A Glimpse of My Life: Fall is Here

Fall comes early in Jackson, hinting toward a long and cold winter. Right now, I am relishing the immense beauty that comes with fall. Almost all of the Aspen trees have turned bright yellow, with shorter bushes adding hints of darker orange and red. The evenings and mornings are often below freezing, but the day brings temperatures in the 70s and sometimes 80s. In the past two weeks, I have taken every opportunity I have had to enjoy this beauty. I have gone fishing a few more times, hiking numerous times, and even joined some friends on an antelope hunt!

This past Monday, Ben, Preston and I took the day off and went on a 20 mile hike in Grand Teton National Park up Paintbrush Canyon, over Paintbrush Divide and back down the neighboring Cascade Canyon. Paintbrush Divide is 10,700 ft high, and it was absolutely spectacular (look below at pictures). Add in some great conversation with Ben and Preston, and it made for a wonderful day! I hope to hike/climb to higher elevations in my time here (ultimately hoping to climb the Grand Teton peak of 13,800ft).

Other than having a blast outside, I have been working hard at both planning quality youth/young adult programs and events, and beginning to build and strengthen relationships with the youth and young adults here. Two nights ago, we hosted a Middle School Lock-In at PCJH with youth groups from 4 different churches in Jackson. It was a wild, crazy, but fun time. One aspect I really enjoyed about this event was that multiple churches were able to come together around the common purpose of reaching out to youth and teaching them about Jesus. A highlight of the Lock-In was our late-night worship service. While it was initially difficult to get the tired MS students to focus, the service went long due to an abundance of questions about Jesus, God, and our purpose here on earth. Despite the craziness that came with an evening like that, I was thankful to hear that the students were asking such important questions! As I continue in my role here at PCJH, I pray that I can make the most of the time that I have with all of the youth that I interact with, asking the LORD to help me to show His love to them, and to serve them however possible (John 13:3-4, 12-17)!

Recently, I have been reading through the book of Judges. The account of Gideon's discussion with God, and his request to test God's presence with him (Judges 6:36-40) really struck me. After God did what Gideon reverently asked, Gideon was confident the the LORD was with him. He went on to lead the Israelites to victory over the Midianites. This passage has reminded me that the LORD is with us, is all-powerful, and will help us fulfill His purpose for our lives if we place all our trust in Him. As I find myself a relatively new situation here in Jackson, and an interesting place of life, I am assured that the LORD is with me, and will not leave my side!

Looking forward to the next few weeks, I will be coaching a 5th/6th Grade Boys Basketball team for a community basketball program that PCJH puts on. Each week, the team practices for one hour (with a 20min devotion), and has a game on either Friday night or Saturday morning. This will be a great time to get to know some more youth from the community here, and I am excited for this opportunity!

Thanks again for all of your prayers! That's all for now, enjoy some pictures from the past couple weeks!

Andrew