Wow! I don't know where to start! 3 days ago when I drove onto the Malaspina ferry I was expecting a nice quiet ride to Haines, AK, having plenty of time to read and get ready for the long boring drive north. God had other plans.
I immediately met a young newlywed couple from Florida who are moving to Kodiak. I was excited to find out they are Christians and going to be looking for a church home when they arrive. I'm hoping it works to get to know them better while they are there.
The first day was rather uneventful, though I did have several opportunities to chat with that couple, as well as a variety of the crew members. It was kind of funny actually, because at one of the stops someone mentioned they were waiting for me, and apparently a bunch of the crew members all knew me by name and started trying to find me. I guess the guys I had randomly started a conversation with were the chief engineer, the 2nd captain, and the guy in charge of loading the cars, and word had spread from there. Wierd.
Anyways, I was sitting reading the 2nd day, and noticed a couple guys playing a game. I was curious about the game, but had also noticed the younger guy a couple times before during my bouts of 'people watching', and for some reason really was drawn to him. So after awhile of watching, I went over and asked what they were playing. He asked if I wanted to play, and I joined them.
Thom is in his late 30's, headed up to Denali for work. Josh is mid 20's, on his way to Fairbanks for the Army. After awhile, Thom left for a moment, and what followed was yet another God thing. Josh turned and said he had overheard me earlier talking to the couple from Florida about churches, and asked if I could recommend any in the Fairbanks area. He's moving up there and wants to get involved with a good group of Christians. So we started talking, and while we broke off the conversation to continue the games when Thom came back, it continued off and on over the course of the trip. From sharing his testimony with me, to watching how he quietly lives out his faith while actively trying grow in his relationship with God, to hearing him talk about the cd's of sermons that a friend gave him, God has used him to encourage and challenge me. It was really cool to sit there looking at the amazing beauty all around us, and be able to talk about the majesty and awesomeness of God's creation with someone who understood that it WAS a blessing from God, not just something pretty that happens to be there.
Since that evening, the three of us have kind of stuck together. We've played games, walked the deck, and just hung out for much of the last couple days. We headed into town in Ketchikan for breakfast and coffee, stepped off in Wrangell and Petersburg (just to say we'd been there), and got a taxi to take us in to Juneau this morning for breakfast at a little diner. Our taxi driver took us to get coffee, and then we pulled in to take some pics of Mendenhall Glacier. Back on the boat we had a relaxing couple hours looking at pictures and napping until 2, when the ferry pulled into Haines, AK. Since we're all going as far as Tok, we decided to caravan up that far, and then split up there. Josh led the way. It was disappointing that it got dark by 3pm, but we did see some pretty neat scenery, and customs was no problem for any of us. While it WAS a little snowy, Josh WAS rather cautious, and it took us a LOT longer than planned to reach Haines Junction, where we'd decided to stay tonight. Needless to say, Thom and I aren't about to let him live it down...
They found a hotel down the road from the one I was at, and we gathered again for dinner and an evening of lots of laughs and a ton of fun! We've been making little videos of some of the places we've been, and some of the things that have been said along the way are going to be good memories for all of us. :)
Tomorrow comes way too soon, and unfortunately, a long day of driving comes with it.
