An update from the Larsons

Because of our current situation and the number of people that have requested information, I have thought it good to give an update on our circumstances of late.

As many of you know, Kari (my wife) and I have recently come to Hope BC to work at Kawkawa Camp & Retreat. I filled the Executive Director position June 1st 2005. Recently we had a geo-technical report done on our camp site and it was determined that the probability of a destructive and dangerous geological event occuring was too high for the purposes for which we operate our camp: children's camp. With this and a number of other factors, we felt it the only wise course of action was to close our current site down.

What does this mean for Kawkawa? Our board sincerely desires to move locations to another spot in the lower mainland to continue camping ministry. When, how, where and the who of all of that is 'up in the air' as they say. We simply don't know what will happen or how it will happen.

What does this mean for the Larsons? I have recently decided to continue on with Kawkawa until July of 2006. We will not have summer camp but I am continuing to operate the office from my home to keep people up to date on the 'goings-on' of Kawkawa. My wife, since I've laid her off :), has found work at Camp Squeah full time! And I am filling my time with other things here and there. We thank God for all these circumstances because they are giving us opportunities to learn and grow and to understand His character that we would otherwise not have known. Perhaps I will post some of those experiences soon.

If you'd like to encourage us or know more, feel free to e-mail me at director@kawkawa.com. Also check out the Kawkawa website in my links to the right.

Paris Reidhead - from his sermon 'Ten Shekels & a Shirt'

"I believe that the only ones whom God actually witnesses by His Spirit and are born of Him, are the people, whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say something like this, 'Lord Jesus, I'm going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do, as long as I live even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE LOVED, AND OBEYED, AND SERVED, and I 'm not trying to make a deal with you!'"

Thomas Merton on the giving of gifts

"... it is also true that God often measures His gifts by our desire to receive them, and by our cooperation with His grace, and the Holy Spirit will not waste any of His gifts on people who have little or no interest in them. "

Is God a God who gives randomly and to all who ask? Is God a God who will not waste? Is God selective? He is not partial, I think. Here is a further quote by Thomas Merton:

"Infused contemplation, on the contrary, is a powerful means of sanctification. It is the work of love and nothing is more effective in increasing our love for God. In fact, infused contemplation is intimately connected with the pure and perfect love of God which is God's greatest gift to the soul. It is deep and intimate knowledge of God by a union of love -- a union in which we learn things about Him that those who have not received such a gift will never discover until they enter heaven.
Therefore, if anyone should ask, 'Who may desire this gift and pray for it?' the answer is obvious: everybody."

Heading out on the 'Zachary Mudge' 2003 with L.I.T.'s from Pioneer Pacific Camp

Life is an ocean

Life is an ocean of mystery most of us are too afraid to venture upon willingly in all its profound vastness. Some are drowned in the shallows of selfishness. Others seek to wrest its power through force of will and find they are forced off course by storms unbidden. Some, paralized by fear refuse to hoist sail and never discover the joy of the journey. But to dive into the mystery and to sail the uncharted waters, if only to trust the maker of storms, is an adventure I count the most magnificent, boundless and significant in all of life's unknowns.