Relentless.

Tonight I can't shake a memory that I've had since college. One that sits in my heart reminding me of the hope of Jesus. Though I didn't know it at the time it was written to me, it has begun and will continue to fall into place with each day that God blesses me with.

It was shortly after I broke up with my boyfriend and headed out to finish the grueling task of my under grad. Moms are so encouraging. I have always been a fan of snail mail. I think that words written are far more impactful when seen that someone took time to sit down and focus completely on the note or letter. She was tender and understood my vulnerability. She had written something that still impacts my life and will for the rest of it. "I know it's hard right now, but know that things will turn out better than you could have ever imagined". Wise words from a wise Mamma.

How true it is That we really have no idea how much God sets us up for success if we would just allow Him to do the work in our lives to grow us and mold us to fit and pursue the things He needs us to accomplish His work. The things He has created each of us so individually to succeed.

"Why am I discouraged?

Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will Praise Him again-

my Savior and my God."- Psalm 42:11

Doing so changes our views and perspectives. Not just "can" but it actually WILL if we are persistent and continual in our obedience with doing so.

I have been doing 2 sets of push-ups 6 days a week. Monday- Saturday since January. I began with 2 sets of 5 legit push-ups. Every two weeks I up my stats... Then I hurt my shoulder in March so I took 2 or 3 weeks off. I was persistent. Doing them before bed, even when I don't want to do them, I do them. I bring myself to the ground and do them. Discipline began to form, I actually look forward to doing them. It is now September and I am up to doing 2 sets of 17. Legit.

Discipline reminds me of my friend Ashley. The first Summer I spent on the road in 2012 was my first exhausting summer on bike tour. Alarms would ring in the mornings while people snoozed and ignored them, dreading the beginning of the day. There were some sore exhausted mornings when we literally dreaded rising from our sleeping bags.

I would look over at Ashley's sleeping bag and she wouldn't be found there. Every time her alarm went off or if someone woke her up she would instantly spring and leap into the blessed morning. Even if her body was miserable, she would not hesitate. So I mimicked her. I have found that these little areas of discipline have proved incredible possibility in perspective and thriving. To praise God praise God even when you're filled with sorrow or exhaustion, praising God relentlessly. 

I want to praise God relentlessly.

I have learned through physical sacrifice, we gain more. We gain joy, we gain comfort and familiarity in our relationship with God. We build and practice faith and trust knowing that God provides love and watches over us relentlessly. We are human and in being human we are forgetful. The more that you practice something, whether it's a song on piano or Ukulele or even push-ups, if you are persistent you will see results. You will see things fill your brain, heart and body more than you might even realize. Through all of this, ultimately, God strengthens so through these circumstances and opportunities. Why dread it when you can leap in and embrace the moments that God gifts joyfully to us?

Why dread the morning sun of tomorrow when we are only promised today?

"at best, each of us is but a breath"

"You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.

My entire life time is just a moment to you;

at best, each of us is but a breath." Psalm 39:5  

Keep adventuring.

Life Outside The Box

I am an active person. If you couldn't already tell, I really enjoy physical activity. If you have kept up with my blog over the last couple of years you will notice that in order for God to do some pretty insane works in my heart He has had to sit me down and make me still. Through injuries and displacement I have been shown crazy incredible things from bike saddles, hiking boots, couches and dreams.

While I have been suffering from Shingles unable to barely even bike 20 miles, I have been laying, sitting, reading and writing. I have begun the (what most would think terrifying) process of Support raising. Updating my contacts for news letters and setting up face to face appointments with people to talk more about the vision that is Solid Rock Outdoor ministries and why God has called me there.

I mentioned "terrifying" to some in regards that support raising can feel rather tedious and begger-ish. But the truth is that this is such an incredible opportunity and honestly a chance to connect and share this vision with so many more people. building a support team of believers in Christ and in love. Yes the ultimate purpose for this ministry is to equip students in discipleship opportunities while gaining a better understanding for their personal identity as a son or daughter in Christ. It is an opportunity to be apart of something bigger than us. A chance to continue to adventure together.

I am also excited because this provides me with a better schedule with more flexibility to consistently update my support team on the incredible things that God has been doing with in the ministry that He has called me to serve in. Instead of just doing a 2 month long ask or updating people on the next big adventure. Instead it is an ongoing adventure! 

ADVENTURE WITH ME!

I have had a thought on my heart that I was thinking about the other night. 

It is this: Money though it is an earthly need, it is not something that defines us. God defines us because He created us. We should not build walls and borders around who God is creating and growing us to be. In fact it probably causes Him pain to see the alterations and the shortcomings we build around ourselves mainly based off of money or social stats. The thought of who WE want to be versus who GOD wants us to be are two completely different people. Which person outcome do you think will be better? The one in which we struggle to create with our own strength and direction or the one that God has in mind and is capable of creating in us if we would just allow Him to?

We must stop building these walls around us that confine who we are compared to who God wants us to be. Money means nothing. God's bank is never depleted. However it is up to Him when and how finances are blessed among many. So my hope is that I am reminded of that daily. To know that in order to gain anything I must lay it all down and trust and ask continually for God to do His brilliant work in and around me to continue to build the kingdom.

If you feel like this speaks to you (even if it doesn't) check out my support page: 

Solid Rock Outdoor Ministries 

Keep Adventuring.

Woke up in Narnia (Part 4)

My time in Wyoming was extremely impactful on my heart and soul. It's amazing how we can feel so much more disconnected from everyday life and contact when we step away from simple technology and clutter of business. And it is even more incredible to witness and partake in the feeling of connection between God and His creation. Seeing views and spending quality time being told the truths that The Lord has for us in who He is bringing us up to be.

During our time in the Teton Wilderness we stepped into a place that we liked to call "Austria". We wrestled with trails, snow and mud. We wondered when we would actually make it to Cub creek  or if we were actually in the right area that we had anticipated being on the map. The arguments were that there was a trail and that we should follow it but that there was also a clearing and we should just cut right to it.

Creation spit us out into what we called Austria:

We stayed here for 2 days and encountered our first snow. We had made a group decision to stay an extra day to sit on the topics that we were discussing pertaining to servant leadership as well as revisiting the topics of Pride and Unbelief. We actually touched upon map school too, go figure. 

It was one of the many incredible times that the 7 of us spent crammed into a tent while the wind howled outside as we intimately poured our hearts out with opinions and vulnerability. 

These sights overwhelmed out hearts. In the same way God overwhelmed my soul in taking this month in Wyoming to speak loudly and boldly into my life. With the lack of distraction and chaos, I was able to fully focus upon Him. Something that I have struggled with tremendously for the last couple of years while living and working in the same community. There was no boarder line and because of that I had not fully stepped away to focus on the most important relationship I will ever have for eternity. There was a lot of conviction and swelling behind the reality of this that blacked out some major heart issues I didn't even realize I was drowning in. 

 Back in Vedauwoo where "The storm threw our hearts into humility, God gave me a dream that played out with dates and peace. Though I didn't know what the dream meant I was full of praises that God would show me something like this. A possible direction and further calling upon my life. "But the plans of The Lord stand firm forever, The purposes of His heart through all generations". -Psalm 33:11

Commit to The Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans". Proverbs 16:3

Our time in the Teton wilderness was cultivating. During our "Solo time" (we stayed next to one another in tents because of our continued depth in category 1 grizzly country required us to be in groups no smaller than 3), The Lord began to pull my heart strings and unpack more of what I have been doing the last few years. He and I talked about how I was wondering if I just didn't love what I was supposed to be doing with the rest of my life. I told Him how there was simply no passion or enthusiastic drive behind the role I was currently in. After 2 years of God saying no. That I must stay where I was until He called me elsewhere. I didn't know where I was supposed to be headed but I knew deeply that the final destination was not California.

The next morning we woke up to "Narnia":

When I arrived in Wyoming a month earlier, I had fallen in love with Solid Rock Outdoor Ministries. The vision, the people, the area. Through out my course I had realized that it was not just a peak effect of what I was experiencing that would eventually fade after I returned to the redwoods. Rather it was a dim light that was given oxygen and fuel to burn brighter and more abundantly with passion and drive that helped to make it clear that this is a direction that I need to go. Not just A direction but THIS direction. 

This time I could visually see God waving His hands and pointing to Laramie. This time He was saying, "Here! I need you to go this way". 

Upon my return to California I had my meeting with my boss and the meeting played out exactly like my dream. Either way I knew my time was wrapping up in California and I knew that Laramie was where I was headed. I spent 2 full days filling out a full time employment application for the position of Admissions and Customer Support Manager. Why did I apply for this specific job? Because it is a vital role that has been in need of filling to help provide perspective students and their families communicate with our team so that we can orient them and prepare them the best ways that we know so that they can reach their goals of getting on to their course. It is a role that as I look back upon the last 4 years of working in California between the laughs, the struggles, the raw and the joy, God has been preparing me greatly for this specific position to use the tools that He has sharpened and equipped me with to serve Him and help to build His kingdom through Solid Rock Outdoor Ministries (SROM)!

After a month of interviews and a bike tour down the coast of California, I got the call and acceptance letter that I got the job! God is so, SO good! So now the transition continues and you will be seeing these updates as they come! First things first and that is I can't move any further until I finish reading an awesome book called "The God Ask" 

I could not be more ecstatic and also at peace with Gods plan! "Lord let your desires be my desires"

Bless The Lord OH my soul!!

Plenty more to come, but until then...

-Keep adventuring

#RealTalk

So here's a question for you. Have you ever been told that you're crazy? That you are absurd for for doing something or living the way that you do? I follow "Humans of New York" and found this one interview very spot on and you should check it out for a hot second here.

Why do you do the things that you do? What is a reasoning and the fire behind what you seek, pursue, long for and thrive towards?

I have been asked on many occasions if I'm still trying to ride my bike places. Or wondering when I'm going to actually get a "real" job. Why can't I just pick something and just do it for the rest of my life? That's a very simple question. The answer doesn't need to be complex. The answer is: I am a lover of people. That is my full time occupation. Cliche`?

Let me explain the simplicity. The only thing that should matter is loving well. And I am not an expert by any means. When you love, you serve. When you serve you give. When you give unconditionally, you gain. You gain joy. And joy is a blessing, it is everlasting. Most importantly joy is like water. it will always soak whoever is in the splash zone.

I have this friend who I lived with in an apartment. I had an experience that changed my life and this experience made me so happy! And now that I was finished with that season of my life, I was sad and couldn't figure out how to hold onto that happiness. I laid on the floor of her room crying wondering what was wrong with me. These next words that she spoke are etched through out my entire life story and a huge component with in the process that began my discovery of the saving grace of Jesus.

"You need joy. See Happiness is temporary, we experience things that make us happy but over time those things fade. Joy is everlasting. It does not fade. Even when something ends, Joy still lingers continually".


My juvenile self couldn't understand or comprehend at that moment what had just been revealed to me. But because of that it caused me to seek more deeply to discover the difference and understand the meanings.

Because of these ripple effects, I have realized that I want love to be my full time job... Call me a hippie, but it's true! I want to help people to: walk alongside them, share their burdens, hear their celebrations and dance beside them. I want to sit and dwell with them as they ponder the season and seek through the fog as people try to figure out who they are and for what reasons. I want to hug people cry with people and be blown away by who God is with people. The list of this occupation goes on and on and on. Because all of these things bring joy everlasting.

It is not a scale of how much we've done but what those things have done for and in each other.

So what do I want to be when I grow up? I want to love you as much as God loves you and me.

Keep Adventuring.

Here We Go Again

2 years ago I contemplated this crazy idea of riding my bicycle across the United States. And at the time I couldn't even say "my bicycle" because I didn't have a road bike. $5,000 needed to be raised and just the thought of doing something like this blew me far outside my panic zone.

2012 Just+Hope NYC

I was encouraged by many and support came in. GOD PROVIDES. I began my cross country trek. Before I had even finished I discovered within my soul a passion for physical sacrifice and the want to inspire and be inspired through meeting communities to rally and bring bodies together to help countless others near and far. Because of this discovery I had also decided that I was already going to do another cross country tour.

2013 Across America Team Rockaway Beach, NY

My second time across God taught me incredible things about community and began to introduce the concept of "unconditional love". Seeing people from my past tour and continuing to impact and be impacted by many. Sometimes I can't believe my life, honestly. Straight up, Gods got His plans of refinement and growing pains. It is incredible to witness and be witnessed within this discovery process.

And now I am about to begin my 3rd bike tour. This time it is much different. 10 days VS 8 weeks. 11 people. Riding down the coast of California for Restore International. Our tour name: LOVE DOES. Some of these teammates I know and some I do not. I am not fully funded yet, but God is good and He will provided abundantly. I know it for a fact! 

From the time before I new my identity in Christ to a year after re-devotion, I couldn't comprehend how incredible Gods plans have been not only for me but for many others. In the time before I moved to California to the year following, again, I can't comprehend! From before I went to South Africa to after I went the second time, mind blown of who God is and how much my soul yearns to know more and more and devote more of my life to serving Him. And from the time that I first got on my saddle to begin my first 3500 mile trek across the United States to about to begin my 3rd tour with Venture Expeditions, there is no denying that God is Good, all the time! 

Even with being diagnosed with depression, high stress jobs and seasons with people. God has placed it all with in these adventures to continue to show and teach me that regardless, He is faithful. Through bitter loss, and attack, He is faithful. Through finance struggles and loss of direction. He. Is. Faithful

Praise God! From whom all blessing flow!

Here WE go again. Because you continue to ride along side me in this journey. Your support, prayer and encouragement continue to blow my heart and mind away. I couldn't think of a better way to travel!

Thank you again for all that you do! 

2 days after my wreck in NJ, 2013

Prayer needs:

-Funding: $1400 still needed to reach my goal of $3400

-Safety for our team

-Our community and the communities we will be riding through to share our campaign with.


-Keep Adventuring!

Safety First...For Serious (Part 3)

People ask me what my highlights were from my course in Wyoming. Instantly my mind floods with ambition to determine how much time I have to speak and which specific highlights I think about most often VS depth filled moments VS views VS insights. One story that I never leave out is the couple days upon our second excursion to the Teton Wilderness.

Let me remind you that our time in The Voo (See my previous entry) was rather structured yet unstructured. We had a plan and we stuck to it pretty spot on. As soon as we left Laramie to head 6 hours North West, God through our plans out the window. We reached the road we would drive 6 miles to the trail head and camp the night before hiking into the abyss for 10-ish days. We drove about 2 of those 6 miles and found that there was a lovely gate we weren't expecting. After talking to Leslie and her husband Bob outside of their cabin near the gate, who thought we were just some random kids wandering in the woods about to be slayed by Grizzly bears,  we headed back to town to figure a plan out.

Bear School Kev-Kev

We prayed that Gods will be done and that we would seek Him through it all, seeing that He clearly knew what was needed and what He wanted to do was communicate. So after going through some "Bear school" to learn more about how to shoot bear spray and react if a Grizzly bear were to attack or approach our team. After all we were heading into Category 1 Bear country.

We were thinking about pitching our tents right in the nice grass of the US Forest Service but thought perhaps that wouldn't build the best relationship with them. A thought struck my head and my heart that said, "Malinda"! Not just some random name, but the name of a lovely woman who worked at the gas station we had stopped at close to the road with the closed gate. My mind instantly went into Bike tour mode and I told the team we should ask Malinda if we can camp behind the gas station. We hopped into the van with our bear spray and headed back to the gas station. 

Jay hopped out and luckily Malinda hadn't left yet. The gas station was closing for the evening but Jay found her before she left. Now to understand Jay better, you honestly can't always tell what's on his mind or what's happening with him because his composure if priceless. He came back to the van and told us that he had an update for us. We waited intently while he pulled out patience thin and said, "Malinda said we could stay at her church!" 

We followed her to down town Du Boise, WY. and pulled in near her church. She ran in to see that everything was good to go. She came back out and said that she had bad news. That we couldn't stay in the church because there was a cycling team staying there as well... WHAT?! Is this real life?! Awesome. The good news was she still let us stay but we pitched our tents in the back yard of the church and then went over and debriefed the first part of course over some very needed burgers. Bliss.

The next morning we felt ambitious and headed back to the road with the gate that was still closed and decided to hike the 7 miles we needed to get to the Continental Divide. Reason being we only had permits to camp across the Divide, so either way we needed to get there. We hiked the 4 miles on a dirt road to Brooks Lodge to the "trail head" and stopped to use a real bathroom one last time in the 1920 built rustic, STUNNING, lodge. 

We hit the trail and as soon as we got to the bottom of the hill near the lake, of course, it began to rain. So we started taking our 70+ lbs packs off to grab rain gear. Now when you're in category 1 bear country, not only is it protocol to have the safety on your bear spray off at all times, ready to shoot. You must also be on top of "bear calls"... We spent the next 10-ish days yelling "Hey Bear"! You can imagine we became creative.

Nikki's eyeball on FIRE!

Jay took his pack off to put on his rain jacket and his pack fell on his bear spray which then caused it to barely spritz. But the spritz that came out went into Nikki's eye. We spent the next 10 minutes flushing her eye out. The reason? Bear spray is 10 times more potent than normal pepper spray.

We encountered more storms, more rainbows and again our minds were blown by the terrain and the views. We began hiking at 9am-ish and made it to Brooks Lodge by around 1pm. From Brooks Lake to The Divide it was 3 miles. We arrived at our destination literally on the other side of The Divide at around 9pm. Because of the time of year that we were hiking in Wyoming, there was still a lot of snow but there was also a lot of mud. so that created ankle deep marshes and thigh deep snow every couple hundred feet.

By the time we made it to where we could set up camp we had set up our tents just in time before the rain began. God's good like that. 

So we had been thinking about food for hours and couldn't wait to cook some good hardy beans and rice in the rain. Then the lightning and thunder set in and we settled for a handful of trail mix so that we could just go to bed. We carried our food bags down to the bear hang areas so that the food wasn't near us to deter Grizzlys. So we headed a little ways down and across a creek. Yelling, "Hey Bear"! the entire time. As we took the bags off our bodies to secure them for the night, I took a bag off my back and it landed on the bear spray that had its safety off in my pocket. There was a long loud spray noise and we all dispersed...

This night just got better, right? Luckily no one got a direct hit. We all just were consumed in the cloud of bear spray. Nikki was hit for the second time in less than 12 hours and Kevin shouted saying that it felt like someone had rubbed a jalapeno into the side of his lip.

The direct hit went all over my had. My head lamp looked down at my left hand and it was doused in orange liquid. The force of the jet stream caused it to shoot up my jackets all the way up to my elbow. We got soap quickly and I tried to wash it off in snow...My hands were on fire for the next 3 days. Let me remind you that this was the first night of our 10 day back packing excursion...WOOF!

The next morning I washed my jackets the best I could and several days later was using my puffy jacket as a pillow on our solo time in tents and my face began to burn... I cussed pretty loudly in my head to say the least.

So moral? Even if you're in category 1 Bear Country, ALWAYS keep the safety on when you are on the WMPC Team 2 in June, 2014. Clearly we couldn't handle the responsibility. But luckily we never actually encountered Grizzlies... Directly at least.

The Storm (Part 2)

"Yet he did not waver through Unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God." Romans 4:20
"Immediately the boys father exclaimed, "I do believe; Help me overcome my unbelief!"- Mark 9:24
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall". Proverbs 16:18
"In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God".- Psalm 10:4
"Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice".- Proverbs 14:3

Let me paint you a picture...

Imagine eating dinner outside with your cooking group. As you begin to clean up and your instructor gives you a time to meet back up for this evenings teaching on "Pride and Unbelief", you turn behind you and square on you see this massive, gross, soaked black cloud. Literally it is about to burst with electricity and wetness.

Imagine our teams faces as we see it rolling toward us and begin to wonder how we will continue with this particular lesson. Jay, our instructor, tells us a few encounters with storms while we begin to "Bombproof" our kitchen/ eating location and begin to put on rain jackets. Jay begins to pray, hands up toward the storm and sky. "Lord Jesus, I pray that you would physically move this storm and completely move it from our vicinity. I pray that you would teach us and exemplify upon this teaching on Pride and Unbelief and provide a teaching and learning opportunity in your Holy, Holy name, Amen".

Jay and Olivia, in the middle of bomb proofing, don't budge but instead watch as the wind begins to pick up and the cloud bellows toward us. As students we begin to put on our rain jackets to prepare for the coming rain. However our teachers exemplify pure faith in being obedient to God in NOT putting their rain jackets on. We begin to lean against the wind on this flat slab of Granite and while this cloud bubbles and curdles, the lighting becomes more elegant and golden.

Now really begin to picture these details:
Off to the right you look and see that in all of the wind and darkness there are glory rays piercing through the clouds where there is a sunset beginning beyond this storm. Still straight in front of us is this very real storm, this conflict within our hearts clearly reflected upon the wind that God has provided for us to feel and feel Him stripping this unbelief away from us. This storm begins to sway to our left while it continues to break apart on the right. In front of us our hearts and minds are being blown to bits as we begin to worship and praise The Lord in the palm of His creation in His wild land of Wyoming. We are spread out and you look to your left, This storms darkness is now swaying more than ever to your left moving toward Cheyenne, Wyoming. In the darkest part of this repulsive feeling, in the middle of this raging storm you see a rainbow illuminating vertical limit. You fall to your knees because you know tangibly that God is very present in this moment. You thought at first that maybe, Just maybe it was by chance this storm began to move around us but when you see that ROY-G-BIV you can't control your knees and you fall, tears overflowing in awe.

Our team spread out experiencing our heavenly Father in the ways that He has called us to. The ways that He had planned this evening out long before we had even been in existence.

Then you remember seeing those glory rays and within all of this commotion, you almost forgot to look. Truthfully everyone had. We become so focused on the darker aspect of what our fate should have been. The lightning, the rain that didn't even spill a single drop upon us. We rip our eyes back to the right. "Jay!!! Look!!! Look at the Sunset! You're name! It is written"! You can't believe it, your team can't believe it but there it is, Jays name written in the clouds above the sunset. J-A-Y.

You begin to realize that God just took the lesson of Pride and Unbelief in His own hands and let Jay have the night off. Instead He overwhelmed Jay by answering above and beyond anything that we could have ever imagined. Who does that?! A loving Father. A Fathers love that is UNCONDITIONAL.

Can you imagine all of this? Can you believe it?...

He is jealous for me...And for you.

Believe it, because this really happened...