Travel the World.

So, in a little more than twelve hours I will be on my way to probably one of the biggest adventures I have taken so far in my life. I am extremely stoked for this and cannot wait to see what happens. I will be going to Liberia, which is in the armpit of Africa. West Coast for all of you that are geographically challenged.

I dont know how I feel about it right now. I was explaining to Julisa (shes my girlfriend, I like her. :)) That I kinda feel like a soldier might feel flying into combat before (maybe on a different scale) they land. You know like when theyre in the helicopter or in the bomber about to drop out like in band of brothers. You have all this training that you go through and then its drop time. Its time to actually get your boots muddy, and go.

I am all about that. I mean boots were meant to get muddy, really. I mean if you see a guy wearing shiny boots, you know he either A.) just bought them. B.) Is afraid of the mud.

Catch my drift?

I think through this whole thing God has been teaching me how to not be afraid of the mud. Which is kind of weird because fear has never really been a huge issue for me. I have always been the risk taking one. The balls to the wall guy (girls its okay if you dont get it). The "oops shouldnt have done that one, but it was fun!" kinda guy, The "hey watch this..." guy, The guy who's life could be modeled after, "pain follows stupid.", and so on and so on.

I am all about risk, I really am. Sometimes i look at the mud and jump right in! Well... most of the time... And when I heard about the trip to Liberia, the risk involved, the mud involved, I jumped right on in!

But there is something about this trip that captured right from the start. I can honestly say that there were times when I believed that I was not supposed to go, that we had 2 months to go and yet I still only had 250 out of the 3500 i needed. There were times that I was sitting in the hospital because I reacted to a vaccination and had difficulty breathing. I look at it now and think,"Man, someone really did not want me to go on this trip."

On the flip side, i can also honestly say that it was utterly dumb of me to think I wasnt supposed to go on the trip. I mean how else can someone describe raising $3000 in 2 weeks? You cant. How can someone describe the phone call I got that went something like this:
Them:"Hey Collin, I just want to let you know that I just got a bonus from my job and am going to pay for the rest of your trip."
Me: silence...
Me: silence...
Them: "Collin?"
Me: "Are you serious?"
Them: "Yes"

Well there was a little bit more meat to that but that was the jist of it. I got that call the day before Christmas. Which was 4 days before I had to leave. insane.

INSANE.

I really wasnt planning on writing a blog tonight. But I think that sometimes I just sit down to write and it just flows out. You know like a... yea I got nothing. Think of something that flows a lot and smoothly too, and then just pretend I said it.

So I leave you with this. I leave tomorrow at 1 PM to go to Liberia. This is a risk. I love risk. Liberia is in the armpit of Africa. I am a little anxious. Pain follows stupid. I am bad with analogies. God works in mysterious ways. Dont be afraid of the mud. Probably shouldn't put "balls to the wall" in a blog ever again. I have a neat girlfriend. She is cute. She got me a hammock for Christmas, and its awesome.

So, when you think "what if God doesnt pull through for me on this one..." Think, "What if God does pull me through this one..."

There is a world of a difference between the two, and the difference can change your life. Pursue that. Pursue it hard. Pursue it SO hard.

Its been fun friends. I love you all dearly, and I can not wait to tell you guys the stories that happen while I am over there. I will bring back a T-rex for you.

~Collin

OH.

Check out our daily blogs from when we are over there at:

www.weliberia.blogspot.com

www.servicetoservants.com
-To read this one you have to click on "Team of 14 heads for Liberia"

PEACE!

Describing Water...?

So, here I am. In Colorado. I love it here. The abundance of mountains, big water, bikes, chacos, and more mountains makes me feel right at home. Although, my house is 1589 miles east... Home is where you make it right? Thats what my grandpa told me this week.

My grandpa. Poppa. He is a trip. He's celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary this week with my grandma. Gommy.

Yep. Thats what we call her. Gommy.

Anyways... So Poppa and Gommy are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. 50 years. Together. Wow. That is a long time. I asked him, "Poppa. How do you guys do it? I mean 50 years is a long time."

He replied, "The only way is to keep Christ in the center of your marriage, could not have done it without Christ. But Collin, you know what that means.Right?"

"Technically Poppa, I don't. Considering I have been married, oh, I don't know 0 times." Haha.

We both just laughed. You know, he is quite funny for being old. And he has some good advice. Even though, I poke fun at him quite frequently, he is very wise. I mean who wouldn't be, he is in his seventies, and has been through quite a bit! I love sitting down with him and talking about life. I know when its time to leave the conversation though when he starts asking questions about the iPod he just got. Like, "Hey Collin, how do I put different songs from different artists together?" Thats my cue to leave. I love him though. He is awesome.



So, on a completely different note. I love it here. I think I said that already, but thats ok. In the two days we have been here I have:

1. Swam with my cousin JJ for multiple hours. He loves to Jump off the side of the pool and splash me. He's four.
2. go down a river in a Hyde Drift Boat. Its kinda like a raft, but made out of fiberglass... pretty sweet. We went down the river close to sunset, so it was pretty much AMAZING!
3. Went Offroading today. We pretty much had the time of our life. We got to a river where we could not cross it, because of all the snowmelt rushing down the mountain made the rivers quite large! SO we got out of the jeep, and went for a hike.
4. I got postholed. What does that mean? Well, being postholed means when you are walking across a stretch of snow, since its so sunny out and kinda warm the snow softens, and well a posthole, is when you sink into the snow. I personally sunk all the way up past my knees. Pretty Rad right? I was up to my knees in snow wearing shorts and a tshirt in June. SWEET!
5. Tonight, we went to this Jazz concert thing in the park. It was pretty lame. im not gonna lie. The music was alright. Nothing awesome and spectacular.


Thats only the first two days! I have a whole other week! Plans include... rafting, climbing up Maroon Bells (look em up) biking, hiking, fishing, swimming, eating, celebrating, and vacationing.

I have a confession to make. I feel like a little school boy here. There is just so much stuff I want to do! If I tried explaining why or how much I love it here, it would be the equivalent of trying to describe the taste of water. You can not do it. You just know that water tastes like water. Just like I know that I love Colorado.

Everything is different here. I mean, not CRAZY different. I feel almost invulnerable to stress, because all I have to do is think, Man, I'm in Colorado. Or I just look at the mountains and think, "Wow... that sure is something, I am glad the guy who made that is on my side!"

Today on the way to the off roading place, my uncle (who has lived here for 15 years!) would stop the car and start taking pictures of the mountains and stuff. The sense of wonder is still there in him and he has been here for 15 years. I mean, its just that amazing out here. Colorado is a place where 15 years has no effect on your wonder and awe of the beauty of the wilderness. And thats just one of the few things I love about this place.

I truly think God spent a little extra time creating Colorado. I dont know I could be wrong.

I love you guys, and i truly hope you guys have an amazing week! May you live in awe of Christ this week.

Life.

St. Iranaeus of Lyons says, " The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God."

I LIKE that! Its what I have been pondering, its what I have been pouring over in this little head of mine lately. And you know what I have concluded from this? What I have seen? What i think?

I think as a follower of Christ. Life is supposed to be mind-boggling, its supposed to be excellent, amazing, stirring, jaw-dropping, inspiring, wondrous, and so much more.

Its pretty awesome to think that God takes pleasure when we are having the time of our life.

So, I am learning to make a little room in my schedule for life to happen.

Sleep in a little
go for a run
drink from the stream instead of the bottle
cross through the creek, not over it
sing a little louder
sake up early for the sunrise, and take it in
feel the release of a frisbee from my hand as it glides through the air
climb a mountain
hug the girl a little longer
grab coffee with an old friend
teach someone something new
take a day off of work, just because its nice out
listen to Jack Johnson
eat an extra piece of cake

"But the person in right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive"
-Habakkuk 2:4 (MSG)

So, friend, go enjoy life. God intended it that way