Putting Black Beauty Out to Pasture

That's right! After 186,000 miles of being "rode hard and put up wet" (sometimes literally) the Suburban used by the ministry of the Outdoor Wisdom Leadership School to pull our trailers and haul kids, gear, food, and other necessities proved she had given all she had to give on the way back from the Nantahala Gorge the last weekend of September.

Outdoor Wisdom Leadership School is a non-profit Christ-focused ministry teaching life skills, spiritual lessons, communications, and leadership through participation in outdoor challenges and experiences. Historically, over 93% of our participants are disadvantaged youth requiring full scholarships in order to experience these OWLS Adventures.

Those OWLS Adventures already on the calendar in the weeks and months ahead will require over 8,000 miles of pulling and hauling. These experiences are crucial to the social, spiritual, and emotional development of the kids and families we serve and cannot happen unless we obtain a capable replacement for "Beauty" who served us so well for so long.

If you feel led to serve the Lord by helping us with a replacement, please contact me immediately. If you cannot help the OWLS ministry at this time, please forward this link to anyone who might be ministry minded and in a position to help. Of course, I always enjoy hearing from you for whatever the reason so please fire off an Email to me.

Thank you for your understanding and compassion.

Blessings,
Ben Simms, Director

Outdoor Wisdom Leadership School

The "OWLS" Program

http://www.theoutdoorclassroom.blogspot.com/

http://www.outdoorwisdomleadershipschool.org/

770-845-6900

Homeschoolers' Intro to Canoeing - 7/27/11

On July 27, 2011 OWLS provided 35 different homeschooled kids and parents the opportunity to try their hand at canoeing on the Bull Sluice Lake section of the Chattahoochee River. The weather was hot but a nice sandy beach on an island just up from the launch site provided a good target for everyone's upstream effort and a great spot to take a break and go swimming. We had quite a few small kids in the group which gave us another chance to put to use the wonderful new Youth PFD's we received from MTI last month. Although almost everyone said this was their first time paddling a canoe, they apparently paid good attention to my brief instructions, as we only had one pair of paddlers actually turn over all day (and they might have done it just to cool off). Everyone said they wanted to do this again sometime and many told me they felt up to going on one of our longer paddling adventures for a weekend or longer.
Here, following, are a few photos from this most enjoyable day:


The Roswell Fire Department even brought their new 6-person hovercraft which they proudly explained "allows them to travel through the shoals." Maybe they should have been learning to paddle and read the water with us.

Good thing little sister wasn't paddling too hard; at least not in this position.

The epitome of "Another Happy Paddler."

And they are off! It's a race to the island.

Three's a crowd? No! Three is just more fun.

Lots of new friends to be found this day.

There's a big grin hidden there somewhere.

Paddling was "wonderful" for this first time canoeist.

Stern concentration as the geese look on.

Another 3 HP canoe!

Summer 2011 Wednesday River Cleanups

Just part of the river cleaning flotilla

When not busy with other activities on this summer's Wednesday evenings, I and some other volunteers have done what we could to keep our local river, the Chattahoochee, running free and clean. These Wednesday cleanups were the brainchild of Chuck Armentrout, President of Urban Currents. They provide fellowship among paddlers of all skill levels, a great opportunity for paddlers to learn and improve their paddling skills, and are a great way to show the care and respect shown the rivers by the paddling community. When we first started gathering to clean various spots along the Chattahoochee, there were usually only a handful of people joining in. This has grown to the point that we now see 25-35 people every Wednesday, paddling a wide variety of kayaks, canoes, Sit-On-Tops, and even inflatables. Thanks go to master paddler and master photographer Rick Thompson for sharing these photos of us from one of the cleanup events. Thanks Rick and definitely thanks Chuck. SYOTR!

One cleanup area we hit was Whitewater Creek.

Time was taken for skills training and general paddling practice.

On this particular day I paddled a whitewater canoe.

Vine City's Etowah Trip Through Dawson Forest

Read and enjoy the photos below as you learn about a really neat adventure relocated at the last minute due to the extreme drought conditions in South Georgia where we had originally hoped to go canoe-camping. I hope you will enjoy sharing our trip.


Off to a good start


Smooth paddling through Dawson Forest WMA

Paddling Class I rapids

"Running" (or walking) rapids at low water

Cooling off in the waterfall near our campsite

More playing in the waterfall

June ended and July began with a great bunch of guys from Atlanta's Vine City community, led by their mentor, Drew Henley, from Trinity Anglican Church, getting to know each other and the Living Water much better as they paddled and swam the Etowah River in Dawson County. In addition to canoeing, hiking and camping by a waterfall, building a campfire, and enjoying a number of rope swings, this adventure also included the added surprises of an opportunity for the young men to try their hand at riding a horse and seeing a baby fawn by the riverside.

Some wanted to trade their canoe for a horse.

What did the owner mean, "not broken yet?"

As with most of our OWLS Adventures which involve new participants, I explained the reason we took these trips and what it was hoped everyone took away from them. The first chapter of Romans, of course, teaches us that we are all without excuse when it comes to knowing God and His attributes as they have been revealed to us since creation through everything that has been created. This truth is followed up by Ephesians 2:10 which reminds us that, as Christians, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." The kids initially expressed some lack of understanding when it came to figuring out how their time on the river would related to these ideas. I found myself thoroughly reassured at camp that evening however when, as I stretched out in my tent, I heard them showing immediate promise and deep understanding of "Experiential Evangelism" as they sat around our fire discussing the purposes and features of a life jacket and all the parallels between that and God's plan of salvation. It was almost like hearing a step-by-step iteration of the Four Spiritual Laws. I'm sure Bill Bright himself would have been quite pleased to hear them speak these spiritual truths so clearly.


Proudly wearing his PFD

#1.) Time on, in, and beside the river is meant to be abundantly rewarding and full of enjoyment. Likewise, God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives.

#2.) Often the river becomes too dangerous or intense for us to enjoy. Likewise, most people are unaware of God's love and plan for them or don't experience it because they are separated from Him by sin.

#3.) The PFD (life jacket) helps prevent us from drowning in the dangerous water, protects us from hard falls, and lets us travel the river knowing we will arrive safely at our destination. Likewise, Christ is God's only provision for the sin that otherwise separates us from Him and His wonderful plan for us. Jesus gives us the ability to withstand the attacks of Satan and gives us the assurance that we will live forever with Him in Heaven.

#4.) We took lots of PFD's with us on the trip, more than enough to go around. What the guys pointed out to each other was that all the life jackets in the world wouldn't do any good for someone that didn't actually put it on. In the same way, it doesn't matter that there is more than enough of Jesus's love and forgiveness to go around. It matters not that your mother, sister, or brother know the Lord. Living in a "Christian country" won't restore that relationship with God. No, everyone has to make their own personal decision to trust in Jesus to forgive them of their sin and lead them in the way they should go.

Stretching our legs at the rope swing

A fine leap at the "Rope Swing Campsite"

Wet entry!


A new fawn spotted just before our take-out.

Sure hope you can join us on our next OWLS Adventure!

Matching Gift Results

Well, it's June 1 and the matching gift opportunity for OWLS supporters is over. Thanks to all who faithfully answered the call, made a timely investment in the lives of disinherited urban youth, and who saw an immediate doubling of the impact made by their sponsorship dollars.

***20 Sponsorships Earned***

The final number of sponsorships earned during this campaign stands at 20! This is terrific at this point in early summer but it also leaves us with almost 50 more kids needing full sponsorships in order to participate in the OWLS Adventures for which they have signed up.

If you meant to mail a check but just didn't get around to it, or wanted to first be sure your support is as crucial a need as it is, please do not delay any longer. As I was explaining to one of the young men by the lake this afternoon, not immediately deciding to do something usually equates to deciding not to do it. Whether you feel led to contribute a few hundred or maybe several thousand dollars, your investment will yield a plentiful harvest.

Please be sure that I have your best Email address on file as many of these kids want to be able to thank and tell their sponsor exactly what their OWLS experience means to them.

As always, contributions should be made payable to: Outdoor Wisdom Leadership School (or just OWLS) and mailed to my attention (Ben Simms) at 6688 Brandon Mill Rd., Atlanta, GA 30328.

Thanks and God bless!

In His Time and For His Glory

Where do you find the will to even start sorting the mess when this is all that's left of your home?

The terrible storms that ravaged most of the country during the first week of this month brought some possible explanation of how God is able to turn things we cannot (at least at first) understand into lessons and actions that allow us to glorify Him by becoming His hands and feet in service to others.

You may remember several weeks ago, after I had already done much of the trip planning and meal purchasing, I had a group decide not to go on their Spring trip. One of the things I had already set aside for them was enough Powerade and Nutralite Drink mix to last them the entire week. Why, I asked, did God allow me to "waste" my time and limited resources by collecting something that we now would not need?

Well, the tornadoes that destroyed most of Ringgold and the surrounding area proved that it is always His time, not mine, and any resources are only on loan to us anyway. One thing led to another with brothers Ralph Lord and Ross Bickers helping organize recovery crews to go up to Ringgold with needed supplies, skills, and labor to help the tornado victims. One of their appeals was for drinks to help keep the hard working volunteers from becoming secondary victims themselves. On May 11, 2011 I was able to deliver 25 gallons of various flavors of energy and electrolytic replacement drinks to the truck loading point and on their way to Ringgold.

Putting the car in the garage for protection was obviously a futile effort against the force of the tornado.

Honestly, I'm still disappointed that the 20+/- kids were not able to enjoy another week of fun, fellowship, and spiritual growth on an OWLS Adventure, but our ability to meet the immediate need to energize Christian workers to serve and witness to the hurting and homeless was definitely part of His awesome plan. I am sure that the accompanying photos will bring you to the same conclusion.

This tough 4x4 truck was no match for the storm. It is amazing that even more lives were not lost. Note the formerly heavily wooded hillsides surrounding these former homesites.

New Year's Reflections - 2010/2011

Blessed to be a blessing, struggling with the recession, looking back and planning for the future. Thanks to everyone of you who helped OWLS weather the storm and especially those who spread our contact information and mentioned our work to those we look forward to helping in the months ahead.

Please remember the ministries that were not able to make it this far amd pray for OWLS as we look for ways to somehow fill the gap for these kids.

Read it all in our latest newsletter, downloadable here Year End 2010 - Beginning 2011 Newsletter , or send me an email asking for it.

Please also be sure I have your email on file so I can be sure you are kept abreast of who we will be serving, where you can volunteer, where we will be going, what we will be doing, and what we will be discussing.

Yours in Christ,
Ben Simms, Director
Outdoor Wisdom Leadership School
The "OWLS" Program
BenSimms@aol.com

OWLS Photo Stroll Through 2010

Here are a few shots taken during various outings that did not end up as full-fledged trip reports. Plan to be with us next time if you didn't make it this year!

Proof that there's bear in them hills! Amicalola Creek at the Etowah River.

A colorful day at Tallula Gorge

First Suwannee access beyond the sill and last before Fargo.

Okefenokee Colors

Santa Fe reflections

Sentries on guard below River Rise.

See the hawk?

Mt. Cheaha - highest Point in Alabama

A Metro 'Hooch Heron




Beautiful day for fall colors along the Upper 'Hooch