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At first I was afraid

I was petrified

Kept thinking I could never run a mile

To save my life

But then I started training

My legs grew strong

I learned how to run real far

And I'm not sore

I ran through empty space

I didn't walk that much and

I ran my training pace

It all paid off

I ran my heart out

For 13.1 miles

I will run more

As long as I have shoes

I know I will run to live

I've got all my energy to give

I will run

I will run more

Hey, hey.

Run

I ran 6 miles in the Sierra Mountain's spring rain storm.

I am an athlete

I am a runner

Simple

I have something I want to say about simplicity. I learned it last week; the funny thing is though I can’t get it out. I can’t seem to find a way to simply say it.

The concept is what I learned from my students this last week of outdoor school. We discovered how important it is to keep communication simple. To cut off all the extra words, to cut off all the extra fat that isn’t needed to make your point.

I was reminded that it is important to not put extra words but to keep it simple and to the point. Even now I am struggling with that.

I’ve been praying a lot lately about life. I’ve been trying to be honest and simple with God. It is not always easy. I always want to add fluff to the hard things to say, even to God, I always want to put a cherry on top and soften my feelings, but I can’t always do that. I need to be honest and straight. Why is it scary to be honest with God? Why is it terrifying to ask Him “Why?”.

With people it is even harder, how often do my conversations involve fluff? How often am I afraid of getting down to the hard stuff in peoples lives and relationships because I don’t know how to comfort or relate? I end up using words to sooth over pain or loss instead of simplifying communication and letting them talk.

I want to be simple in my communication.

I want to be simple in my thoughts.

I want life to be simple.

My students reminded me that you don’t always conquer communication in one try; you can’t always make things simple the first go round. Practice, however, does make perfect or at lest better.

Simply put: I’m working on it.

Just around the river bend

Summer is just around the river bend. How do I know these things to be true? Well here are the facts.

• The afternoon air is getting warmer
• There are kids at camp
• The "Get Away Van" is back in its usual parking spot on Forest Dr
• The sun is up by 6 am
• The sun doesn't set until at least 8pm
• The work days are long
• The wagons are back at the Historic Village
• The Horses are back in town at the Historic Village
• Construction has started again on the road to the Valley
• The Wawona Hotel is back open
• There are random foreigners all over the place
• The are long lines of traffic to get into the park
• The road up to Mariposa Grove is open again
• It's hard to find parking in the Valley
• I'm wearing my Choco's

I love my job.

My first week as an instructor: Snow

My third week as an instructor: climbing Yosemite Falls

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I really do love what I do.

Nature is Big.

This isn’t a story to complain. This isn’t a story to complain about the long hours we work here at camp. This is a story about the amazingness of the outdoors.

It’s day two of outdoor school, which means we are hiking around the Wawona area. Last week I went up river, this week I’m going up Chilnualna falls. The last few days had been long, not to mention weeks, I didn’t get to bed early either because I was doing last minute work on summer camp stuff. The morning came way to early. I had kitchen duty since it was Paulette’s day off, I was in there by 7am getting the tofu and oatmeal ready. Jesus time was needed badly. I needed to find some time and ask for help for myself and to pray for the others in our staff, something we all talked about doing more of. I found time after breakfast/before we left for our hike. In that time I read:

The Lord is my strength and shield.

I trust him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

Psalms 28:7

How did the day go? Beautifully. Not because of anything I did with the kids, only because of where we were. We were in the beauty of Yosemite’s backcountry. It was amazing how all the tiredness of the days, all the stresses of the future and all the complications of the mind disappeared. The sky was blue, blue and the trees were so big and green. Man God is good!

It’s true the outdoors are a balm for the soul.