A.R.C. became a brand that was an invitation to a lifestyle.
A few years back Mike and I had hit the epitome of what we had worked for. Mike joined a local practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist and I was working at a church. This was everything we had dreamt, everything that we went to school for, everything we wanted. We were a year into our dream life but the dream we had dreamt was anything but picture perfect. One evening I was doing dishes looking out our window wondering, “How did this happen? Why does everything feel desperate? Why does everything feel out of control?” And I whispered in my heart… “God, you are going to need to intervene because I am not sure we are going to be able to do this long term.”
A month and a half later Mike and I began to have some real conversations. We realized that there was a wrestling in us. Was life really supposed to be a hustle and bustle all the time? Was being an adult really about sacrificing self and family for a job? Was the carrot of the American Dream worth it?
God answered our questions quickly. Within a month we knew God was inviting Mike out of counseling, into something new, but we didn’t know what that new was. Mike gave his two-week notice and became a stay-at-home dad until God showed us something else.
The first month was hard, Mike needed to heal, he needed perspective, he needed to process anger, and he needed to process deep sadness and grief. So when the girls and I left for the day, he would go hike and yell at God at a local wooded park. Yes, you read that correctly, he would hike and yell at God. Mike would often come home and say … “I think I am known as the crazy man that talks to himself in the woods.” But there was something about Mike’s authenticity that left me in awe. Mike was going to give God a piece of his mind. He wasn’t going to hold back; he wasn’t going to act like everything was ok. Things were not OK, and he was going to let God know it.
One day while Mike was hiking, he was especially mad that it was winter and the only place he could sit was in the snow. All of a sudden, a hammock came into his mind. We didn’t own one nor were going to be spending a lot of money to buy a hammock and all of the accessories. That night the LORD gave Mike a dream of a hammock: the exact specs for the hammock and all that was needed to make it worthwhile. So, Mike ordered fabric and busted out my grandma’s old sewing machine and sewed a hammock so that he didn’t have to sit on the ground anymore.
A few weeks later he was wondering what the purpose of this season was. Why did he have to experience this loss and pain? God encouraged Mike to re-read his journal entries from the first month off and he began to realize that in the midst of loss … his longings had been for adventure, rest, and community. Mike was created for Adventure, Rest , and Community. As we continued to journey in that season, we recognized that Adventure, Rest, and Community were not only words for Mike but an invitation for our family. We wanted to be people that would take a break from our busy to experience Adventure, Rest, and Community together.
A.R.C. has been part of our lives since 2019 when we started as a custom hammock outfitter. In the summer of 2021, we added an industrial laser to our business so that we could create unique products that encourage people to engage in Adventure, Rest, and Community.
Our hope is that the A.R.C. blog will be a place to be encouraged, to laugh, to participate, and a place to kick your feet up and take it all in. We are NOT experts! This journey has been hard but life changing. Each week we will have a new blog in one of our four categories: Adventure, Rest, Community, and BE. Most blog entries will be filled with reflections and stories of how we live the A.R.C. LIFE. The BE blog will be an invitation to a guided experience.
May we grow together as we learn to understand what it means to take a break from our busy so that we can engage in Adventure, Rest, and Community.
