Meditation

I'm going to miss Dave Frick a lot. When pastors talked about being "passionate", the young people in the church knew that they could have said "Mister Frick" interchangeably. It wasn't just because he wasn't afraid to say "Amen", and mean it; it was because he wasn't afraid to love us. When I got kicked out of school, he was the only one who reached out to me (and helped me through that tough time). He really had an important role for us young people. When dumb jocks ripped on us skinny guys, he would talk about the guy on his navy ship named "beanpole" - as the crew found out, the strongest guy on the ship. And the guy wasn't an intellectual, but when I looked at Dave Frick I saw Jesus, and there weren't many people I could say that about. The pastors just dismissed our family as dysfunctional (despite a few courtesy visits); but Mr. Frick just accepted us and I know he really believed God had a plan for me, and when I was around him I believed it too.

And without warning, he's gone. It hurts, but differently than I would have thought; when I think about him I don't feel regret, but hope. After a life full of love and giving, and a share of pains and burdens, the decay of this life accumulates... and then it's just time to go.

Dave Frick's life doesn't teach anything new; humility, compassion, passion for holiness. I could know all the greek and hebrew and theology in the world, but if I haven't learned these things, I haven't learned anything at all. So I guess I'll thank him again soon enough for his good lessons. With that, it's time to get back to the here-and-now and catch up on homework (good luck with that). Chow

No Title #1

Yesterday was bad. As for today...

7:06 AM, four rings of the phone, let the machine pick it up, "Hi Josh, this is mom... I wanted to let you know that Dave Frick passed away..."

Red Letter Days

Time has put together a list of top 100 novels here: www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html I'm slightly surprised at some of the reader's top choices (Snow Crash is a great book, but one of the top 5 novels ever?)

More importantly: "I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never - I promise - regret it. Live out this God created identity the way our father lives towards us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind."
-Luke 6:35-36

Here's a photo of cog train descending from Mt. Washington on Saturday, October 15. (I'll post a couple more eventually and tell about the place. This is as much for me as anybody.)

Raging Sabaday falls

And one more for good measure. A picture just doesn't convey the feeling of power coming from these falls - the Northeast has had some huge rains and floods, and we got to see it slightly after it peaked. According to Colin Smith, the more time I spend writing on these blog things, the more my writing skills deteriorate...

I'm tired. (Anyone out there know what I mean?)

Eye candy

RainyDrive.jpg
Originally uploaded by Josh Powers.

Well there's nothing like a photo or two to enhance my newfound career as an internet exhibitionist. The weekend started out rainy. It rained a lot all weekend... but despite that it was an incredibly great trip. More later

Nothing like a first step .. for starters...

Well I have started a blog, and now I might be late for chapel. It's good to see I've finally got my priorities straight. Chow dogs