My Time In The Shack

I just finished an amazing journey this week. It was to a dilapidated shack deep in the heart of Oregon's backcountry. The journey was not taken by air or car, but via the book "The Shack" by William P. Young. I flew through this book and loved every moment of it.

When I first heard of the book, I had my guard up. Most fictional works regarding God contain gross distortions or incomplete pictures of Him, and no doubt any work describing God is going to be limited and incomplete. But I started reading with my shields and sensors up, looking to identify the "Aha! There it is!" moments of theological weakness.

I'm an idiot.

This work captured my heart, skirted my defenses and quickly started transforming my preconceptions about my spiritual life.  I very quickly switched from a critical mind to an open heart.

(Spoiler Alert)

It is the story of a mid-life dad, raising a family. During a family vacation in Oregon, his youngest daughter Missy goes missing (abducted). An all out search is undertaken which ends in the crushing discovery of her blood stained dress in a remote shack deep in the woods of Oregon's back country. The family is plunged into a deep despair, and "Mac", the dad, is haunted by guilt and regrets which never fade.

Years later, still emotionally a wreck, he receives a note in the mail which reads "Meet me at the shack this weekend. Papa.". Papa is the wife's "pet name" for God. After ruling out pranks and bad jokes, Mac secretly packs some gear and heads to the "ground zero" of his despair. The resulting spiritual journey will captivate your mind and release your own misconceptions about who God is and the relationship He desires with us.

I "read" this as an audiobook (iTunes $3.95), and I would highly recommend that, if you are not the reading type.  The embarrassing part was, I found myself (multiple times) wiping tears from my eyes on the bus or other public places I happened to be listening.  You've been warned!

It was a mistake to approach the book looking for theological flaws. Just join your heart to Mac's and share in the journey he goes through. If you have never read a "religious" book, this is the one to read.  It won't be long before you may be raving about the time you spent in "The Shack". It is time well spent, and it is no overstatement to say it could change your life and even your eternity.

Peace, Love and Good Books,

Rich

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Humble Pie

Hi Gang,

I haven't been blogging lately because the most major thing going on in my life right now is a personal failure.

I did not complete an assignment I had agreed to do for our church. It was a promotional video for our upcoming Flourish worship concert on Sept 27. Long story short, I did not do it.

My mind tries to give excuses but my heart knows the truth. I was selfish and irresponsible and did not give the project the attention and energy I promised and that it deserved. I flaked.

Lately, I have been struggling with ambitionlessness. A sort of life-boredom. This time last year I was all over this project! I wanted to make a splash, to make a difference. This year I am almost indifferent.

It disturbs me. I know I am feeling this way, but I don't understand why. Mid-life crisis? As a young man I imagined my life very differently. Nothing really turned out the way I dreamed it would. But my life is great! Great family, home, work I mostly enjoy, hobbies, friends and church. Nothing to complain about. Very safe and very stable. Very.

To admit to this failure was difficult. Very humbling. I tried to give no excuses, but be honest about what happened. Don't know if I did a good job at that, buy hey, I'm even confused about how and why it happened! There was never any deception. I fully expected to finish the video, up until the last week when it became obvious it was too late.

To not have discussed it here would have been dishonest. I am trying to live my life openly, and this happened, so I should discuss it, as embarrasing as it is. I've been keeping my head low lately and trying to not over-commit myself. I want my word to be my bond, and to be a trustworthy fellow. I want my yes to be yes, and my no to be no. It takes years to build a reputation, but it can be destroyed in an instant. My reputation is not just my own. I also represent Christ. I don't want to take anything away from Him. I'm just glad He can draw straight lines with a crooked stick like me.

Peace, love and a hard look inside,

Rich

Geolocate this post (Posted from bus on ride home)
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Photo: My Downtown Lair

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My KITV Workstation

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Testing A Mobile Blogging App

Aloha everyone,

I have found that since I got the iPhone I haven't been blogging much. In fact I haven't even been on the computer nearly as much! Now I know you are thinking, "Who are you and what have you done with the REAL Rich Fewell?" Well let me put your fears to rest and emphatically say I am me, and I am learning all sorts of new things I can do with this remarkable device.

The one I am trying now is called Life Cast, a blogging app made for the iPhone. (Free!) I found in the past that when I emailed a blog entry from my phone, the line breaks were all so screwy that it was driving me mad and I stopped sending them. Hopefully, when I check this out later, I'll have nice little sentences and paragraphs, rather than jumbled text with random line breaks.

Also, somehow, this entry is supposed to include my location. Not quite sure how it is going to appear, but if you're reading this, then you probably already have a better idea than I do at this moment as I write this.

This app is also supposed to be able to send pictures too, and I'll try that next. I'm told it can do one or the other but cannot combine them in one post.

Ok that's enough for now. Thanks for reading my test file. I hope to be back to real introspection and witty observations very soon.

Peace, love and new tools,

Rich


Geolocate this post

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Ode to my online life!

I sit here at the keyboard,

wond'ring what to say.

Should I write about my thoughts,

or how I spent my day?

My comings and my goings

are Twittered thru and thru,

I've Flickr'd, Fring'd and emailed,

every one of you.

My online life is getting

just a little out of hand,

I plan my day around where I

get WIFI on demand!

A silent thoughtful moment

is really rather rare,

I find I don't have quite enough

leftover, now, to share.

So I'll close this little poem

like I always try to do,

Wishing Peace, Love and Aloha,

to everyone of you!

Tomorrow is a new day,

so I'll skip the flatteries.

Besides I have to recharge all

my gadget batteries!

Blog? Why?

Aloha,

My friend Ken last night at small group was complaining to me about my lack of blogging. It's true, and it's not only me. In my neck of the woods, Facebook has caught on big time. Even Emily has an account now! Thusly, many of my friends are blogging less often, myself
included.

To me, there is a significant difference between micro-blogging and blogging. In the Twitter/Facebook realm, one fires off short messages which reflect an emotion, thought or reaction to some immediate event. It answers the question "what are you doing now?". It's fun
and has it's place.

Blogging is more than a longer micro-blog. It is more thoughtful, slower paced. It forces the writer to have a message or a theme and to develop an idea, or tell a story. I enjoy blogging, more because of what it does for me, than what ends up on the page. It makes me
think.

One of Bryan's teachers was telling all us parents that the reason they do so many essays is that her classl is not just to teach them history, but also to teach them how to think. Writing makes you think (at least it does for me).

When I blog, I contemplate, I evaluate, I support or defend, I realize new things that I had not previously, I appreciate my life and can see it for a moment from a different perspective.

I miss that.

I will get back on the blog-wagon, not because of any of you necessarily, but because I need to, for me. I just needed to remember why I do it. Thanks Ken.

Peace, Love and Fruitful Time-outs,

Rich

(Sent from my iPhone. Please forgive brevity or typos.)

Blogging still?

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to white a quick note to say that I haven't forgotten about blogging and I'll try to get back to it again soon. I have been twittering a lot lately and I'm beginning to warm up to Facebook. You can probably keep up with me there too.

Till next time,

Peace love and aloha,

Rich

(Sent from my iPhone. Please forgive brevity or typos.)

We met Bradley's teacher

Bradley is entering the 5th grade this year, and last night we had the
opportunity to meet his teacher for the first time. Miss Ingram
seemed very nice and organized. They even have a white rabbit for a
class pet named "cotton". There is a lot of homework and this year
both boys have to do a science project.

There is a zero tolerance policy regarding deadlines. If a child's
work is not turned in on time, even if the work was completed, or
turned in late, the child receives a ZERO for the project. This bit
Bryan last year. They have to keep a journal all year of their daily
Bible readings. He forgot to turn it in on time and received a zero
for it. It was 20% of his grade and it dropped him a letter grade in
the end.

Should be a great year ahead (if we stay ahead of the work load)

Weekend update

Hi friends,

Here is a quick update just to keep you all informed with what we are up to in the Fewell family.

Friday we enjoyed the Olympic opening ceremonies. On the way home I got caught in a bad rainstorm in Mililani on my bike.

Saturday morning I worked on the truck most of the morning, then we took the kids to Dave & Busters for a promised summertime visit. It was almost too late, because this was the last weekend before school starts.

Bradley and I are looking for a new bike for him!  He just learned how to ride (pretty much because he finally decided to) and now he loves it, but the bike he has now is a little small.  We're looking for a 20" boys bike for him.  We're looking for mountain bike with hand brakes, multiple speeds and a great deal.

Bryan helped me remove the entire brakes and suspension from the front of the truck.  I have been enjoying working on the truck and teaching him about how the parts of a car work.  It reminds me of when my Dad and I rebuilt a 1965 Fiat 1500 Cabriolet.  We worked a year and a half on that car before we ever heard the engine run!

Sunday we attended church and then after doing some errands, went to the Mililani Town Center to watch "The Dark Knight", a movie everyone has been talking about.  Wow.  What a fascinating movie.  Funny thing happened too.  Just as all he preliminaries were stating, who should sit down next to us?  None other than Barbara and Maria Olmos.  It was good to see them again and to take in the movie together.

After we got back, Bryan and I cleaned my truck wheels and washed Em's car together before dinner.

That brings you up-to-date!

Peace Love and Weekends,

Rich

Sent from my iPhone

Quickie Update

Much to blog about, but not much time to blog...

We had a great family reunion on Maui.  Photos to come.

I got the truck in the garage, so now I can start work on it!

Bradley has learned how to ride a bike and he has fallen in love with it!  I now ride with him when I come home from work.  I love it!

Peace, Love and Memories,

Rich

Photos of Field Day and Camping

I've uploaded a bunch of photos to Flickr. To see pictures of the ARRL Field Day and of our weekend Peacock Flats campout, click here.

Just a sample here:

Rich Utterz: Offroading in Waianae Mountains

Mobile post sent by Richfuel using Utterz. Replies. mp3

Rich Utterz: Leaving to go camping!

Mobile post sent by Richfuel using Utterz. Replies. mp3

The latest JibJab is hilarious!

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

World's Oldest Blogger Passes

At 104 years old, her life, perspectives and vitality amazed me. Although I never knew her, I followed her blog and enjoyed every minute of it. I was saddened to learn of her peaceful passing on Saturday, July 12 at 108 years old. Olive Dangerfield (maiden name), was born in 1899 in Australia, and has seen a lot, but she never let it affect her charm. As the blog "facilitator" put it, she had the memory of a hard drive, able to recall conversations from 1908!

We will miss you Ollie!

Check out her blog if you can get on. Lately it has been so overloaded with readers that it can't support the load.

All About Olive

Sorry, 16GB iPhones are sold out

They ran out of 16GB iPhones within 1 hour or opening. I stood in line for a total of 3.5 hours. They ran out about 8 people in front of me. I am not dealing with it well.

Rich Utterz while standing in line for iPhone

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Today is OUR Sweet Sixteenth Wedding Anniversary!

Many of you probably expected me to be writing about the new iPhone 3G coming out today. I will, but by far the most important event of this day is that it marks sixteen years of our wedded journey together.

So, in honor of that, I wanted to record down for posterity the card I found to give to Emily. I wish I had crafted all the words myself, because they express my heart so well, but with a little professional help Emily, let me record what is on my heart:

Dearest Emily,

Here we are. You and me. The same two lovers who pledged our lives to each other with stars in our eyes and big dreams in our hearts. And while the years have seen some of those dreams come true, these years have also opened our eyes to the reality that marriage takes work, patience, and the kind of love that stays true, no matter what.

Here we are. You and me. Celebrating another year of loving and living and learning. Another year of working to make this life together the best it can be. And I just want you to know that I believe in us. I believe in our love, and I cherish our shared love for the Lord. I am grateful for the strength and beauty that come from sharing life's joys and weathering its storms... together.

You are my love, and when I pledged my life to you, I said forever... I still do.

Happy 16th Anniversay my love!

My First "Long Distance" Call

Many of you know I have become interested in ham radio. I spend a lot of time on frequencies that allow me to talk to anyone on these islands by radio. We have powerful repeaters here that make it especially easy. I have also used VOIP technology to speak by radio (via internet) to anyone in the world. In fact I have made a great friend in South Africa using this method (Dave, ZS4DT).

Well, what happened last night is something new.

I picked up an old Kenwood TS-130 (introduced before the computer age) and strung a 102' copper wire in the trees around my home. My friend gave me a 40 lbs. 100 watt, 20 amp power supply (doubles as a boat anchor!) and I bought a manual MFJ Antenna Tuner from the Swap & Shop for $35. I've put maybe $250 total into my HF station, including maps for the wall and a clock!

Last night I had the priceless thrill of talking with someone overseas without any intervening technology. My radio to his radio. No internet, no phone company, no wires even!

I could hear VR7SS, who was operating JE7YSS (a club callsign) from Akita, Japan. Conditions were better than average last night and he was "booming" into Hawaii, making contacts with the mainland from Oregon to Arkansas. He was using a 3 element Yagi directional antenna, at 85 feet with 1000 watts (a lot).

I, on the other hand, was just using 50 watts into a G5RV (basically a 102 foot cooper wire dipole) hanging only 20 feet up off the ground (way lower than ideal). I called out a few times, but he would acknowledge other stations instead of me. I had no idea if it was even possible for him to hear me! He was on 14.290 Mhz. On the third try, at 9:05pm, my heart leaped into my throat when I heard him say "QR Zed Delta-Alpha-Delta?" (Ham-speak for 'Who is calling me with D-A-D in their callsign?')!

Now that I had his attention, I called "Juliet Echo Seven Yankee Sierra Sierra, this is Kilo Hotel Six Delta Alpha Delta, Honolulu, Hawaii. Name here is Rich, Romeo India Charlie Hotel, Rich. You are 5/7 into Hawaii and I am proud to say you are my first HF contact outside of the Hawaiian Islands! Pleased to meet you!"

He replied "Kilo Hotel Six Delta Alpha Delta, Juliet Echo Seven Yankee Sierra Sierra You are 5/3 (5=Clearly understandable, Signal strength 3 on a scale of 1-10) into Akita, Alpha Kilo India Tango Alpha, in Northern Japan. I am honored to be chosen as your first HF contact..."

We spoke just a little. His English was excellent. He is very involved with the Boy Scouts in Japan. He has a wife and 2 young children. He has been to Hawaii 3 times, and even operated from Hawaii once. This will be his last year at his current location, and will then be moving somewhere else.

When we finished and he moved on to another radio station, I raised my hands in victory and exclaimed "YES!" and was so thrilled to have assembled an HF station that actually worked!

Right now radio propagation is generally pretty poor (sunspot cycle), but as conditions improve, I'm looking forward to talking with more people all over the world. Some of the radio veterans tell me that there is nothing like the FIRST contact, but also encouraged me that it never really gets old. They still have that same thrill when their station is recognized by another one far away.

Now I have to start a logbook (probably digital) and start tracking my contacts. This is what I got into ham radio for.

Peace, Love and Worldwide Goodwill,

Rich