ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

I climbed my first 14er yesterday!!! Finally, I am making time for all of the reasons I wanted to live here for so long. There were six of us that went camping Friday night...including two people who went to Calvin, one of them from Pella, Iowa....small world, huh?

Camping was fun, but cold. Below freezing actually. (Note to self: buy new sleeping bag before next camping adventure.) I think I slept about an hour and a half before waking up at 5am on Saturday morning to drive over to Mt. Bierstadt. Our climb began around 6:30 in the morning and it took us three and a half hours to ascend the mountain.

I think I learned a little about myself during the experience. Mainly that I can actually climb a 14er, that it takes a lot of determination to do so (which I didn't realize I had), and that you can be a teacher and still make time to have fun (I was beginning to wonder).

That is my biggest struggle here. I tried for a good year to be the "perfect teacher". Not because I think I need to be perfect, or even because I want to be perfect; but because teaching at a private school in Highlands Ranch creates a pressure to be perfect. A pressure that I could never live up to.

I had the most amazing summer. No, I wasn't at camp....but do you know what??? Summer can actually be great without camp! I was able to go whitewater rafting for the first time, spend time in the mountains, go to a Rockies game, go home to Iowa for five weeks and spend time with my family, see numerous good friends, spend a few days in Chicago and Michigan, earn a little money doing something that requires little brainwork, go to Mexico on a missions project, and go camping. (Was that the longest sentence ever, or what?) But do you know what the best part of my summer was???

Realizing that I can't be perfect!

Yes, we all need to do our best in everything we do. But, I will never be perfect no matter how hard I try, no matter how many hours I spend working, or how much the parents of my students want me to be.

All God requires of me is that I give him my best...and he wants me to have fun in the process. So...

Here's a little confession: I didn't take care of myself last year. At all.

I neglected the people God placed in my life here, failed to see some great opportunities, didn't take care of myself, and worst of all didn't go for my walks/jogs that I used to live for (great thinking/talking to and struggling with God time :) ) I was so bogged down by the crap in my life, that I forgot to do the one thing God wants me to do: LIVE!!!

The test of this next year...grasping those opportunities. I have made more time for friends here in the past three weeks than I did all year last year. I am praying that God will lead me to the right opportunities. I have gone for longer walks. I've cleaned my apartment (and even went shopping). Life has been grand; and yes, I am on a high.

Determination...I had it on the way to the mountain top. And do you know what? The view from the top was the most beautiful. I can't live my life at the bottom of the hill anymore. Life there is safe and comfortable there. It may be alright, but you can miss out on all of the good stuff if you don't give it your all.

There is more to me that the youth pastor I am disguised as a teacher. God doesn't create people for just one purpose...he creates them for a wealth of purposes. What purposes am I not determined enough at striving my best to fulfill?