Single Track Squeals

Courtney's hands gushed sweat the whole way up the mountain.  On the asphalt road, he tried hard to think about other things.  On the bumpy dirt road, the knots in his stomach got tighter and tighter.  If you had looked into his eyes, the fear would have been obvious.   But he wasn't about to admit it.  Not in that company:

Courtney had never learned to ride a bike.

The complication with the scenario, was that our cabin was headed for a single track, double black diamond mountain bike trail.  Once the van dropped us off, the only way back was down the trail.

I rode in the middle of the pack. Guys squealed like girls and brakes squealed like angry mice. Thrill seeped through their pores.

Courtney was more like a drunk driver though.  He struggled to stay on the track.  His near-collisions with  trees and boulders added up.   Somehow...someway...he made it through the forest trail.   He didn't even go over the handle bars.  He didn't even slide out.

At the bottom, he finally copped to one of us:  "I have never ridden a bike before."

Really Courtney?
That would have been good to know.
Dude: you b--a--r--e--l--y made it.
I'm glad you are safe.
I'm proud of you.


Camp is like this though.   This very dynamic is why we take youth out of the city and up into the mountains.   They experience new things.  They are faced with fears.  They overcome them.

And...they realize new giftings.  They begin to wonder who God created them to be.

I'm pretty sure Courtney is not believing God created him to be a downhill biker.  But he is beginning to wonder about his purpose.   He is starting to imagine how God might use his love of athletics (football & wrestling), his knack for busting rhymes, and his welcoming hospitable nature.

Call students to be all that God created them to be.

If this is all we do at UrbanLife, I am all in for a long long time.