Meet Brett Helwig. Part 2

[00:00:00] Maybe the second or third time we were in church visiting, we sat down and a couple minutes later, again, talking about Don Meyer, the Meyers come into church and they sit down one pew in front of us. And Carrie said, she tapped my shoulder and she said, that's my boss's boss's boss.

[00:00:28] Welcome to Christ In All Things, a conversation about meaning and purpose.

[00:00:33] It's based on a verse from the Bible, Colossians chapter 1 verse 17, which says,

[00:00:38] Christ is before all things and in him all things hold together.

[00:00:42] Christ In All Things is a listening ear into conversations about receiving and giving the love and hope of Christ.

[00:00:50] These conversations are an invitation because as much as you'll hear and as much as we enjoy having them, digital media operates from a distance.

[00:00:59] And that's not what's best for us, with God or with one another.

[00:01:04] So thanks for listening.

[00:01:06] And if you're in the neighborhood, we invite you to participate in person in the life that finds its epicenter at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 210 East Pleasant Street in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

[00:01:27] Welcome back to Christ In All Things.

[00:01:29] I'm Pastor Lance O'Donnell.

[00:01:30] I'm Pastor Jason Schockman.

[00:01:32] We have with us Brett Andrew Helwig, the guy who's lucky in war and is strong and manly and apparently is a Celtic refugee from France.

[00:01:43] And so, Brett, we've enjoyed the first part of our conversation.

[00:01:47] I want to take us into the second part of our conversation by starting with a word that you used early on and make sure that we get to talk about it again.

[00:01:57] And that word is calling.

[00:01:59] Wherever your family's calling had taken them is where they settled.

[00:02:05] Your calling in this temporary life that we have has been in engineering fields, in part because one of the things that formed you was you like to take stuff apart and figure out how they work.

[00:02:20] And that can be very mechanical.

[00:02:26] What's the word I'm looking for here?

[00:02:29] Methodical.

[00:02:29] But it can also be a little spontaneous and creative, right?

[00:02:35] And he's smiling.

[00:02:37] I am.

[00:02:38] Now I'm talking about him.

[00:02:39] Oh, yeah.

[00:02:40] You too.

[00:02:40] Me too, yeah.

[00:02:42] So the spontaneous and creative side of that which is rather formulaic, there's a thing in this world that you do also, which includes all of that.

[00:02:56] Music.

[00:02:56] Yeah, music.

[00:02:57] So how did you get from figuring out how things work to music?

[00:03:03] Yeah.

[00:03:05] So in grade school, you know, going to a Christian grade school, you obviously, you have choir or music, you know, starting at a young age.

[00:03:18] So I was used to, or that's where I, you know, started understanding notes and whatnot, starting with, you know, eventually besides singing, you get the little pre-quarters and re-quarters and all that business.

[00:03:32] But singing isn't actually my true calling in music.

[00:03:37] It's instrumentals.

[00:03:38] So I played trombone.

[00:03:40] I started that in the sixth grade, continued it on into high school.

[00:03:45] Why trombone?

[00:03:47] You know, one reason, my music teacher at the time, my arm was long enough to reach the end position.

[00:03:59] So she wanted me to play trombone because she also needed one in our band.

[00:04:04] But I also, from different parades and going to football games and whatnot, I was always fascinated by them as a little kid.

[00:04:13] So it was a good fit.

[00:04:24] By the action of a trombone.

[00:04:26] And the concert band, symphonic ensembles, things of that nature.

[00:04:31] Never really, after grade school, I didn't sing at all besides, you know, just in church or on the radio, you know, in the car or whatever it might be.

[00:04:40] In the shower.

[00:04:41] Yeah.

[00:04:44] But in high school, I continued on with the trombone.

[00:04:48] And as I went to college, I went to college in Platteville, Wisconsin, which if you don't know where that is, it's on the very southwestern corner of the state.

[00:05:00] And it's a college town.

[00:05:03] It's smaller than the city of Oconomowoc.

[00:05:06] With a college campus at the time that I was there, I think there were 8,500 undergrad students.

[00:05:12] And the city of Platteville has 11,000 residents.

[00:05:15] Yeah.

[00:05:16] So, you know, the college is practically as big as the city itself.

[00:05:20] So there's not a lot to do there unless if you get involved in campus.

[00:05:25] So I wanted to play trombone in college.

[00:05:29] And I thought, you know, I'll audition for a group.

[00:05:33] And the year that I was a freshman, I auditioned for a group.

[00:05:37] I thought it'd be nice to play in a band.

[00:05:39] And just so happened, the previous year, there were four seniors that played trombone that all no longer were there.

[00:05:48] They graduated.

[00:05:50] So I was hoping to be, you know, in their second band where all of the people that are non-music majors are playing and whatnot.

[00:05:57] But apparently the audition went well enough that they placed me as first chair in the top band.

[00:06:07] No kidding.

[00:06:08] I also was...

[00:06:09] As an engineering major.

[00:06:10] Correct.

[00:06:11] Nice.

[00:06:11] And then I was the principal trombone in the orchestra, joined the jazz band as well.

[00:06:17] So you had a ball doing music while you were also learning how to build and build things.

[00:06:23] That was my thing to do for fun.

[00:06:27] Love it.

[00:06:28] You know, and at some of my busiest times with music, I was playing 20, 25 hours a week.

[00:06:33] Wow.

[00:06:33] Yeah.

[00:06:34] Hard time job.

[00:06:35] Yeah.

[00:06:35] Like being an athlete.

[00:06:37] Yeah.

[00:06:38] Not quite as physically taxing.

[00:06:42] Depends on how you do it, right?

[00:06:43] Yeah, true.

[00:06:44] True.

[00:06:44] Yeah.

[00:06:45] I did marching band one year.

[00:06:46] I did it just because some friends were doing it, but then...

[00:06:49] Once was enough.

[00:06:49] That was enough.

[00:06:50] Yeah.

[00:06:50] Yeah.

[00:06:51] So is that how you met Kerry?

[00:06:53] By the way?

[00:06:54] Yeah.

[00:06:55] Yeah.

[00:06:56] So...

[00:06:57] Okay.

[00:06:58] So it would be my junior year.

[00:07:02] That's the year I decided to do the marching band.

[00:07:06] You have to arrive at school early to get that week of band camp done.

[00:07:11] You know, speed up the timeline for the football games because we have parades and field shows

[00:07:16] and all this different stuff that we've got to do.

[00:07:19] And Kerry was a transfer student, actually.

[00:07:21] She got her associate's degree.

[00:07:23] Well, two associate's degrees in a college in Illinois.

[00:07:28] And then she transferred to Platteville.

[00:07:29] And that's when we met was that week that I was there early.

[00:07:33] And she had already been on campus for a week prior to that because she was a cheerleader.

[00:07:39] We lived in the same dorm.

[00:07:43] And I think she was very, very lonely.

[00:07:46] She saw somebody moving in and she said, hmm, I haven't seen anybody but my cheerleader friends

[00:07:52] all week.

[00:07:53] Let's go meet this guy.

[00:07:55] And I thought she was an RA who was required to help me move in.

[00:08:00] So I told my dad and sister who were helping me move in, don't give her too much stuff.

[00:08:06] She's required to help us.

[00:08:09] So that's a little bit about how we met.

[00:08:11] And it turns out it was this friendly, very athletic, because she was dance team before

[00:08:18] that too, right?

[00:08:18] Yeah.

[00:08:19] I mean, I think she might have done a little bit of that in high school.

[00:08:21] But yeah, cheerleading.

[00:08:23] And I mean, you're lifting people up.

[00:08:24] You're tossing them around and all that stuff.

[00:08:26] So it is, yeah, pretty taxing.

[00:08:30] So the band geek and the cheerleader.

[00:08:33] Yeah.

[00:08:34] I love it.

[00:08:37] Oh, man.

[00:08:38] Okay.

[00:08:38] So tell me, now I want to know, how did it go from there?

[00:08:41] Because you told her not, you know, don't, you just, you made an assumption.

[00:08:45] Yeah.

[00:08:46] And I never really dated anybody but Carrie.

[00:08:50] So in high school, just was too busy with my friends, wasn't really interested in anybody.

[00:08:57] And so I met Carrie and at the end of me moving in and all the stuff was out of the car and

[00:09:03] up into my room, I very awkwardly said, I think we should exchange contact information.

[00:09:14] Like nerdy.

[00:09:15] Like it was a business transaction.

[00:09:17] That is spoken like an engineer.

[00:09:19] Oh, that's awesome.

[00:09:22] Because I thought, you know, hey, I know all these people.

[00:09:24] I could help put her in touch with other people.

[00:09:26] Sure.

[00:09:27] You know.

[00:09:28] Yeah.

[00:09:28] We should exchange contact information.

[00:09:32] And then it would have been a month, little month and some change before we went on our

[00:09:37] first date then.

[00:09:38] Yeah.

[00:09:39] And was she the same class academically as you?

[00:09:42] Yes.

[00:09:42] So you were both juniors.

[00:09:44] Correct.

[00:09:44] Okay.

[00:09:45] Yep.

[00:09:46] And you both went to football games because she was cheerleading and you were playing in

[00:09:50] the band.

[00:09:50] Yeah.

[00:09:51] Yeah.

[00:09:51] Yeah.

[00:09:56] That's a great story.

[00:09:58] It is a great story.

[00:09:58] I think we should exchange contact information.

[00:10:02] Zuckerberg.

[00:10:04] Worst pickup line that actually worked.

[00:10:07] Yeah.

[00:10:07] Good for you.

[00:10:08] Yeah.

[00:10:09] I think you win the trophy on that one.

[00:10:10] So family.

[00:10:13] Church.

[00:10:14] Church.

[00:10:15] Figuring things out.

[00:10:16] Figuring things out.

[00:10:18] And music.

[00:10:18] Music.

[00:10:19] Yeah.

[00:10:20] And so with music, I mean, that was a, I played so much in college.

[00:10:25] I really, really, really enjoyed it.

[00:10:27] By the time college was over, I said, oh man, where are these opportunities to play my

[00:10:32] trombone?

[00:10:34] Because there's not just these bands that get together like this weekly.

[00:10:38] So I was able to keep that going a little bit.

[00:10:41] I play in a community band in Heartland, which is close by.

[00:10:45] Um, and then, uh, I, I could, I can read music very well.

[00:10:53] So, uh, when Allison Mackey, our parish music director was asking for people to join choir,

[00:11:00] I said, oh, well, I'll give it a try.

[00:11:02] I can read music.

[00:11:02] So, um, it, it was, it had, it had been a while since I was saying, uh, before I started

[00:11:09] singing here.

[00:11:10] Um, so it was definitely, uh, uh, I've performed a lot, performed, you know, with groups by myself,

[00:11:18] but that was all in trombone.

[00:11:19] You know, it's something I can kind of hide, kind of hide behind, you know?

[00:11:23] Uh, so it's a different experience when you're, it's just you, you know, you don't have an

[00:11:28] instrument.

[00:11:29] And now you're singing on, uh, with us at the 1030 service too.

[00:11:34] So standing kind of like off up front, but off to the side with a mic in your hand.

[00:11:38] And also in the choir, in the choir loft.

[00:11:41] There's not much to hide behind.

[00:11:42] And yeah, but you, uh, this is true.

[00:11:45] You also play trombone for us occasionally.

[00:11:48] Yeah.

[00:11:49] Yeah.

[00:11:50] We, we could probably stand to have you do that more, but you want to, what do I know?

[00:11:55] Uh, so figuring things out, music, uh, doing it with church, uh, here at St. Paul's.

[00:12:04] Uh, I, I have a question that's lingering in the back of my mind is, uh, so you and Carrie

[00:12:09] graduate from Platteville at the same time?

[00:12:12] No, I needed an extra year.

[00:12:14] Ooh.

[00:12:15] Uh, you know.

[00:12:16] When you're playing in a band 25 hours a week.

[00:12:18] I had a summer birthday, so I was really young when I started preschool.

[00:12:22] So I was always a little bit behind.

[00:12:23] So I figured I might as well just wrap it up in another year of college where it's really

[00:12:26] expensive.

[00:12:28] It ended up working out though, you know, but.

[00:12:30] Yeah.

[00:12:31] So you go to school for an extra year.

[00:12:33] So what's Carrie doing while you're finishing your last year?

[00:12:36] Uh, Carrie is working, um, her first job offer out of, out of college was from Rock River

[00:12:43] Labs who, uh, Don Meyer, uh, started, who's another member of the congregation here.

[00:12:49] Yeah.

[00:12:50] Um, you can go listen to their episode too.

[00:12:52] And at that, at that time, um, they were looking for somebody to work in Northern Illinois taking

[00:13:00] soil samples.

[00:13:01] She's from Northern Illinois, so she could live at home.

[00:13:04] Um, and that, that, uh, so that's how it worked and, you know, just a long distance,

[00:13:11] a couple hours apart, you know, for, for, for a, for a year visiting a lot on the weekends

[00:13:16] and whatnot, holidays, all that stuff.

[00:13:18] And then as I was getting ready to graduate and I knew I had a job lined up in, um, in

[00:13:27] the Waukesha area cause I had interned there for four summers.

[00:13:30] So that's where I was going and it just, uh, you know, God's plan worked out, uh, to have

[00:13:38] Carrie get offered, uh, uh, to come up to Wisconsin here.

[00:13:43] Um, and so we were both living with my parents at the time before we were married.

[00:13:48] And then, uh, got married in September of 2018.

[00:13:53] So that was this, the fall after I graduated from college and, uh, continued living with

[00:13:59] my parents for a year to save some money for a house.

[00:14:02] So you went like ancient school living in the same household with your parents for the

[00:14:09] first year.

[00:14:10] That's kind of like first century stuff.

[00:14:13] Yeah.

[00:14:14] It, um, again, uh, God had a plan because, um, with how, you know, COVID hit shortly after

[00:14:23] we moved into our house, uh, we wouldn't have had the money saved up to, to, you know, um,

[00:14:28] buy a house, uh, you know, and we could have been renting, still renting now.

[00:14:34] So we were very blessed that way that we had that opportunity extended to us by my parents

[00:14:40] and it worked.

[00:14:41] Yes.

[00:14:42] And we still talk.

[00:14:43] Praise the Lord.

[00:14:44] That is with your parents.

[00:14:45] Yeah.

[00:14:46] Yeah.

[00:14:46] And with each other.

[00:14:48] Yeah.

[00:14:48] Praise the Lord.

[00:14:49] So I wanted to ask you about, so, um, so what was it about Carrie?

[00:14:55] Um, so.

[00:14:56] She's a cheerleader.

[00:14:58] I mean, really, really, what more do you need to say?

[00:15:00] She's a cheerleader.

[00:15:01] It's his answer though.

[00:15:03] Oh yeah.

[00:15:03] Sorry.

[00:15:04] I think what it was about Carrie is we had so many different, um, interests and came from

[00:15:14] such different backgrounds, but we still had a lot in common, uh, which really, I like to

[00:15:23] learn things.

[00:15:24] So I've learned a whole lot, uh, through, through dating and, and being married to Carrie,

[00:15:30] uh, my, uh, my in-laws are farmers, you know, generational farmers.

[00:15:34] I knew nothing about agriculture.

[00:15:36] So that was eyeopening.

[00:15:38] Uh, but really what drew me to her, I guess, was, uh, the similar interests that we had,

[00:15:43] even though we came from such different backgrounds and were involved in so many opposite or different

[00:15:49] things, but we were still, so I guess maybe, uh, you know,

[00:15:53] the opposites attract, but our, our natures, some of our, uh, you know, core personalities

[00:15:59] we share.

[00:16:00] Uh, and then some of our personalities are very, uh, polar opposites, but you know.

[00:16:06] So how, how did you end up at St. Paul's?

[00:16:12] That's, uh, uh, that's a good question.

[00:16:14] So, um, I was, I went to grade school in, in, in Okachi at a, at a ELS Synod Church.

[00:16:22] Um, and then when I went off to college.

[00:16:26] So Evangelical Lutheran Synod, for those of you who wouldn't know, is a, is a close, though

[00:16:32] not an all-term pulpit fellowship cousin, as it were, of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

[00:16:38] The, the congregation, so there, there was, you know, we could go into, but there's some

[00:16:43] theological divide there, but they're Lutheran, you know, Lutherans, but a small conservative

[00:16:48] Lutheran body, ELS.

[00:16:50] Yeah.

[00:16:51] Um, so then when I graduated from high school, my parents decided to move right when I graduated

[00:17:00] from high school, which put them a little bit farther away from that, that, uh, that church.

[00:17:05] And they were also just looking to, um, they were, they were looking for a new church at that

[00:17:11] point, uh, mostly because of the location.

[00:17:13] So then they ended up going to a very small, uh, church out in the country and, uh, Genesee

[00:17:20] Depot, Ottawa area, which is very, very rural.

[00:17:24] Um, not a lot of population there.

[00:17:26] Uh, and it's, it's a lovely church, uh, but it's not what Carrie, uh, was accustomed to.

[00:17:33] Uh, so we were, we knew we were getting married.

[00:17:36] We just needed to find the right place to call home.

[00:17:39] So, um, I left the ELS slash Wells, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Carrie left her

[00:17:49] non-denominational, um, contemporary, but very firm on the gospel, um, church.

[00:17:58] And we, we came to St. Paul's a couple of times and there were just a couple of things

[00:18:04] that, uh, brought us here or continued bringing us back as visitors.

[00:18:10] Um, maybe the second or third time we were in church visiting, we sat down and a couple

[00:18:16] minutes later, uh, again, talking about Don Meyer, the Meyers coming to church and they

[00:18:22] sit down one pew in front of us.

[00:18:24] And Carrie said, she tapped my shoulder and she said, that's my boss's boss's boss.

[00:18:34] Um, but there's other connections too.

[00:18:37] I mean, uh, uh, Pat Borgman and my grandma know each other.

[00:18:42] Uh, Glenn Lydell.

[00:18:43] From the nursing stuff?

[00:18:45] Yeah.

[00:18:45] From, uh, Shorehaven.

[00:18:46] Yeah.

[00:18:47] Um, my grandma was an, uh, was a registered nurse.

[00:18:51] Um, my, uh.

[00:18:53] Uh, and Pat Borgman is, was a nurse at Shorehaven for many years and is the, the wife of our late

[00:19:00] senior pastor, Paul Borgman.

[00:19:03] Yeah.

[00:19:03] There were, yeah, there was just a lot of natural connections.

[00:19:06] You mentioned Glenn Lydell.

[00:19:08] Yeah.

[00:19:08] Glenn Lydell, uh, his brother recently passed.

[00:19:11] Um, but he, uh, George, I believe it was, he was a member at my grandparents' church

[00:19:17] up in Minocqua.

[00:19:18] Oh, yeah.

[00:19:19] So Glenn, uh, knew my grandparents.

[00:19:22] They knew his brother.

[00:19:23] There were just these, these connections that seemed to make sense.

[00:19:26] Yeah.

[00:19:26] Um, and so it, it was a natural fit.

[00:19:29] The, uh, what really brought Carrie here on board was the contemporary style worship service,

[00:19:37] or at least the contemporary music that, that we have here at the 1030 service.

[00:19:41] Sure.

[00:19:42] Cause we break out piano and guitar and sometimes drums and.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:47] Yeah.

[00:19:48] So that made it work for you guys.

[00:19:49] Yeah.

[00:19:50] Well, you're, you're a fat, you are a fascinating couple.

[00:19:54] Um, and we keep you involved in all kinds of different ways here.

[00:19:58] I mean, very early on with your engineering stuff, we, you know, we asked you to help with our,

[00:20:04] our properties or operations side of the, of the church life here.

[00:20:11] And we began to discover Carrie's creativity and you two ended up being also asked to be

[00:20:20] to the two of you together, something to do together, be part of our, our marriage team

[00:20:24] that puts to, we have a great marriage retreat.

[00:20:27] We have about in the neighborhood of 25 couples that go off and retreat every fall.

[00:20:31] And it takes a team to make that, to make that happen.

[00:20:35] And Brett and Carrie have been members of that team for what?

[00:20:39] Three or four years now.

[00:20:40] Yeah.

[00:20:40] Yeah.

[00:20:40] It'll probably be three, three years this, this coming retreat.

[00:20:43] Yeah.

[00:20:43] Yeah.

[00:20:43] So, you know, you got, we had, we had, you know, some people come and go and you stepped

[00:20:47] in, did organizational stuff and Carrie's crafty stuff and.

[00:20:51] Yeah.

[00:20:54] So you guys are a good add to that team.

[00:20:57] Yeah.

[00:20:58] I think, I think so.

[00:20:59] I would, I would argue wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly.

[00:21:02] A little bit back, circling back to the family.

[00:21:05] Yeah.

[00:21:05] And church being a couple of important things.

[00:21:07] Um, you know, we're, we're, Carrie and I, uh, kind of have the opportunity to, to be our,

[00:21:15] our own family, you know, uh, here at St. Paul's.

[00:21:19] Yeah.

[00:21:20] Um, and tying family back into St. Paul's, uh, my, my mom's mom, uh, passed away in May

[00:21:29] of 2023.

[00:21:30] But the last time she was able to make it into church was to come here to St. Paul's, um,

[00:21:36] in April last year.

[00:21:38] And, uh, um, that was a really neat experience.

[00:21:41] Was that Easter?

[00:21:42] No, it was, it wasn't Easter.

[00:21:44] Um, it would have been, I don't know, maybe the third Sunday in Easter or something like

[00:21:50] that, um, but it was, it was, uh, um, very cool to see, um, the, the, the pride that she

[00:22:00] had, uh, watching me sing in front of church.

[00:22:03] Yeah.

[00:22:03] Um, so it was, it was, um.

[00:22:06] I vaguely remember you had a big pile of hellwigs here.

[00:22:09] Yeah.

[00:22:10] Yeah.

[00:22:10] These would have been white as my mom's maiden name.

[00:22:13] Your family.

[00:22:14] Yeah.

[00:22:14] Wojta, W-O-J-T-A.

[00:22:16] Oh yeah.

[00:22:16] Yeah.

[00:22:17] And there was a whole pile.

[00:22:18] Yeah.

[00:22:18] Yeah.

[00:22:19] Um, so that different, different experiences happen as, as you continue your own family,

[00:22:26] even though Carrie and I do not have any, you know, kids yet.

[00:22:30] We bring our family here and we have these new experiences to integrate family and church

[00:22:35] again.

[00:22:36] Yeah.

[00:22:37] Yeah.

[00:22:37] It's been kind of a common theme in these discussions.

[00:22:40] Is there, yeah.

[00:22:42] Is there a fifth thing?

[00:22:43] Um, the fifth thing that makes me, me isn't, uh, God's creation, nature.

[00:22:48] Yeah.

[00:22:49] Love camping, hiking, hunting, fishing.

[00:22:53] Um, I love spending time outdoors.

[00:22:56] Which favorite?

[00:22:59] What's my favorite?

[00:23:00] Yep.

[00:23:01] Hiking.

[00:23:02] Okay.

[00:23:03] What is it about hiking?

[00:23:06] You know, uh, for me, it is such a, such a relaxer clears my mind.

[00:23:13] Um, even if you're going somewhere, you've hiked a hundred times, there's this, this, this

[00:23:20] little loop that I'll take our dog on.

[00:23:22] Um, that's, you know, two minutes from our house.

[00:23:27] But every time I hike through there, I'd still, still enjoy it any, any time of year.

[00:23:31] You know, it's, um, just being able to be out where nobody's, nobody's bothering you.

[00:23:38] You know, you're not expecting a text or an email or whatever it might be.

[00:23:42] And you can just be in, in peace.

[00:23:46] Good thing you married a farm girl.

[00:23:49] Who also likes to do the hike thing.

[00:23:51] Yes.

[00:23:51] Yeah.

[00:23:51] Yes.

[00:23:53] What's your favorite hike that you've ever made?

[00:23:58] Hmm.

[00:23:58] I think, I think one of the, it has to be one of the ones that we did when we were in Rocky

[00:24:05] Mountain National Park.

[00:24:07] Um, a little risky.

[00:24:09] We were there.

[00:24:10] There, there should have been more snow melted.

[00:24:12] We were there, uh, just the Sunday or not the Sunday, the week before Memorial Day.

[00:24:17] Uh, but we were still hiking and traversing on sometimes 15 feet deep of snow.

[00:24:23] Yeah.

[00:24:23] And we did not have the proper gear.

[00:24:25] Oh boy.

[00:24:25] But we still wanted to see the things we wanted to see.

[00:24:28] And, you know, we're still around.

[00:24:29] So that was a very memorable time.

[00:24:32] Um, and some of the views of, of the different, uh, what they call glacial lakes.

[00:24:37] I think, you know, as the snow's melting these clear, clear blue waters, uh, and with it just,

[00:24:44] yeah, that was a great hike.

[00:24:45] Did you catch some wildlife while you're up there?

[00:24:48] Not, uh, not a whole lot.

[00:24:50] Yeah.

[00:24:50] I have a little bit here and there.

[00:24:51] Yeah.

[00:24:52] Uh, nothing, uh, nothing too crazy for us in Wisconsin here.

[00:24:56] You know, we saw some elk, but that was, that was the only thing that was different

[00:24:59] from Wisconsin in the wild.

[00:25:03] Yeah.

[00:25:04] Uh, plans to hike the Appalachia trail?

[00:25:08] Yeah.

[00:25:09] Yeah.

[00:25:09] So we went, we went, um, to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for our honeymoon.

[00:25:14] Okay.

[00:25:15] And that's kind of what first sparked our interest in, in hiking.

[00:25:19] Um, Gatlinburg is like, uh, the Wisconsin dolls of the Smoky Mountains.

[00:25:26] Well, that's some people's cup of tea.

[00:25:29] That's not carrierized.

[00:25:30] Cause.

[00:25:30] Yeah.

[00:25:31] We were on our honeymoon.

[00:25:32] We didn't want to be around people.

[00:25:34] Yeah.

[00:25:34] You know, uh, so we, we started enjoying some, some time out in nature and we said, you

[00:25:40] know, we, we like this.

[00:25:41] Let's, let's do this.

[00:25:43] Uh, yeah.

[00:25:44] So is that, is that something that you discovered?

[00:25:47] I mean, you, you were Hunter Fisher guy prior to that.

[00:25:51] Yeah.

[00:25:52] Yeah.

[00:25:52] But the, is the hiking thing something you discovered since marriage?

[00:25:55] Yeah.

[00:25:55] I mean, you know, I'd always go for walks or hikes or whatever it might be, but it wasn't,

[00:25:59] uh, where am I going to go this next weekend?

[00:26:03] That's, that's what Carrie, uh, likes to do.

[00:26:05] And I've, I've enjoyed that a lot.

[00:26:07] You know, let's go somewhere we haven't gone before.

[00:26:09] Let's see how many miles we can do this weekend or this trip.

[00:26:12] We were just in Arizona in, in, uh, February into March.

[00:26:17] And.

[00:26:17] What'd you hike there?

[00:26:20] We, so out of three, well, our longest hike that day was 14 and some change miles.

[00:26:30] Yeah.

[00:26:31] Um, we started out in Phoenix.

[00:26:33] That's where we flew into, went to Saguaro National Park, which is in Tucson.

[00:26:37] Then we, uh, went up to, um, Sedona, Arizona, no national parks there, but there's some beautiful

[00:26:45] state parks.

[00:26:46] We did some hiking around there.

[00:26:47] That was one of our, uh, the 14 mile day, uh, ended up at the Grand Canyon, um, and some

[00:26:54] other national monuments that are in Flagstaff, Arizona.

[00:26:56] So that was a, that was a great trip.

[00:26:58] That's, uh, how we are planning a lot of our vacations is what national parks or sites

[00:27:03] can we see?

[00:27:03] What hikes can we do?

[00:27:05] Good for you.

[00:27:07] You will, you will get to experience God's creation and, and enjoy it.

[00:27:12] And that's, that'll be fun for both of you as you continue to grow in, in Christ who holds

[00:27:18] you together.

[00:27:19] Uh, and, and that there is kind of a neat way to go backwards through this connection

[00:27:27] of the things that make you, you, right?

[00:27:29] This love of hiking, which allows you, uh, some creativity in planning your routes and

[00:27:36] planning your maps and that, that, which you get to do in music, right?

[00:27:41] Which requires a whole lot of figuring out how things work, right?

[00:27:46] How are we going to accomplish this?

[00:27:47] Uh, and allows you then to take your wife, your family and go to church in different places

[00:27:55] as you go hiking.

[00:27:57] Uh, and, and I pray that you, you do, right?

[00:28:00] Find a way, even when you're out on a hike weekend, uh, to pick a local congregation where

[00:28:07] Christ is still at work in all things, uh, and hear his word and receive his gifts and

[00:28:12] rejoice and then come home and tell us about it.

[00:28:16] Yeah.

[00:28:17] We, we enjoyed that.

[00:28:18] You know, we, we, we're, my family are traveler or, you know, not as much hikers as you.

[00:28:24] I mean, we do that because it's part of it, but we've, we've enjoyed the national parks and

[00:28:28] state parks all over the place.

[00:28:30] That's been one of the fun things and sometimes a source of annoyance, you know, but going to

[00:28:37] another church, but we've had, we've had, you know, we, and we've been, you and I've talked,

[00:28:41] we've been to some similar places, right?

[00:28:43] We've had great, we had a great moment in 2018 when we were at Rocky mountain.

[00:28:47] Um, you know, we're in this great big giant elk just came walking through, you know, and

[00:28:54] we were, we were just barking at some tourists from Sweden or something cause they were walking

[00:28:59] on the, whatever the, the tundra that you're not supposed to walk on, you know, and thinking

[00:29:04] they're better than everyone else.

[00:29:05] And this just enormous, immense, majestic animal comes walking through.

[00:29:10] And then my kids are trying to catch a, a marmot later, you know, but you see all kinds,

[00:29:16] I mean, there's something you can't, you know, and if, if the Lord, if the Lord brings children

[00:29:21] into your life, you can't, it's, those are, those types of trips are great.

[00:29:25] I mean, it's a great place.

[00:29:26] It's a great way to connect to one another.

[00:29:29] You guys are, you have professional lives of course, and you know, and, and, and you

[00:29:35] are very dedicated to your congregation.

[00:29:37] We are super thankful for the two of you as a family, but it's also, you know, we're

[00:29:44] coming up on time here, but it's also really important to us, Pastor Shachman and I, that

[00:29:50] you balance that with time for one another, you know, and so we're thrilled to see you

[00:29:56] do that and do something that you love and discover and discover new things.

[00:30:01] And like I said, then come back and tell us about it.

[00:30:03] And then come back and tell us about it.

[00:30:04] Yeah, because we like stories.

[00:30:06] Well, Brett, thanks for coming on Christ in All Things and sharing your stories with us.

[00:30:09] Thank you for having me.

[00:30:10] Absolutely.

[00:30:11] And we'll look forward to years and years of you figuring out how things work and playing

[00:30:15] music for us.

[00:30:16] So help us God.

[00:30:17] Sounds good.

[00:30:18] Yeah.

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