The Vasilopoulos family!! We are so grateful to our dear Illinois friends for hosting our very first Team Empty Chair/Hoops of Hope event in their driveway. We had a blast. We shot over 1000 hoops…
made a ton of pictures for the backpacks
…and had lots of fun.
The day was extra special because we shot in honor of Paige Stibgen. Though Paige lost her battle to cancer, she loved basketball and would have loved the smiles that these backpacks will bring to children in Africa.
This was her basketball team picture…
It was a great day, mostly because we’ve been on the road so long. It felt good to finally start shooting hoops. Thanks again for everything you guys did. We love you!!!
So, here’s a funny story: Yesterday Courtney and I took a trip through the Badlands in South Dakota. We stopped several times along the way at ‘scenic overlooks’ for pictures (like you do). At the third stop I decided to be adventurous and go out to the edge of one of the craggy ravine’s (though not a vertical cliff edge, a slip off the side would still in all likelihood ruin one’s weekend). Courtney took some pictures of me and then decided to join me in the pictures, thus initiating the tripod, ten second timer, holiday get together ritual. She set the tripod up on the cliff edge with she and I, pressed the button to start the countdown, and started heading toward me. Around the five-second mark, two things happened at once: 1. A very hearty gust of wind blew through the canyon and over the edge where Courtney, myself, and the camera where sitting. 2. Time slowed down as we watched our VERY expensive camera tumble, tripod in tow, off the edge and into the ravine. The dialogue after the horrendous spectacle went something like this:
COURTNEY: MICHAEL!!!! WHAT DO WE DO!!!!
MICHAEL: Just walk away! There’s nothing we can do. It’s gone.
COURTNEY: Over my dead body. You get your butt down that ravine and get our memories back.
MICHAEL: Are you out of your mind?! It’ll be my dead body you’re talking about if I attempt this feat!
COURTNEY: You’re an Eagle Scout. Figure it out!
MICHAEL: FINE!
At this point, I had a decision to make. I could either fight her on the way I felt this adventure would inevitably end, or put my scout skills to the ultimate test. I chose the latter. In true Eagle Scout form I devised a plan to fashion a harness out of an extension cord, tie the other end to the RV bumper (using a boy scout knot of course) and then repel down to the camera, which was about 25ft below on a lower ledge.
So off I went to get the cord and back the RV up. When I arrived back at the scene, Courtney is standing there with the camera talking to a…very portly fellow. Turns out this guy had witnessed the whole debacle and had taken it upon himself to retrieve the camera. I only mention the fact that he was large because in Courtney’s words, “I was sure I was going to have to call 911, either because of a fall or because of a heart attack due to physical over-exertion.”
Somehow, miraculously, this guy made it down there and then, even more miraculously, he fireman crawled out, like a chubby kid getting out of a swimming pool. Actually he was surprisingly agile, and though I can’t believe he did that, we are both very grateful to the unknown man from Carbondale, IL who saved our memories. When asked about the experience, he exact words were, “Hey that’s why you come to the Badlands, right?”
I guess so…
Michael and I have moved a lot in our short little marriage. In fact, we have moved every single year – Dallas, TX to Dekalb, IL to Geneva, IL to the road in a RV. We’ve only been together 2.5 years so that FEELS like a lot more than it LOOKS. And while we are constantly packing up, tossing out and changing locations, one thing we never “pack up” and “toss out” are the friends that we have made along the way. We have made some incredible friends and been impacted by amazing people. The more we drive around this country the more overwhelmed I am by this realization.
One couple who has impacted are lives is Leo and Rebecca Ahlstrom. Leo is the worship pastor at our church in Illinois. They tragically lost their daughter, Meagan Elaine, on the morning of Sunday, June 14th, in a car accident.
We never knew Meagan, unfortunately. But I have a feeling we would have been great friends. She was wildly passionate, crazy about museums, theater and Celine Dion, LOVED cheese, desired to do something huge with her life and was headed to Sierra Leone in October.
Her parents post entries from her journal on Facebook every now and then. It makes me smile to watch her trying to figure “it” all out. The truth is, the greatest thing she had “figured out” was the hope she had in her life. Meagan had hope. Hope that she wanted to bring to Africa and to everything she touched in the future…even though she wasn’t sure yet what that entailed!
Meagan’s life is a reminder for me today of the hope that we have when we don’t know what tomorrow holds and we can’t get out of bed and when we are angry and afraid. “His love endures forever…”
We shoot hoops for Meagan today.
Because she wanted to bring hope to Africa, Michael and I are donating 4 backpacks to kids orphaned by AIDS in her name.
Hello from Spokane, WA! So I think our last travel post was from Phoenix, AZ. That was a week ago. Sorry it’s taken a week to post something new about our trip. I’m sure everyone is wondering where in the world we’ve been. We’ve been very busy. A quick rundown:
From Phoenix we headed up to Lake Powell, with a quick stop at the Grand Canyon
and spent the night. This is wear the water pump video happened. We’ve still not gotten that resolved btw and I have the feeling it’s going to be a JOB. I think we’re going to try and get it fixed in a couple of weeks when we get to Wilmington, NC. Until then we’re going to water jug it. Anyway we got to see the Glen Canyon Dam
and then headed north to Provo, Utah just south of Salt Lake City. I’m not kidding, we ate at THE BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT ever!!! It’s called Red Iguana and I highly recommend it if you find yourself in Salt Lake City. Try the Mole, it’s what they’re known for.
From there we headed up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with a quick stop by Bear Lake for some Raspberry Jam and a Raspberry Milkshake (my taste buds haven’t been the same since). Jackson Hole was awesome! We started our day with breakfast at the Rusty Parrot Lodge and then shopped in town. Then it was on to the Grand Teton’s and Yellowstone (we’re putting together an Old Faithful video which will be up soon). I can scratch something new off my bucket list: We got to see a 24point bull moose!! In fact I almost ran over him!! There truly are no words to describe the beauty and the wildlife we saw. Courtney got to have a staring competition with a buffalo which I don’t recommend but we felt safe enough. From Yellowstone we headed up to Bozeman, Montana where we had an amazing lunch at The Nova Cafe. What a great little city, btw!! From there it was on to Spokane, WA, the final destination of the first part of our trip.
For those of you who didn’t know, we came here for a wedding. Courtney’s good friend Stephanie Ataide, whom she met at Women of Faith and who’s brother Ryan works with us on the Revolve Tour, got married and of course we wanted to be here so we made this a part of our journey. We had a great time visiting with good friends from all over and resting by the Spokane River. We’ve been here for four days and are leaving this afternoon, en route to Mt Rushmore. From there we’re headed to Door Country, WI for a weekend with friends. Steven and Keresa – get ready! We’re on our way!! We’ll check in again in a couple of days. Peace…
So, I’ve been reading the Gospel of Matthew (part of the “Crazy Love” experience). In truth, it’s been a while since I just sat down and read through the Gospels. I mean I have ‘quiet time’ and stuff (though I hate that phrase and don’t understand where it came from or how it relates to hanging out with Jesus) but I typically don’t sit and read the Gospels through. It’s quite a time commitment and it’s funny how we Christians spend so much time reading so many Christian authors and all complain about not having enough time to read the Bible. Don’t misunderstand me, I mean no disrespect to authors who’s works have helped millions of people grow in their faith or find faith for the first time. I mean the very reason I’ve been reading Matthew is because Francis Chan told me too. It’s sad that an author has to tell me to read the Bible, but I digress.
Anyway I read the parable of the Sower today (Matthew 13: 1-9), which I’ve read many times before, and though I think it is a good representation of the pitfalls we find in life as we try to live our faith, I’ve never really thought much about it past that. My experience with this parable has always been in sermon form from a pastor or speaker, “Are you good soil or are you a thorn?” I always personalized that as a call for behavior modification in my own life and I do think that is a part of it. But as I read this morning, I was struck by something deeper in the parable. As much as this parable is about individual Christians and their behavior, it is also a caution about environment, a warning about community. Jesus seems to be saying, “Be careful, beloved, who and what you surround yourself with.”
For a Christian to produce real fruit in his life, to be able to make a difference in the lives around him, to be ‘in the world but not of the world’, it is essential that he surround himself with people who are honest and full of truth, encouraging and admonishing in love, and that he keep near to himself an environment that is refuge, sanctuary, and safe-house. This parable does not by any means indicate that we are to shelter ourselves from the realities of the fallen world. But it does mean that we have a spiritual necessity in the world we surround ourselves with that cannot be overlooked. If it is overlooked, then we place ourselves in the face of the scorching sun, we blindfold ourselves and grasp the stems of roses that spring up around us.
Those of you who know me know that my heart song, my battle cry, is community, community, community. We cannot live in isolation from the source of life that we find in our brothers in sisters. It is impossible to live a life of faith and mercy to it fullest if we attempt to tackle the world alone. My hope and prayer for the church is that it will continue to thrive, not on numbers or church attendance, but in the trenches of real life, full of broken people loving broken people. That is where the good soil is and that is where we will find life abundant.
So, that 12-½ hour drive from San Antonio to Phoenix that I mentioned two days ago was actually a sixteen hour drive. We were in the Mav’ from 9am to 3am, central time (you do the math). Courtney doesn’t even remember the last gas stop (she was sleeping so deeply that she doesn’t remember the conversation we had about the gas station we went to). Thanks to Red Bull, Sunflower Seeds, and Garth Brooks for making the last two hours of the trip possible.
Needless to say, we made it to Phoenix and all is well. We slept in yesterday and then went to lunch with Austin, Dan, Denise, and Brittany at “Cracker’s & Co” before they hopped on a plane to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Though they were leaving, they offered their home to us for an extra day so that we could get some work done and relax a little before heading north to the Grand Canyon. We promptly took them up on their offer and spent the day swimming and working on our trip, the website, and running those errands I mentioned in the last post. We got the oil changed, got air in the bike tires, and are grabbing coffee beans on the way out.
Last night, we went into downtown and ate at ‘Pizzeria Bianca’, a local establishment mentioned in the “road trip food” section of Budget travel. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m not kidding, it was the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. We had the sonny boy pizza (Mozzarella, salami, and olives) and then ordered a second pizza to go for lunch today (I am eating this second pizza as I type and to be honest, I’m a little distracted by its spiritual goodness). What was I saying…oh yeah, Phoenix.
Anyway, today we are headed to the Grand Canyon and we’re syked about it. Tonight will be our first night in an RV park so I’m sure we’ll have plenty to blog about tomorrow. As a final thought, I was hanging out with Jesus yesterday afternoon and to be frank, my mind was somewhere else. I was so focused on the stress of the laundry list of things we needed to do: Getting to Yellowstone in time, finding campgrounds, getting groceries, fixing the website, fixing the bikes, etc. I’ve been reading Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love”, which, if you haven’t picked up a copy, stop reading this and go get it. It’ll change your perspective on stuff. Anyway he talks about the arrogance of stress and worry and that though there are important things in our lives that need to be tended to, worry and stress imply that we think our problems are bigger than God. James 4: 13-14 says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
I began thinking about that amidst the craziness of what Courtney and I are doing and thought, “Wow! How much time have I wasted in the trenches of detail, trying to map out everything and plan everything and worry about the RV. Have I forgotten to just show up? When we set out on this adventure, I suppose there was an element of romanticizing about the trip, all we would do, all we would see, all this time we’d get to spend together, and ALL the money we’d raise. Well guess what? Three weeks in we haven’t raised that much money yet, we are two days behind on our trip, we’re tired, and we’ve changed our plans six times in five days, and you know what? That’s okay. That’s okay…it’s the first time I’ve said it. I feel better.
This time we’ve had in Phoenix has allowed me to see that sure, goals are important, and yes we have places to be, but in the midst of all of those things, are we missing what God is doing in us? Are we forgetting to stop and thank Him that we’ve lived another day and been given another opportunity to share Him with someone? 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God”. Let us not forget our purpose, not only on this adventure, but everyday in our lives. Peace out…
Here’s a little something from a couple of weeks ago – We put our dog on my parents electric fence so she could stay with them while we are RV-ing. The fence trainer made us take a zap so we would know how she feels…(we couldn’t post Courtney’s zap because some mild profanity might have slipped out…oops)
…
…and had lots of fun.
Though Paige lost her battle to cancer, she loved basketball and would have loved the smiles that these backpacks will bring to children in Africa.
