summer...

Hello hello!  It has been so long since I have written.  I still haven't figured out a way to take my laptop with me into the backwoods of Colorado to do a better job of keeping in touch...so I had to wait until now to give updates.  But before I regale you with a few stories of beautiful mountain ascents, struggles, fire-side chats, asthma attacks, and lessons learned, let me say that I am so grateful for everyone who continues to support me, Dry Bones, the kids on the streets, and the students who participate in Elevations.  Everything we do here in Denver is because of you and your love.  Thank you!  As always, to those of you reading this blog who have no clue what this "Dry Bones" is that I keep referring to, check out the links on the right-hand side of the page!

Me, Cole (my mountain intern...not sure what he's doing here!), Reb (staff),
Kate (intern), and Suz (intern) on top of Bard Peak - my summer office

Ok, story time!

I decided that a fun way to do this would be to give you my "Top 10 Things I Learned While Guiding This Summer" list:

1)  I learned that I definitely DON'T like being away from my wife for four days out of every week.  I missed my best friend a lot.
2)  I learned that even though someone might say "I can't do this" more times than I can count, they in-fact CAN do it.  My most-used line this summer was something like, "Well, you have been telling me from day one that you can't go any farther and yet here you are on day three, just one mile from summit.  Therefore, you have no credibility with me anymore, and I don't believe you when you say you can't.  So let's go!"  Haha, I got some really good practice for any potential coaching or motivational speaking that might come my way.
3)  I learned that if it snows enough all winter, the sticks and logs on the ground stay wet all summer, making fire-building extremely difficult!
4)  I learned that asthma attacks at 13,000 feet are scary, both for the person experiencing the constricted airway and for the guide.  One girl, who was my favorite and the most impressive student of the summer, made summit despite a relatively violent asthma attack a few hundred feet from the top.  She mouthed "I can't breathe" as she collapsed to the ground.  I ran back to her and dug through her pockets for the small device that would essentially shock her lungs into action.  I held it to her mouth and she gasped for air.  Had she experienced just one more episode like that, I would not have continued on with her.  But, she was tough and finished with the rest of the group an hour later.
5)  I learned that I never get tired of the incredible beauty found in the mountains, even on my 30th trip to the same area.
6)  I learned that there is value in repetition.  I get to lead chats around the camp-fire all summer long, and the stories we read together spoke into my life in some really cool ways.  I'll post the mountain "talks" soon incase you want to share a piece of the Elevations experience.
7)  I learned that spending a few days with my awesome new family at Folly Beach, near Charleston, SC, is the perfect way to relax and unwind at the summer half-way mark.  Thanks Gregg, Kelly and Isaiah for a great time!
8)  I learned that God is bigger, more complex, more perplexing, more beautiful, more exciting, and more inspiring than I ever imagined.
9)  I learned patience.
10)  I learned all over again the power of relationship, and the value of walking alongside the people around us, no matter what those lives might look like.  I am often guilty of assuming that the youth group kids who come on Elevations have their lives completely together and have every good thing going for them just because they aren't "street kids".  This is not always the case.  They struggle, just like I do, like you do, like the kids on the streets do.  And we got to share life together in a setting far from home.  There is just something cool about adventure.

Thanks for reading, friends.

Much love from Denver,
-Zach

camping...

Here are some pics of a recent camping trip to O'Haver Lake, just outside of Salida.  We took a few friends of ours that we know from the streets, packed up the coolers, and headed for the hills.  

The view was perfect

Not our boat...but that's us in the water!

Not sure if this was pre or post flip...but it was getting intense!

Six of us had the chance to do a little whitewater rafting on our second day in the wilderness.  It was, to say the least, intense.  I am by no means a whitewater rafting expert; I've been twice now.  So, I figured that the odds of my raft flipping in the middle of the Arkansas River's massive, spring run-off, rapids was pretty slim.  I forgot to knock on wood.

I, and one of our interns, sat at the front of the boat.  I was quite excited about this; the cool spray of the water on my face would bring welcome relief from the hot sun.  A quarter of the way through the trip, our guide began yelling commands that were no longer for practice. We paddled till our muscles ached.   Suddenly, I realized that I was paddling air.  The raft went nose up and I found myself falling past everyone else into the torrent of ice-cold water.  This was not as pleasant or refreshing as the spray on my face was just minutes earlier.  By the time I surfaced, we were flying downstream, all of us desperately trying to find something of substance to hold onto.  Panic crept in.  Unfortunately, our boat capsized mid-way through this section of rapids, so we rode the rest of the flume submerged in the water, hoping it would stop soon.  We held on to the boat and eachother.  We were in it together.  There were no distinctions of street kid and staff member, intern or river guide.  No "us" and "them".  It was only us...all of us.  The guide screamed for us to let go of the boat so they could flip it back over.  We all let go.  When I released my grip on the emergency rope that is attached the boat's sides, I was swept away from the boat by a current that found only me.  I watched as the others were pulled one-by-one back into the raft.  Fortunately, as I floated farther and farther from the group, I saw an opportunity to swim for a small sand-bar.  I went for it!  My hands touched ground.  A friendly group of rafters that had been behind us watching the whole thing, paddled up to me and pulled me in.  They brought me back to my group.  No one was hurt. 
It's amazing how adversity seems to bring people together.  There is beauty to be found in the midst of struggle.  One of my favorite musicians, Brandi Carlile, sings about this in her song "Caroline".  She sings to her young niece, Caroline, about the things she will see someday.  "Towers in the sky" and "city lights and city sounds", to name a few.  But, through it all, she wants Caroline to see that "there's beauty in the struggle".  I found this to be very, very true.

simple...

Hello everyone!  How are you?  Here in Denver, the trees are budding, the grass is greening (is that a word?), and the mountains are still enjoying frequent snow-dustings.  I am so excited and ready for summer to officially arrive because it always brings so many good things: evening-time grilling on the back porch, running at the park, biking, climbing and the joy of not being cold!

I love the summer change-of-pace.  My role at Dry Bones shifts from the streets to spending my days buried in the mountains, guiding groups of high-school kids.  Some of them have never stepped foot out of their home towns in Texas or Tennessee or Arkansas, and they come to Denver to step into an adventure where they are challenged to see beyond their current perspectives.  Life in the summer is busy, but simple.

And it is this simplicity that is just one of the many reasons that I think being in the outdoors is awesome.    You only take what you need.  When you are hungry, you eat.  When you are tired, you sleep.  When you are cold, you put on a jacket and if that doesn't work, oh well.  When you need to go somewhere, you walk.  If you don't know the way, you look at a map.  If it's raining, you try to stay dry.  If you are bored, excellent - soak that up!  Any worries that you may have are raw, organic, and survival-oriented.

It makes me think about the time Jesus was encouraging a large group of people, and tells them not to be anxious; not to worry.  The next verse He says, "look at birds of the air...are you not worth much more than they?" and then a few more verses down He tells us to "observe how the lilies of the field grow".

Until recently, I have always taken Jesus' words to be examples of things in creation that aren't anxious.  Birds and flowers do not worry about anything, this is true.  And He may indeed have meant it that way.  But what if He was also giving us suggestions, instead of mere examples.  What if He was telling us to take a moment to go look at a bird when we become anxious about our current situation or our problem(s) of the day.  We just might get a glimpse of peace and serenity that calms our spirits.  Are you feeling overwhelmed?  Jesus might suggest that you try sitting and staring at a flower.  You will get to see a very simple, yet extremely intricate piece of His creation.  The simplicity just might remind you of your own intricate simplicity.  It just might remind you of how much you are loved.  And isn't that, after all, a wonderful thing to be reminded of?

-Zach

finding...

Finding beauty - God is good at this.  God is the master of looking beyond our failures and short-comings to discover something beautiful.  One night while I was hanging out with a few friends, someone brought up a passage in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 4:5.  Here it is.  "Therefore, do not go on passing judgement before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God."  (here's the whole chapter if you want to check it out 1 Cor. 4). 

I was nervous, maybe even panicked, as I listened to this verse read out loud for the first time.  Oh no, God will bring to light everything in my life?  The things hidden in darkness and the motives of my heart?  Then what?  When He is done exposing and scrutinizing every aspect of who I am, what then?  And then I heard it, each person's praise will come from God.  Praise?  God will be pleased?  If this isn't good news, I don't know what is.   Somehow He finds something in me that is of value, something worthy of praise, even after seeing all of my hidden motives and secret thoughts?

Let this marinate for a moment: our praise will come from God.  He wades through anything we may have tried to hide.  He uncovers our true motives.  And then He praises us.  He is pleased with us.  He sees it all; the messiness and shame and brokenness and pain.  But He isn't afraid of that stuff.  He sees these things and still chooses to praise us, as any good father would.

Now, look outward...

Imagine it, what if each one of us decided to follow after God in this way?  We would engage the messiness and shame and brokenness and pain that is present in people's lives all around us; but those things won't scare us.  We would see the mess, and it will break our hearts; but that won't stop us from seeing and exposing the true beauty in people and lavishing praise and love.  Maybe Jesus had this in mind when He told us that we are lights in this world (Matt 5:14...and many other places!).  Maybe, He was hinting to us that He wants us to frequent the places that simply need a little light.  After all, just a little bit of light in a very dark place illuminates everything - beautiful things once cloaked in darkness; beautiful things that should be praised.

Much love,
-Zach

rambling...

This one is pretty raw.  I didn't do much editing; I guess it's more of a journal entry.

This morning, I studied for Elevations.  I studied stories and wrote out thoughts to discuss around a camp fire in Colorado's Front Range.  At lunch, I drove to a local park where I meet up with street kids twice a week for a running group I am starting.  No one showed.  It was pretty cold though, so I didn't mind.  Also this afternoon, I shopped for office supplies.  If there were office-related, non-marriage, equivalents to "honey-do's", that is how I spent a portion of my afternoon.  Later on I took my friend "Bob" to the bowling alley that we and our friends go to every week.  Last week he and another guy nearly got into a fight in the parking lot.  They didn't listen to my warnings and the owner of the bowling alley came out.  "I don't need this man!" he said.  The brawl continued to grow.  I told him I didn't need it either.  Finally, we got everyone relatively calmed down and back on the bus.  Over the next 5 minutes, while I talked with owner, 5 police cars rolled by one after another.  The owner banned Bob and the other kid from the bowling alley.  The next day I ran into Bob downtown and he pulled me aside and apologized for disrespecting me, Dry Bones, and the bowling spot.  I told him that I really appreciated it and that all was forgiven.  I had to tell him that the owner said he wasn't allowed to come back, but I also told him that an apology might go a long way.  We made a plan to go out there.  That happened this afternoon after the office-shopping.  He approached the owner and told him that he was sorry.  It was powerful, y'all.  Things on the streets are more often than not handled with violence.  Rarely with talking.  Bob set an example today.  He made something right and didn't use his fists.  The owner invited him to come back.  I was so proud of my friend.  The bus rolled up to the bowling alley shortly after that and we all bowled for the next couple of hours.  Spirits were high and there was no drama.  Later, after bowling, the wind outside at the meal was freezing, and I regretted shaving my winter beard.  But we all huddled around together and enjoyed being together.

Much love
-Zach

a weekend of biking

I love the sound of the whir of fully pressurized tires swiftly spinning on recently laid asphalt.  I love the feeling that accompanies the sound; it almost seems as if I am suspended, floating just millimeters from the ground that passes directly underneath me.  In those moments, I think of nothing but "pedal, shift, smile, pedal more...".

Outside Cafe 13

Courtney and I rode the foothills this weekend. We soaked up the sun, and enjoyed the incredible feeling of burning leg muscles after the winter off-season.  The views were incredible.  We made our way up through Red Rocks, winding around boulders the size of condos, and finally peaked at the top of Dinosaur ridge.  We looked east and gazed off into the plains that disappear away from the front range, as if the mountains are melting like glaciers and flowing off into nothingness.  From there, we descended the short, steep road that is closed to traffic, and continued West.  We finally stopped at a small cafe, "Cafe 13".  If you are ever in Denver, or Golden to be more specific, call us and we'll take you there.

Much love,
-Zach

the first post since 2008

Hello friends!  I realized, as I began the brainstorming process for this blog, that I had an old, rarely used blog from a few years ago.  Honestly, I had forgotten that I had it.  After reading the old posts and enjoying the nostalgia that came along with that, I decided to simply revive this one and make it new, relevant, and fresh.  I had a lot of updating to do.  So I got to work.  I cut and cropped, edited and tweaked, dusted off a few of the old posts I thought you might enjoy and deleted the others, wrote page descriptions, and updated "about me" information.  I put up a couple of pictures - because everyone loves pictures! -  including the awesome panorama at the top of the page that my wife took in Moab, UT.  Our new camera has this great feature that allows us to take shots like that!

Anyways, I finally got everything looking how I want it and I'm excited to finally share it!  When you have some time to browse around, be sure to check out the "why this blog?" article under the pages heading (located on the right hand column), the several blogs I am following, and the other links and tabs scattered around.  Please feel free to share this blog with anyone who might enjoy it...and maybe even with people who wouldn't naturally gravitate towards something like this!  I have installed options at the end of each post that will enable you to share any posts you like with your friends via e-mail, facebook, twitter, etc.  Also, you can subscribe to this blog so that every time I write something new you will be notified on your e-mail.  Look for the tab called "follow this blog by e-mail" on the right-hand column.  Just type your e-mail there and you will automatically be added to the list!  It's that easy.

I'm practicing adding links and such, so I'm going to try it here.  Instead of writing a story, I am adding a link of one of my speaking engagements from a little over a year ago.  In December of 2009, Garnett church in Tulsa, OK invited me out for a Back to Life weekend (Back to Life is a program that I head up at Dry Bones desigend to follow up with the youth groups that visit us in the summer time...more on all of this later).  We spent the weekend remembering the Elevations experience we shared over the summer, exploring the "bleeding places" of Tulsa, and serving together.  Garnett graciously allowed me to share a few words at their Sunday service, both in the high-school class and in the main assembly.  To hear the podcast, titled "What we are Learning from Dry Bones", that includes thoughts from Lance Newsom and one of the teen Elevations participants from the summer of '09, click HERE.  Thanks for checking it out!

Much love
-Zach