Dear Friends & Family,

Every year in May we “graduate” our Trailhead students and send them off into the world.  For me, this is often a difficult moment. I have been doing this long enough to know that the cultural shift they are about to undergo is an abrupt and challenging one.

I have come to see this transition in paddling terms. Much like an eddy in a river, Forest Springs is an anomaly. It’s a place where the cultural currents oppose the raging cultural river “out there” and where the gentle current will draw you into safety even if the water is thundering only feet away.

In a kayak or canoe, an eddy can provide a temporary place of rest, even in the midst of a chaotic and noisy rapid. From the eddy I can catch my breath. From the eddy I can gain perspective on what’s happening in the river without the risk of being washed into danger.  I can plan and prepare.

Trailhead is like this.  Students often enter this cultural eddy exhausted. The currents of cultural pressures have taken their toll. The paddlers are weary of the fight.  Often, they have been losing. We are blessed at Forest Springs to be able to offer this protected eddy, where perspective can be gained, wounds healed, convictions built. In Trailhead, God’s word is applied to all of life, and this cultural current invariably brings growth in any student willing to engage.

But then they leave…

Leaving the calm of the eddy and re-entering the current is called “peeling out” and it’s a tricky maneuver. The river wants control and exerts great force. Leaning the wrong way or entering that current unaware can end in disaster. In the river, as in life, knowledge and skill are required to negotiate the currents. Passivity will be the downfall of any lazy or ignorant paddler.  

When I read Matthew 13 (the parable of the sower) and I reflect on the factors in life that can stifle or kill the growth of the gospel, I see the faces of past students who came and grew and are now doing battle with tribulation, persecution, “the deceitfulness of wealth” or “the cares of this world.”  It makes me feel a bit helpless and it makes me want to pray. Would you mind keeping our 2018/2019 students in your prayers this Summer as they “peel out”?

Here they are with the paddles they made. It was a great project, but a reminder as well of their own responsibility to give direction to their lives. At this age it becomes difficult for anyone else to paddle for them on the river of life if they are not engaged in the effort.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Dan, Laura, Charlie, Mason & Nora