Backpacks and Discipline

   What a week.  The school week was different because it was our "iExplore Week," a special week immediately after spring vacation when students have the opportunity to sign up for alternative classes for one week.  Our school hosted classes such as Robotics, Cooking Around the World, and The History of Grand Rapids.  Before I became ill, I had to submit a proposal and decided to offer "Backpacking."  After all, I had led many trips in the past, this was an interest of mine, and it would be a blast.  Then cancer came along and as it always does, it upset the entire plan...at least it tried.
   I could not carry my backpack.  Heck, I could not even go up a hill without grabbing the bottoms of my gym shorts as if it were late in the fourth quarter.  Chemo has a way of really knocking down one's endurance.  But we still went ahead with our plans.  With great leadership all week from Alex, my long-term and valued replacement teacher, and my niece C.J., who joined us for the two-day hike, we made it all happen.  I am glad it is over but at the same time I am thankful that we were able to go for the sake of our students.  Final numbers: 14 students, 2.5 leaders (I was the half), 2 days (1 night), about 18 miles on the Manistee River Trail and North Country Trail. and all survived.  Was it fun?  Not all of it.  Was it a learning experience?  Definitely.  Was it worthwhile? Most difficult experiences are.

   Too often we try to evaluate the worth of an experience by asking our children or ourselves, "Was it fun?"  It is as if every experience must somehow be placed on a continuum that stretches from "FUN" on one end to "BORING" on the other end.  The implicit understanding is that much of life should be on the "FUN" side of things.  This is faulty thinking.  Like that backpacking experience, not all of it was fun.  Not all of it was pleasant.  But as was discussed in church today, when we have those difficult times in life, those "Desert Episodes" when life is just plain hard, terms like "fun" and "boring" have no meaning.  But also during these times we can learn so much about ourselves and our God.  Characteristics like "perseverance" and "discipline" and "relentlessness" and "endurance" and "adventure" come through.  These are the times when God can speak to us so much more clearly.  When we know that we cannot do life on our own, we cry out to him and he carries us.  Often, instead of allowing our children or our students to go through such things, parents and teachers alike opt for activities that could be described with words like "comfort" and "safety" and "easy" and "achievable" attached to them.  There is no growth in these activities.
   Fun?  No, that does not describe our backpacking trip.  Boring? This word doesn't work either. Perseverance and discipline and relentlessness and endurance and adventure?  Much better.  These characteristics are far more valuable when they are offered experientially to our children.  The lasting impact on one's personhood is immeasurable.  These are the characteristics that are desperately needed when one is in a difficult time, a "Desert Episode."  Trust me.  I know.  I have cancer.