Master in The Mountains

What a weekend our group just had. For those of you who don't know, we take our high school students and anyone who has already graduated on a hiking weekend in August. It serves as the last big thing of summer and the offical sendoff event for our new college freshmen. Well, we had a great time, an awesome time, full of laughter and tears. This is my short summary of the weekend.

Friday - We left the building in a bus that was a bit dated. Unfortunately, it was so warm that we had to pull over due to overheating about 4 times on the way down. Now, don't take this as complaining, because it is not. That bus situation could not be helped, so we dealt with it. On the second breakdown, it was getting rainy, so we were stuck on the bus until the engine cooled. Let me say that it was really, really hot in the back. Mad hot, sick hot. I think if we had a pile of rocks in the center of the aisle and poured water on them, we could have taken a good steam. You know how I am with heat anyway....needless to say, it was really "fun".

Well, we finally got there, and the cabins were just the sweetest places you could imagine. Nice, NICE beds and bedrooms. We were living it up. So, I unpacked, put my water bladder of the hydration pack in the fridge for tomorrow's hike and, after several visits from other people in the group, went to bed.

Saturday - We hiked "Charlie's Bunion". Not exactly a great name for a hike. Who were the marketing geniuses that came up with this one? Why not "Charlie's Wart" or "Charlie's Boil". Getting there was a bit of a chore, about 8 miles round trip. It was fun, tiring, hard at times. I took many breaks, you know the great shape I am in. However, the destination was very nice. Big views. Really something special. Tip from Rob, those hydration packs are fantastic. However, I think a 3 liter might do better for me :-) Plus, a hand towel can be your best friend in the world.

Sat night worship was probably one of the top 5 worship experiences in my life. Full of power and praise and glory. Cousin John is a man gifted to lead worship, no doubt about it. It was the first time that I was honestly driven to my knees in I don't know how long.

Then we had put ups. Each senior takes a turn in the "Hot Seat" and is complimented and sent off knowing how they have effected their own group. let me just say that I, along with many others during the weekend, was reduced to tears. I am not a man given to tears. But this weekend just tore me up. Both my feelings and witnessing the feeling of others took hold of my emotions in ways I cannot describe. I will only say this. We quit at about 3:30 a.m. I was asleep by just after 4 a.m. By 8:45 the next morning, I was watching "Spiderman 2" and in the scene where he stops the subway and is carried on top of the passengers to the floor, I got very, very weepy. Its was like the switch had not been turned off yet.

Sunday - We got up, and after overcoming my emotions for Spidey, we eventually went and had worship. Great again, not Sat night, but great. We had a nice time of communion, and afterwards, when everyone is talking again, a mention of one of last night's put ups forced me to leave the conversation. Overcome again. for someone who does not get overly emotional, this is good. It is good for me to have the shell cracked.

We then left. 5 miles and 2.5 hours later, we arrive at O'Charleys to eat. Lets just say that this trip took what seemed like forever. I felt like Sysiphus, doomed to ride an uncomfortable bus for an eternity. Well, we did finally get home at around 11 p.m. WHEW! I was never happier to get out of a vehicle in my life. I think my rear end needs to be serviced after that trip.

All in all, a really amazing trip. I am extremely grateful to be a part of this group.

Rob Will