99 Days of Sam!!

126 Posts and counting!!
"Incredible, just incredible, I mean, Would you look at that!?" fumed theHired!!'s former Farm boss in SouthDakota.

"When I hired him to fix theBarbedWire fences, he never even got past '3' Posts before
sitting down for Lunch or else to Nap".

99 Days of Sam!!
Just think of him as an Giant bottle, take him down, pass him around (No I don't want him!!)
99 Days of Sam!! eh.. er.. Left!!
--------------------

Soft Wood

I sat up quickly and glanced at theClock on theNightstand, 0235hrs

There was no need to turn theLamp on as I always kept it burning during theWinter hours when I was in theVillage,

Seeing theLight from afar during the long dark winter months made some Villagers feel at ease to know that their VPSO was present in case they needed him.

I felt movement within theLodge, where I stayed, and by now just weeks into the new Public Safety job this new sensation that tugged at me was very familiar.

After my 2 yr Church mission was complete and I had flown from Canada Vancouver to Pocatello Idaho, it was about a week before I "officially" met anyone from theChurch to give me an exit Interview and to Release me from theMissionary calling.

I stood outside the 2 story structure and admired the house I was about to enter.
It stood in the middle of Pocatello just blocks away from ISU, idaho state university and was an Real Estate Office,

I guess theMan I was about to meet that afternoon was some type of Broker or Agency owner.
I never could figure out why theChurch never had anyone from the lower income brackets be made as local leaders,

You either had to be a Dr, Dentist, Lawyer or some other successful businessman to have church leadership, for I had seen such men and the trappings of wealth & power while on my Church mission, but a part of me didn't accept that at all.

During my Mission I had met wonderful people, true leaders they were, and they weren't in theChurch mold of leadership material, and they weren't worldly wealthy nor were they socially acceptable to even many of theLDS people that were trying to convert them.

Of one experience I will say, of theIsland natives (VancouverIsland) that we missionaries met and befriended,

most Tourists in Canada never saw theCeremonies and Dances that we missionaries did after we gained the trust of some Natives,

those people I identified with theMost and for many years did carry a few small scars with me upon my hands to remind me of one experience,

Those beautiful paddles that are carved from wood and painted in black, red colors. of the warlike sea-going Haida or Tlingit art from theCoast of BC, Canada

even theShimian from theAlaskan southeast coast, I got to handle a new freshly cut canoe paddle one day while visiting some Natives on theIsland.

My Native American church companion did most of the talking that day to one family that we visited while I sat and tried to carve a bit on a canoe paddle,

I just rounded the wide body edges a bit and left theHandle part alone,
theRazor sharp knife I held was like a small kitchen paring knife,

I slipped twice that day and cut myself without realizing that I had been injured,
my blood stained thePaddle I was carving on,

theNative man smiled, laughed at me along with my church Companion and then he took everything away from me,

"GreatCarver" he reverently intoned at me,
"stop bleeding on the wood, I'm not ready to paint things Red just yet".

Those people I met on my Church mission taught me that it wasn't what they had in possessions that made them Rich or Valuable,

It was what they had in Culture and heritage, it was how they were in Heart and Soul that defined them. I carried that Lesson with me ever after and put that memory away inside me.

One BC Native said, that his Coastal people were warlike, much like my Lakota ancestors were known to be, his people would paddle their Long canoes far and wide to raid and bring back goods and captives,

And those canoes were powered by Back muscles, hardened arms and strong hearts.
Because theWood paddle I had been carving on was really light,
it smelled really nice of Pine and fir.

What you put into theWork of creating a work of Art, like those Canoe paddles strengthened them considerably. Or so I was told, but I believed it. And still do, that what you do today defines tomorrow, and what seeds you sow today you reap theHarvest or theWhirlwind later.

theRealEstate office receptionist ushered me into a huge den.
I was in theStakePresidents office, what seemed more like a museum though, with a few trophys on the wall; Moose head, bleached bear skull, some ivory carvings,

and theChurch stakePresident was the typical White male leader,
a charismatic man, affluent, well dressed and well fed. His tanned face smiling and his eyes were friendly,

unlike some Church leaders I had met on my Mission and irl/in real life who's eyes weren't friendly at all,

StakePresident interviewed me informally, just asked me many questions about my Church mission,

where I served, Favorite cities/towns, memorable Companions,

were there any Testimony strengthening experiences?,

any challenges that I was struggling with? and I had to quietly wonder about that 'challenges' question, was there something going on that I didn't know about?!

how was my morality? how was my conduct with others and how close was I to my family?
and so on....

Just typical questions I guess, none ever too direct or too nosy,
theMan was just doing his job,

and after all was said and done,
He remarked to me that "it was now over".

'My 2 year mission was complete and I was released from my Calling' and then he shook my hand.

that was it.
I left theOffice on a good note and wandered back across town to my family's house.
I was formally called to serve and set aside in 1986, served two years and released from my Mission in 1988 and then had met up with this StakePresident a few days or so after returning home to my family.

Church gossip and most leaders say that being a fulltime Missionary is indeed a serious Calling.
That, as far as Church authority goes, we do carry the same Mantle of Authority with us as theChurch Prophet,

that we, set aside specifically as Missionaries, are tasked with the work of proselytizing (sp?) and living/breathing/sleeping/eating Religion until it's over.

For some missionaries, they say that they felt theWeight of theCalling at first,
I, along with Others, have slowly felt it upon me when in the Mission field,

Felt it's comfort, it's assurance, it's blessing and it's protection for I do believe in God and that he does bless and protect just about anyone on earth that honestly helps & serves their fellow man,

even though I was released from theCalling informally, outside of Church, it took me many years to feel that Mantle lift off my shoulders,

in fact, I remember that day clearly almost 7 yrs later.
I was in theMilitary still, around 1995, and driving my car.

And I felt something Lift off my head,
as if I had a stocking cap on and I was suddenly cold and alone,
feeling that something was taken from me.

It wasn't a curse, it wasn't punishment, it was just taken away from me,
something Divine.

And I never felt it again in my life until I returned here to Alaska,
I say "returned" because...

well, I really don't know why, It's just that a part of me says that "I'm Home!!"
and that I was meant to be here amongst Whomever, Whenever "Whatever!!" people I'm around at the time.

and to that I say-Whatever!! just like my cute Know-It-All VillageChicks!! or at least theTruant teens I'm always fussing over, screaming at, yelling to, supervising etc.

After I came here to Alaska in 1999,
I spent a year with my family, after having been gone about 10yrs via Military & civilian life in Seattle WA,

I had tried to enter Military service again in 2000, had tried to join up with theAlaskaState Troopers too, and then I was pointed to theVPSO program,

And without even Meeting my VPSO boss, without even Meeting theVillage I was supposed to be sent to, I was hired by an Native nonProfit org and sent out to an remote Village.

My Life had spoken for me to Other people,
and eventually with each passing day in theVillage I felt that old familiar weight upon my Shoulders,

Upon my Heart, upon my Soul, my mind,
It was now like a 6th or 7th sense. A gentle prod at me during sleep, a small voice in theBack of my mind during Dramatic events that alerted me,

And today,
this morning at 0235hrs theMantle of Authority woke me up again,
I started to get dressed and ready to go out amongst theVillage,

As I stood outside the3 Story Lodge where I lived,
theCold -30deg F (with Windchill factored in) winds gusted by
and I realized that I wasn't cold anymore.

Oh sure, I felt heat and cold, discomfort and rest,
But as part of thePublic Safety calling the job often took us Officers outside
and even with me being recently hired and placed in theVillage,

I was walking around in theCold winter weather doing foot patrols each day just for sake of doing something as theVillageCouncil!! had not yet given me a Vehicle to use,

But I wasn't cold anymore because of theAcceptance of theCalling,
of my Worthiness to Serve and from what my own hands had done to me,

to whittle and carve, to slowly shape out my Character from a small soft piece of wood,
to error and cut myself, to heal and continue working upon me,

I miss those Village days, and will go back when AST & nonProfit Native leadership pulls their heads out of their Asses.

Even today , yr 2007, while I serve as Security Officer in theCity!!
It just burns me to see that some LEO's, other Police treat their work as just jobs.

They want to do their 20yrs or 30yrs and retire rich off theState.
They want to do their jobs and nothing more, unless they get some instant Reward from it.
And that's not the way to approach this Public Safety work.

I still feel this Mantle of Authority upon me,
much like what God granted me as a Teenager when I served a Church mission,
but theWork is different now, still, we fight Evil even if it's within our Own Hearts.

We who are all Grown UP enough to Introspect and Look, will realize that if we are truly
living up to our Jobs, our Callings as Husband, Wife, Employer, Employee, Master & Servant

we'll too feel this Weight that God allows us to possess,
and though we carefully cut and shape ourselves each day to be used in Service,
we will be strengthened and blessed far beyond our natural capacity, this I know.

We shape our Eternal paths by what we do today.
What are YOU doing?!

SLFlyinghorse,
Anchorage, Alaska

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