Due North

Due North

                When I was finishing my degree in Christian Ministry I had applied for an internship to go to Hawaii for a year. When I told some of my friends at church, they seemed shocked that I would apply for this internship, and made some jokes about it. When I asked them why, their response was that I am a northern outdoors man, and it seemed odd that I would want to go anywhere but north. This comment really got me thinking about myself and who I appear to be to others. After much thought about this I realized how right they were about me. It was not that I wouldn’t love to go and see things in the south, or warmer climates, but I actually really enjoy the north.

I love the snow and large expanses of forests in the north. The north has always been a place of joy to me, it has been a place I have gone to for all of my life and spent my time in recreation. Most of my stories that you might have read, have to do with times I was travelling in northern Minnesota. I know that to someone who lives in the northern parts of Minnesota or Canada, some of these places I have been really are not that far north, but it is still areas that are becoming the northern forests. Something about the north always calls to me; it’s the wild places, and the areas where there has been little impact by man. In Minnesota there is an area called the Boundary Waters and this area is one of those places that you can go to get away from the large changes of man, but even this might change with the ever pressing need for metals. In the north they have the blessing of all four seasons, and each season brings changes to the land, and each season shapes the land. These seasons call me north also because I wonder what the views look like, and what different things I might see because of the changes. Where in summer a stream might be completely dry, in spring and fall it will be full of water. The summer can hide places, like caves or old creatures, but in winter the caves become visible in the undergrowth and the creatures are easier to see in the snow. The north takes a hearty folk to live there. They have to have the ability to adapt with the changing seasons, and the patients to get through them. In the north the bitter cold can last long expanses of time, or snow storms can pour down over a foot of snow in just a few hours. One of the greatest joys of the north is the dancing lights in the sky, when you travel far enough north and stay up into the early hours of the next day you can have the blessing of seeing the Northern Lights. Aura Borealis is something I have been able see a few times in my life, and after I watched for what seems like hours, I soon wish to see them again.

As I thought about the north, and all the things I love about it, I understood why it seemed odd that I would go to some place like Hawaii, but for me it was something I always wanted to do, and a place I have always wanted to see. There are many places to the south that I want to see, places like the Grand Tetons, the Redwood Forest, and the Everglades’. These places fill me with wonder, and I know they would fill me with praise to my God in heaven for his great creation. To me as I enjoy the places I get to go I truly understand what God meant in Genesis after he created, when he said “it is good.” Truly his creation is good, and I hope and pray that he allows me to go and enjoy it for many more years.