The River....

I recently got to get on/in the Upper Owens River near Mammoth Lakes, CA. It was cold. There was 3-4 feet of snow along the highway and I was knee-highing my way to the water through soft snow. I also had to negotiate over a barbwire fence with my waders. Not a time for sissies or for slip-ups.

Actually, to back it up a bit, I had started fishing the Lower Owens River, where it comes out of Lake Crowley, near Bishop. But, the water was flowing too fast...there was too much of it moving. The fish were 'off' or maybe I just sucked. Nothing was biting.

As I was standing in the water though, I could feel it moving around me. It could not be stopped. There was a certain pressure I had to keep using in my legs, just to make any progress as I made my way up the river. Of course if I fell on my butt, I would just be flowing with the river. I'd also probably drown as my waders filled like a water balloon. A totally heroic way to go for sure. [Gravemarker: He left like he came...in a water-filled sack].

I started getting all thoughtful about it though...the flow; the stream. The Bible teaches that if we know Jesus, living water will fill me and flow out of me and that it cannot be stopped. It is moving in and around me. It is full of life. I can try to stand up against it, but that takes pressure. In a good way, if I just flow with it, I get carried along. I may not know what is around the next bend, but I am flowing with the river. It was a cool thought.

Then, my overwhelming frustration at being mocked by fish got the better of me. I needed to get somewhere else. That is when I jumped in the car and drove another 40 minutes to the Upper O. It was another experience entirely, but I will save that for next time.

Dream...

I’m not sure where to really start with this, so I will just jump in. I [Kyle] had a dream a couple years back that has really clarified my vision for reaching college students but have felt weird to share it for one reason or another.
In my dream, I was at a table with a large number [50 or more] college students. On the table was the most incredible feast you could imagine. Everything you would ever want to eat was on the table and we were having such a great time eating, laughing and gorging on this stuff.
After awhile, I stopped focusing on the table and looked around. This was easy since we were in a ‘room’ that had glass walls. We were in the middle of a campus surrounded by students, and again, I could see them all because our room was glass.
What I saw gives me chills to think about. Students wandering around. Emaciated students. Each one looked like they were from a concentration camp. Starving. But, not just that, they had no eyes. Just flesh covering where their eyes should be. Blind. Some students were kind of walking around, but some had fallen and some were apparently dead.
I remember feeling all kinds of things. Grateful that they couldn’t see us partying. Shocked at the discrepency between how they were living and how we [in the room] were living.
In the dream I tried getting the attention of the students I was with. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get them to look away from the feast.
The dream ended with me grabbing a chair to break the glass.
There is so much for me to learn and remember from that dream. Just a few things include: -remembering how good we have it. We have so much when we have a relationship with God. It is literally a feast.
-we are called to break the glass. Get our eyes off each other, isolating ourselves from others and invite them into the feast.
-people are lost, starving, and blind. They are dying without Christ. They don’t even know it. Living like that is normal to them…they don’t see what they are missing.
-I am so grateful to be included in God’s plan to invite others to feast with Him. I can still remember what it feels like to be ‘outside’…and am thankful for the faith it took for a fellow student to invite me to the banquet table.

My first post

Well, I will finally breakout and write something. I feel pressure to make it witty or thought provoking...though I know it won't be.

I've been thinking lately how much I am missing my time in the river. I've surfed a bit lately, but I haven't fished the Fall yet. I'm sure the big browns are there, especially in the Owens. Too busy. Busy-ness seems to jack things up. But, the trees are changing colors and the river keeps moving.

If anyone reads this, you probably don't fish. But, there's nothing quite like tempting a fish to the surface with a bit of deer hair tied to look like a bug. Seeing it rush onto the fly like it was starving. Feeling the bang on the rod. Trying not to freak as you set the hook.

Then the chase is on....

Hopefully, I can get up to the mountains soon.