would you join me?"

Of course Fred says 'yes,' because Jason has already shown a genuine interest in Fred and Fred sees Jason as a universally interesting person.

Now this is where Fred gets a shock - Sabbath School in the 'perfect church' isn't the same as all the other Adventist churches he's attended. The Sabbath school time isn't spent arguing or regurgitating trite Adventist cliches. Instead, it's spent doing community outreach... Each class has it's own unique contribution to this ministry.

Of course classes won't let out at 10:45 like usual. They would obviously need more time than customary in order to accomplish anything. And so they may be out in the community until 12 or so.

The divine service is noticeably different as well. Most good Adventists would probably mistake it for a Sabbath School class. The pastor would not play any prominent role. His main purpose would be to keep the group focused. The discussion would not necessarily be topical. It would be a time of sharing testimonies, discussing doctrine, and digging into the Bible.

The informality of the setting would invite input from all present, while the solemnity would encourage deep and through contemplation of the subject matter. This part of the 'perfect church' service may last until 6 p.m.

Of course any normal person would have worked up an appetite before 6, so there would be a wonderful vegan potluck at about 1 p.m. - not because every 'perfect church' member is vegan, but because, in the event there is a vegan visitor present, they need not worry about what's 'safe' to eat. To me, a day of that magnitude seems full enough. Some may want more - there'd be plenty of opportunity to organize, lead, and participate in other activities.

Of course there'd be more community outreach on Sunday and small groups on Wednesday evening.

And throughout the week, every 'perfect church' member fellowships with another over a meal as the disciples did.

Does such a church exist? Is such a church 'perfect?' I'm not sure I have an answer for that question.

I'm a bit behind, but lots has been happening. On Sunday I climbed Bierstadt from Guanella pass.

It took me about 3 hours, round-trip. It was one of the easiest climbs I've had. Not much to say except that I beat the rain by about 20 minutes.

I also took my tripod with me and took some panorama shots from the summit. This was taken looking South and West.

Unfortunately I shot these with my crummy lens and there's some variation in tone that shows through in the stitching. But this gives you a general idea.

I also saw this little guy along the way. He's 3 months old and already climbing 14ers... Well, they said they had to carry him part of the way... They're going to have to break him of that habit soon.

I then dropped down the other side of Guanella Pass. There's some beautiful country back there - one of those places you can just imagine living 150 years ago when the land was untouched. If you're looking for a good place to camp, this is it. It's a bit busy due to it's relative proximity to Denver, but on a weekday I doubt it would be very crowded.

There's so many beautiful places to see and explore. So many things to take pictures of. In less than a week I'm off to Canada again. This time I'm gonna spend more time on the trails. Nothing quite like being surrounded by God's creation.

"Be still and know that I am God." - Psalm 46:10

Well folks, we're live! This is my first blog post here at merethinking.com. ...Well, not exactly my first. Maybe my 12th or so - there's been lots of tests. But now everything's working and we'll see what happens.

In other news...

Remember what I said about being an interior designer? I just redid my room, here's a thousand words about it:

As mentioned elsewhere, I painted one wall orange. It doesn't look quite like I was envisioning... And unfortunately, you can't use "command+z" to undo it. It was a learning experience, though - like a "learn to listen to your mother" experience... I might be able to make it work if I had more liberties, but I'm restricted by budget and time. So it's gonna be waiting for me when I come back next summer - tan and orange... Maybe I'll redo the orange in green or something. Maybe I'll just leave it. Maybe track-lighting would fix everything. Maybe mom will get tired of it and do something about it after I'm gone...

Anyway, tomorrow I climb another mountain; Bierstadt, it's supposed to be easy - 7 miles of easy... It'll take several hours, and there's afternoon thunderstorms. At 14,000 ft. time speeds up - or I slow down, not sure which yet. I'll be soloing though, so I should make some decent time.

And at the moment I have a headache from staring at my computer screen too long... So I'm signing off. G'night y'all!

Looking out over Colorado Springs from Pikes Peak.