The Face of Fear

Friends, if you haven’t yet checked out my wife Kathy’s well written follow-up to my International Youth Convention post, here is the link.  Alternately, a link to my original IYC post from Denver is here, paling in comparison.  I hope you enjoyed Kathy’s stint as guest blogger as much as I enjoyed my break from blogging.

Our all-guys backpacking trip into the Mt. Hood Wilderness ended yesterday.  I was truly impressed by the views from Elk Meadows, and also by the full-bore hiking pace of our high schoolers: Brandon, Claude, and Michael.  I’ll post some camping photos here when it’s time for the next BlogSpot E.P.I.C. student ministry update.

Meanwhile, those skydiving and birthday weekend pics from my friends are still M.I.A.  As we all impatiently wait for my friends to cough up those skydiving photos (you know I love you guys!), let’s hit this from another angle.

I shared during my sermon last week (The link to the free MP3 is here:  Who’s the Boss?, though after a totally sleepless night it took me a while to get warmed up as I preach) about the most terrifying 15 minutes of my life so far-- the Skydive Oregon plane ride that flew me and the gang up higher than 12,000 feet for the Big Plunge.

Personal cameras were prohibited onboard, so there is no visual record of the moments leading up to the conquering of my fear of heights AND of falling.  Fortunately, Elitch Gardens theme park in Denver emailed me a photo that approximates the look of fear that must have been on my face as the airplane door cracked open:

The only difference is that that the Boomerang roller coaster provided Aloha High School senior Will and me a restraint bar to grab onto as the G-forces came a knockin’.

If there is a moral to this story, it’s probably that facing your fears is at times an essential segment along the road to becoming a man of courage.

But other times, that stretch of road can reduce men of courage to quivering, traumatized crybabies.

Speaking of babies, here is a bonus video clip of baby Lena from our Denver trip:

Swaddle the “Play” button above for an irresistible video of Lena’s contagious laughter as she yanks Daddy around by his youth pastor lanyard, on Day 3 of our trip to International Youth Convention in Denver.

Coming next on BlogSpot...

Our daughter Lena turns one year old on Monday!  Let’s celebrate with a cutesy retrospective of Lena’s first year… followed by a roundup of my favorite recent hiking trails with Lena!