JoeTucker’s Weblog

So it has been a while since I have posted and it is my hope to begin routinely posting once again. The reason for my absence is that I spent the last two weeks helping out at Camp Carl. A place that I have served at for around six years. It was two weeks well spent.

And while I was there I got to do do something that I enjoy, but seldom get to do, cook using a fire! I lead the “Over the Edge” camp, which is a mix between a normal cabin and a wilderness survival camp. So throughout the course of the week I helped my campers make egg sandwiches, chicken, grilled cheese, french toast, bacon, and the obligatory s’mores over or using a fire. It was fantastic!

And I was reminded of a couple things as I reflected over the weeks and my long tenure at Camp carl (and in Akron at that). It’s tricky to tell when your food is done when you cook over a fire. Sometimes we use pie irons and have to peel open the pie iron to see if the meal inside is ready. We cooked chicken in foil and to test if the chicken was done, one would have to unwrap the hot foil, cut the meet, and look at the color. It’s a process.

But, you can always tell when something is overdone. The black crust of burnt bread, where golden french toast should be, the smell of burning cheese, or the char-coaled look of a marsh mellow. It is easy to tell when something is overcooked over a campfire.

And I thought about my time at camp. I served there consistently for four years (03-06) and helped out sporadically over the last two summers (07,08). But my time there is done. And my ministries and services at Akron too are reaching their finality.

And it’s weird to think about. That I have a set date (August 27th !!) where I will leave Akron and start serving and living somewhere else (Philadelphia with Mission Year!!!). I recall leaving Camp, and how it was one of the harder things I have ever forced myself to do. But in retrospect it was the better route. Too long there and I would have been burnt out.

Moreover (ironically a word my professors have told me to use less), that same finality is true academically. This thesis which has been my bane/work/interest/investment/what-have-you for the last 2 and a halfyears is almost done. (I defend this Tuesday!!) And with its completion, I can no longer call myself a college student. I am a graduate.

And again it’s weird, the thought that things which once were new are now over. But with the finality of one path is the onset of something new. and my mind is slowing accepting this. Slowly acquiescing too the idea that things will dynamically change over the next few years. That the norms that I have established for myself will adjust and grow.

Should be interesting…

grace and peace

There is a certain joy one can only experience with an old friend. A deep, resonating understanding about anything that comes from a shared experience, service, or just living life together. Twice within the last couple of days I have reunited with old friends and not only reminisced but delved deeply into thought, life, literature (perchance comic books…), and the happenings and worries of being a 23 year old.

And its good. Because we understand each other. In a way few others (those older and those younger) just don’t understand. And unfortunately it has been an experience that has been far too uncommon of late. The late night conversations about everything and nothing. (kinda like this post, what is it about? nothing really…)

And for me it is one aspect of friendship. To be able to reconnect with distant friends and share life once again. And as I approach the stage of life when the majority of my friendships become distant, it comforts me to know that reconnection is not only possible, but beautiful and deep.

So for those of you whom I connect with often, thanks. For those of you whom I have just recently reconnected with, my deep thanks and joy. And for the many of you whom I will soon be leaving, my hope for a joyous reconnection!

Grace and Peace

So, haha, wordpress has this feature tat counts the number of hits you get a day, and I am at an all time low. So in retaliation to this solemn realization, an update! (and hopefully more consistent updates to come).

So below you’ll find random snippets of what I have been up to. Enjoy!!

+I finished reading “How We Love” by Yerkovich, a psychological/spiritual attempt to delineate imprints we receive as children and how they affect our current relationships. It was an interesting read and my first attempt to bridge a better understanding of marriage, but it wasn’t really too relevant to my question at hand. (The question at hand being what does the Christ-centered marriage look like in the ideal, this being something that I have been thinking of more frequently of late and finding myself lacking in a deep understanding of it.) So the book search continues…

+Present reading includes a book called “Restoration,” a book that examins Messianic Christianity. After my first genuine attempt to read through Leviticus these past few weeks (all other attempts have been checkmarks to mark it off as read and done), I have been anxious to learn more about the Hebraic roots of Christ and the culture, law, and torah of the Jews. So interesting stuff. (Expect a fuller post on this sometime soon…)

+I have been having some solid late night convos thanks to the amazing nights that summer provides. Topics range from relationships, to callings/feelings, to the structure of the church, to abstract ideas about higher powers existance. Good stuff there and many interesting talks.

+I have been working like mad to get my Mission Year Launch Goal letters out. (If you haven;t received ine and would like to send me an e-mail or something at joex74@aol.com)

Well that should suffice for now. So rest assured there will be some more posts to come soon (which should result in more hits!!)

Grace and Peace