Mark Beeson

Kermode / Ursus americanus kermodei

 

 

I'm often captivated (and occasionally confounded) by the varying interests of the people I meet. We commit ourselves to every mission imaginable - and a few missions so “out there” that they’re impossible to imagine. (Of course, what’s considered “out there” varies greatly from person-to-person; what one thinks outrageous makes perfect sense to another.)

So when Sheila and I booked a voyage on the Delphinus with intentions of photographing one of the mysterious and rare Spirit Bears roaming the wilderness of The Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia, a few of our friends questioned our mission.

• “You’re doing whaaaaat?” - one of the easiest questions to answer. 
• “Why would you do that?” – required a longer explanation.
• “You’re insane.” – required no response.

Mission success depends on many things. Being in the right place at the right time helps. So does being prepared when the anticipated moment arrives. So does resolve. Resolve (commitment, determination or whatever you choose to call it) means you’re willing to pay the price to gain the prize. People resolute in the pursuit of their dreams, know their cause is worth its cost, so they pay what’s necessary.

Ronn Patterson (Captain of the Delphinus) spent the last few decades on a mission of his own, using his boat as a platform for eco-tourism and education. Ronn is a naturalist by profession, a marine biologist by training, a student of whales by practice, a professional photographer by habit, a teacher by inclination, and a writer by requirement. He is brilliant and his floating classroom gives those on board an up-close and personal look at some of the most interesting (and important) ecosystems in the world.

Ronn wanted to see a Spirit Bear too.

 

We left the Delphinus and joined Marven Robinson (a First Nation Elder we’d hired to help us find a Spirit Bear). We got in his boat, the “Gitgat’at Spirit,” for a speedy 90 minute cruise to the far side of Princess Royal Island. (The “Gitgat’at Spirit” has two 250-horse Honda engines on the back, so when I say, “cruise,” I mean, “cruise.”)

Prior to boarding Marven’s boat, we spoke with a photographer who’d recently hired First Nation Guides to find Kermode (Ursus americanus kermodei) and spent ten days in-a-row, all-day-every-day in the Rainforest trying to see one. She never saw one of the rare white Black bears. That news was sobering, but Marven was the man who guided a National Geographic Magazine research crew to photograph a Spirit Bear a couple of years ago, so we were guessing, “Even though there may be only a few hundred Spirit Bears alive in the world, if anyone can find one of these white Black bears, it’s Marven.”  We guessed right.

Somewhere along Princess Royal Island shoreline, Marven brought the “Gitgat’at Spirit” to the water's edge. We got off the boat and headed into the Rainforest.

I try to move quietly in the woods, but when Marven walked he made no sound. None. It was almost spooky.

Marven eventually told us to "sit down and stay put" while he went on alone “to find a bear.” He vanished and we sat. We waited. In a forest of Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock and Yellow-Cedar and we sat near this trail (which Marven identified as a "Spirit Bear trail") and waited a while longer.

I’m not sure exactly how long we waited silently near the salmon stream we’d hiked along as we left the basin, but when I least expected it (out of nowhere) Marven appeared. He held his finger up in front of his lips and made no sound as he formed the word “bear” with his mouth. He motioned to follow, so we followed and he led us to a seven-year-old male.

In the trackless maze of The Great Bear Rainforest, he found a Spirit Bear.

Unbelievable.

Our first day with the Spirit Bear was one of the most amazing days of my life.

I took some pictures.

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As we hiked the stream we noticed Pink Salmon were fighting the currents to swim upstream and spawn. Though predation takes many out of the gene-pool before they make it to their journey's end, enough fish escape the bears to establish the next generation of salmon. They're easy pickings for the bears and I crouched beside the stream as this Kermode bear went fishing.

 

Marven got us so close to this bear that Sheila took its picture with her iPhone!

These bears are not albinos. They're not related to Polar bears. They're not "Blond-Phase" Brown bears. They are white North American Black bears. The phenomenon, known as Kermodism, is triggered by a recessive mutation at the MC1R gene, the same gene associated with red hair and fair skin in humans. To be born white, a bear must inherit the mutation from both parents. The parents themselves don't have to be white, but both need to carry the recessive gene for the double-recessive mutation to occur. That hardly ever happens. These bears are rare indeed.

 

The Gitga'at and Kitasoo/Xai'xais people never spoke of the white bears. As a consequence fur traders and trappers didn't know they existed. Spirit Bears probably owe their survival to the tight-lipped First Nation people who considered them sacred and refused to hunt them.

It's impossible to describe the nimble grace of a 400 pound bear. They move with incredible agility, speed and power. Reseachers believe their light color gives Spirit Bears a "fishing advantage" and during daylight hours they catch 30% more salmon than dark Black bears.

For several minutes this big bear stood beside the stream and ate the leaves of the Lyngby Sedge. Bears eat lots of vegetation and while this guy was grazing I stood nearby trying to take his picture.  

 

Sheila and I saw Spirit bears. We even got some pictures. 

Mission accomplished. 

Isaiah 11:7  -  Cow and bear will graze the same pasture.

 

Somewhere Up Ahead Lies The Final Frontier

 

I took this buck's picture as it walked away and disappeared in the woods. I wonder about its prospects for the future.

Sometimes what lies ahead is difficult to predict. You can't see very far into the future and even if you're heading the right direction you don't know what your next steps will reveal. 

When you can't see what lies ahead, it can be unsettling. Not knowing how, where or when the "inevitable" will come is challenging, but GCC is offering six workshops to relieve some of the stress. 

If you've ever wondered what happens when you die without a will, or what a "Do Not Resuscitate Order" is, or what Hospice is all about, or if you're responsible for your spouse's debt when your spouse dies, or what it means to pre-arrange a funeral, you'll want to schedule these Monday nights and RSVP.

 

Mondays at 6:30 p.m. at the Granger Campus / The Final Frontier

• Center for Hospice Care – Choices to Make the Most of Life | September 10
  Speaker: Terri Stahl, Center for Hospice Care
   
• The Legal Stuff No One Talks About | September 24
  Speaker: Attorney Loren Sloat
   
• The Best Gift No One Thinks to Give | October 8
  Speaker: Shauna Luthringer, Bubb Funeral Chapel
   
• Your One Stop Resource Shop | October 22
  Speaker: Pam Huffer, Real Services
   
• Setting Up Your Finances for Before AND After Death | November 5
  Speaker: Karen Nevorski, Lake City Bank
   
• Leaving a Legacy | November 19
  Speaker: The Fulcrum Group

 

Proverbs 15:22  -  Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed. 

Engaged or Disengaged?

 

 

The answer to many of life's most common problems isn't always trying harder.

Spinning up more RPM's doesn't always resolve issues, relieve tensions or ensure progress in the face of delays and detours. Accomplishment isn't only about making your engine go faster. It's also about getting in gear. 

More RPM's don't matter if you're not in gear. 

Period.

How do I know?  Experience, that's how.

I've known people who talk and talk and talk about going on a diet. They invest huge amounts of time, energy and resources in their diet without ever actually counting their calories or carbs. They never put their diet in gear.

I've heard people go on and on about the nuanced benefits of their exercise plans. They say they're going to "get in shape" and "start training." But after months of hearing them get all amped-up talking about their "fitness" I've yet to see them lift a weight, walk on a treadmill or jog a mile. They don't actually exercise. It's as if they think being excited about fitness is the same as getting in gear and working-out.

And I've seen too many people do the same thing in their spiritual lives. I've done it too. I've mistaken a burst of energy for progress and accomplishment. I've mistaken strong emotion for actual mission success.

Have you?

I've watched myself get all pumped-up and excited about walking with God, but too often I don't get in gear and take my next step toward Christ. I've heard myself make bold statements about the spiritual disciplines I'm going to engage, but I've occasionally failed to actually engage those disciplines, so nothing has come of it.

When I see myself (or others, for that matter) mistaking talk for action, or acting as if a lot of emotion is the same as engaging the work and getting something done, it's not only heart-breaking, it's wrong. It's all smoke and no fire; it's knowledge without application; it's flame without heat; it's talk without action; it's activity without accomplishment.

I don't believe there's anything wrong with the fire of burning ambition (and it's a far better motivator than fear) but any momentum for change depends on engaged passion. Every time we decide we're content "being dis-engaged for a while," we undermine our own progress. We can be engaged in work, or engaged in rest, but we won't make progress in either when we're dis-engaged and drifting.

If you want to fly, you've got work to do. Like the Emperor Geese pictured above, the only way to soar is to get busy flapping your wings. 

Talking about prayer isn't praying.
Talking about worship isn't worshipping. 
Planning to read the Bible isn't reading the Bible. 
I need to engage.

I need to put my spiritual life in gear so the energy I feel gets transferred into action. If you'd like to do the same, consider participating in GCC's 8-Week-Discipleship opportunity. We're studying The Tangible Kingdom Primer by Hugh Halter with a process similar to the Experiencing God work we did last semester: discussion, live teaching and helpful study guides. 

Register here, and let's get busy.
 

Proverbs 14:23  -  All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Our Best Days

 

What’s sacred to you? 

If “sacred” implies transcendent worth and value, if hearing that word suggests you’d be wise to treasure something, someone or some magnificent experience you deem sacrosanct and holy, you’ll understand when I say, “Some things are too good to throw away, too wonderful to toss aside. Some experiences are so rich and filling, it’s obvious they’ve come from God.”

I’ve just had a some days like that.

The Lord gave me a few days with my son in northern Ontario. My brother was there with his son too. My friend Steve Smith has a little cabin on a fly-in-lake and he presented me with a precious gift - time in the wilderness with family and friends. 

I caught some fish, saw eagles fly and watched otters play.  I saw a bull caribou swim across the lake, a blond-phase black bear patrolling the shoreline and Moose tracks in the woods near the cabin.

And I enjoyed worshiping God in the beauty of his creation.

Psalm 145:4-6  -  One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.

Wrong Question

 

Have you seen the news?

We’re suffering the consequences of misguided inquiry.

When we ask the wrong question we’re not likely to receive the right answer, and the longer we allow the wrong questions to go un-checked and un-challenged the more we’ll suffer the bad behavior that accompanies our delusion.

If you are baffled and confused, wondering how anyone could encroach on the White House implying, “No one tried to stop us,” then welcome to reality. It’s a new day in America, where all our transgressions are everyone else’s fault. Even if the most obvious example of bad behavior predicated on wrong-headed thinking is given by a potential cast member for reality TV’s, “The Real Housewives of D.C.,” and even if it's derived from folks escorted out of a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner two months earlier (caught sitting at a table paid for by other donors), we’re still surprised.  Why?

Why the shock? Why the outrage? What did we expect?

Why would someone act this way? It’s simple; they’re asking the wrong question. Instead of asking, “Am I supposed to be there?” They’re asking, “Can I sneak in there without being stopped?”

America is now buzzing about this bad behavior in Washington DC. Why? The behavior is so common we’re accustomed to it. We indulge it in our own lives. We expect it from our neighbors.  And why wouldn’t we assume it'd show up in DC? As long as we ask the wrong questions, we’ll suffer the same predictably poor consequences.

Consider the little boy who’s asked why he took a pen from a nearby desk. His response? “I didn’t know who it belonged to, so I just took it.” He’s posed the wrong question. Instead of wondering who the pen belonged to, he should’ve been asking, “Is this my pen?” If not, he had no business taking it.  Though he wasn’t sure who owned the pen, he knew it wasn’t his.

Think about the defense of a trespassing man looking for mushrooms in the neighbor’s woods. “I wasn’t sure whose land it was, but since I didn’t see any 'No Trespassing' signs I figured I’d check it out.” Wrong premise.  Instead of being mildly curious about whose land it was, he should’ve asked, “Is this my land?” If not, he should’ve stayed out. Maybe he didn’t know who it belonged to, but he knew it wasn’t his.

Robert Gibbs said this about the bad behavior derived from a false premise, "If you didn't get invited, which they didn't, you shouldn't be here at an event." That only makes sense when asking the right question, "Did I get invited?"

As long as we live with the entitlement mindset - what’s mine is mine and what what’s yours is mine - we’ll suffer the boorish behavior of selfish indulgence and arrogant assumption. People without conviction about personal responsibility and personal property will always trespass on other’s property, steal other’s possessions and threaten the security and sanctity of personal space.  These people aren’t safe people, and if that’s us, then we aren’t safe people either.

Until we choose to walk in the Way of Christ, we should expect little else.

We may be tempted to sneak in and sit in the best seat, but when we steal what's not ours we set ourselves up for disappointment. We regularly wonder what bad behavior we can get away with. The problem is a common one, but what’s become so common around us (and in us) is what’s called, “the way of the world,” and we’re in it  -  until we follow Him and His Way out of it.

Luke 14:7-14 
Jesus went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, "When someone invites you to dinner, don't take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he'll come and call out in front of everybody, 'You're in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.' Red-faced, you'll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.

When you're invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, 'Friend, come up to the front.' That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I'm saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face. But if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."

Then he turned to the host. "The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You'll be—and experience—a blessing. They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God's people."