Home Archive by category "Yosemite" (Page 7)

Category: Yosemite

Back from Yosemite

Yosemite Summit 2010 is now history. I’m sitting in the airport waiting to come home. E-mail and work will still need to wait until Tuesday (sorry), my family is eager to spend some time with me. It was, as always, an amazing week. I did both my hardest hike ever (Upper Yosemite Falls) and discovered the most amazing, most incredible, most mind-numbingly beautiful hike in Yosemite that we did when when weather caused us to cancel our original plan to head to Hech Hechy due to its higher elevation and possible road closures. I’ll perhaps write more about it later, but online it will only be referred to as “The Trail That Shall Not Be Named” since it is by far both the best trail in Yosemite and the least known. You’ll have to ask me personally for its name and location, and yes, I will tell you, I’m just not posting it online for random web surfers to read! I’d like to help keep the trail traffic low! But aside from the amazing hikes and scenery, it was a fantastic week of rest and time with the Creator. We enjoyed good fellowship, encouraging conversations, prayer and enriching friendships that…

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Off to Yosemite Summit

Just letting y’all know, that from this Saturday night through next Thursday I will be COMPLETELY off line. No e-mail, no cell phone, no facebook, no twitter, no nothing electronic, except worship music on my iPod shuffle and my Sony Alpha 350 digital camera enjoying Yosemite Summit with several other guys. Many people joke that going offline must be ‘torture’ for me, and they forget I created this event. This may come as a shock to some, but while I very much ENJOY ministry and serving others and am comfortable ‘in the spotlight’ I do not crave it, I am, in fact, an introvert and crave being alone and feed off being disconnected and long for times like this. So, fear not, I’ll be back, for it is my Calling from God – but I’m very much going to enjoy the next few days and will not be bothered a bit that my inbox, voicemail, and snail mail box will be piling up while I am away. I appreciate your patience while I recharge! PS: I’m also testing mobile blogging from my iPad here, lets hope this worked! [Posted with iBlogger from my iPad]

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Built in Pitstop

Is life crazy busy for you? Have you tried to get it in balance and failed? Have you strived for margin and seen it fill up over and over with church and other stuff and fought to get it out again? Have you wondered, “Can I ever win this battle to get control of my life?!” Me too. But at least something is different now. I have a built in pit stop in my life, called Yosemite Summit. Every May, me and eight other children’s pastors (or ministry leaders) go to Yosemite National Park for a complete break-away from ministry to just fellowship with each other and focus on our relationship with God and our  relationships with our wives and kids. And nothing else. and… We WALK AWAY FROM IT ALL. I’ve had to accept that while I will always be working on it, I will never master getting my daily life or week under control. There is just too much to do all the time. But at least I can look forward to once a year, every year, when I walk away from it all for four glorious days when I just enjoy God’s incredible creation in THE most…

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Why I am returning to Yosemite – by Pat

Guest Blogger, Patrick McWhorter Why go back to Yosemite? I prayed about the opportunity and tossed it around for a while. Would this year match the experience I had last year? Would it be better? Would it not be as good? There were so many reasons to go back and really no reason to not go. The number one reason to go back – I know that I need the time away. I love what I do, don’t get me wrong. But throughout the year, the emotional stress can wear you out. The “normal” people issues that come up can wear on your soul, especially when the people are not just bodies in the congregation but are your friends, your family, your brothers and sisters in Christ. I know that I need the time away to leave the work of ministry behind, to leave the daily tasks behind, and to focus on ultimately what is most important, my own personal relationship with Christ. Words cannot describe the feeling you have when you are 8,000+ feet up, looking over God’s awesome creation and it is just you, Him and His Word. God revealed things to me during the week at Yosemite…

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The Fellowship of the King

Are you a guy in any capacity of children’s ministry who lives in the Denver area? Then READ ON! You are invited to be a part of the Fellowship of the King! “The Fellowship” is simply a group of children’s pastors and ministry leaders I am gathering who desire to periodically disconnect from the busyness of life and ministry to spend time with God in His creation and fellowship with others who share in their passion for children’s ministry. There is no cost. It is simply a list of guys who I will invite on day hikes.There is no obligation to attend any or all – I know that only a few may be able to make each hike – the Fellowship simply makes up the list of those who want to know when the hikes are so they can be invited to join us. They will be planned all over the state during all seasons. Most will be one day hikes, leave early in the morning and head home when the sun sets. The first will be Thursday, April 1st. For more information contact me. NOTE: If you REALLY want to get away and enjoy creation, join me in…

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