Business or Pleasure?

As the final beams of light passed from the sun over the Atlantic Ocean, I sat in a harness soaking up the view from 60 feet in the air. Behind me towered the rock face and below waited a forest of fresh adventure. Here, everything bears a resemblance for me, but the differences cause this life to be but a shadow of what I have known until now. These tall, green vegetations that fill the forest are easily recognizable to me as trees, but every one is tainted with a sense of the exotic. These plentiful green sprouts that expand out from the brown arms I know as leaves, but they feel different, smell different, and look slightly different.

Rappelling from the top of the mountain, I could trail the coastline south for miles. Arranged in many small clusters that appealed to my worldview as towns, small homes hugged the sea as far as I could see. These simple, one level homes boasted bright orange-brown roofs descending at 45 degree angles over white cement walls. These houses, I have found, are designed to remain cool during the hot spring, summer, and fall months, but, consequently, provide little comfort in the midst of a very cold, but short, winter.

Luke and I had come to this mountain with Daniel to learn the basics of rock climbing. The first of many weekly sessions, today we were to learn the basics of knot-tying, natural anchors, and rappelling. Living on the west coast, our country boasts three mountain ranges providing ample opportunity to lead our clientele on rock climbing expeditions. By March, Luke and I are expected to be able to aid Daniel, our professional instructor, and at some point, after a few years, we may potential become instructors as well. Not only are we learning rock climbing technique from Daniel, we are learning leadership and cultivating a Biblical view of such.

As we work with businesses, churches, vacationers, and others, the draw for the adventuresome is rock climbing while the professional needs are met with leadership training. This week's homework: learn the figure 8 knot perfectly and memorize Ephesians 6:10-18.

This is the first of many updates. Unfortunately it has been difficult to really put the time into much writing this last month (Friday makes one month we've been here). I have four posts ready to go, so they should be up within the next week. Please pray that Luke and I would manage our time well and give the Lord our firstfruits!