Kidologist.com: Karl Bastian’s Personal Site and Blog
Archive for Yosemite
September 7, 2008 at 6:37 pm · Filed under Children's Ministry, Conferences, Kidology, Leadership, Yosemite
YES! When I first announced Yosemite Summit last year I got many e-mails asking me to plan a similar event for women, even a few polite scoldings for making my event “men only.” Obviously, I can’t host a women’s retreat! So I went to one of the most remarkable children’s ministry leaders in the country, Kim Bobb, (who happens not to be a man) and challenged her to create a similar event for women. Unbridled was born!
Unbridled!
October 20-22, 2008
Circleville, Ohio
No, it’s not at Yosemite, but it is one fully staffed ranch and horses are included! Unbridled is less than TWO MONTHS AWAY and enrollment is limited! Your host is Kim Bobb, Pastor to Children & Their Family at New Albany First Church of the Nazarene. Her children’s ministry is called Recess Ministries and can be visited at www.recesslive.com Kim is a favorite and regular children’s ministry trainer at Kidology Conferences. Her enthusiasm for life and ministry is contagious. You will have a fantastic time getting away from ministry and getting close to God and some other women who share your passion for ministry and are on the same journey as you. GET ALL THE DETAILS. (Or click on the Women tab on YosemiteSummit.org)
June 5, 2008 at 2:26 pm · Filed under Adventures, Children's Ministry, Conferences, Photography, Spiritual Growth, Yosemite
(Reprinted from Yosemite Summit for my blog readers)
- Don’t miss the video at the end, and click any picture for a larger view.
It’s hard to believe the Yosemite Summit 2008 is over. It’s been several weeks, but it still feels like a part of me is still there in the Sierra Nevada. It’s been fun sorting through the 5000+ pictures we took and reliving the fun memories. Not only the incredible PLACE we were, but the awesome friendships that were formed and will continue to grow in the years ahead.
It was an amazing time together and God did some incredible work in our lives. For me, my soul comes alive in this place and I finally feel truly free. We started our first day watching the sun rise at Glacier Point. The views are simply spectacular!
It was a time to leave the busyness and noise of normal life behind and just listen to God. There were times we could just sit and soak our souls in the presence of God as well as walking with Him on the incredible hikes.
There is just something powerful about reading God’s Word and praying when you are in a place where His handiwork is so much on display. The rocks indeed did cry out - God is real, and God is here.
The hikes themselves were indescribable. The first day we did a solitude hike (each separated by about five minutes so we could hike alone with God) and then on the second day we did the Panoama Trail which took us on an incredible hike around the rim of the valley, through many types of landscape and ended with the Mist Trail which goes to the top and then down the side of two thundering waterfalls. In the picture below we are near the starting point and in the background you can see the waterfall we would be at some seven hours later!
By the third day we did some easier hikes that had incredible views of the valley, some with a few straight down of seveal thousand feet! Below is one of the few railings due to the incredible drop straight down over 3500 feet!
The hikes were challenging - but the views breathtaking and like nowhere else on this continent. Not only can you not believe what you are seeing is real, but when you are hiking, you can’t believe “I’ll be there in a few hours” or “I was there yesterday?” We hiked through areas that at times looked like Narnia in winter - under the shadow of huge trees walking on several feet of snow while at other times we were out on barren rock checking out lizards. The scenery and climate changed constantly. We’d be hot and enjoying cold water to cool off, and later getting drenched from the mist of a raging waterfall. Like I often say, “This is the place God just showed off.”
I have been to MANY National Parks and NONE have the views and variety and splendor of Yosemite. I’ve often said the Grand Canyon is a yawner if you’ve been to Yosemite. We ran into some guys who were at the Grand Canyon just two days before (doing a cross country hiking trip) and they said Yosemite outdid anything they had seen at the Grand Canyon. They were in awe and said Yosemite far exceeded even their high expectations!
Yosemite is a photographers heaven. My wife was a little worried that I’d fall off a cliff in pursuit of a great picture and end up in real heaven. So I told her any time I saw an awesome, but dangerous, photo opportunity, my motto would be WWSS. (What Would Sara Say?) That motto cost me many potentially incredible shots… but also brought me home alive.
I have been dreaming of doing some of the serious hikes at Yosemite since I was a boy. Coming on this trip, and bringing a group of fellow children’s pastors with me was a dream come true. At one point I asked Yosemite had lived up to my grand descriptions of Yosemite before we arrived - and they all said no. One guy said, “You didn’t do Yosemite justice. You can’t begin to describe this place.”
There were people there from all over the world. (I was surprised there weren’t more Americans - or are we too used to having entertainment pumped into our homes?) I don’t know how anyone comes to this place and doesn’t leave with an awed sense of having been in the presence of the Creator. Everything here points to one thing: GOD.
I still have a lot of photo and video editing to do to create the “official” highlight video, but I decided to give you a small taste of what Yosemite Summit was like. It was truly a time of experiencing God in a place where his creative power is on full display and where his Voice is more easily heard. Men, as you watch this video, whisper a quiet prayer asking God if He is calling you to join us next year for Yosemite Summit 2009.
I just booked the lodge for 2009 and updated YosemiteSummit.org with next years dates!
May 16, 2008 at 8:35 am · Filed under Internet, Life, Technology, Yosemite
Could it be?!?! The man once nicknamed “Pastor Gadget” going OFF LINE for an ENTIRE WEEK!?! YES! The rumors are true! I’ve got my MacBook Air, iPhone, GPS, digital camera, video camera, and a power strip to charge them all at night… so I think I’m good to go, but once I hit Yosemite the laptop will only be used for downloading pictures at the end of the day. NO E-MAIL, NO INTERNET, NO WORK, NO NOTHING! I soon will be basking in God’s Amazing Creation in one of the most spectacular places on the face of the earth far away from all of my normal responsibilities and duties. Yahoo! (And that isn’t a reference to a website!)
As I write this I am sitting on the floor at O’hare International Airport waiting board a flight to Sacramento, California on my way to join eight other guys on an Adventure known as Yosemite Summit.
What began as a challenge during a sermon in the fall of 2006 and grew into a conviction in the winter of 2007 and then calling by summer 2007 is now coming to a climax here in the spring of 2008!
God has brought together NINE MEN for the purpose to detaching from ministry to reconnect with God. Men, especially those of us in ministry, have a tendency to make ministry the substance of our spiritual walk when it is US God wants, not what we can DO for Him. For these few days we will cease from DOING and seek to simply BE in the presence of God so that He might do a work in us that He often can’t do when we are so busy doing.
For those of you who could not come to Yosemite Summit, let me challenge you to intentionally plan some TIME AWAY to connect with God. I’ve been so encouraged to hear from those who Yosemite Summit has inspired to plan retreats away with friends for the same purpose. Let me applaud those and say to the rest of you - what are you waiting for? Life is too short… and you DO have time for something like this, because you MAKE time for something like this. (You’ll never “have time” for it in the normal sense of the phrase.)
WELL, the flight leaves soon! I’m going a day early for food shopping and prep, so I’ve got 24 more hours of electricity and Internet! Before I go completely offline, I’ll have a very special surprise to post tomorrow and something else that goes lives on Kidology.org while I’m gone… curious? You’ll just have to check back and find out what it is!
March 23, 2008 at 9:09 am · Filed under Life, Spiritual Growth, Yosemite
As mentioned in the video for the First Things First Kidology online training session, my pastor challenged us to consider what “re-creates” us, and to intentionally PLAN it into our lives. Up until that time I wrongly considered recreation to be equal to play and often said my recreation and my occupation were the same: children’s ministry. How wrong I was! While I DO enjoy children’s ministry, it isn’t what re-creates me, it drains and uses me up! So I took the challenge to consider what truly RE-creates me, and for me it is time AWAY from ministry, out in nature with my Bible and camera. (and perhaps an iPod with worship or classical music playing.) As I prayed about what God would have me do to make RE-creation a regular part of my life, a dream began to form that slowly transformed into Yosemite Summit.
God has answered my prayers by filling up this retreat with 8 more men seeking the same. So now I’ve been working on planning the hikes and figuring out what to bring (and not bring). I am so looking forward to this time AWAY from life as “normal” to spend with eight other guys who love God and kids on this UNconference! As I always describe it, it is the conference that promises:
No Workshops - Just Worship
No Resources - Just Relationships
No Networking - Just God Working
Well, one of the ways I enjoy remembering or anticipating something is to look through pictures. So I took a few minutes (that’s all it takes on a Mac) to make a music video with pictures from my last trip to Yosemite on my sabbatical. (You can see those blog posts here, here, here and here)
ENJOY THIS VIDEO:
It may be too late for you to join Yosemite Summit, but IT IS NOT TOO LATE for you to intentional plan something into your life that re-creates you! There is no excuse. There is no “can’t.” You are not too busy. In fact, I would say, if you are feeling too busy, then you need to do this even more. There IS a way, if you are willing to seriously think and pray about it. You only live once, DO SOMETHING INCREDIBLE that will be a once in a life time memory. YOU are worth it! And your soul and ministry will greatly benefit. What’s holding you back? What recreates you? What refreshes you? Pray about it, and then GO FOR IT! Don’t let life sneak past… grab it and DO SOMETHING with it. What are you waiting for? Don’t worry, everything else will be waiting for you when you get back. Take a dream and allow God to make it a reality.
I’m not just typing idle words here, I mean it! What are you going to do?
January 4, 2008 at 3:45 pm · Filed under Children's Ministry, Yosemite
Why is there a Chip at the top of Half Dome?
Head over to www.YosemiteSummit.org to find out! You will also find out that there are ONLY THREE SPOTS LEFT in this amazing children’s pastors’ retreat!
Don’t miss out on this chance to get away from the busyness of daily ministry to spend some time with God in one of the most spectacular locations on earth (literally) and to enjoy some deep fellowship with some other men who share your passion for kids and desire to walk closer to God.
The conference can not be expanded after the eight spots are filled. You’ll sleep in a lodge inside the park and enjoy breathtaking hikes each day. Learn more about it!Â
October 1, 2007 at 3:16 pm · Filed under Adventures, Children's Ministry, Kidology, Leadership, Life, Yosemite
I’m excited to let you know about a very unique opportunity for children’s pastors… it’s called Yosemite Summit.
www.yosemitesummit.org
May 18-22, 2008
Sunday to Thursday
The Unconference for Childrens Pastors
No Workshops - Just Worship
No Resources - Just Relationships
No Networking - Just God Working
www.yosemitesummit.org
Yosemite Summit is five day personal sabbatical for male children’s pastors located in the heart of one of the most spectacular National Parks in America. This refreshing summit of renewal is limited to only eight men who will be staying at a luxurious lodge inside Yosemite and only ten miles from the famously breathtaking Yosemite Valley.
Get away from the office, the church, the phones, the Internet, and the busyness of life and ministry and re-coop with some fellow ministers hiking, worshiping, and enjoying genuinely refreshing fellowship surrounded by vistas that only God could create.
This retreat will be a structured time of renewal that will provide both group and personal time of reflection, prayer, reading, and worship in a setting where God can truly be heard and experienced. Day hikes to some of the most stunning vistas in the world and evenings of rest and relaxation. (even a hot tub!)
Yosemite Summit is a ministry of Kidology.org which exists to equip and encourage those who minister to children. Kidology founder, Karl Bastian, will be your host - but the guest speaker will be Jesus Himself as each man allows this retreat to be a time and place where he can meet with God removed from the distractions and pressures of daily ministry life.
For more information, browse this site. Registration is limited to 7 men who will join Karl on this retreat. To register visit yosemitesummit.org and visit the registration page. After the seven spots are filled, there will be a waiting list in case there is an opening later on.
You are invited to the only children’s ministry conference where you will get absolutely no practical ideas or helpful resources for children’s ministry - but you will get help with the most important aspect of your ministry - your walk with God.
January 11, 2007 at 1:25 am · Filed under Adventures, Devotional, Family, Life, Photography, Spiritual Growth, Yosemite
NOTE: All images in this post are clickable for wallpaper size.
“Thou art the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks… but my God, my soul has further horizons… higher than any mountain peak… Thou who art God of all these, be my God.” (Psalm 139)
While I was in Colorado I got to take a day to do the one thing that “re-creates” me most deeply, spend time alone, with God, in nature, with only a camera and an iPod loaded with worship music….. ahhhhhhhh
The place was “Garden of the Gods” but I prefer to call it the “Garden of God.” It’s a place I often visited as a young boy living in Colorado, so it was so nice to visit again decades later!
There is just something powerfully refreshing to walk around a place that is so ageless, it somehow puts your life in perspective… God is not in a hurry. He takes his precious time to do His work, and it is always a master peice.
The view from the highway heading in.
I love to climb, but was not equipped to rope climb on this trip, though I did spot these climbers right beyond the ’stay on the sidewalk’ sign!
Of course, they had a permit, so I was the one off the sidewalk, though I enjoyed getting to meet this US soldier on a break from Iraqi climbing with his wife. They were here to climb from California - living within hours of Yosemite, but not yet ready to climb there. It was nice to hear this soldiers wife speak both of her fear but moreso of her pride in what her husband is doing in his service for the county. As I often hear from every soldier I talk to, the media is greatly misrepresenting the war and ignoring all the good and wonderful things that are happening over there. This soldier was most upset that they fail to honor the many US and Iraqi citizens that are killed volunteering for many of the most dangerous positions because they believe in what the United States is accomplishing over there. History will prove that, while it is a painful and tragic process, America is doing a good thing and bringing about changes that will greatly help the entire region as well as keep America safer. Those that don’t get it yet, have their head in the sand. Our enemy is real, and defeat is the only way they will cease their mission to destroy us and our love of freedom. “Ant-War” is a slanted phrase, for it suggests if you are not anti-war, you must be pro-war. No one I know is ‘pro-war’ - war is ugly and painful, but necessary. Instead, I like to say we ought to be pro-America, and pro our TROOPS and that means PRO-their mission! Victory is the only option. Those who would have us turn tail and run in defeat or failure have forgotten 9-11 and the lessons past world wars. But I digress….
A climber that I spotted, he is MUCH higher than it appears in this photo. He is actually over half way up the mountain that is behind the one in the forefront of this picture.
I love using my ten second timer and running to get pics of myself at cool places throughout the day….
It was REALLY TOUGH to get up there in ten seconds! 
I spotted these piles of berries several times along the way and a fellow hiker told me they were safe and healthy to eat. I’m not sure… they tasted HORRIBLE! Soft and sorta stale. Maybe if they had been fresh?
Night time at the Garden was spectacular!
One of the many lessons I’ve learned this past year, is that you MUST take time for the things that re-create you. I used to live as though “recreation” was just the “fun” stuff of life… and I missed the “re-creating” aspect of the things that truly refresh and refill and rejuvinate me. For me, one of the most powerful is getting alone in nature with my camera.What is it for you? If you don’t know, make it a New Year’s Resolution to find out, and if you do know, schedule it now… it will never “just happen.”
ENJOY THIS VIDEO I MADE THAT
HAS EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL PICTURES
OF THE GARDEN OF GOD!
Download link: Garden of God
(QuickTime 18.2mb, just under 4 minutes)
December 20, 2006 at 7:05 pm · Filed under Devotional, Holidays, Life, Luke, Photography, Yosemite
With the exception of Yosemite and Alaska*, Colorado is my favorite place on earth. (Yosemite and Alaska each go in their own category as there is no comparing to either of them!) So we are enjoying Christmas in Colorado Springs, and a White Christmas at that!
Took this picture out the window of van while driving, and used Mac to touch up.
(um, yeah added words too, they weren’t already in the sky!)
Luke, keeping warm in chilly Colorado.
Luke, still working on his crawling.
He has backwards down, still working on forward!
Went out to dinner, showed Luke how yummy Cheerios are!
Historic Moment: Luke has his FIRST CHEERIO!
Soon he is downing a whole little bowl, down on the floor that is.
Gave Luke an orange thinking he would recoil, instead, he loved it and chomped on it!
Luke’s favorite dinner game, peek-a-boo, or “Help Keep America Looking Beautiful”
Just a cute picture of baby sleeping…. before…
and after!
It’s was a beautiful thing… Mountain Dew in a Frosty Mug! WOW!
Discovered A&W carries MD, so I asked if I could have it in a frozen mug,
they said no one ever asked for that before…. a new discovery!
Luke, trying to snag Dad’s Dew, as usual,
but he’ll have to wait awhile to taste the good stuff!
Today I was supposed to go on a road trip to visit some favorite ministries here in Colorado, but had to turn around and head home after driving a half hour in blinding white snow…
This sign said it all:
Ironic Intersection!
Hope you are enjoying a Merry Christmas Season! We’re enjoying a White Christmas now!
*Alaska pages are from pre-blog era when I blogged tripped before blogger existed!
May 24, 2005 at 6:43 pm · Filed under Adventures, Children's Ministry, Devotional, Yosemite
If Yosemite is God’s best…. then Cedar Point is man’s best display of how we have harnessed God’s natural laws and the creativity he gave us and made: Roller Coasters. Yes, Roller Coasters are man’s cheif creation. Since the Tower of Babel man has always desired to go higher and faster… and nothing demonstrates man push for speed than the roller coaster. Sure, race cars and airplanes (and rockets) are faster, but they also have practical purposes: transportation and shipping. Only the roller coaster was built (at the cost of millions of dollars) simply for the pleasure of pushing the common man’s human limits. When we strap ourselves into these wood or metal machines we are saying we want to experience what we were not created to experience in our day to day life - height and speed are were not given to us - but the creativity to think of what does not yet exist and the intellectual ability to make it exist is one of the greatest gifts God gave us when He made us in His image. Forgive me for getting too philosophical about Roller Coasters - but they are one of my favorite things - and I always get philosophical about my favorite things, in an effort to understand WHY I like them so much. (Just be glad I’ve sparred my blog any Star Wars philosophy so far!)
Strong in the Coaster Force are these Dudes.
I am in the car on the way home from two days at Cedar Point. It will be difficult to go back to Great America in Chicagoland now that I know Cedar Point is there. The drive in the night before that circled the park to the Hotel Breakers Resort had me gasping and giggling with delight - it was roller coaster after roller coaster!! They just don’t end. Unlike most parks which have a few roller coasters as ‘anchor’ rides, this park has tons of coasters - it took two days to ride them all, and that was with practically NO LINES due to overcast conditions and threat of rain (and kids still in school). I rode 17 coasters on the first day and this morning in just three hours with Sara we rode 1o more rides before hittin’ the road home. It is a six hour drive from Chicago but is WELL WORTH IT - it would be worth flying to Cedar Point if you live next to Disney World - this is way better!! While there is still a TON of stuff for kids (like THREE of those car driving courses most parks have one of) it is like THE adult amusement park. I am planning to make this pre-Memorial Day trip an annual event. Anyone want to join me there next year??
How Children’s Pastors ride roller coasters at Cedar Point.
I took FRONT SEAT VIDEO on all the major coasters, and once I have high speed Interent will be posting them here on my blog - so check back!!
May 14, 2005 at 9:31 am · Filed under Adventures, Photography, Yosemite
I was kinda sad leaving, and yet grateful for four days of perfect gorgeous weather, lots of fun animal sightings, and plenty of awesome opportunities for photography. Probably my favorite part about being here is trying to capture in new or unique ways images that have been seen through millions of cameras for over a hundred years. Rather than just ‘Ooo, that’s pretty!’ point and shoot, I try to find a different way to capture it. Anyway, I try.
The Tunnel is Calling…
My first adventure of the day was something that I am sure few people do. In the middle of the long drive in there is a tunnel through a mountain that is extreeeeemely long. The first day through, about in the middle, I looked off the side facing the valley wondering if I would see what I hoped would be there - YES! Toward the middle there is a tunnel, a man-made cave that leads straight out to the side of the mountain. (Often built for air, and for an emergency exit if the ends of the tunnel were to collapse) I declared that first day that I must climb through that dark cave and see that view of the valley! I finally did it yesterday… I counted my paces into the tunnel, and 350 paces in, (over 750 feet) I was to the inner secret tunnel….
A tunnel hidden within a tunnel… beckoning still…
It was actually quite scary at first, because the first 40-50 paces are in PITCH BLACK - and I wondered if a wild animal might live in here!! The floor was rocky and uneven, as were the walls. A little over 75 paces in I got to the lit opening…
A caged end to the cave - no escape now
The view was spectacular - and nice to know that probably few people have taken the time to see this even if they did notice the cave in the tunnel.
Look for Yosemite Falls in the distance…
The other side of the cage was a few feet, and then sheer drop.
To jump or not to jump….. not to jump.
We spent one last leisurely day in Yosemite Valley - lunch along the river, and mild hiking. It was a beautiful day, I could just stay here forever and stop working. But, I think I would get hungry since the paycheck would probably stop too.
God’s Way of Saying, “I love you.”
Some really tall grass…
The final highlight of the day, was spotting some climbers on El Capitan - one of the most famous climbs in America…
See the climbers?
You had to strain your eyes, and look for dots that moved. Amazing to imagine their view from up there!
Look very lower left corner…
Two climbers in this picture.
Zoomed and Enhanced - see the climber now? I see Nike shoes!
Our final stop was Cascade Falls which is on the way out (and in, but we were on the way out) - most people take pictures from the bridge (as I did on the way in the first day), but today I climbed down under the bridge. Cascade Falls is TWO waterfalls falling separately above, in fact, there are two bridges next to each other, but once under the bridge, you can walk a short distance to where the two rivers meet to become one right before dropping over a cliff. I took a lot of DV video for my upcoming Worship DVD that I plan to make with all my pictures, but here is one:
Too bad photos can’t capture the noise!
As we were driving to our B&B for last night, I spotted a horse reflection off the side of the road… yes, I couldn’t see the horse, but I saw it’s reflection… so I asked Sara, who was driving, to stop and back up, and then I hopped out. Took a bunch of cool pictures of my own secret Mirror Lake, er, Pond….
A horse, of course, no four!
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