Ride the River II: Reaching Out to the Nations Within.

I was back at my usual spot at Rendezvous Coffee Shop in Isanti on Wednesday morning, after missing my regular “Rendezvous at Rendezvous” the week before. My wife Ellen, the pastor of St. Brendan’s, and I were in South Dakota that week, assisting Pastor Kc and Diane Kopaska of Native American Ministries (NAM), and Pastors Johnny and Heidi Wade, the local Assemblies of God missionaries, in the annual “Day in the Park” outreach, this year to the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in Mission, SD. This is the third year that St. Brendan’s Traveler’s Missions Team has partnered with NAM to reach out to the children of the Yankton, Rosebud and Lower Brule Sioux Reservations. This year’s trip was called, “Ride the River II,” named after the book, “Ride the River” by Pastor Larry Christensen, which uses the Lewis and Clark expedition on the Missouri River, as a parable about man’s relationship with the God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Each Wednesday at 8:00 AM, I have breakfast and a brief time of devotions at Rendezvous Coffee, unless something prevents his being there, such as work rescheduling or the annual mid-July missions trip. Normally I ride my bicycle to the coffee shop, weather permitting, in preparation for our yearly “Ride Across the Rez” fund-raising bike ride that is part of the “Ride the River” trip. But this year, all my planning did not include temperatures above 100 degrees and winds of up to 25 miles per hour, from the direction I was going to ride. The Rez Ride this year was to have been 100 miles over two days, across the Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations. The day we started, it was over 90 degrees by 9:30 AM. We decided it was safest to call it off at a bit less than 9 miles, rather than risk heat illness. I hope to re-do the fund-raiser late in August on Minnesota’s Paul Bunyan State trail, which ends on the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Indian Reservation. Hopefully, it will be cooler by then.

On Saturday, July 15th, we assisted Native American Ministries with their 4th annual “Day in the Park” outreach. The Day in the Park program provides games, entertainment, music and fun in an open, safe environment in a reservation community. Free horseback rides are provided for Native children by Pastor John Kees and our friends from Faith Cowboy Church of Desloge, MO, and NAM volunteers distribute hundreds of pairs of shoes and sandals and other clothing. But the primary emphasis of the Day is handing out student backpacks filled with school supplies for reservation children. Pastor Ellen, who assisted with the distribution, said over 500 packs were passed out this year. St. Brendan’s also provides and staffs the first aid tent, and does free blood pressure screenings.

The Community of St. Brendan’s in the Pines is a Lutheran Congregations in Missions for Christ (LCMC) house church and missions support organization based in rural Isanti. The house church meets each Sunday afternoon, and also at the “Two-Wheeled Explorer’s Rendezvous at Rendezvous” devotions every Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM, and anyone is welcome to stop by and take part. (Schedule changes are posted on the Two-Wheeled Explorer page on Facebook.) For further information, please visit the Two-Wheeled Explorer and Traveler’s Missions website, www.twowheeledexplorer.org, where you will also find links to the Facebook page and St. Brendan’s in the Pines website