The First Blog

I’ve procrastinated on getting this started for long enough.  I hope you like the site and my picture of the mountains…it’s tranquil and helps set the feeling for the blog.  I’m also pretty proud of the little icon I found of a trailhead marker that pops up in your address bar when you reach the site or put it as a favorite in your browser.  I’ll mention a little more about the significance of that in a moment. 

For anyone that hasn’t heard yet, I recently moved down to Dallas, TX (about a week ago) and will be starting graduate school at Dallas Theological Seminary next Tuesday, the 25^th.  I’m working toward a Masters of Theology and should be down here for at least the next four years.  Plans afterward include a season in overseas missions and then a life devoted to ministry either continued overseas or back in the US.  Some things I could see myself doing would be writing books, speaking at conferences and perhaps even leading believers as a pastor of a church.

This blog is about getting a chance to connect with all the friends I’ve made through the past few years and giving a very authentic look inside what God’s doing in my life here in Dallas.  I’m probably going to talk about some of the ideas discussed in class, but there’ll also be posts about what’s it’s been like acclimating to life in Texas and how I feel God challenging me and causing me to grow through catalysts like ministry opportunities, new friendships or experiences with local churches.   It’ll be great to share this experience so that my relationships continue to grow despite the physical distance between myself and the rest of everyone who reads this.

The reason I chose the name ‘At the Trailhead’ for the blog relates to something I really enjoyed doing when I was in high school.  In fact, it was usually the highlight of my year.  Our church had a canoe trip each Spring to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.  It was the beginning of a love affair that I’d later have with seeing God’s creation in its most untouched condition, just as He made it.  Deep into our trips, we’d often paddle lakes that had never seen a motorized boat or had zero access by road and mechanized vehicle.  Nothing was man-made except for the latrine that the park Rangers had put in at each of the campsites and the grate they dropped off so we could cook over a fire.

Each time we reached the end of a lake and would need to portage to the next one by donning our packs and carrying the canoe across the trail, I’d always see that yellow sign marking the trailhead and feel two things.  One was the feeling of excitement for the unknown that lay ahead and the other was the anxiousness over what I knew was most likely to be a difficult, unpredictable and challenging journey.  You cannot fabricate those emotions just whenever you wish, life circumstances develop sometimes to give you opportunities to appreciate adventure.  I thrived in those moments and now I seek them out.  The surprising thing is that discovering God’s path for my life has been the best means to finding that sense of adventure and really the only true means of finding purpose as well.

To me, attending seminary and getting started on the path of ministry is like being at the trailhead of an exciting journey, but one I know will present its challenges.  I’m very happy that some of you will read this blog, comment and join me in this adventure.  Please do whatever you can to keep me in your thoughts and prayers.  Give me a shout with updates on what’s going on in your world too and ways I can be praying for you as well.  One thing I left out from my story a moment ago is the fact that we never made it over the portages on our own, but always worked together.

There are two ways that you can subscribe to this blog.  The first one is simply to click the link on the right that says ’subscribe to at the trailhead by Email’.  This will direct you over to a site that will allow you to receive updates of my posts via email.  The second is to subscribe through a blog reader.

Always remember, a cord of three strands isn’t easily broken.

Tony Gryckiewicz