To many, the word isn’t thought of positively, a sort of admission of failure or something. Retreating is something soldiers do when they’re getting whipped, the thinking goes. Like that scene in the movie Gettysburg when the Union army has far outgunned the Confederates, and the ragtag unit of misfit…
After years of dreaming, months of planning, miles of driving, and an almost 4-mile climb up the Pine Cobble Trail, I finally stood in front of the iconic “Welcome to the Vermont Long Trail” sign. (If you missed last week’s beginning of this adventure, you can read it here: The…
365 miles in 12 months. On foot. On a trail of some kind (not neighborhood sidewalks or the mall). “The Hiker’s 365,” it’s called, and was the first My Adventure Challenge we signed up for. Initially, we launched this challenge in November 2021 with the goal of completing it one…
Should you find yourself at the visitor’s center in Amicalola Falls State Park in Dawsonville, Georgia, it may seem quite odd that just outside the building hangs a scale from one of the support beams. Then again, if you’re at that particular park, you would likely be aware that it’s…
I don’t like being cold. Due to the nature of my work, I spend a good bit of time at a desk: reading, studying, administrative stuff. This time of year, it doesn’t seem to matter what I do, my feet and hands are often cold. And I don’t like it….
Finally, 2020 is in the rearview mirror and the almost twelve months of 2021 are in front of us. It’s a great time to stop and do some reflection, assessment, and reorientation. It’s also an ideal time to take aim at some goals for our personal life, work or career,…
True, it’s the title of another one of those romance “songs of the season” as the singer wants to know whether she gets to be the date on New Year’s Eve, or if she’ll be left wondering what the guy’s doing. Nevertheless, isn’t that the frequent question of conversation at…
Reading the title of Brandon Crowe’s little book, Every Day Matters, might leave one wondering its emphasis. Is he suggesting that every day counts, is important, and makes a difference? Or is the focus on every day, as opposed to say, every year? Or is the book about stuff—matters—that require…
A couple years ago, while attending a conference for those in Christian ministry, I attended a workshop on avoiding burnout. Within the previous year or two, I’d come across colleagues in the ministry who shared their experience of being burned out, and they were men in the same stage of…
Facing the end of another year often thrusts us in evaluation mode—it does me, anyway, and I suspect I’m not the only one. Usually before looking at what was accomplished, I tend to focus on what wasn’t accomplished. “Surely I could’ve done so much more!” I find myself lamenting. The…
20
0
0
20
