A New Journey...

A short entry this morning as I begin to settle my heart on this inward journey of life I now find myself on, and begin to  prepare for the first of four adventures over the next four months.

Trip 1:  On Sunday July 26, I will leave on a motorcycle trip to Ontario.  My plan is to make Montreal Sunday night where I will spend the evening with Helen and Andrew (and Clancy).   On Monday I will meet my cousin Duane and his bride-to-be in Hawkesbury, ON, from there we will travel through Algonquin Park to Gravenhurst where I will spend the week visiting with family and preparing for the wedding on Saturday.
On the 2nd of August I will head down to Cambridge, ON for a visit with my Aunt Irene before heading up to the Kawartha Lakes region for a visit with my cousin Joey and his family... and then on Monday it will be a bum burner ride back to Sackville.

Trip 2: On Saturday August 8th after officiating at a Memorial Service I will head to Sydney, NS where I will catch the ferry to Newfoundland.  From the 9th to the 14th I will be attending the gathering of the General Council of the United Church of Canada.  My third General Council... in the midst of a community that I have come to cherish, I will celebrate the entry into my 50th year!
At the conclusion of the Council I will take 2 or 3 days to travel across Newfoundland to St. John's where the Board of Directors of Kairos Pneuma Chaplaincy Inc. will hold their Annual General Meeting.  On the 18th my Dad will fly into St. John's and we will have three days to explore and enjoy each others company.  I depart for home via the Argentia ferry on August 22nd and will do another bum burner from Sydney to Sackville - arriving back around noon on Sunday.

Trip 3: On September 2nd after officiating at a wedding on August 29th I depart for Auckland, New Zealand.  While there I will be touring the northern part of the island on a V-Strom 650.  On September 10th I fly to Cairns, Australia where I will engage in an off-road motorcycle tour in rain forest and a snorkelling excursion on the Great Barrier Reef before flying onto Sydney.  In Sydney I will again hire (Australian term) a motorcycle for a 5 day tour of the Kangaroo and Hunter Valley regions before returning to Sydney for the International Prison Chaplains Association VII Conference where I will be part of a panel discussion and offer a workshop.  I return to Canada on September 26th.

Trip 4: On Thanksgiving Monday I will fly to Calgary for a short layover to do some business there before heading onto Salt Lake City, UT where I will take part in the World Parliament of Religions.  There again, I will take part in a panel discussion and offer a presentation on Interfaith Prison Chaplaincy before returning home through Vancouver where I will do some business.

It is hard to believe that is has been almost two years since I entered a word on this blog... much has happened that needs to be processed as I ride and reflect... I hope you'll join me on the journey of a lifetime:

The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.
                                 ~ Mary Oliver