109- What Do You Do When You Hit 'The Wall'? “I can’t” leaked from Jahiem’s lips for the final time in my humble opinion. My feet remained planted on the root covered rock that acted as my belay platform, while I gently sat into the rope a bit more, letting Jahiem know that I “had him.” He had battled his way up the first twenty-five feet or more of the dry, sandstone face that had likely split thousands of years
106-Lug Nuts One, Two, Three, Four, Five... My mind wandered a bit and the once distinct words flowing from conversation about how to share our personal story and encounter with Jesus turned to a blend of pitches and my brain quit making them make sense. In the background of the fringe of Wilson Park, littered with walnuts, good for throwing at trees and one another (as my kids discovered), was a man at the back of his car, trunk popped
105-And That's How The Poison Ivy Patch Improved Our Lives The lack of patience some people have in our current culture was slightly eating at my insides as I observed a local guide hopping over the four-foot gap to gain access to the top of our next intended climb site. We were wrapping up our climbs on Guide Left and Guide Right to hand over the reins to the first-timers behind us, but now it was time to revamp our
104-Turning The World Upside Down... After a quick squeeze of the blue-walled tires, satisfied that they were still firm to keep pavement riding smooth enough to avoid the slog of a flat tire, I pulled on my kid-sized helmet (don’t tell anyone I still wear kids gear and shoes…), gloves and glasses and got all five foot four and three quarters of me on the saddle. The right shifter on my Sette frame mountain bike was still sticky from a
103-How Much Do We Understand? I guess I would have to say I was slightly nervous as I hopped out of our 2015 Town and Country soccer-mom minivan, built perfectly for toting a family of 5 around the city and beyond. I quickly glanced back at the adjacent lane of traffic also stopped at the red-light Jen, behind the wheel, was awaiting to turn to favorable green. Before it reached full green, I had skipped across the dirty pavement in
102-The Real Adventure In The Race! “Five… four… three… two… one. Goooooooooo!!!” The fourteen individuals in front of me quickly dispersed on foot into the wooden landscape devoid of the fresh green growth that is just waiting for the final Michigan snow to come and go. Brown leaves crunched beneath the feet of the teams who decided to abandon the packed down dirt of the well-traveled paths at Seven Lakes State Park. There were six teams of 2-3 each who
101-Bold, Brave, Short, And Even Shorter The soggy ground sank in around the fresh rubber rand of my new black 5.10 flats, which I baby since they are my first pair of new street shoes in nearly a decade. Pushing my OCD to the back of my mind I trailed my middle son Z, who’s excitement to jump into the basketball game with the neighborhood kids could barely keep him from running. The local park at the that connected our
100-What Are We Blessing, Really? It’s me, Jen, typing away this morning. You’re going to miss out on the extravagant words my husband has a tendency to so delicately weave together. I hope, what I came across this morning encourages you like it did me, despite my smaller vocabulary. ;) How many times have you read or heard about the story of the 5 loaves and 2 fish? Are you rolling your eyes? I bet you are right now.
99-Not Your Ordinary Waffle House The physics behind a tire going from zero to one hundred and fifty and back to zero in a split second still boggles my mind, if the physics is even correct; but that wasn’t on my mind as I headed south toward Louisville, Kentucky. The cargo hold of the gloss black minivan remained free from usual packs, ropes, tents and the coveted trad climber rack full of clanging slings and cams, hexes, and nuts as
98-Harnessing The Urban Wilderness The wild was busting with activity, thousands of creatures each working through their daily routine, making sure that their tasks to survive the harsh environment were to full satisfaction. Uniquely designed by God Himself, each worked hard to keep out of the other’s way, yet work in uniform predictability to ensure that the world continues to run at its status quo. Under an unseasonably warm, sunny sky, I sat patiently, waiting for my opportunity to engage
