I’m back

well…i’ve returned from my annual trip to the mountains of colorado.

here are some thoughts upon my re-entry to the great state:

the rocky mountains are some kind of beautiful.   growing up in california,  my mountains of choice were always the high sierras.   they had a majesty that came with the familiarity of hiking the backcountry for so many years.   distance and time have not necessarily made my heart grown fonder.   memory has faded a bit…and my yearly trips to the rockies are stunning.   maybe i need to start making yearly trips back to the left coast. i don’t know if it was the altitude,  the extra ten pounds from the last year,  the lack of current steroid shots in my knees,  the fact that i’m 57…or all of the above…but my butt was really dragging up some of the inclines. i go to colorado every year to spend time mentoring and teaching young (er) youth ministers from around the country.   some were in their forties.   others looked like they had just graduated from nursery school. i had a great group of guys in my small group.   older,  wiser,  insightful,  self-aware,  deeply committed to christ and kids  and the kingdom. i found myself asking a lot of senior minister questions of them.   how sick is that? the conference center we went to was pretty posh by comparison to previous years.   the camping lodge we had been going to had to close it’s operations because of finances this fall,  and we had to make a last minute change of location.   it was okay,  but definitely a huge change.   i should have brought a golf shirt and dockers… in spite of the poshness,  i slept on the single most uncomfortable bunk mattress ever.   i mean ehhhhh-ver.   my sides are still bruised. i am seriously ADD.   my mind even wanders while a pray and read my bible in the quiet of mountain whispers and rustling aspens. it was a bad weekend to be isolated from the sporting world.   good for the soul,  but bad for the weekend sports junkie fix i depend on every week.   and i can’t believe i wasn’t there when tony needed me the most… as much as i love loud rock and roll music on sundays at north point,  there is something about a bunch of men singing to the creator with a single acoustic guitar that leaves me speechless.   the beauty of that sound is stunning. it was 82 degrees during the days…at 6500ft in colorado.   i so wanted 50 degree mountain air…not dallas-lite.i really missed being home.   i missed wanda.   i missed bowling.   i didn’t miss my dogs. i sat in an emergency exit seat on the plane ride home.   you know…the ones where they ask you if you are willing help,  in case the plane goes down over the ocean and you have to use your seat as a floatation device?   seems like a strange request on a trip from colorado to texas… i made a little joke about being the first one to jump out the exit and the dude sitting next to me got his nose all out of joint.   he accused me of not taking my job seriously.   then he snubbed me for the whole ride home.   geez.   it was just a joke…

it’s good to be back.

#mountains #wilderness #youthministry