Gearing up for Battle down a double black diamond
Redbull Crankworx in full swing.
Trevin and I in the village watching the best trick competition.
First run down.
The boysRon and I after a run. Ron got the beast mode award for the trip. That guy is a beast and rules the mountain.
Panoramic view atop.Trevin getting air down A-Line
Trevin getting air down A-Line
Ah Sisters! This post is about sisters. Mine in particular. Growing up I had two……. Now that I am old I still have 2. Some of my earliest interactions that I can recall were those with my sisters. Lots of them involved yelling, screaming, scratching, and tattle tailing like in most normal households, but on many occasions there was peace in the house. Those were the times I got to participate. I was not always the most understanding of my older sisters. When they would let me play with them I would lean towards destruction, dirt, and hardy boy things. They did not like this in particular when they would allow me to play with “Ken.” How was I to know that Ken’s legs do have a breaking point? That’s ok though as his hands were not really molded to be able to hold a semiautomatic rifle; Lame! Later on in life though I learned that Ken was made to be a little softer and support the role of Barbie in her world. That’s when Ken and I parted ways and hello GI Joe! On other occasions I got to dress up with the girls. They loved the old days of little house on the prairie so that was the theme of most dress-ups. Without TV at the time I did not know there were male caricatures on the show so guess what? I was one of the girls…..yes there are pictures to prove it and my wife loves to show my friends.
My Sisters as I See them!
I do have a direction here and this rambling on serves a point. In later years my sisters have grown up, got married, have 2 kids each, and are successful in pretty much all they do. I am astounded with their accomplishments, giftings and endurance in all they do. They are tough woman. I am assuming they have learned a lot through life’s ups and downs, but I believe their stamina is a gift that Mom gave them. A gift to get the job done no matter what or how much is going on and to do so in love as much as possible. I believe we (us boys in our family) owe the sisters much more then we have shown or really know we should show them. You see, when Mom got sick the girls really stepped it up. We all had to step it up, but Jeff and I lived out of state and were not available for the dirty work. For 7 years now the sisters have taken on way more then their households. Way more then there patients can, could, or should tolerate, way more then what was asked of them. Mom had a grueling 7 year battle with cancer. She fought and fought not only for quantity of life, but quality of life. The Sisters made that possible with their support. Meals, updates, cleaning, driving around, prayers, encouragement, caretaking, loving, haircuts, playing the piano, reading the word, gifts, tea parties, trips to craft stores, grocery stores, drug stores, doctors offices, rubbing arms, legs, heads, hands, taking care of Leighton, Dad, dog, cat, house, etc. The Sisters were there for Mom and Dad and that was only the physical parts. They were so much more involved mentally, spiritually and emotionally all the while being there for their own families.
My Sisters the hero’s. 
I do not mean this in any way short of what it means. And if they read this I am sure they are playing it down or chalking it up to love. As true as that is it still stands that my sisters, the tough gals they are, are in fact my hero. This week they have been going over to Dad’s to pack up the rest of Moms belongings. A very emotional and draining task. As I write this I am flooding with tears. I cannot go down there to do it solely based on I am not strong enough. This is one of those things that I hate about life. How do you move on without forgetting or feeling like you are moving Mom out? How do you set up a house that was once filled with a Mom and Dad that were stable, supportive and a comfortable place with familiarity all around? With both equal parts being represented and Christmas and family gatherings were complete with laughter, tears, at times frustration, and times great joy. How do you pack that up so that we on earth can move on? How do you even move on with a broken heart and fear of losing one’s mothers memories? Somehow, my Sisters have found the strength to do so.
So to this I say I love my Sisters very much and am very grateful to them for all their hard work with our family. These accolades, as pathetic as they are, are not the reason they did all this, but it is in fact the reason to celebrate them more. I am so grateful for you both and love you both more than words can say. You truly have been used by God to further Mom’s life and made it rich to the end. Without your endless love for her and the rest of the family we would without a doubt be worse off. I hope you both know how much your worth to me, Lissa, our family, your families, Lake County and the body of Christ.
Thank you!
This past week has been crazy nuts involving more riding than ever before and less sleep then I would have liked. Got back from Whistler on Tuesday night, jumped back into work, duties and things that had been put off while I was gone. Then Saturday I rode a 65 mile charity ride called Tour de Cure in the Hillsboro/Forrest Grove area. Got up that morning at 4:40 am, hopped the MAX at 5:30, arrived at the Hillsboro Stadium at 6:40, ate, and then got on the bike at 7:30. Could not have picked a better day for it as it was about 70 degrees at the peak of the day. Was totally feeling the effects of Whistler still as my legs were on fire and wrists killing me from spraining them. Let’s just say that ibuprofen was my friend that day. All in all the course was pretty fast and we finished in 5 hours which was a better time than last year. I got about a 30 minute massage afterwards and then headed back on the MAX to home. It took an hour and it was full of grumpy people. Once home I crashed. Slept for 4 hours, got up, went to the movies and then came home sleeping through the night. I was exhausted. Sunday we went to church, then came home and slept almost the whole afternoon. I think we needed it.
Looking forward to a break in schedule. This weekend we are heading to the beach house for 3 days. Might just sleep the whole time.
Well the end of Whistler has come. As eager as I was to get home to my wife and harry child, I am now at my desk reminiscing on the weeks past and the mayhem that went down wishing I was still there. 
Came away with a lot of memories, nicknames, inside jokes and not to forget my body that now looks like I have survived a direct attack from a family of starving R.O.U.S‘s.
I was all proactive on updating this blog each day I was up there, but as time went on and I slept in more and more it was just too hard. So here is the recap on the last few days I was there. Saturday was amazing. When you ride back to back to back etc. you really build on your skill and learn new skills to survival. I see it as going into battle and every one you win (or survive) the more confidence you gain along with strength and ability to overlook fear. That is how Saturday was. Nice and sunny and everything just flowed. We rode that mountain so many times and the jumps got bigger while the speed increased. So amazing!
Sunday we were beat. We ended up taking a day off. I got up early and headed to a local church. It was fun to see another church with their music, style, perspective etc. I really enjoyed it and could see their heart for people on the mountain. I hope they are blessed. The whole experience got my heart pumping and my mind moving towards ministry again. I have always been one who is drawn to extreme sports and especially those who do them and wanting them to know Christ. Mostly because being an adrenaline junkie myself, I see how addictive that lifestyle is and how, if I did not have the Lord, I would be totally messed up in my life looking, searching, craving the next high. Most find it in these types of sports weather snowboarding or Mt biking, but when off the mountain they tend to fill it with drugs, alcohol and sex. My heart breaks for them as the Lord fills these holes and helps the balance in my life. I desire to share that with others. I have been without that ministry for some time now. Hope to someday enter that type of again. The speaker that morning was one who started the church up there called Whistler Community Church. He had moved to Whistler in the 70’s. He was working one day and a coworker asked him why he was there to which he replied for the skiing, drugs and sex. He then asked his coworker the same question to which she replied to share Jesus with others. She then invited him to a midweek bible study and shortly after that he accepted Christ into his heart. It was an awesome reminder of how “simple” it can be. I have a new prayer and focus because of that simple story. We will see how the Lord answers it.
The rest of Sunday was spent at Lost Lake. 
Not really in the water though as the lake is filled from snow runoff. Makes you cry like a girl if you get in. So we were on the beach just talking. It was good as there was a lot of “skin” displayed by others I had the chance to be different. I think as the time went on the boys have noticed my lifestyle and how I do not partake in going out at night to clubs with them, getting drunk, and not looking at women. This was made evident by one of the guys asking “so Drew how’s married life?” I replied with “is this a reminder for me or for you to stay accountable to our women back home?” to which he replied “both!” This opened the door later to talk about marriage and how it’s a blessing and a curse depending on how you look at it. I really got to share my heart on marriage and how it is so much more then the world views it. I did not get spiritual even though I wanted to, but did not hear the Lords leading into it, but I believe it really did show Christ without using words as my description of marriage is one that is found in the example of how our relationship is with Christ. I believe this really has served to open the hearts of my friends. I look forward to seeing how God uses these interactions. I just pray that I am a good tool for him.
Which leads me to my time in the word this past week. Went through 1st Peter during this time and really enjoyed it. Was encouraged and strengthen by the words, the discipline and prayed that I would have a hunger for truth. My goal and prayer is to continue in this practice while back here and to really strengthen my walk with the Lord. I have been convicted as of late of how am I to know Him if I am not spending time with Him. I have known this and have not been doing this, but really have taken a proactive step to pursue the Father now. I have needed a little help though and my prayer has been that he creates a hunger in me to do so. I believe he has been doing this and I hope it continues till I die. (after a long and fruitful life I hope!)
Monday! Well Monday was our last day on the hill. At this time in our trip I was sore, beat up, scratched up, but really had not taken any falls. Which, was now my fear on the last day. 90% of accidents in sports of this nature have taken place on the last day or the last run. When your beat up, but you want one more run. Knowing this I was pretty proactive in keeping to what I already knew trail wise. We took a few runs down A-Line which is a pretty fast, crazy black diamond trail
A-Line
that many get hurt on, but by this time I already knew it and had ridden it over and over again so I was confident and did just fine. We then proceeded to head up to the peak of the mountain for another black diamond run. Once at the top though a couple of the guys wanted to do Goats Gully
(a double black diamond trail) instead of the trail we had been riding called Freight Train. I did not really want to do this as I was tired and afraid of the statistic stated above. When asking what the trail was like they said it was really rocky and full of roots. Real technical trail so it’s slow. I thought “slow” and agreed to the trail thinking that if its slow then I can proceed with caution and if it’s too much walk my bike down the nasty parts. Well, it was sort of slow, but really you want to maintain a speed so that you can actually get over the rocks which were like 2 foot boulders everywhere and the roots that were like train tracks waiting to introduce you to the ground.
Not us, but the trail
This said. I met the ground 3 times. Won’t go into detail and nothing broken, but sure am feeling it this morning. I have ace bandages tightly wrapped around both wrists. I have learned in my life of these sports to tuck and roll, but the one that got me was in a place where it was just a blunt stop where you could not roll out if you wanted to resulting in my arms taking the force. I am ok though.
Goats Gully Trail. Yes there is a trail there.
Packing up and a trip back home on Tuesday. It was hard to leave, but good to go. Good trip home with no incidents and great conversations. Happy to see my beautiful wife and stinky dog once again. Now back to the grind dreaming of next year’s trip already.
In the words of Lloyd Christmas: “Goodbye My Love”
Wow. All I can say is wow! Woke up early this day to rain, a lot of rain. Lifts open at 10 and here it was 7am. What to do? headed to Starbucks (yes they have the Bucks in Canada) Like they wouldn’t, and had my cup of joe, read the word (1 Peter 2) and prayed. Went back to the condo at 9-ish, suited up and got ready for the mayhem. Walking through the village was like walking down the main streets of Disney land. Real magical and exciting with people all around. Total theme park feeling. The mountain was beautiful in its natural beauty and power. I always am taken back by nature especially mountains. This one is huge and lush with the Lords work at hand. Its also one thing to be up there and seeing it, but also being allowed to scream down it on two wheels. First run was crazy just to get into the rhythm and wake up the muscles and your brain for the ability to see, think, react, and respond to what is being thrown at you at speeds that are unforgiving if you make a wrong move. For the most part I am able to handle that well. First run down we were soaked from head to toe. My white bike was now a brown crusty machine. I looked like Rambo from the movie first blood when he hides in the wall of mud from his enemy. I do not endorse this movie, but for those of you who have seen it it does paint the picture perfectly of how muddy we were. We had a mixture of rain, and hail today so it was quite chilly and cold, but the trails were tacky and fast.
We eventually went up to the summit. The ride down takes about 45 minutes to get down. It is a long trip that I really loved. Going up and up the ski lift we encountered snow at the peak. It was like the moon up there. Not that I have ever been on the moon, and I believe there were no trees on the moon, but for the most part it was just kind of an alien environment. The trip down was crazy fast. Long shoots downhill and crazy drops. Jeremy wrecked and Ron plowed into the back of him. Everyone was fine besides a little scrapes and ripped clothing. Ron did eat it again on a tabletop, but managed to get down the rest of the mountain. He is hurting, but driven to ride.
In the afternoon we went out to eat, watched Crankworx events (jump competition), hot tubing and everyone stayed in that night out of being tired. All in all it was a good day.
Need to go now and suit up for today; day 3. Will write day 3′s doings tomorrow.
I believe CS Lewis says it best and I hope he is right because I am needing God to be nearer than ever before.
“It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us: It is the very sign of his presence.”
Gods presence - letters of C.S.Lewis
Whats my dirt? well, besides the normal I feel like my house (my heart) is just full of dirt. Or more so that it has always had this low-lying level of dirt that sits at the bottom. Word picture: Sort of like when liquids separate after sitting for a while, the heavier stuff sinks to the bottom. Thus my dirt has learned to swim and now seems to be overwhelming. God in this process. I take to heart what CS Lewis is saying here as he seems to encourage that this is not necessarily a bad thing. As in it has always been there and He is stiring it up to be addressed. So maybe I should be encouraged? or excited to see what will be found under that dirt when it’s gone or thinned out? Hard to do, but better than focusing on the pain and frustration of that dirt for sure.
So, my encouragement to you……….most likely I am the only reader of this old blog, is to keep going. To keep focusing on what lies underneath and how refreshing it will be as that dirt is dealt with.
“Lord be my contractor. Keep moving that dirt out. No matter how hard it gets and how much it hurts.”
