Juneau, 2.0

I arrived in Juneau today. This place is so beautiful — as amazing as I remembered.

After we arrived, we did the customary thing — we waited for our luggage. And waited, and waited. Everyone but me did not get their stuff. The other four people I flew with today changed airliners when they arrived for their layover in Denver. Unfortunately, their bags did not make the transition. As we speak (or as I type, rather), they’re back at the airport retrieving their (hopefully) recently arrived luggage.

After figuring out that all their belongings would be arriving later tonight, we drove from the airport to the student housing here at the University of Alaska Southeast where we are staying. It was so surreal, driving by such familiar places. We passed several of my old haunts: the now-empty lot that used to host the plant nursery where I worked; the Safeway store where I took my lunch breaks; Auke Lake, where my friends and I would go swimming after work on the unseasonably warm days, of which there were many during the summer of 2004.

Immediately, I was flooded with memories of all the good times I had that summer — of all the amazing people I had the pleasure of spending two and a half months with. For a moment, I felt an almost overwhelming sense of melancholy. I realized how badly I wanted all those people to return with me. And I realized how that won’t ever happen. Ever. Because life moves on and people get jobs and college summer turn into memories.

But I soon snapped out of it. Because as much as I wish it were, this trip is not about my reliving my glory days as a carefree (however spiritually floundering) college student spending a summer in the Alaskan wilderness. This summer is about investing in the lives of the young men who arrive here in a few days to participate in this thing we’re calling Alaska Transformation. It’s about drawing from the transformation God began in me four summers ago and turning it inside-out so that others can see that yes, God does change lives, actually.

Basically, this summer is about giving back.

So, I’m a little sad, because I’m missing a lot of really special people right now. But I’m also looking forward to the adventures, both the literal and spiritual kinds, that lay ahead.