Thursday, June 21, 2007

Mt. Shasta Part 2





It seems that the best way to build and sustain relationships is to have some type of project or shared experience. For me and two of my best friends from my college years, we have started a tradition of hiking Mt. Shasta together every year in June. We had to turn back before we made it to the top due to stormy conditions, but it was still quite an experience. Marty's Mom told him he had to take care of me and Paul since we have families back home, and he did good. We all made it back. There was that time I slid into Paul and he went flying down the mountain out of control, his helmet flying off, stopping just in time to jump out of the way of a large rock I kicked towards him...but it was really not that big of a deal.
Next year we may make it a longer trip and camp out half way up the mountain to adjust to the altitude and skip out on the pounding headaches and altitude sickness, but we're a bit stubborn and want to make it in one shot. We'll see.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Picture Share


Location, location, location

I've been thinking a lot lately about where we live and other places we would like to live someday. Where people live gives them unique opportunities to be a part of God's Kingdom breaking in. I'm not saying one place is better than another, but that there are a wide variety of doors that will be opened to practice love in a wide variety of settings.

This morning I couldn't find a place to lock my bike in front of the coffee shop, so I went across the street. As I walked towards the corner to lock my bike, I realized that about three feet away there is a memorial set up for someone who was shot a couple days ago. I read about it on sfgate.com and realized it was in the middle of my normal stomping grounds, but I had forgotten. I hesitated, wondering if there was some sort of etiquette for how close one is to park his bike to a memorial for a 16 year old boy who was shot 2 or 3 days ago. I decided to lock it up, and then stared at the 3 inches in between my back tire and the row of candles. For a moment I could not move. I just stood there and pondered life and death and all that is in between. It was a strange start to my day, but in many ways it put things in perspective.