the awe + wonder Story
I grew up in Montana. I attended school in Montana through my high school graduation. I was the second oldest son in my family of four siblings. I grew up making yearly trips into the mountains. We lived in Billings, Montana, which was roughly a two-hour drive to Yellowstone National Park via a beautiful drive through the Beartooth Mountains. Whenever guests would come to visit our family, we would load up and give them the twelve-hour car tour to, from, and through major parts of Yellowstone National Park. This happened at least once a year. Before the age of 18, I had been to Yellowstone National Park countless times. My family would also drive to Oregon once a year to visit my grandparents on family vacation. The fifteen-hour drive through the Northwestern US was mostly survival to get a family of six from point A to point B – one way was about fifteen hours. It's just not practical to do a lot of sightseeing.
My father was a Lutheran Pastor. As a pastor's kid, I literally grew up in the church. When the church doors were open, I was there. I remember missing only one Sunday during the first 18 years of my life, and that was because of a chicken pox outbreak, literally that Sunday. (I still give myself half credit for Sunday attendance that day!). I enjoyed being at church. I was a Bible quiz champ, an acolyte, and a helper when needed. I had a very good upbringing, and I am extremely thankful for my parents and family for making it possible.
I left Montana to attend college in Marion, Indiana. It was my dream to play college basketball, but I was more talented in high jump. Indiana Wesleyan University gave me the opportunity to do both. Alone, I moved to the Midwest to pursue my college degree and began to live in Indiana for nine months of every year. During the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college, I worked in Glacier National Park. This decision was made on a whim with my two best friends, but it turned out to be one of the most pivotal decisions in my life.
That summer, I was a tour bus driver of the red convertible buses in the park. It was the best job I have ever had in my life. Not only was it fun to hangout with my friends, but I also fell in love with the park. I drove people all over the park and was paid to help them fall in love with the beauty of it all. Sometimes, I would have private tour groups and would get to lead them on basic hikes. I was starting to see the mountains from the trails, not just the roads. This began to build a totally different paradigm in my head. I realized the best parts of the national park were not from the car and the roadside view, but deep in the woods via foot trails. I had my favorite places. However, I had always been afraid of heights and lacked a sense of adventure in my life. Because of these road blocks, I did not fully partake of what Glacier National Park truly offered. I explored only a fraction of the hundreds of miles of hiking trails and never really engaged with the lakes and rivers. I avoided more hiking trails than I took up. My favorite hike up to this point was the Iceberg Lake trail. It is a near double-digit mile hike that takes the hiker to pristine, bright blue, freezing cold lake that is completely surrounded by mountains and snow. It was beautiful and…worshipful. Up to this point, my experience with God was based mostly on being present in a church building and gaining knowledge. I understood and believed that Jesus was my Lord and Savior. But for this summer, I did not have access to a local church building for the first time in my life. What was I to do all summer? This is where the pivotal transition began for me. I fell in love with the Creator God through beautiful places like Iceberg Lake and began reading my Bible on my own for the first time. My relationship with Jesus started in Glacier National Park in the summer of 1997.
Fast forward a few decades to 2019. One of my local friends was planning a trip to Glacier National Park with several other couples and they invited me to be a “tour guide” and wanted me there for my “local expertise.” The itinerary consisted of many adventures that I had avoided during the summer of 1997. I realized my fear of heights was going to be challenged in a massive way. The Highline Trail was on that list, and it is widely known as one of the most beautiful hikes in the United States. I also knew it was known for significant altitude and dramatic views. For months leading up to this trip, I found myself waking up in the middle of the night sweating profusely after having a nightmare of the Highline Trail. The day of the hike, we were standing in the parking lot at Logan Pass getting our things together for this 12+ mile hike that consisted of a cable at the beginning and several other spots that were a little sketchy. The wife of my friend asked me to pray for the group before we started on the hike. That day I prayed for God to take away our (my, mostly) fear and anxiety and replace it with awe and wonder. It turned out to be one of the most impactful days of my entire life. It was also one of the most mentally and physically exhausting days of my life. More mental than physical for sure. But that day, I faced one of my biggest fears in life, and because I faced it, I saw some of the most beautiful scenery. I did indeed find awe and wonder of God and all that He created on that hike. And I was fully aware that I would never have seen it if I allowed my fear to dictate my life.
During my time as an administrator at Youth for Christ, we were able to take the majority of our staff on two separate Adventure Trips to Glacier National Park. It was designed to be a reward for longevity in a job that is known for its lack of such. It was also supposed to be a time for our staff to have fun while reconnecting with their calling in ministry. We read a book together to mentally and spiritually prepare. I watched colleagues face massive fears that week – some while flying in a plane, some while rowing through rapids, and many facing their fear of heights. But everyone was in chase of the awe and wonder that could only be found in a step of faith, doing something different than the norm. On the last day of the trip, we circled up in the main lodge at East Glacier Park and asked a simple question of the group: “How was your week and what will you tell your significant other when you get back about it?” Both years, I was taken aback on what was shared and how impactful the experience was for our team. Many were proud of themselves – for conquering a fear, for taking time for self-care, for tuning into the quiet and finding it more fulfilling than their fast paced world, and for doing some self-discovery work. It covered a variety of soul care purposes, all while circling back to it being some of the hardest things they have ever done. On repeat was the idea that each person felt a need to do this kind of adventurous experience more often.
In January of 2026, Awe + Wonder LLC was established. The whole idea started with a simple prayer in a parking lot and was cemented by listening to my co-workers and friends share stories of overcoming, conquering, adventuring, and wondering. The goal of Awe + Wonder is to help you examine the fear and anxiety in your life and replace it with awe and wonder. Maybe for you, it’s not fear and anxiety, but it’s something else that needs to be quieted and replaced with awe and wonder. We want to help you do that through an adventure that is designed to get you out of your comfort zone and see all that God has in store for you.