Fathering in Chicago and more to come!

I'm in Chicago. This week has been insane. This week has been sweet.

I'm here because a group of single folks my age, who put on a bible camp every year at an Indian Reservation decided to get together for a weekend at a lakehouse for some supposed "planning and prep." Also known as snuggling, giggling, and general cultish behavior. :) I suppose this is what happens when you share a single bathroom in a one-room cabin with 15 people for a week each summer. After last year's trip I had only to say the word and the whole team would be at my apartment, even it was 90 degrees inside. We would all sit around sipping beers, playing games, and grinning at each other like idiots. I guess I haven't found a group of individuals that likes each other QUITE that much... ever. So of course I'm going to White Earth this year! And of course I'd drive 6 hours to hang out with them!

The rest of the week I spent reconnecting with guys from my old mens group, doing ministry, listening, praying, listening some more. Here was my appointment schedule for 2 days:

Monday: 12pm, 3pm, 4:30pm, 7pm, 9pm
Tuesday: 7am, 9am, 12pm, 5pm, 8pm

All intense. All exhausting. All rewarding.


Here I feel like a papa (some of my peers even call me that: Papa Nate. I know, right?). I sat in a restaurant with 20 of our best friends Sunday and looked down the long table with immense satisfaction. "You have that fatherly look in your eyes," somebody said interrupting. And it was true. So many people into whom I had invested personal time and energy and near-burnout, and here they were for the most part growing and thriving. Nothing could be more satisfying.

All week, I got to sit with one person after another who ALREADY trusted me and listened to their hearts. Job developments, dating relationships, sexual problems, emotional issues, future decisions, personal growth, healthier decisions. Most guys are still plugged in to healthy community and are growing. The mens group which I started mushroomed under new leadership, achieved some renown in the church, and more mens groups are appearing. I imagine this is how empty nesters feel when their kids are doing well off at college.

Some people were saying I'd changed over the course of 8 months in a good way: that I seemed more peaceful, more confident, more faith-filled. I told them that raising support and receiving 6 weeks of intensive "acceptance therapy" from Father God in August (along with the real sense that my dreams for work and ministry are coming true before my eyes) have all made me deeply trust God's character and care for me. Even though we've had immense stresses and challenges, I think when take stock of our lives, our marriage, our family, all we can say is.... God is good. He is SO good.

Off to Iowa for to hang out with some more friends and then back home to Minnesota! I'll be at church all day Thursday prepping for worship stuff. Then Friday and Saturday, my dad-in-law and I are co-leading a men's retreat. I'll be driving home late Saturday night so I can lead worship the next morning. I'm holding out for Monday morning, and then I'm going to try to spend a couple quiet days with a good book! Hope I can cat nap along the way!