Life Hike Letters

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Life Hike Letters (LHL) is a new outreach initiative of Public Safety Ministries (PSM). PSM has always built its outreach efforts on a ministry of presence, service and relationships.  Traditionally we have been a mobile spiritual care provider, showing our presence physically/on-site with public safety agencies and organizations.  We continue to provide care visits in person, and routinely take calls from folks in need, showing up, and making our house calls.  However, we are transitioning to primarily provide a virtual/on-line presence in the coming years.  LHL is our first major step in that transition process.

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The concept of a Life Hike has been bouncing around in my head for many years… and to be honest, many decades is probably more accurate.  Although I didn’t realize it at the time, it began back in my youth with my first real backpacking/hiking experience. It was a week long, youth ministry trip in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana. And if my math is right, that brings us to about 50 years of developing a metaphor that describes a person’s journey through life, their entire life from birth to death...  "Life Hike: A Spiritual Journey from Dust to Dust..." or better yet, a simple metaphor... "Life Is A Hike"

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I want to be fully transparent with our readers about a new PSM practice/perspective that will be present in our Life Hike Letters initiative. PSM has always had a very visible inter-faith ministry identity. We minister to people of all faiths and traditions as well as to those without any specific faith affiliation. We have always been clear that I am a Christian Pastor (a church house member) serving public safety professionals (in state house environments). We’ve worked very hard, and I believe we’ve been very successful, trying to respect the obvious church / state relationship challenges. And we will continue to work hard to continue that reputation.

 

That being said, since I’m no longer under contract with police, fire, and EMS institutions, and my presence in state house  environments will be significantly reduced, our spiritual care identity can have a stronger church house identity. This will give me the opportunity to share some personal observations of Christianity that I’m feeling called to explore. Specifically looking at how we can better develop our often neglected, personal faith practices that can merge with, and enhance, our fairly well developed personal faith beliefs. Hopefully, as I share my stories of Christian faith, people with different traditions can find some space in their lives to better hear their own faith stories.  And if we can find ways to come together and share our stories of faith, maybe we can discover some Common Faith space that will enhance all of our lives.  

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Well, there you have it, a brief introduction and overview of Life Hike Letters. A short recap: We’re building a bigger virtual presence… We’re taking a look at our journeys through life from a hiking perspective… Our letters will be adding a Christian perspective to our interfaith ministry… We’ll be focusing our spiritual care on development of personal faith practices built upon our readers existing personal faith beliefs... and exploring, and hopefully discovering, some Common Faith Space that could enhance us all!

 

We’re excited to be venturing off onto a new ministry trail. We are so grateful for you taking the time to read a bit about our new directions. In the next few weeks you'll be able to access Life Hike Letters at: www.lifehike.org. 

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With Care and Gratitude,

Dan Carlson, November 2024

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Access Life Hike Letters at:  www.lifehike.org​

SUBSCRIBE TO LIFE HIKE LETTERS HERE

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