Self fulfilling?

Are you looking for the whore or the spotless virgin and are you convinced that they exist?

Because some woman treat their sexuality as a product does this make all woman whores? Conversely is it possible for the virgins to raise the overall value of womankind?

It seems that most woman are somewhere between these polar opposites and that is less important than the power of the respective ends. Is our treatment of woman more important than their actual expression of sexuality?

What happens when we begin to treat all woman one way or the other? When we treat all woman as if they are whores than I suggest that it diminishes the entire gender. We start to expect wanton behavior and start to build systems that actually reinforce the very behavior that we are seeking to avoid.

If on the other hand we treat all woman as if they are spotless virgins, then the entire gender is elevated and systems are established to reinforce that behavior.

The same behavior is applicable to the church. As I start to retreat from and expect bad behavior, I reinforce the stereotype and holistically do damage to His bride.

Always enough.

Abundance thinking at its finest.

Rolland and Heidi Baker
Always Enough: God’s Miraculous Provision among the
Poorest Children on Earth
Grand Rapids: Chosen Books, 2002, 2003.

page 9

"I (Rolland) always wanted to believe and live the
Sermon on the Mount, but I was usually told that it
did not mean all that I thought it meant and that I
needed to be practical. I would read the Scriptures
longingly, trying to imagine how wonderful it would be
not to worry about anything, safe and secure in the
presence of Jesus all the time. Miracles would be
normal. Love would be natural. We could always give
and never lose. We could be lied to, cheated and
stolen from, and yet we would always come out ahead.
We would never have to take advantage of anyone or
have any motive but to bless other people. Rather
than always making contingency plans in case Jesus
didn’t do anything, we could count on Him continually.
We, our lives and all that we preach and provide
would not be for sale, but would be given freely, just
as we have received freely. Our hearts would be
carefree in the love of our Father in heaven, who
always knows what we need, and we could get on with
the glorious business of seeking first His Kingdom and
His righteousness. There would always be enough!
"In time I realized that the worst possible fate
would be to miss all of this."

Scarcity verses Abundance

In this age of economic down turn and political, national and world wide unrest, scarcity thinking is running rampant. It seems that if we have grown up in a community of lack, we revert back to that thinking when we are pressed. Circumstances then determine what is impractical and pragmatism of the 'real' must be applied. Hope, risk and creativity are not just muted they are outlawed.

Steven Covey, author of Principled Centered Leadership, describes these mindsets with great clarity. Abundance thinking is hope and trust centered. It was established from the very foundations of the earth and is brilliant with its application. Brilliant as acting on its behalf sheds light in a seemingly ever darkening landscape and brilliant that same action leads us in better directions.

The people of God have the confidence of faith, to invest themselves and their human capital in ways that honor abundance thinking and other foundational principles. They are all based on the unshakable, unfailing, never ending love that comes from above. These are times prepared for such a people. How and where can you invest yourself that would allow yourself to shine?

Starfish and the Spider: The language of Touched Twice United

Since 1996 I have had a difficult time talking to people about the methodology or philosophy that Touched Twice United was organized around. Recently I was recommended the book, Starfish and the Spider; The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. This book has given me the common language to engage people in another system that doesn't require a heavy, top down controlling bureaucracy. This system instead requires release and trust to allow it to grow. It is easily duplicated and is extremely resilient. The authors contrast and compare the creatures starfish and spiders. At fist glance they look similar. However if you cut the head off a spider it dies, cut a starfish and you tend to get another starfish.

It seems that the current health care system needs some work and our country can no longer afford to sustain the current escalating costs. Without some major change in thinking things look bleak. Either costs will continue to rise or people will be cut off from care.

I believe that this starfish way of organizing offers the hope we all are looking for. Helping more people at less costs while continuing the progressive research and development America know for. Over the next several blogs, I will see if I can effectively convey this idea using the language of The Starfish and Spider over the next few blog spots. This is a collaborative work in progress and it will require your help.

How much grace is too much and who gets to decide?

We have been wrestling through the freedom and grace that comes from following after Jesus. There are more than two-thousand years of documented attempts. It seems to me that the church of today is way to focused on the back of the pack than the front runner.

It may be that I am just so far behind the front that it seems easier for me to look ahead than to look behind. With so many people more godly, more loving, and less mistake ridden, ahead of me it seems foolish to keep looking back.

Paul seems to be a man like me in this regard. He said that he was to forget what was behind and press on toward the mark. I know that what I have left behind is nothing that I want to get caught up in again. I feel that the more I focus on the darkest of people it leads me to compete with them and then become complacent with my own progress.

When I press on towards the mark that Jesus has set for us. It leads me into appreciation of the gift of grace that I have received. It gives me an immense amount of gratitude for the price paid for my freedom.

Let gratitude and appreciation abound in the same lavish amounts that God's grace has been poured out for us.

Cultivate the enviornment.

In the beginning God created man and woman in His image then placed them in the garden. Not in the wild, but in a garden a cultivated place; a place where order was established from the beginning.

Why is it when we attempt something creative and new in the name of Jesus, people who regard themselves as Jesus fans are put off or threatened?

When did we get so familiar with the wild around us that forgot the possibility of what could be? If we as individuals resemble our Creator, could our creativity be one of those things?

My wife Andrea and her brothers look very much like their mother and father, and the brothers and sister favor each other as well. Why is it that as members of God’s family, we experience such a hard time seeing in each other a resemblance to Jesus? Simply talking about being related seems shallow.

After 10 years of marriage, Andrea and I are starting to look like each other. I think it has to do with behaving in a similar manor, picking up on the same likes and dislikes, and finding humor together. I believe that if we are given a long life here together, we will grow more and more alike as time passes.

The world and all things in it resulted from someone’s thinking, and I believe that we’ve not yet completed our part of the assignment. I feel that if we who follow Jesus would appreciate creativity as much as we do familiarity, we may grow a bit, coming closer to the heaven on earth we dream about.

Wisdom of Solomon

Just this morning I was I woke up to a report on gay marriage. I started thinking about what I believe on this divisive subject. I feel that community and relationships are foundational to my understanding of God. For me the Trinity: Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit is the ultimate form of community. Jesus uses this 'one' language when describing His relationship to the Father as does the apostle Paul when he talks about the relationship between a husband and wife. A complete new entity is formed by these unions and it seems that they are by design not to be divided.

In the old testament, there was a king Solomon who the Bible says was the wisest man that ever lived or will live. (Sorry Dr Hawkings) In the text is a story of two woman fighting over a child. Both mothers claimed it was theirs. To solve the conflict Solomon declared that the baby be cut in two. Once hearing his verdict the birth mother disavowed any claim to the baby. Solomon understood that because of this idea of oneness, who the mother was.

Is it possible that this baby gives the understanding to why marriage was designed to produce one flesh and can not be duplicated by same sex couples? Simply accepting this does not produce any sort of solution. If nothing else it divides us even further from each other and gives more force into the argument. If only Solomon was here now to help us diffuse the situation and bring order to this chaos.

In this world with a fallen humanity, and regarding our relationships with our same sex brothers and sisters, what represents the baby and how can it be spared?

If you had a vision...

If you had a vision clear enough that you knew where you were supposed to go, wouldn't you look for that man in your vision? I have been studying the apostle Paul. In the 16th chapter of the book of Acts, Paul is flopping about looking for direction and then has this vision. Then as you see him immediately get up and go, you never see him identify the man again.

As I have been looking for the answer it seems that no one in history seemed bothered by this. Is this just more evidence of my lack of faith? Paul knew he was from Macedonia, and that it was a man. He also knew that he was supposed to go. Do you suppose it was the man's voice? Earlier in the text it said he was first stopped by the "Holy Spirit" and then later, "the Spirit of Jesus". Do you suppose that he recognized the voice because he had heard it before?

Who's voice are you listening to? If the living Lord spoke to you would recognize his voice and then would you obey?

40 Days of Easter

This Easter I wanted to not only prepare for Easter through Lent, but to give the resurrection the same kind of 40 day attention. I have challenged our Fellowship to think about what kinds of things can they pick up for the King and Kingdom. It has been more of a challenge than I thought. It is difficult to know what things would be meaningful and not gimmicky.

So far I have decide to focus on the people I would say I love and yet seem to be the people who get the least of me. I am attempting to tell my wife and children I love then in different ways every day.
My wife Andrea seemed stunned that I wanted to know how I could be more Christ like to her. After 24 hours and several requests she told me to take a day off. Ouch...

So far what I have discovered is that by picking up just any old thing, its possible to do more harm than good. Who are the people you would say you love and what would being more Christ like look like for them?

40 Days of Easter

I am on the journey to become the man of my imagination. I can imagine a man of character and integrity. A man who's yes is yes and no is no. A man people can count on. A man I can count on. 

This Easter I want to commit to becoming that man. The first thing I want to do is make certain that my wife and children know that in spite of my real time stumbling and bumbling, I love them. 

In my imagination, a very scary place, I could continue to try and fail. I commitment for these next 40 days is to keep on trying. What are you going to do to extend the Kingdom?  

How far would you go?

This past Sunday I was retelling the story of Paul and Timothy in Acts 16. Here Paul asks Timothy a young man, to get circumcised in deference to the Jewish people they were looking to reach.
I wanted to have a tattoo artist come and give me a tattoo while I was preaching the message and when I could not get that done, (regulations) I wanted to show a video of someone getting a tattoo. That did not happen either. (Technical difficulties)

The question was how far would You go to extend the Kingdom? Getting a tattoo was not a new idea for me. I came very close a few years ago while speaking on 1 Cor 9, 'I have become all things to all people..."
We all have opportunity to stretch to reach people. For some the idea that I would get a tattoo was way over the top. For others it may be going into a bar or a club. I believe that with the freedom we have been given comes great responsibility.

How far are you willing to go to free others? Why would God free you first?

Tear your hearts not your cloths.

I was with a group of people involved in ministry and they were talking about how much transparency is too much. After I speak I am usually questioned about why I would tell people the stuff of my struggles. Even the way I frame the question is telling.
I feel that the more transparent I am upfront the more real God becomes. Jesus says, " I am the way, the truth and the life". I believe that we get the Way, and the Life and somehow miss out on the Truth. Every time I rely on fiction I obscure Jesus. I muddy the Way and rob myself of really Living. My walk reveals my heart and my belief in His ability to work all things together for our good.
I feel that it is easier for me to make a show of my transparency by tearing at my veneer and still miss out on the opening my heart. Follow me as I attempt to open my heart to the truth of who I am and Who is making me.

Media Bias.

Just this week I happened across a radio talk show where a well know conservative reported his most recent evidence of media bias. In February there was a gruesome murder in which a man is suspected of beheading his wife. The discussion centered around how this story didn't get the head lines the conservative thought it should. The accused man is a Muslim and the founder of a TV station dedicated to changing the negative stereotypes of Muslims.
At face value beheading appears to be an oddity in our culture and seemed irrefutable evidence that the media is sympathetic to Muslims. Why did this story not merit the same attention as some "lesser evil" done by another?

As I understand it, news is when man bites dog, not when dog bites man. It is expected occasionally for a dog to bite a man, but unexpected for a man to bite a dog.
Is there another reason that the beheading wasn't considered newsworthy?
Media bias exists. Yet, what if media is biased in the opposite direction from what we are led to believe? I think it is possible that American media expects Muslims to behave badly, so a man beheading his wife is not news. In the same way, American media expects Christians to behave well, and when that expectation is not met, it is news.

It saddens me that Christianity as a religion has become a "don't do this" methodology. The religion gets the reputation it is promoting, then blames others when held accountable for what it promotes. What a disappointing distraction from the glorious Kingdom of God that Jesus was here to establish. How do I maintain focus on what I am called to do, while turning my back on issues that rob my time and keep my attention? Is the fact that the Kingdom of God exists -- while people are looking for something they have yet to see -- news all on its own?

Fear the final frontier

My life has been a rocket-ship of God moments. The phrase:  "somewhere between terror and exhilaration" seem to describe it best so far.  I shrink away from attempting to tell people about the emotions and experiences, because it is too much to tell and too hard to believe. 

Yesterday while hurtling toward heaven; I was at a meeting where a prophesy over a dying boy was fulfilled through the stumbling of three independent people. While at this meeting we heard and saw the power of God and we saw how He had used our attempts to follow Him.  I caught a glimpse of just how enormous the project is and how small we are in the scheme of things. One of my more pragmatic friends said the following of the meeting:  "That was the first time I understood the fear that you guys talk about." 

I am finding that in between Terror and Exhilaration is faith.

In the Bible there is a story about a mustard seed.  God says if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can move mountains. We are seeing mountains move all on their own. We are watching the living Creator God reveal Himself to and through His people. What an amazing time to be alive and in His service!

These ideas and events are way too big for any one of us. Even if there were tens of thousands of people involved we could not do what He is doing. The fear/terror comes from recognizing that we are not in control. The exhilaration comes from the realization that God is right here. The only power we have is over our ability to say, "Yes Lord".  Then that power is fulfilled as we put our weight behind the "Yes" and move.  It may be easier to move a mountain, than to move our hearts.  

Blind in Besthaida

I have been thinking about vision and focus for most of my life. I have over 20 years in optics and know the functions of light and lens. For the past 11 years I have been helping people through Touched Twice United. It is a movement based on how Jesus helped the blind man from Bethsaida in Mark 8. 

Here some people believe that Jesus has the power to heal. Heal blind eyes and broken lives. 

Some people think that Jesus has the power to fix the unfixable.  Some people believe. 

As I sit here today it seems as if the majority of people believe that the government has that power. I feel as we are no longer slipping away, but we are running. 

I once was blind. I was unable to see as my lens for viewing the world was just that, mine.  I was singularly concerned about me. I would see people bent and distorted just as I was. I would project my bent everywhere I looked and then was affirmed based on my blindness. I found myself helpless and hopeless. I was facing the loss of my father, the loss of a marriage and the loss of my perception of control. I was lost in my blindness and desperate for help.

I found myself powerless to change the things that were broken. All the world views I had found were equally without power. I discovered that there was a way of looking at the world that changed my hopelessness and gave me access to more power than I could hope for or imagine. I once was blind and now I see...

Instead of changing your location, exchange lens through witch you see. Instead of the opaque choose the translucent. Instead of dark shields choose full spectrum. Open your eyes to the projection that is coming from with in. 

Ultimately our illusion is that we have control of anything other than ourselves. We can influence the world. We can modify behaviors, but we need to be transformed from the inside out. When we see that we are powerless to control things outside of ourselves, then we are free to live the lives we dream of. When we are willing to surrender our perspectives, we can gain pure clarity. 

Throughout the struggle.

Why is it that no matter how hard I try, I never seem to be able to stop hurting the people that I say I love the most? I can struggle to avoid the big mistakes only to wallow into some lesser version. Why? What is the point? If I am constantly going to opt for mistakes, why try at all? 

I yell at my kids, get huffy with my wife, am rude to a story clerk or just kick the dog. Doing all of these things would seem to point to an unresolved issue somewhere. Might be my parents dumped me on my head, could be that I was held too much or not enough. My father was Polish and as everyone knows the Polish people are bland and helpless... (Just a joke) 

I see a larger than me and my family struggle that continues to rage on. I see people are struggling to become. Struggling to become more loving, more giving, more caring and more forgiving. Yet these same people stumble along with me. Is this evidence of birds of a feather? Are there groups of people who are able to be free from these types of behaviors and never make these kinds of mistakes?  

Is it the struggle that unites us? What if the divide is simply those of us who refuse to believe it has to be this way or that we are doomed to these tendencies verses those who are resined to remain the way they are? If that is true than help me to keep on struggling. 

I think Dylan Thomas said it better.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. 

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The Camaraderie of Healing

In a New Your Times story,

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/health/17case.html)

Caitlin Kelly writes about her experience with physical therapy to recover from injury. With PT the patient is expected to suffer through the recovery process in a room with other people. She also recognized that no one is immune from this experience. People of all ages, all walks of life can be found here. Suffering the humiliation of the struggle to heal. 

Ms Kelly also sees that " healing takes work and it takes time."

Camaraderie is a byproduct in a place where people suffer and reveal their true weaknesses in the effort of attempting to get well. When you see the person who needs help to pull up their pants the raw human condition can unite and inspire us. After a severe injury, people you struggle with care and cheer when you are able to finally sit up without help. Not that its without effort. It is the exposed and common struggle that I believe is powerful.

At Fellowship I believe we see a similar community. Here people drop the facade and reveal their spiritual and emotional struggles. The effort to forgive, or love or give is as real as the struggle to sit up. People in process working things out in community. Trusting, healing, failing and struggling to do it all over again. 

Without ST, Spiritual Therapy the healing will be without restoration.  It is more likely that healing will come with a reduction of the person without the effort to regain freedom from the injury. We become people with a limp, pretending that we are whole and healed.  It reminds me of the Monte Python movie, The Holy Grail. There is a scene where king Arthur has a sword fight with the Black Knight. Arthur continues to cut off the Black Knights arms and legs off while the knight pretends, "Its only a flesh wound!" We have all been wounded and are in need of ST. Some wounds are just more obvious then others. 

I need you in order to see where I am still limping or sometimes hemorrhaging. In a community of authenticity we have the power to heal more fully. Join me in this effort of becoming well. I am struggling to reveal where I am in need of your help. In my heart I know I need to ask you for help. Together we strive. Together we struggle. Together we cheer, and weep and learn and heal. With all my heart I believe that we are truly better together.

Trust as the ultimate form of love?

Andrea asked me last night what I liked the most about being married. This had every feeling of being a trap. Of course I thought a bit before I blurted out, "The Sex!". Then instead I said it was a great question, squirming as I wanted to appear romantic and spiritual. 

The answers all seemed to obvious. Sex, sharing life, kids... As I thought more on the question over my New Orleans pasta, (Duncan Creek Wine Bar & Grill in Chippewa). The thing I appreciate the most about being married is the trust. The trust is what allows for great sex and physical intimacy. Its trust that allows for a physical union where one plus one equals in our case five or nine.  Its trust that fosters the wanting to share the best and worst parts of who we are. 

My question is; is this the kind of love God has for us? Is free will and the entrusting of that gift, (what ever form you believe in), the ultimate form of divine love?  If so what have you done with this love and how do you reflect this to the ones you love?

Emotions verses Circumstances

I get to speak at least once a week to a small audience.  There are times when I hear the response to the stories and the message I am looking to convey. There is a murmur, a sigh, or even more. Then there are those other times when all I hear are crickets. There is a dull muffled sound of a damp towel falling on a pillow. 

I am going to attempt to speak with more emotion and less story. What I mean by this is to share the feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness and failure that accompany that sound. Not everyone knows the feeling of speaking and not being heard. We all know the feelings of failure and disappointment. What if by sharing our feelings people could understand our stories? What if merely allowing ourselves to be exposed are we able to be understood? Is our fear simply walling us off from the people we so desperately want to listen?

Is this going to be the sound of the towel, or am I going to hear something new? What is the sound of being heard? Is it the same for me as it would be for you? Tell me of the feeling when your heart broke, tell me of your shrinking feeling when ever you see her now. Tell me of the terror you experience when you think, they know. If you can not, then I will attempt to try to tell you. I am afraid. 

I refuse to be defined by what I am afraid of. My hearts desire is that I would be identified by what I wanted to believe was possible. 

End times?

I just finished reading the book, Hurtling Toward Oblivion. I am not an end times kind of guy. The idea that we should button up the joint and hold up in the basement has never appealed to me. The events that are happening have had me rethinking my position.

I want to be living life. Not merely existing. I want to pour myself out on the things that matter most to me. People 'should' be the first. What I am discovering is it may be people, just not the people that I say matter.

I invest time into people who want to get better or what to question if they can. I will listen for hours, days and even weeks and months to peoples struggles. People I do not know and who for the most part may not want to know me. What about my own wife and children? Why is it so hard for me to give them anywhere near the same amounts of time?

If things are wrapping up here. How do I want to spend my time? Who do I have a relationships with that needs me and is interested in me?

What if the end of the age is not here? Then what? Will that lesson the feelings of sadness and discord I have between what I say and what I do?

Either way I believe that great and amazing things are happening. If Jesus chooses to come back today or if he simply awakens His people, I want to be investing the time I have with the people who I love. I want to be able to love well and still be the change I wish to see.

Genesis - life from lifelessness.

I am preparing for our TTU board meeting that starts today. (www.touchedtwiceunited.org) There are more than 20 people coming to WI to see what the Lord is stirring up for this year. The creating of culture that would be more powerful and substantive than the flashy veneer that is today is on the agenda. It seems as if we are a bit too full of ourselves as we print the agenda.

I am going to show a video clip from Star Trek the Wrath of Khan. It is called, The Genisis Project. Some scientists have been testing a device that could be shot into any dead or lifeless planet and generate life. In the clip they suggest that what is depicted is only the very minimum of the kinds of change that could happen.

I see the message of Jesus as the same device. It has the power to bring life into lifeless people. If deposoted into any enviornment, it has the power to transform. Not just the change of the veneer. The transformation of the entire planet. It seems that this process had started 2000 years ago and yet something has gone wrong. What is keeping this change from happening?

In the anchient book of prayers we see that there is more to this change than what we have seen:

what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
Psalm 8

If everything is under our authority, then what is stopping us? If God is for us, who can be against? What if the changes we see are just the minimun of what could be?

Benevolent?

Well meaning and kindly? We are having some great discussions regarding benevolence and the church. At our church we do not have a benevolence fund. That may sound good or bad to you and let me elaborate...

Our church is called Fellowship and we hold relationship as a high value, thus the name. I have seen people give directly to people in need based on these relationships. Last night the leaders of the church were talking about adding a line item (benevolence) to our no existent budget. (we don't take up an offering) As we talked about Acts 2:42, (fellowship verse) I was marveling at the magnitude of giving that was going on inside these relationships. One single mom had received over 1,000 people hours in the rehabbing oh her first home. Another young man had received a cash gift of $1,000 from fellow students. None of these gifts came from the fellowship checking account. Or did they?

I wonder if we had placed a % line in our budget, would the giving would have been capped at that level? If we add up all the gifts: $, food, car repairs, housing, cars, clothing, computers, time and talents, it would have far surpassed the total budget of Fellowship.

Is there another way for people to share burdens?

Forgiveness & Trust

I have been talking about forgiveness and trust. It has caused quite a bit of negative feedback. How can anyone suggest that we 'need' to forgive in order to be free from our own wrong doings? Especially if our wrong doings pale in comparison to what others have done to me.

There is a phrase in the bible that says, "Consider it all joy, when you receive trials of any kind." This is an equally disturbing idea. It seems that we are supposed to say, thank you for this great gift of difficulty. I am so filled with joy as I suffer through this.

I think this thinking is a bunch of bunk.

What if, this is from that scary place, what if it was more of the chance to prove what you believe?
What if trials are the chances to exercise our faith? What if it was more about our faith and less about the trials? In the movie 300, there is a scene where the Spartans are looking at the millions of men in the Persian army. One of them starts to smile and laugh. He says that he has prepared his entire life to meet a man that was his equal in battle. He was pleased to think that among the hoard was one such man.

It is not even our faith, as much as the one we have placed our faith in. He has proven himself over and over again. No matter what the fear, the circumstances or the outcome. He promises that He can and will work out everything for our good and the good of all who love Him acording to His purposes. We can trust Him as He is ever faithful.

The New Year with an old body.

I am still sore from sledding with the kids over Christmas break. I remember when I could and would sled for hours. The hills, large as they were, never seemed to matter nearly as much as the potential fun they promised. Now I found myself acting like the full time defender in a basketball game. Bent over holding my sides and telling the kids to go ahead and I would wait for the next run. (not that I would have ever experienced this)

I feel this same side splitting ache as I look at the hill of this year and wonder if it would be better to wait until the next ride. Not that I am quitting, its that the potential seems to be less than the effort it feels it will take to ride again. Why?

I think that after a year like we had, it feels daunting to think that this next hill could be higher. Yet with each loftier trek the each ride holds that much more potential for exhilarating fun. More fun, more danger, more excitement, more risk... More reward?

As I hold my knees and wait to catch my breath, the thoughts of faces flash through my mind. Faces of the many people that I have had the privilege to ride with on this journey. People who's lives I pray will never be the same for the ride. In my imagination I see these faces all turned toward the one who started this entire sledding idea.

Here I go again...