So, I have spent a good bit of today trying to plan my drive home. I have about 1700 miles in front of me in just shy of two weeks. Luckily, this time I'm not doing it by myself. My brother is flying out to come back with me, which should be a lot of fun.
Right now, the plan is to go from Fraser CO to St. Louis MO the first day. It's about 13 hours or so, but my neighbor's sister lives there, so free place to crash? Yes please. The next day I'm trying to arrange somewhere in Knoxville to stay. I have a few friends there that might work out, but I'm not sure about that yet. Then onto Windy Gap, via the Cherohala Skyway, which is supposed to be one of the best driving roads in the country. I'm excited for that one, because after going through Kansas and all that boringness, I will be needing some good Carolina mountain roads with all the beautiful pavement and switchbacks they have to offer. Stay with my buddy Hampton at Windy Gap for a night, then back to the 'Boro. I won't be there for long, because I'm moving back up to school as soon as possible. Classes start the 25th or something, so I'd like a few days to get settled in before that.
Any way, these are all just preliminary plans, all open to change. Any suggestions of place to go or things to see would be welcome.
Much love.
lane
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Refreshment
Yesterday, I had a very refreshing conversation with a little kid half my age. The property manager here has a daughter named Ellie who comes down to the barn almost every day and helps out, goes on rides, that whole thing. Anyway, one of her friends came to ride and she was asking me how everything worked with having different groups of campers come in every week. I explained that campers came on Sundays and left on Saturdays, with groups coming and leaving all summer. She responded with, "So you get the pleasure of teaching new campers to ride every week?" I was silent for a second, floored by the truth spit at me by this 11 year old little girl that I skip over almost every second of every day.
It is so easy for me to let my job become just that, my job. Doing a similar thing everyday, all summer, I have allowed myself to fall into routine, and not examine every blessing God has put into my day, in all the small things, like a beautiful sunrise every day, and in the big things, like giving me the opportunity to reach out and touch every kid on camp. In one sentence, it was brought back to me not to things for granted, to savor every moment of every day.
I feel like God sometimes throws out these little moments and bits of wisdom to help me realize some things in life that need work, or His touch. The challenge there is to see and hear those moments and not pass over them in the day.
lane
It is so easy for me to let my job become just that, my job. Doing a similar thing everyday, all summer, I have allowed myself to fall into routine, and not examine every blessing God has put into my day, in all the small things, like a beautiful sunrise every day, and in the big things, like giving me the opportunity to reach out and touch every kid on camp. In one sentence, it was brought back to me not to things for granted, to savor every moment of every day.
I feel like God sometimes throws out these little moments and bits of wisdom to help me realize some things in life that need work, or His touch. The challenge there is to see and hear those moments and not pass over them in the day.
lane
Friday, July 24, 2009
Torrey's Peak
Yesterday, I climbed my first fourteener, Torrey's Peak. It is about an hour and a half from camp, so my friends Matt, Marayah, and I went on our day off. I have been here for over two months and haven't climbed a mountain yet, so it was time to get it done.
We left about 6:30 in the morning, and got to the trailhead a little after 8:15. The road up there was pretty intense to pull off in Matt's little Honda. It made me really miss my Jeep, we would have just walked up it no problem. As it was, it took us 20 minutes to go the two miles to the trailhead on that road. It was fun though. The hike up ended up taking a touch over 3 hours, which is pretty good to go four miles up a daggum mountain. We had lunch on top, talked with some of the folks we met up there for a while, and just generally hung out for about half an hour. There was a couple that had come all the way from Japan to climb a mountain, which is awesome. We took our time down, taking lots of pictures and whatnot. That is the danger of going places with two photographers, it takes forever to go anywhere!
It was Matt's 25th birthday, so we went and got ice cream afterwards. We were all pretty beat, so back to the house and showers were the way to go for the hour. A few of us went out to Winter Park to get sushi for Matt's birthday dinner and hang out for a bit. Got back, ate some angel food cake, watched Monty Python. All in all, I consider it an excellent day. Good times, good food, great friends, and above that, good fellowship and the chance to enjoy God's amazing world he made just for us.
lane
We left about 6:30 in the morning, and got to the trailhead a little after 8:15. The road up there was pretty intense to pull off in Matt's little Honda. It made me really miss my Jeep, we would have just walked up it no problem. As it was, it took us 20 minutes to go the two miles to the trailhead on that road. It was fun though. The hike up ended up taking a touch over 3 hours, which is pretty good to go four miles up a daggum mountain. We had lunch on top, talked with some of the folks we met up there for a while, and just generally hung out for about half an hour. There was a couple that had come all the way from Japan to climb a mountain, which is awesome. We took our time down, taking lots of pictures and whatnot. That is the danger of going places with two photographers, it takes forever to go anywhere!
It was Matt's 25th birthday, so we went and got ice cream afterwards. We were all pretty beat, so back to the house and showers were the way to go for the hour. A few of us went out to Winter Park to get sushi for Matt's birthday dinner and hang out for a bit. Got back, ate some angel food cake, watched Monty Python. All in all, I consider it an excellent day. Good times, good food, great friends, and above that, good fellowship and the chance to enjoy God's amazing world he made just for us.
lane
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Think on it
A few weeks ago I had a conversation with my friend Zac that ended in him asking me a question we as Christians hear and ask all the time, but he asked from the other point of view. Instead of asking me how I was pursuing God, he asked how God was pursuing me.
That caught me off guard, and I have been thinking about it for a while now. This relationship I have with the God of the universe is an interesting thing. It isn't one in which He is running from me, and I have to try and keep up with the One who created me, but rather it is the opposite. God made me and loves me beyond all measure. He wants nothing more than to be with me and have me with Him. I am the one who keeps running away and making Him chase. In that light, Zac's question makes perfect sense.
There are so many ways and things I have to try and keep God from catching me that I use on a daily basis, my pride, self reliance, ignorance, there are too many to list. But still He pursues me, and wants to be with me. It is truly a beautiful thing that I can not fathom the depths of His love.
I still don't have a one word answer for the question, but I am beginning to realize some of the parts of it. Through friends and all those around me God reveals part of Himself, and if I only take the time and effort to recognize those parts, I will see He truly is everywhere.
So I challenge the same question to those around me. How is God pursuing you?
lane
That caught me off guard, and I have been thinking about it for a while now. This relationship I have with the God of the universe is an interesting thing. It isn't one in which He is running from me, and I have to try and keep up with the One who created me, but rather it is the opposite. God made me and loves me beyond all measure. He wants nothing more than to be with me and have me with Him. I am the one who keeps running away and making Him chase. In that light, Zac's question makes perfect sense.
There are so many ways and things I have to try and keep God from catching me that I use on a daily basis, my pride, self reliance, ignorance, there are too many to list. But still He pursues me, and wants to be with me. It is truly a beautiful thing that I can not fathom the depths of His love.
I still don't have a one word answer for the question, but I am beginning to realize some of the parts of it. Through friends and all those around me God reveals part of Himself, and if I only take the time and effort to recognize those parts, I will see He truly is everywhere.
So I challenge the same question to those around me. How is God pursuing you?
lane
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Time Flies...
I realized today that I have less than 4 weeks until the summer is over. It has flown by in such a blur I don't think I could begin to look at all the individual events that have happened.
I honestly feel like I just left North Carolina about a week ago, and yet here I am, staring straight at the end of my time out here. I'm not really a person who gets attached to places, instead I try to live as much as I can and love as much as I'm able wherever I am, but I'm not ready to leave. I have made some amazing friends, friends for life and beyond, and I will miss them dearly. I don't want to make this all about who I will miss, but that is sitting on my heart right now.
Something I am thankful for: New Summer Staff! The last two sessions have gone by with me making so many mistakes with the people entrusted to me, with so many lessons taught, learned, and failed. I have this one last chance with a group to try and put into action the things I have learned about me, and about being with and leading people. These girls(3) and guy(1) seem like awesome people so far. I have been praying for them and how our time together will work out for the past few weeks, and I am soo excited to see what happens. They all have a passion for being here, and much better attitudes than I do. I think we all have a lot to learn from each other, me especially. I know God has big works in all of us that will be played out in our lives, and I can only hope that some of that begins here and now, or continues if it has already begun.
Anyway, it's bedtime for lane. Pray for the new folks, and for attitudes and grace. I always seem to come across exactly how I don't want to, and I'm scared of that happening, so that would be nice to not come across to new folks and friends as having a very short temper and bad attitude, when I really love everything about what I'm doing.
Love. It is great.
lane
I honestly feel like I just left North Carolina about a week ago, and yet here I am, staring straight at the end of my time out here. I'm not really a person who gets attached to places, instead I try to live as much as I can and love as much as I'm able wherever I am, but I'm not ready to leave. I have made some amazing friends, friends for life and beyond, and I will miss them dearly. I don't want to make this all about who I will miss, but that is sitting on my heart right now.
Something I am thankful for: New Summer Staff! The last two sessions have gone by with me making so many mistakes with the people entrusted to me, with so many lessons taught, learned, and failed. I have this one last chance with a group to try and put into action the things I have learned about me, and about being with and leading people. These girls(3) and guy(1) seem like awesome people so far. I have been praying for them and how our time together will work out for the past few weeks, and I am soo excited to see what happens. They all have a passion for being here, and much better attitudes than I do. I think we all have a lot to learn from each other, me especially. I know God has big works in all of us that will be played out in our lives, and I can only hope that some of that begins here and now, or continues if it has already begun.
Anyway, it's bedtime for lane. Pray for the new folks, and for attitudes and grace. I always seem to come across exactly how I don't want to, and I'm scared of that happening, so that would be nice to not come across to new folks and friends as having a very short temper and bad attitude, when I really love everything about what I'm doing.
Love. It is great.
lane
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