Home Archive by category "Adventures" (Page 8)

Category: Adventures

We’re Moving to Colorado

Yes, we are packing everything up and moving to Colorado this month! In his book Visioneering, Andy Stanley makes the following statement: “Everybody ends up somewhere in life.  A few people end up somewhere on purpose.” I have been in Chicagoland since my parents brought me here in 1985. My wife has been here since she married me! I LOVE the city of Chicago! The architecture, the sports teams, the political corruption, the hustle and bustle, the malls (that’s for Sara) the blizzards (yes, I love to snow blow), and the friends made over the years, will all be things I will miss. It is a world class city. I have traveled throughout the world as well as the United States and there is NO CITY like Chicago – not even close. But in m y heart I’ve always been an outdoors guy. And after hosting two Yosemite Summit retreats, nearly dying in April, and again in May, it was time to stop putting off for “someday” what could be done now. I grew up in Colorado where my dad pastored a country church in Elizabeth, Colorado. We got picked up from school on Friday and drove to the country…

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A Shocking Yosemite Experience

Well, I was going to keep this kinda quiet… but word is getting out about my electrifying experience with lightening in Yosemite and the pressure for me to tell the “full story” is increasing, so I’m giving in hoping this doesn’t discourage anyone from coming to Yosemite Summit in the future! The question I keep getting is, “Were you really struck by lightening at Yosemite?” Well, since I’m typing this from my current location on earth (rather than heaven) the technical answer is, NO! But… I was in the middle of a strike that hit trees all around me and there is that mysterious jagged hole in my poncho to account for! So when I posted on Twitter and Facebook that my most exciting experience at Yosemite was being struck by lightening… it wasn’t much of a stretch! So here’s the story! We started out Day One with a spectacular all day hike that began at Sentinel Dome, where the view is absolutely breath-taking. Here we all are on the top of Sentinel Dome: After our chapel time and quiet times alone, we took the Ponomo Trail, a little traveled segment of a longer trail, in order to loop around…

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Update from the Hospital Bed

I’m writing this from a hospital bed in Aurora, IL after having a stent put into my heart that saved my life! The full story is here if you missed all the updates on Twitter and Facebook! Yes, I was twittering (which updated facebook) during the whole thing, and live blogged to give more detail than you can in status updates. It was really quite amazing that due to today’s technology I literally had more people praying for me probably than your average church prayer line – for those scratching their heads that I would twitter while having a heart attack, let me first say, A) I didn’t technically have a heart attack (explained in blog post) B) I was never in great pain, just enough pain in my chest to know something was wrong and decided the smart thing was to go straight to ER and C) I really truly believe in the power of prayer and wanted to get the word out so that I’d have prayer for myself and family during the critical hours when it mattered most. I never really felt dread or fear, though I had a sober understanding that this was indeed serious –…

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Surgeon Sees Jesus in my Heart!

Well, I’m writing this from a recovery room at a hospital over an hour away from home after a surgeon placed a stent in the main left coronary artery of my heart! Being the tech geek I am (and wanting prayer support) I’ve been twittering the journey which also updates my facebook status. Yet another good reason to link the two! O.K., here’s the scoop. Did a big magic show at Stuart Sports Complex in Aurora IL right before a helicopter came to drop eggs. Before the show I rode around on my giraffe unicycle to attract attention toward the stage. I rode out on the grass which is extremely difficult on cold hard lumpy ground and it was a work out! I managed to stay up much longer than I thought I would but after 10 minutes fell. (thats how get off a giraffe unicycle, eventually you just fall to dismount) i was so out of breath, I could hardly talk or breath, but immediately had to do the program. The show went well despite high winds and cold air, but I got through it. It wasn’t until I was packing up that I first thought the blasting music…

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Air Dad – UPDATED

As I have mentioned before, (like here and here), I was blogging before there were blogs. Before Blogger or Type Pad or WordPress, I journaled events online to share with the other few hundred people online who knew what the Internet was. Sadly, many of those posts are long gone (with their respective hosting companies) but a few poss I had saved to floppies, which is how I restored the ones linked in the posts above. (Others I will save until an appropriate reminder.) ANYWAY – the point of this post is less about blogging, and more about my dad and how proud I am of an accomplishment he just made this month: his first solo flight on his life long quest to become a pilot. He just sent the family the poem below to try and answer the oft asked question, “WHY FLY?” I love the poem and am proud of my dad, but I teased him that he left out the time he took me up for a flight, and he replied that he doesn’t remember it, and to send some “proof.” Which is why I mention the ancient blogging, as I blogged the adventure was back in…

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