{"id":16,"date":"2016-10-16T09:13:35","date_gmt":"2016-10-16T16:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/?p=16"},"modified":"2016-10-16T17:39:23","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T00:39:23","slug":"lessons-learned-from-28-days-on-a-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/?p=16","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned From 28 Days on a Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past summer I had the privilege to spend 28 days at Young Life’s Malibu Club in British Columbia. \u00a0I say privilege now, but that is not how I felt when I agreed to go. \u00a0My husband Ken, volunteers with Young Life and has for many years. \u00a0We met at Malibu 28 years ago and 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 houses and 2 cats later he thought it would be a great idea to spend a month there volunteering. \u00a0My only saving thought was that our youngest daughter was coming with us. \u00a0Malibu is remote and there is no cell service, high speed internet, or any other form of technology for the “basic volunteer” to use! \u00a0The thought was terrifying and caused me great anxiety. \u00a0We have another daughter and 2 college students that were living with us that I felt responsible for. \u00a0And don’t forget the dog that I was sure someone was going to kill. \u00a0What was I thinking when I agreed to this? \u00a0I must have not been thinking. \u00a0Malibu is beautiful and I enjoy the occasional visit but lets not overstay!<\/em><\/p>\n

So we packed up the house and took off on Ken’s\u00a0adventure! \u00a0Little did I know what was in store for us! \u00a0The lessons I learned will be forever with me. \u00a0Here are just a few of my thoughts about the journey!<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0I learned that when you remove all of the noise out of your life it is much easier to hear God’s voice.<\/strong> \u00a0Our lives are so “noisy”. \u00a0Our cell phones constantly make noise, we have vehicle noise, trains, sirens, TV and all kinds of other noise. \u00a0We become so used to the noise that sometimes it is easier to go to sleep with the TV on than off! \u00a0At first the silence made me anxious and nervous. \u00a0I had dreams that involved horn whistles and cars idling. \u00a0No joke! \u00a0When it is silent you might have to think about things and listen to God say things that you might not want to hear. \u00a0I found out that silence is okay. \u00a0I found that I could truly hear God’s voice when I was sitting on a log in the pouring down rain and all there was to hear was the waves. \u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. I learned that when you take away all forms of technology you make friends and relationships deepen quicker.<\/strong> \u00a0We are so used to sitting at a dinner table and having our cell phones handy just in case someone needs us. \u00a0We are so used to sending people texts with questions instead of asking them face to face. \u00a0My kids always give me a bad time about asking too many questions of people. \u00a0I want to know about peoples families, their pets, where they live, what college they are going to, etc. \u00a0When you take all the distractions away those are the kind of things you talk about. \u00a0You can spend an hour or 2 talking and getting to know somebody. \u00a0When was the last time you sat with someone and talked and the only thing you had to worry about was when your next meal was going to be? \u00a0I walked away knowing more about the people I met at Malibu than I know about some of my family. \u00a0It gave me hope that people can still form “old fashioned” relationships and not just have “Face Book” friends.<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. I learned that rules are meant to be broken!<\/strong> \u00a0I have to admit that at first there seemed to be a lot of “rules” to learn. \u00a0It seemed like there was rules for everything. \u00a0Don’t get me wrong, I love rules! \u00a0I like to know what the guidelines are and I like to follow them. \u00a0But, there was a lot to learn and it seemed that I felt that I couldn’t quite live up to all the rules. \u00a0I cried to Ken one night and told him I couldn’t do it anymore. \u00a0He told me to call Kenmore Air and go home. \u00a0Not exactly what I wanted to hear. \u00a0In his defense he was tired! \u00a0Then our area director sent an email to Ken and at the end it said “tell Dawnelle to break a rule”. \u00a0What? \u00a0That was strange! \u00a0Is she psychic? \u00a0Then things got even stranger and I walked down “main street” \u00a0when I wasn’t supposed to and the camp director said “hey Dawnelle, you are breaking the rules”. \u00a0What? Are they in cahoots? \u00a0Did they talk to each other? \u00a0For some reason that was a turning point and my attitude changed after that. \u00a0Nobody died because I “broke” a rule. \u00a0It was an honest mistake and I could get over it. \u00a0I learned that sometimes I create rules to help me feel better about succeeding. \u00a0I learned that sometimes I have done that with my faith and that I need to look at things differently and not be so legalistic. \u00a0Yes, some rules are meant to protect us or help us, \u00a0But that I need to stop being so critical of myself if life doesn’t always follow the rules. \u00a0Lighten up and enjoy life!<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. I learned that I am capable of doing way more things than I think I can and that I can say yes to God and go where ever he wants me to go.<\/strong> \u00a0I came away thinking that there is nothing that God could ask me to do that I am not capable of! \u00a0Our future is in God’s hands and where he wants to send us or direct our paths. \u00a0 The safest place to be is in his plan. \u00a0God spoke to me so clearly while I was there that he controls our steps and that my job was to say yes and follow what he has in store!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What I discovered at the end of this journey is why we were there. \u00a0Not only are these lessons that I learned but it is lessons that all the Work Crew kids, Summer Staff kids, and campers were also learning right along with me. \u00a0They might not be able to break it down into a nice list like I have but they are learning these things with me. \u00a0And the ultimate goal is for them to be able to say YES to Christ before the end of their trip. \u00a0We watched lives change and many kids make\u00a0decisions\u00a0to follow Christ. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    Was it an easy journey? \u00a0No, not all the time. \u00a0There were some tears in the process. \u00a0There were many nights of being truly homesick. \u00a0Would I do it again? \u00a0YES! \u00a0Do I care where we go next summer? \u00a0NO! \u00a0And it was truly a privilege to serve there for 28 days!<\/em><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This past summer I had the privilege to spend 28 days at Young Life’s Malibu Club in British Columbia. \u00a0I say privilege now, but that is not how I felt when I agreed to go. \u00a0My husband Ken, volunteers with Young Life and has for many years. \u00a0We met at Malibu 28 years ago and … Continue reading Lessons Learned From 28 Days on a Rock<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28,"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/28"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knottywife.knottfamily.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}