Borrowed Breath

…and carrying a 33 pound pack for three miles yesterday and three miles today made this very clear. Now these 6 miles were not on flat terrain. We went up and over a mountain and down into a valley yesterday. And today, we climbed out of the valley and then up and over that same mountain.

My travelling companions were two lifelong friends, Jon and Matt Kasitz, two incredible men of God. They are both younger and in much better shape than I. As we hiked, they would wait for me to catch up on the trail. I would come up, huffing and puffing, red-faced (from fatigue and embarrassment) and they weren’t even breaking a sweat or trying to catch their breath. At one point this morning, as we were hiking out, I tried to console myself with the tortoise and hare allegory. But I quickly realized that the well-known tale did not apply to this scenario since Jon and Matt (the hares) had speed and stamina, and I (the tortoise) had neither.

But it was totally worth it. Last night, we swam in a mountain stream. By swimming I mean we jumped in and jumped out and dried out by a roaring fire. Then we sat around the fire catching up on life, teasing each other, talking about intercession, spending some time interceding, encouraging each other, and talking about the role of the church in this world. Ah, it was so good. I knew I needed this trip, but I didn’t realize how much I needed it until I actually went.