ALASKA - JANUARY 2005

I really enjoyed my time away. I spent a lot of it in quiet meditation and contemplation in some new areas of thought. I had many things swirling around in my head and I needed this quiet time away to focus and process.

We had some flight delays which took us off course by about 4 hours so we didn’t arrive in Anchorage until Tuesday evening. We had planned to take the 4 hour drive to Homer that same day but didn’t want to do so at night so we stayed in Anchorage. It was well worth
waiting until Wednesday morning to make the drive. The views were breath taking and we would have missed so much in the dark. The sun sets around 5:30-6PM which isn’t all that different than home but waking up Wednesday morning at 8AM to complete darkness was so different. This time of year the sun rises around 9:30AM! We enjoyed the conversations all the way to Homer. The time flew by. And we even saw a moose which is what I was hoping for!

We stayed in a B&B in Homer right on the ocean that overlooks the spit. The couple that put us up is a part of the Refuge community that we were there to get to know. The view from our bay window was amazing. The air was so cool and clean. (About 25º in Homer but got
to -6º in Soldotna where the retreat was held) I felt a little under the weather when we arrived but something about that clean cold air was healing. As I would breathe in, my nostrils would tingle and my chest felt such great relief. I came to find out that the owners pray for this place to be a healing environment and it truly was. I wasn’t ill for long.

The people are very different in Homer. I enjoyed learning about howthey live. Marilyn (the owner of the B&B) and I connected right away. She shared that the people in Homer usually only live in their homes during the winter. In the summertime they move out and and if they
own they rent out their homes. But, they don’t do so to travel anywhere…they just move out to live in tents on the spit (a piece of land that juts out from the coast line). Fishing is big and a good source of income for many. So, the summertime is for making money and the winter is for playing. Marijuana grows quite nicely there too so many have plants. It isn’t illegal as long as they have under a certain weight so often their isn’t much done about it. Interesting! I am told The native Alaskans are a very hurting people…especially the women. The men abuse drugs/alcohol and in turn the women get the brunt of their addictions poured out on them. They have lived under much physical, sexual abuse. But, I am told that even so the women are so gentle and loving.

Wednesday - Friday we relaxed.  We read and slept and Jason got to play his music. What an environment he had to create in. It was so quiet. In fact, coming home today made me so aware of what a noisy place we live in. My senses were so in tune with the hum of the freeway and the acceleration of cars. I found it really distracting as I lay in bed this morning trying to sleep. Anyway, Only about 5000 live in Homer—and not clustered together—so the town feels even smaller than that. Most of the people we met come to live in Alaska—not natives. They are from all over the world too! Alaska seems to be a place people come to to live out adventure and independence. Homer tends to be a very creative, artistic and spiritual town too which was something I didn’t expect. We spent some good time with John and Brandy too (the couple that invited us to come up). They took us on a hike to the ocean which was quite icy but beautiful. We had dinner one night with Darrin and Lorraine (pastor and his wife) and Eric and Stephanie (associate pastor and his wife). They are all wonderful, easy going and inviting people. Darrin has long hair, a big bushy beard, and tattoos up both arms and is such a gentle and warm man. I loved him instantly!

On Friday afternoon we headed to Soldotna, where the retreat was being held. What I found amusing is that normally a retreat is held away from the city—you know, trying to get some solitude. But, not people from Homer. We all drove an hour and a half back toward Anchorage to be close to a bigger city!  And, it was bigger but not even as big as Thousand Oaks (which isn’t that big!) Funny!

Our time there was great. I had visualized how I wanted my time to be and it was just that. I had some wonderful one-on-one conversations with different people. I love good dialog. My conversations with Marilyn (B&B owner) really stood out as quite special. She had been an atheist most of her life and then came to God but not the way we typically expect. And, by not growing up in modern church culture she doesn’t live in certain boxes or have certain fears. She has such a free spirit. Our conversations were challenging, inspiring and confirming. The people who lead music for the weekend were from a town about 40 miles north of Anchorage—a husband and wife, a guitarist and a percussionist. They have a heart to play music and spend most of their time traveling around together doing just that. You can tell by the natural way they play together that they are not only band mates but good friends as well. Their music was very fluid and organic. They call themselves North Wind. Jason and Mike (lead singer) hooked up instantly… kindred spirits really. They ended up hanging out the first night, driving into town, and having all kinds of crazy adventures. They invited Jason to sing/accompany them Sunday morning which was great. Many confirmations of Jason’s talent. For some reason, this time I felt this input was prophetic and felt a strong sense that I will be assisting him toward making music more than just a hobby…not sure what that looks like yet but it’s cool to have these strong senses about it.

Our time there was really well received and timely for Darrin and Lorraine. We all came away feeling a strong sense that we were going to stay connected somehow. I felt I was given words to many feelings I have been having and we had strong confirmations about adding some new elements to our gathering times. It’s cool, here we are two communities 4,000 miles away from each other yet sharing a similar vision and spiritually journeying together. We will probably go back in the summertime which everyone tells me is the really beautiful time to go. I can’t even imagine! People repeatedly shared with me how green it gets and how beautiful flowers are and of course how great the fishing is.