Home Archive by category "Adventures" (Page 4)

Category: Adventures

Hobbit Huddle – The Lure of Adventure!

The Hobbit came as a delight to me. I knew it would be visually stunning and the music would be sweeping and amazing to listen to… but it also rose above the usual fluff of meaningless formalistic drivel that passes for entertainment today. While much credit must be given to the author, Tolkein, Peter Jackson has done wonders to bring it to life, and capture the wonder of this timeless story. I am not one who is bothered by the three movie approach, but looking forward to it. When I go to a movie, I ask, What is the Message of this story? What are the timeless truths? What are the transferable principles to real life? What drove the author to write the story? Why did the movie maker create this? What can I learn? The Hobbit is loaded with life lessons that should not be missed. Some are obvious, others are more subtle – the subtle ones are the more powerful ones. In this post, I’ll start with the obvious: The Lure of Adventure. Bilbo, forgetting his Tookish roots, has settled into a life of comfort because of the culture in which he lives. It is not a bad…

Continue reading

The Mountains Are Calling…

John Muir said it best years ago… The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go! As I reflect on the upcoming 6th annual Yosemite Summit, I am amazed at all that God has done in my life and in the lives of so many men who have traveled with me to this amazing place over the past five years. Many have asked me, “How long will you keep doing this?” I usually answer, “at least until next year,” because I don’t ever want to assume to plan ahead of the Lord (James 4:13-15). But I know this:  I need this time away, and I have seen the incredible impact it has had on other men. Let me just share a few of the things the guys last year shared with me: The greatest impact was hearing God’s voice and calling me to a personal mountain top experience.  This experience allowed God to change my life there at that moment.  He drew me close to Him, and there He freed me from the bondage that filled my soul.  This spiritual impact has allowed me to continue on a journey daily to be in complete oneness with God. The biggest “take away”…

Continue reading

Disney Models Making the Most of a Bad Situation

I just got home from a week at Walt Disney World after CPC Orlando. I was lucky enough to be at Magic Kingdom the same day as the President of the United States! (or was I?) When we entered the main gates we discovered that Main Street was closed to normal low class citizens such as myself and my family: A nice wall said, “You are not important enough to get to see Main Street today.” (See the metal detector door?) Secret Service agents and other White House personnel roamed around where we were unable to go. So how were we to get to the rides? We had to enter through a side gate and go around the ugly backstage of Main Street… not the best of circumstances… right? But leave it to Disney to make a bad situation into something fun and unique! Too bad a camera doesn’t capture sound (Apple, are you working on that?) There was lively music playing, employees with Micky gloves on waving us through, giant flags and floats from the parades to see. Disney took what could have been a very negative situation and made it into something fun and festive! They even set…

Continue reading

When Mommy’s Away the Boys Will Play

Mommy is off on a women’s retreat, so daddy and boy can either stay home and watch TV and eat whatever food we can find, or…. head out on an ADVENTURE. We chose the latter, and headed out to Castlewood Canyon State Park! We had a great time, and without mommy, of course, we were free to roam “off the trail” a little more than usual. (hehe) And boy oh boy does this boy love to climb! Of course, I have a knack for taking pictures that look a lot higher than they really are! Both of these above, Luke is about five feet off the ground. (LOL) I would never let Luke climb up anywhere high! I get such a kick out of him stopping every now, turning around and saying, “Take my picture daddy!” I can’t imagine where he got that! At one point, Luke decided to show me how strong he was! I was pretty impressed! He was going to roll it all the way the down the hill, but I made him put the rock back where he found it. But what is a hike without bringing some cars to play with? Hiking with Luke is…

Continue reading

The Great Colorado Fall Leaf Tour

For Luke’s Fall Break, we came up to Breckenridge and on Monday we headed out for what we thought would be a 2-4 hour tour of the area to see the changing leaves… it turned into a twelve hour tour of Colorado! But we had a great time! It was great having a convertible at a time like this! We had driven past this scene and a mile past I ended up doing a U-Turn to go back and took about twenty amazing amazing pictures here… It ended up being one of the most beautiful stops of the entire day… The horses kept posing for me in different arrangements! But Luke’s favorite was when we spotted a UFO back in the hills that had just landed! We got a picture and then got out of there before they abducted us! Here is a close up zoomed in: That had to be the highlight of Luke’s day! For me, it was just being out with the family, cruzin’ with the top down in the PK Cruiser: Which is why THIS is my new Facebook Profile Pic! Later, Sara said her favorite stop was by this old tractor and wooden barn, and…

Continue reading