I could feel the sweat on my palms as I methodically clipped my climbing gear onto my harness. I hadn’t been up Seneca in about four years, and I had never been the one leading a climbing group.

prayer + worship though music + sermon = Church.

While I don’t think Grease provides much wisdom for life, I actually think that it does get that one piece right: We should be changed by those around us.

Living out of our vans, cooking alongside the road, and talking (a lot), what we had was given freely. When I read about the church in Acts, that is one of the key things that sets them apart, their ability to simply do life together.

“Why?” Why am I chopping apples for a dehydrator at 10:30 p.m. when I want to go to bed?

“Why do you adventure?” I asked our wilderness first responder instructor. He was a man who I quickly realized had a drastically different world view from me.

If you follow me on social media or if you read my last blog, then you know that I just got engaged!! In honor of today being Valentine’s Day and being recently engaged, I thought that I would share some lessons that I have learned through dating Sarah over the past seven years. 

Call it grit, determination, or just plain not knowing when to quit, failure has developed in me the ability to work through adversity and find success.

For me, fun and playfulness and humor all stem from the same place and help achieve the same purpose: to connect with people. Connection is where things happen.

I quickly forgot about the promise that I made with myself to not plan big-mileage backpacking trips. We decided to start our trip off with a 13-mile day carrying the heaviest gear we could find. We would be hiking much of the same route on the Bartram Trail that I had previously done.

“I think I dropped my pen. It’s okay; I have another one.” Unfortunately, we were in the backcountry. We couldn’t just leave the pen.

“How was school?” my mom asked every day as I walked in the door. She really wanted to know. “It was fine/good/okay,” I would reply. This was not a satisfying answer. She then would go to work unpacking what my short answer actually meant.

In late August I embarked on an epic adventure. I was joined by Joe Lapp, Cole Conely, Faith McGowan and Jon Mayes, members of the 2022/2023 Guide Team.

My “something” does not compare to God’s everything. Only in him can I find full success.

Out here living my best life

Being entrusted with someone else’s story is a gift.

At the heart of Christmas, it is a time of giving and receiving.