SAVOR-My Father's Day Psalm

Savor each moment as a Golden thread
Savor your heartbeat, savor your bed
Savor the air provided for free
Savor the green leaves of a beautiful tree
Savor the flowers dancing for you
Savor your family because they love you true
Savor your place in this living Cosmos
Savor your wisdom learned by Osmos
Savor your Father and Mother still here
Savor their presence if gone yet still near
Savor all things your Creator does make
Savor your food whether little or steak
And in the end while at the bank
Your only deposit needed is to say "THANKS!"

Thank you Father for your intrinsic web that surrounds
Thank you Father for all you do without a sound
Thank you for eros and love and ongoing creation
Thank you for silence, for time and vacation
Your encircling arms do enfold around me
And You love me I know and set my heart free

If the only prayer you say in your whole life is "thank you" that would suffice--Meister Eckhart

Wolf Dreams

Before coming up here to Alaska I was stressing out about what type of weapons I would need and about the trip in general, and that night I had a dream where I saw a large wolf standing in front of me and voice said "Do not worry, for the wolf will protect you". I thought it quite strange, yet it was in a sense reassuring. I was unaware of what exactly that mean but I did some research on wolves and I found it quite interesting. I pulled this from a sacred dreams website:

Today, the wolf represents all that which is wild and free. They call us to the last retreats of our vanishing wilderness, where their songs carry on the wind, a wild defiant sorrow.

Roaming where few men dare, wolves pierce the silence with their powerful song. The howl begins low and melodious. The sound is lonely, haunting, surreal; as if the voices of our ancestors were howling through the canyons.

Soon, the ridges resound with the chorus of a wolf pack on the prowl. Then, as the last note descends, it is quiet, as the winds whisper like spirits of ancient times.

Remember that sound and treasure it. It is as old as time, wild as the wind and as poetic as moonlight on snow. It is the trademark of the wolf.

And then this from another website that I found most interesting in my own personal journey right now:

Animals are powerful teachers that frequently appear in our dreams or our daily activities, providing us with insight, companionship, and subtle messages. Understanding these signals necessitates humility and the ability to be in touch with one's intuitiveness.

A dynamic animal of the great kingdom of creatures is the wolf. Referred to as the teacher and pathfinder of new ideas; the wolf has an enormous sense of family, as well as a strong individualistic drive. These traits would seem to to make the wolf quite similar to the human race. In the terrific guide book accompanying Medicine Cards (Bear & Co.), authors Jamie Sams and David Carson describe wolf medicine as "empowering the teacher within us all to come forth and aid the children of Earth in understanding the Great Mystery and life. As you feel wolf coming alive within you, you may wish to share your knowledge by writing or lecturing on information that will help others better understand their uniqueness or path of life".

And instantly after I read this for the first time I thought back to my first encounter with a wolf, we were living in Colorado in 1989-1990 when I was in the Army and Michelle, Travis and I were way up in the mountains in our Mitsubishi Precis. We were up a old mining trail by St. Mary's Glacier and I had just gotten back in from going to the bathroom. I looked out my driver's side glass and standing face to face almost was a large gray, white and black wolf. His face was almost eye level and he just sat there staring. He didn't attack or move, but I eased the car in 1st gear and drove down the mountain and we were all just silent. I remember it as clear as day to this moment...

So, I invite you in to my strangeness. I do not know what it all means but it is why I have attached the picture of the wolf/man ornament that I saw today at the Alaskan Native Center. It struck a chord and resonated within me, yet I don't fully know why. If someone else out there has some insight, let me know...

peace, Tim

Bum

Beware of him whom you cast the eye
Because in a moment, it could be I
Everything we hold dear
Lost in an instance
Of mortal failure
And human insistence

So if you see the one called bum at 5am
Shuffling your eyes like we don't see um
Go about your day and never guess his troubles
But in that look his pain does double

Less than human he does feel
wondering how to get a meal
No one cares about his trouble
Don't want to pile on theirs and make it double

But in the moments of human heart
To share a cell phone or cigarette mark
And in the depths you will see
That we are the same, you and me

Why Alaska?

Why would a 40 year old out of shape man, desire to trek 5000 miles to Alaska? What is it that cries out within his heart? Alaska, it is a vast land full of rocky coastlines, enormous mountain ranges, mosquito filled tundra as far as the eye can see. Glaciers calfing into the deep blue ocean projecting enormous icebergs. It is a deep green sea of pines splaying out as far as the eye can see. It is a land filled with wonder, filled with awe and filled with danger. Where a man or woman can be tested in the fullness of their being, and it is for this that I long for. It is, in a sense, like the One who created it Himself, God. To vast for any one man to contain, to dangerous to traverse alone, for in Alaska we are not at the top of the food chain. It is something so much larger than myself and truthfully it is a manifestation of all man's and women's longing for God Himself and our answer to our eternal prayer, Let your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.

So, I invite you into the depths of my adventure, on my Dream quest to find my soul, to find myself, to test my self to the depths of my being and to hopefully find "what it is that I'm looking for!" Which is ultimately God Himself. To discover the wonder of His creation and perhaps through my own feeble efforts to feel something deep in your own Spirit rising up...it is THE CALL OF THE WILD!, welcome it with warm, inviting arms and you never know where the Spirit will lead you...

Tim