It’s Friday night, and I need to be up in about six hours, but I thought I would make a brief post while I had the chance. I need some prayers right now because on Saturday morning I’ll be hitting the slopes for the first time in four years. Not only will I be on a Colorado mountain in winter time, I will be taking on snowboarding for the first time! Bethany’s mom graciously gave me a Christmas present of a snowboarding trip, but this weekend Bethany and I are taking her mom up on that offer.
I’ve been nervous about this all week. The last time I was on the slopes, it wasn’t pretty. I have skied about a half-dozen times in my life, and I’ve gotten to be OK at this sport I"m at the point where I am no longer challenged by the bunny slopes, but when I go on to do some Blue runs I get my ass kicked. The last time I went skiing I volunteered to help lead our church’s skiing retreat. I made my 10th run down the easy runs when a few of the teens and our Youth Minister asked me to join them on a run. I told them that I wasn’t very good, I might slow them down.
"Don’t worry about it," the youth minister said, "This is an easy run. It’s not very steep and it levels out for a while." So I took them up on their invitation and went skiing. What followed was one of the most embarrassing hours of my life. I got off the lift and almost immediately I kept falling. I kept going too fast and wasn’t able to stop, which led me to taking tumbles. Then I came to a pretty close encounter with a tree when I decided that I had enough – I took my skis off, and started the humbling walk to the bottom of the mountain.
Now, four years later, I’m going the plunge again – this time doing the snowboard. Hopefully this will be equalizer. Bethany and her mom are avid skiers, but this will be her mom’s first time on the board, for Bethany her third. This is a little comforting, but I’m still pretty nervous. I should be in better shape to be attempting my first snowboard run, I’ve heard about how my butt is going to get killed by the time I’m done, and that I’m just going to fall over and over again. Still, this is going to be a lot of fun. It’s a new experience and after tomorrow I’ll get to say that I’ve tried snow boarding. Who knows, I might end up doing really awesome at it…
So tonight I’m praying for patience, persistence, good health and an ice pack ready for me tomorrow night. Wish me luck!