Ice Storm 2007 is drawing to a close for most of us here in central Oklahoma and I am pretty pumped about it. My sister, who lives across the street from my house is still out of power, but she is now one of the few, the rest of us are getting back to a normal flow of things.

So for those of you who have been completely under a rock for the last couple of weeks, Oklahoma got hammered with freezing rain that took down tons of trees and power lines, paralyzing the electricity dependent communities. I was without power for five days and there was a lot of work to do cleaning up the limbs from the huge, old trees that graced and shaded our neighborhood.

Although there was inconvenience and worse, some people couldn’t get warm and have died, there has been a beautiful picture of community that I have seen.

The Cox Center downtown has people staying there on cots (fortunately in much better conditions than new Orleans a few years ago), there are tons of different ministries/organizations feeding people, letting them sleep in church gymnasiums and essentially meeting whatever needs arise.

These things seem to always happen in crisis. There are organizations that step up, whose mission and purpose are to help those in crisis. What I saw happen was as exciting. I don’t exactly live in the Hamptons. None of my neighbors are rich. Few have a college education, or a retirement plan that will really take care of them in old age (most of them are older). But I got to see these people offering help to one another. Cutting trees, sharing warmth and food. There were five different families at one point in my yard helping with a tree that had broken limbs all over the place. It seems that with wealth, we disregard our need for community, our need to help and be helped.

We need each other. We were not meant to be alone, and I am thankful for the reminder that we live more fully when we live in community with others.

Grace and peace,

Steven

Trinity Baptist Church

It's always great to hear from groups that we work with. The compliments and encouragement are fuel to our ministry fire! I thought I would share one of them with you to give an idea of the impact we are having.

"Hey Compass Wilderness! Our Youth Group had such a blast during camp this year. Thanks so much for the fun times, the relationships established, and for sharing God's creation with us. It was the coolest camp experience our students have ever had. We're looking forward to a weekend trip this fall and for camp again next year. The students want to make sure this time they train for the hike before we get there! Thanks again, you guys rock,and thanks for sharing God's Word in such a great way!"

Vicky Grisham
Trinity Baptist Church

Welcome Beck!

Compass Wilderness welcomes a new member to the family! On Saturday Lance (while nursing pneumonia himself) took Courtney to the hospital and came home with Beck Hardy Giles. He was 8 lbs 8 oz. and 19.75 inches long. They are doing well and are excited to see the day when he sleeps through the night!

Congratulations Lance and Courtney!

Summer Thoughts

"If you are presenting your offering at the alter, and there remember that your bother has something against you, leave your offering there at the alter, and GO! First make things right with your brother, and then come present your offering at the alter." Matthew 5:23-24

This summer has been such a great experience for me. I have this meeting every Tuesday morning with a couple of my best friends where we go through a book and discuss it, but as importantly we talk about what’s going on in life. There had to be at least three or four times when I came in and said that I had guided my favorite trip so far. They were so rich, and seemed to just keep getting better as the summer progressed.

The summer was drawing to a close and I had just spent a little time up in Colorado with the summer staff, I had one last trip at the beginning of August before students turned their attention toward school and we went back to guiding mostly on weekends.

I got to go out with a youth service agency that had a summer program for students who had found themselves sort of riding the fence. None had really been in too much trouble, but that seemed to be the path they were on. The program was coming to an end and their big finale was a trip with Compass Wilderness.

In the group there was a boy, let’s call him Justin. Two years ago, Justin was in a car wreck. His uncle was driving the car full of family members who had all been working together when the wreck took place. It left Justin mentally and physically handicapped.

Naturally, I paid special attention to him, making sure it was an environment where he was safe, and that he was able to get something out of the experience. Well, it didn’t take long to see that he was willing to take some risk and through himself completely into the process. He was the first one to complete a climb! He didn’t do it easily. He didn’t do it fast, but he did it. Now, realize that this is a student I was worried about getting hurt walking down the trail, and here he is, climbing to the top of this cliff to his, and everyone else’s surprise. It was a beautiful moment for the whole group, but Justin wasn’t done giving us a lasting impression.

At the time the sun was about to set, we took a short hike to the top of “Little Baldy” a hill close to the campground. Once on top, we had a few moments of silent reflection. We didn’t direct them as to what they need to be thinking about, and apparently Justin’s thoughts drifted to his uncle. He began crying and separated himself from the group for a little while.

After a few wild events (a couple of lost hikers that we helped to safety) we ended up hiking back down to camp well after dark, and it was a pretty cool sight looking back from the front of the line, seeing these pairs of flashlights helping one another down safely. Justin pulled another student aside asked him to write a letter for him since his motor skills were a little rough still. It essentially went something like this:

For the past two years, I have hated you. I blamed you for me being hurt, and how my life looks now. I can’t do that anymore. I am sorry. I love you. It’s not your fault.

I can’t imagine the weight off of that young man’s shoulders when he cast that off. I am really not sure what exactly we did to get to be a part of that experience for him, but I hope to facilitate that environment for all of the groups we work with.

Thank all of you who are a part of Compass either as staff, prayer partners, financial supporters, youth, youth pastors, sponsors, our board of directors. Thank you for allowing us to minister with you.

Steven Charles

Community

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are never mentioned apart from each other in all of scripture. Always together. These three friends lived life together, prayed together, stood together when ordered to bow to a pagan god and because of their refusal to worship a golden statue were thrown in a blazing furnace…together. (Daniel 3)

What an incredible testament to the power of community. Would Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego have stood alone without the other two by their side? Did Abednego try to back out only to have Shadrach and Meshach encourage him to stand with them? We don’t know, but we do know that together their faith was tested and together they stood strong, confident in their God.

This summer, on a weekend without groups, I led our Colorado staff on a backpacking trip. As we loaded our packs and began to walk away from civilization, we took note of the dark clouds and thunder that seemed to be headed our way. Within minutes of being on the trail, the rain hit us. For the next six hours on trail and into the night the rain poured while the temperature dropped into the mid-forties. I stopped several times to assess the group and offer a chance to turn around. While the misery of being wet, cold, tired and seeing no end to the rain in the near future was evident in the majority of faces, no one was interested in going back to the warmth and comfort of our staff condominium unless we ALL went. Since a few voiced that we should continue on and no one objected…we hiked on.

The point of this story is that it was community that kept the staff together in miserable conditions. Each individual was more interested in staying with the group in wet and freezing conditions than being alone in comfort.

True community happens when we put aside our own desires for the benefit of those around us. When we can be vulnerable and transparent with our struggles and needs without fear of judgment. When we are willing to love, encourage and pray for each other without judgment. When everyone feels safe and God is glorified, that is when true community can happen.

It is not easy for the enemy is absolutely against it. It is not perfect because community involves people who are not perfect. But when you work for it and find it, it is incredible. Yes, it is work and it will require you to take the first step, but there is nothing like walking with a true community of believers.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were willing to die together; shouldn’t we be willing to live life together?

Lance Giles

Fence Kids

So how is your spring going? Good I hope. We're doing well here at Compass, we've been going on trips and conferences, planning fundraisers, putting together a new curriculum for a new branch of our ministry. It's been an eventful past month or so.

I wanted to write a few things on here to share with you an exciting addition to our ministry. I, as many of you may know, have a strong passion for youth who have found themselves in trouble in some way or another, or could easily head down that path, kids I like to refer to as "fence" kids, as they seem to be on the fence and could make some good decisions and lead successful, fulfilling lives, or make bad decisions, and fall into a self-destructive pattern of behavior. I love them. I want to, as my wife has referred to her experience teaching junior high, push them off the fence and out onto the road of success.

I know that my life has been altered in times that I have spent in the wilderness, there is something so unique and special there. The activities we do with students on Compass trips encourage them to draw from pro social modes of thought and action, they are encouraged to communicate in productive ways, to encourage one another, to share in burdens and joys, to confront their fears. It is such an effective, beautiful tool.

I am so excited as we begin reaching out to students on the fence, good ones, students who are afraid, students who don't practice good communication, who don't practice good decision making. Right now we've got a few trips booked with this kind of a group, and will be working toward ministering to more and more of them in the future.

It is with this in mind that I plead the case that now, more than ever, it is vital that we have like-minded supporters enabling our ministry to reach our community, our world. I would love for you to be a part of this support team,and certainly appreciate anything you can do to help. There is a link on our website, www.compasswilderness.com, that you can click on to make a donation, or you can contribute by mailing a check to:

Compass Wilderness

PO Box 1441

Bedford, TX 76095

Steven

FBC Bryan Trip to Mineral Wells

Our retreat with Compass was a great way for our students to connect with God outside of a traditional church setting. Their conversations naturally flowed out of our activities in a way that just doesn't happen when we are back at home. Our students really connected with God and with each other over that weekend.

A lot of good conversations are still coming out of discussions that started that weekend! Thanks for helping us out with everything!

Aaron Hogan

Spring Break Trips

Ahhh, Spring Break. We had several groups join us last week in the Wichita Mountains and I am thankful to have been a part of them. Thanks to the youth pastors from FBC Newalla and Harmony Baptist Church in Atoka, OK for bringing a couple of great groups of students along and being so open to experiencing God in the great outdoors. My favorite parts of the trips this week were the times of solitude,and the discussion around seeing God in specific things in nature. Sitting on a lookout point, far enough away from civilization that the only sounds you hear are the birds singing, the creek rippling by, and maybe a faint voice of someone singing during their time alone with God The atmosphere here just makes entering into worship more accessible sometimes. It makes me really clear my mind of the distractions that life in our busy world that constantly beg for my attention. Richard Foster says in Celebration of Discipline that we should set aside four times a year to get alone and prioritize our lives. I agree with him that this is vital to our pursuit of God and our pursuit of goals, but I think that there is so much more that can happen in isolating yourself, particularly in nature. We not only get the chance to see things more clearly, but it is essentially good for our spirit. Being in the fresh air, seeing the grandeur of themountains, and hearing the chorus of nature singing to God, is beautiful.

A youth pastor this weekend made the comment that the rock climbing and camping trip with Compass Wilderness was so much better than taking the youth to a amusement park. No kidding! It's a different, richer experience altogether! It was so good to be with people who really got it. We have this coming weekend off, which makes me kinda bummed. I enjoy sharing this experience with different people who maybe haven't taken the time to see God in the world he created for a while. Maybe they haven't ever. How long has it been for you? Come away with us...

Steven

What a Trip!

WOW!!! What an awesome experience!! I really enjoyed the adventure trip with Compass Wilderness. It was a great way to get in touch with your internal soul and to see what you are really made of. God can show us so much about ourselves during moments like these. Just equally important, is what God shows us about HIM, and believe me God can really show Himself when you experience an adventure like this.

Buck Osborn
Cross Timbers Community Church

Spring is Here

I am so glad that spring is here. Winter just doesn't have the luster to it that the other seasons do, at least not in Oklahoma. When the only color to see is brown, and you can't separate what's dead from what soon will be in bloom, it just doesn't seem to invoke the wonder that creation generally stirs up in me. Everything is harder, coarser, and the constant wind has a crispness and a hissing in the trees that keeps your collar up and head down. Maybe it's this that makes me love spring. In this contrast, the beautiful creation is so vibrant in the spring, colors stand out more, and the warm sun on your face makes it nearly impossible not to suck the fresh air through your nostrils and just smile in thankfulness that once again, the seasons have changed.

I saw a lizard for the first time in 2007 today. She reminded me of the rain that was soon to come. This rain will, along with the warm sun, bring life back into the flowers and trees. This same warm sun will bring back creation, in the way we always remember good times, colorful, smiling, and laughing. I guess when we seem to remember that the beauty of spring is so intensified by winter's bland cold.I've heard it explained that the reason that God allows evil in this world is that we would have no way of appreciating the good without their being bad to contrast it against. Sure, there are ways this can fall short in one's paradigm, but it does make sense that when we experience dark, it makes us glad when there is light. When we experience our parent's stern words, it makes their true expressions of love all the richer. And when we understand our depravity, it makes grace so much more profound. Contrast against a harsh background, we more fully appreciate the beautiful.

It was a good weekend, sitting around a campfire with a group of men from various professions, talking about what God wants to show us within ourselves, within the community we call the church, and in the bigger community we call humanity. I enjoyed seeing fear turn to delight in a fifty year old man as he learned to trust in the system we provided to safely rappel down a cliff. It was good to remember that the seasons change and God is faithful. He's set this thing in motion and we can expect that every year, just as he intended, about this time we'll start to see the lizards again.

Steven

Climb-a-thon

Man, lot’s going on with Compass right now! Friday we held our first ever “Climb-a-thon” fundraiser at OKC Rocks. I saw it as a success in that we raised a respectable amount of money, got some of our community involved, and had a great time doing it.

For those of you interested, what we did was climb for one hour straight as many vertical feet as possible, and our wonderful sponsors donated per foot climbed. About 15 minutes in, I started to question how good of an idea it was, as I hit the wall really early on. I settled into a rhythm and ended up climbing 1,448 feet in my allotted hour. Yes, I’m still a little sore!

Andy Chasteen led the pack with 1,568 feet and Randy Banning was the MVP as the individual with the most money raised. Thank you so much to everyone who participated.

Other than that Lance and I have spent much of our time out and about spreading the word about what a great experience we offer through Compass. It is always so refreshing to me to meet with a youth pastor who has never had a group do anything like this and see them get excited about the unique experience that Compass offers to them.

I really get a lot out of simply meeting with the youth pastors. Often when we talk there is, of course, the “sales pitch” of informing them of the service we provide, but it has been a way to develop some friendships with them as well. It constantly reminds me that every one of us needs to be encouraged and that encouraging one another is a big part of this entity we call the Church.
Let me encourage you to invest in people’s lives. Not because it will benefit you, which it may or may not, but because we are called to. Derek Webb says that when we divorce the church from the gospel then it ceases to be the gospel. I think he’s right. We have to build our communities and take a part in encouraging one another to be the best we can be. We are interdependent people. Let’s do everything we can to build the bond of love between one another and spur one another closer to our God.

Steven

So is it okay to lie? - Part 2

So is it okay to lie? I posed this question and some scenarios last week and the votes are in, and the verdict is: well, it's complicated. How's that for an answer you can trust in? I got answers from quoting scripture, "it's black and white, right there in the ten commandments." To several people quoted Joshua 2 where Rahab lied to protect the Israelite spies, and a few quoted philosophers who have developed intricate moral theories. The bottom line though, and the purpose of the question, was that we need to know the driving force behind the things we do and the things we believe. Sometimes there is an inconsistency between the two.

Kinsey (my beautiful wife) and I were talking about this question. I had her as a captive audience as we were driving around town, so we had time to talk. I asked her what she thought and she said what many people say, "I believe that to lie is wrong, but I would have to do it to protect the innocent." I challenged this thought. I mean, if you would lie to protect them, either you don't really believe that lying is wrong, or you think that lying is wrong with certain exceptions, this scenario being an exception. This is just stating the obvious, I know, but there is a point. We need to examine our process in making ethical decisions, or any decision for that matter.

There are many ethical theories that people use; a biblical ethic, where the Bible is the end all, sort of a "sola scriptura" model. This has certain implications though that sometimes we want to avoid. There are many things left to interpretation here. I mean, even in this simple question two of our greatest historical figures St. Augustine and Deitrich Bonhoeffer end up on opposite sides of the fence.

For the sake of being brief, which I have to constantly keep myself in check with, I'll ignore the many intelligent ideas that people have proposed over time and skip to one that seems to work in this instance to me. I found an answer that satisfied me through Hank Hanigraaff.

Now, before I pass on what he said, I should acknowledge that as I read some more articles, I learned that there were probably many people who, based on their Biblical research, would disagree. That's okay I suppose, at least they are able to give an account for why they believe and it doesn't really matter to me that we disagree on a hair-splitter. We've got other stuff to fight about if we really want to fight. I don't.

So, back to Hanigraaff... He says something like "we sometimes have to choose the greater good." That is, if by lying to some men (smaller offense) we prevent the murder of an innocent life (greater offense) then we have acted justly. Kind of a utilitarian perspective I guess (read Jeremy Bentham or John Stuart Mill). Anyway, it seems to stand to reason that if we're in the position and have a reasonable amount of information (meaning we have good reason to believe that the men in SS uniforms aren't here to court Ms. Frank), I find no fault in making the ethical decision of protecting her from her would-be murderers by lying to them. At least I think.

This too falls apart when we tweak our scenario, but I think we ultimately have to be able to ask ourselves a few questions and make our decision based on our answers to these questions. How does it line up with the idea that James gives us that pure and undefiled religion is this, take care of widows and orphans? Or how about when Christ says that which you have done unto the least of these, you have done unto me?

Some people respond that by taking matters into my own hands, and acting outside of the "clear" rules that we have been given in the Bible, we're essentially saying that we don't believe that it is God's plan, or that God isn't able to save them without our help. Alright, it's tough to argue against that, but I'm not sure how far that is from the tired illustration of the man on his roof with a lifeboat and he keeps asking God to save him, and turning away would-be rescuers, telling them he'll wait on God.

Well, it's complicated. I think we've exhausted that for now, but this begs a couple of questions. For what purpose do we have rules? Why did God give us rules to obey?

Ethical Quandary: Is it okay to lie?

Alright, so we made it through “deadly snowstorm 07.” It’s funny how reporters try to make everything so extreme. Away with sensationalism!

So my hope with today’s topic is to get lots of feedback so I’ll have something good to write in about a week. If you don’t want to take the time to set up an account to comment on this site, just email me at steven@compasswilderness.com DO IT!

So the topic is: ethical quandary is it okay to lie? Ever?

Think about it for a minute, formulate a response. Now, what if you’re housing Anne Frank and the SS are knocking on your door asking if you have any Jews inside your house? Consequences for telling the truth entail her being shipped off Auschwitz then to die at Bergen-Belsen and by housing her, you’ll likely get the same or be shot on the spot.

What if your brother who is the head of some “great awakening” type movement is being chased by a mob of angry people who want to kill him for preaching? He asks for a place to hide and you let him into your house not just because he’s your brother, but also because you’re a strong supporter of this movement. What do you tell them when they knock on your door and ask if he’s there?

For some people these are no brainers, for others, it’s a very hard dilemma. Let me hear what your thoughts are…

Influence

There are so many people that have had a positive impact on my life. John Johnson is one of them. Papa John is the affectionate name I call him, although everyone else has moved away from the father figure allusion.

John was my Sunday school teacher while I was in middle school and high school. We went on camping trips, went over to his house, you know, the typical stuff that a Sunday school teacher who’s invested in his group does. He was just a little better than most. See, he has this way of digging deeper into you than you want him to. The weird thing is, you never feel like he’s pressing in too close, but after conversations with him, you realize that you’ve really taken an honest look at yourself. It’s particularly admirable that he doesn’t assert things to you about what to believe or what dark areas of your life you need to change. Rather, through revealing his heart to you, and by masterfully asking open-ended questions, he’ll encourage you to be the best you can be.

It was in one of these conversations recently that I was reminded about something within myself. I was reminded that there is a tendency to find things wrong within people and within the church. I mean, in many ways my college education had the intent of learning to think critically, and it worked. I learned to think critically, break down the facts in an argument, and see the faults in any perspective. While this is a good way to read philosophy and win an argument, it’s a terrible way to live graciously.

I can’t give John all the credit. His role was more of a soundboard than a teacher. He had some help from Brian McLaren, who wrote a book called “A Generous Orthodoxy.” In it, he goes through several different perspectives on several different theological topics, and all that he has to say carries this common thread; we all have something to contribute. While it may be important to know where we stand on certain issues, the fact of the matter is this, we, within orthodoxy, are pursuing the same goals. We have different histories, different traditions, and sometimes varying beliefs, but the fact remains that collectively, we are the Bride of Christ and therefore should work together for the perpetuation of the Church, and for the cause of Christ. It’s refreshing to me to acknowledge that God is about unity and peace, not so much about being divisive or pounding our ideas down someone’s throat.

So back to John... There are some things that John does very well. He, as I said above, encourages you to be introspective. He’s not judgmental. Instead of trying to mold you into agreement with him, he carefully guides you to be true and honest with yourself, and to maximize your life in a way that will honor God. John’s a pretty cool guy. I’d like to be more like him when I grow up.

-Steven

Christmas at the Charles' house

Well I hope everyone’s Christmas was great, mine definitely was. I have spent tons of time with my family over the last couple of days and have been eating it all up. Christmas Eve is the big tradition in my family. My mom comes from a relatively large family where she has three brothers, each with kids and grandkids, so by the time we squeeze into the house for dinner, there are 23 jabbering mouths that are all really more there to entertain you than to eat your food.

After dinner, and about an hour of tracking down where everyone has spread out to, we gather in the living room for the “production.” It’s so funny that there’s always a production someone put together. One year it was that every family had to sing a song or do something entertaining (read embarrassing) for the others to laugh at. Other times someone leads Christmas carols, but then there are the mainstays. There’s the Christmas story out of Luke 2. Sometimes a child in the family, who is nervous and excited that they were chosen to read the story, reads it. Other times it is read by an adult who just about has the story memorized and barely makes it through the story while crying, partly for what advent means to us as Christians and partly because they’re moved by reading it to a room full of their family who celebrates the birth of Christ rather than capitalism, finding much deeper meaning than anything bought at Macy’s.

There’s also the part in the evening where we collectively reflect on the joys and hardships over the year. My brother and his wife lost a baby this year. My sister had a baby. My father in law resigned from the pulpit after 18 years at the same church, affecting my wife and I deeply. My cousin spent a month sharing Jesus with people in the jungles of Venezuela. All of the things that happen to us individually, whether good or bad are either celebrated or supported by a caring, loving family. I am so blessed.

This time in the evening always, always ends with a speech from my grandfather, perhaps the most selfless man I know. I don’t think I’ve ever known someone who gives a greater amount of his possessions, money, and time away. He loves it. He always has some wisdom to impart, rarely eloquent, always a little silly and full of tangents, but always applicable because his point is clear. Your life is not your own. The things you have are nothing without love. Your needs are simple and fewer than we’d like to convince ourselves.

I truly hope for you to have experiences like this. Whether it is your church family, family of origin, or just a tight group of people that you are friends with, community is a very important thing. Always take time for reflection on the deeper meaning of things and seize the opportunity to make a difference in other people’s lives.

God bless, happy New Year!

Steven