first step

The first step is the easiest...its the 5000 small steps that follow that are the hardest. I am starting this blog at the request of my friend Andy. He challenged me to express some of the ideas he and i are so fond of talking about. Partly because they need to be shared and partly because he knows if I get too much going on in my brain I tend to go crazy. So thanks and for encouraging me out of my dangerous tendencies Andy.
He and I just recently returned from an epic road trip. The West will never be the same!! We took the month of July and visited a good number of national parks in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California. I must say Yosemite was my favorite. It can surely boast of the best temperatures, breath taking views, and rewarding hikes. It is so fulfilling to hike three hours and find yourself on top of a waterfall splashing about in crystal clear pools and then lay in the sun like a turtle for a couple of hours before heading back.It is amazing the things that come up on a month long road trip. Andy says its like life in miniature...all jammed into a blip. Its also a great way to grow a friendship, but you better really be good friends or it could have the opposite effect. It is life in concentrate.
I think we covered nearly every conversation topic imaginable except for elephant breeding and lasic eye surgery. One conversation that has had an impact on me since returning home revolved around the idea of using the gifts that our Creator has given us all. Maybe the hard part is recognizing the gift, i don't know but once its obvious we have a responsibility to expose it and use it. I have another friend Josh who is an amazing singer/guitarist and i have decided for him that his gift is music. When i hear him sing, time stops and for a second i forget...i forget about my cell phone bill, i forget to worry, i forget my email password and i remember that life is in concentrate and it blazes past us in a blink or two. We all say that, but how do we show it in our lives that our time here in this world is short. I wont even try to make myself believe i am a good example of carpe diem, but i am learning that it is possible and it just takes one step. I admit the freedom scares me sometimes...i like walls even if they are imaginary...which most of them are. I love control and predictability, we all do a little. But true freedom possesses neither.
I am excited that Josh is making music consistently now and doubly excited that i am contributing what little skill i have on the mandolin to the process. So as a wise observer i am going to attempt to use a gift i think i have...thinking and analyzing. And since no one can actually get in my circus of a brain i will write it out, plus it will be my therapy. It is cheaper than a psychiatrist. Cheers to Andy and cheers to Josh. Thank you both for being great friends