Just Another Jim's

Alaska Journal

Introduction

A NOTE ABOUT NAMES:
Names have been changed and identities masked in this book, except in the case of the pastors who are worthy of recognition for doing a difficult job in circumstances we never talked about in seminary: Bob Carpenter, pastor emeritus of the Delta Presbyterian Church, Johnsong Lee, pastor of the Korean congregation, and Larry Shoenberg, founding pastor of the Lutheran Fellowship.

Introduction

My first experience of the aura of being Alaskan came at a conference in Louisville, Kentucky. We were doing the tell-everyone-where-you’re-from-and-one-fun-fact-about-yourself exercise. There was Portland, New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky . . . Then it was my turn. As soon as the words “Delta Junction, Alaska” were out of my mouth heads jerked around, people looked at me in wide-eyed wonder (albeit a very discreet wide-eyed wonder—this was polite company). For the remainder of the conference I had to answer questions about the dark, the cold, the moose, my sanity.

I remembered being in these other people’s shoes. There were several Alaskans at the college I attended and they were certainly an object of curiosity. I also remember seeing Alaska license plates on cars; I remember the urge to stare at the people in the car. I remember the mystical aura that surrounded Alaska as if it were some sort of fairy tale world.

During our time in Alaska, Brenda and I went to a conference in Colorado while Chris attended a week of summer camp. One of Chris’s frustrations what that he could not just be Chris. Instead he was that kid from Alaska. When we moved to Sioux City that same notoriety followed us. Chris had to tell Alaska stories in band. (His instructor was curious, after all.) He was even dubbed “the Alaskan Assassin” by some members of his baseball team.

Everyone wants to know what it’s like. The problem is, trying to describe what it’s like can’t be done in a five minute conversation. What is it like? Well, it’s no different than any place else we lived. We watched cable television, shopped at K-Mart and the mall. Several people from Delta went to see Phantom of the Opera when it came through Anchorage. But at the same time, Alaska is a world apart. Only in Alaska could someone run for governor on a “honeypot” campaign, (For those who grew up with indoor plumbing, honeypots are those porta-potties you slide under the bed so you don’t have to run to the outhouse when it’s cold or dark.

The short answers about life in Delta made it sound too strange. Those short answers needed context. The whole picture needs reflection because every place has things that are truly odd by other people’s standards. This was the dilemma that led to this book: How to answer the question, “What was Alaska like?”

I was a pastor for three years in Alaska. That’s not enough time to get to know the state. Three years is certainly not enough time to get to know a congregation. On the other hand, three years is short enough that I still maintain much of the wonderment that I first experienced when I stepped off the airplane at midnight and it was still light outside. It is this co-existence of normalcy and wonderment that I hope to express in the following pages. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Alaska.