Friends Who Challenge

One of the biggest blessings the Lord has continually given me throughout my life is solid friends who challenge me on a steady, consistent basis. Of those friends, many of them have a deep burden for missions and a great ability to convey profound and convicting truths through their experiences.

Here is a post from a great friend who is currently in India working with an organization that rescues women from sex trafficking and helps them start a new life. This post is too challenging to not pass on to y'all, so here it is.

A Little Visit to the BIG CO: Part II

Another reason why I like Colorado in the summer is the unbelievable hiking and gorgeous views of God's creation available to anyone who ventures outside. A couple friends and I went on a hike my last day in the Springs. It is probably the easiest hike in Colorado, but has some amazing views along the way. The best part on this day, however, was running into a big mama black bear. Some people at the trail head said it was over 300, maybe even nearing 350 pounds, which is pretty big for a black bear. Like any great moment in nature, when trying to take a picture, I was unable to get a good, focused shot of this thing, so I'll give you the best capture I have. It started about 30/40 feet below us on a slope and then ran up the hill to about 30 feet above us. I closed in to take this shot, when the other 2 people with me asked if I knew there were 2 bear cubs in the tree above me. Needless to say, we backed up and gave them some space. (Click on the picture to get a better view/idea of her size) Seeing the beauty, power, and innate protective instincts of God's creation all wrapped up in a mama black bear was exhilarating and an adrenaline rush to say the least.

A Little Visit to the BIG CO: Part I

One of the things that the Lord has blessed me with are friends that live in some pretty sweet places. I recently just got back from the Front Range in Colorado where I spent some time with some friends of mine in Denver and Colorado Springs. It was a great, and much needed, week of R&R. I spent some time with an old college roommate, went scrambling** (more on that later) with a brand new friend, and hung out for a few days with some classmates from Focus Institute. Again, you can't have a bad week when visiting Colorado, especially when there is no agenda and you don't have much of a care in the world.

Memorial Day, I traveled with a new buddy of mine, Hugh White, to Garden of the Gods in the Springs area. The original plan was to rock climb all morning. However, when we got there, we realized one of his friends had his belay device***, so we couldn't climb. Of course we weren't just going to pack up and go home, so we decided to scramble a bit. We looked over at Kindergarten Rock, the longest and second or third tallest in the park, and decided to go get it done. Here are some resulting pics of our scramble.

Yes, we went straight up this
A view of some of the other more famous formations

The view straight down
The view straight up

Hugh and I had an absolute blast doing this. We spent a good chunk of time talking and enjoying God's beauty at the top (especially the views of Pike's Peak). We also messed around a bit on some small boulders and rocks at the top. We'd jump from rock to rock, trying different holds while not falling 250+ feet to our deaths. It was just one of the cool adventures I had during my time out there. More stories to come.

**Scrambling sounds really manly and scary, but it's not as hard core as I can talk it up to be. Scrambling is a step down from straight up free climbing (no ropes, but your not climbing 80 to 90 degree rock faces either).
***For you climbers out there, if we had our heads on straight we could have just made a muenter hitch with our rope. Unfortunately, we didn't have our heads with us... maybe it was the altitude.

The Best Day of the Year

The War Room

This past Sunday, nine of my closest friends and mentors and I got together for what truly fuels us.  No, it's not ministry or missions, it's fantasy football.  The long awaited draft that signals the start of something new, new possibilities and hopefully a new winner, was finally upon us.  

This is the day that we live for.  

Where we sit for 4 hours hashing out new bylaws and rule changes and survive through an intense 20 round draft.  It is where we can finally start ripping each other over annoyances, shortcomings, and, in this years case, blogging like a girl, and not feel bad about it.  It is the time when we live to destroy all hope for a championship year after someone makes stupid draft choices (like picking Minnesota D in the 8th rd; nice Teddy).  This is no ordinary league; it's not for the faint of heart.  There is good 'ole fashioned competitive hatred, rivalries, and trash talking taken to another level.  

Now, before you start to think that this is starting to sound like straight cruelty to each other, I should point out the positives.  

1. It allows us to have a healthy release of our competitive natures.  

2. It allows us to hear words from certain people that you would never expect to hear.

3. It adds years to my life because I often find myself, literally, rolling on floor in laughter after reading the message board.

4. And most importantly:  It keeps our group connected and gives us a reason to talk to each other more (for at least 4 months out of the year).

So here's to another fun-filled fantasy football season.  

DOWN WITH 'THE FORTRESS'!

My home-boys a.k.a. 'The Association'

Kyle, Michael, Ben, Adam, Nate, Me, Ted

I consider these guys to be one of the biggest blessings from the Lord in my life. I can't sum us up any better than what Kyle did on our blog and Adam did recently on his. We recently spent 4 straight days together which only happens once or twice a year anymore because we think we need to be all over the world all the time. It's so refreshing to spend that kind of time together because of the inexorable bond that we have together and because we can always pick things up like it was just yesterday that we were punk high schoolers trying to rule the world. I love these dudes and look forward to more great times together.