So many emotions running through my mind as I lept off the rock anticipating the slap of the water below me some 57 feet. This was an area of freedom and joy stirred together with exhilaration and pure adrenaline. I have climbed these canyon walls so many times and yet there is always the threat of a rock slipping out or a foot hold to break. Dangerous? Very! Yet I continue to push myself into these places.
I have often thought that my need for excitement stemmed from some inner rage or need to have a thrill fix and maybe some of it is, but there’s more than that. There’s the fact that I am a man and as men we need the challenges that take us to the edge of ourselves. It’s a different scale for each one of us, but by failing to fight these battles will leave us emasculated and bored. To live a nice quiet life without any distractions. Really? I can’t believe that so many men choose to settle for such mediocre lives.
I believe personal challenges are healthy because they stir our hearts and makes us more confident to be who God intended us to be. Jesus would challenge us if He were to visit us. He challenges me everyday. By getting out in the raw organic nature of the Sierra feeling the granite under my feet and scraping my knees on the pine logs I hop over is all part of the conditioning for the other trials I face.
This stirring in my heart needs to be satisfied. If not I will collapse into a puddle of TV and couches slugging my way through the day with little motivation. I feel alive when I fly fish. It makes me want to share my faith in God with others, because God is so incredible and He is just waiting to challenge us with the outdoor wonderland He made! Jesus is calling me to the River and He knows me…He’s calling you too if you will only take a risk…Let Him stir your imagination and pull you away from the mundane..Listen..He’s talking now…
PM
