Colorado
This past week has been an absolute blessing for me. Several months ago, I had an idea of taking a group of men somewhere to do a kind of challenge retreat. The initial thought was for us to find a mountain to climb or some trails to hike in God’s creation. The first person I thought to contact to help me think through this adventure was Matthew Morine. He is the pulpit minister at the Castle Rock congregation in Colorado, just south of Denver. He has also climbed all 58 fourteeners (peaks above 14,000 feet) in Colorado. After a few conversations with him, I had a plan. One of their members had an Airbnb, and he suggested a couple of things we should do. So with the plan in place, all we needed were some victims…I mean volunteers. And the final crew from HP ended up being Ben Bradford, Nathan Evans, Jackson Hayes, Vernon Malone, and myself. Due to available space and his expertise in hiking, I invited my good friend Halo Fernandez to come along as well.
The result was a trip of a lifetime. We have laughed together, struggled together, and shared thoughts together all week. We challenged ourselves in ways we didn’t know we could and everyone’s peak experience was just a little different. Most of us climbed the 2768 steps of the Manitou Incline, with an elevation increase of 2000 feet in less than a mile. We walked around the Guffey Gorge, Pikes Peak, the Florissant Fossil Beds National Park, the Garden of the Gods, and the town of Manitou Springs, taste-testing all eight of the natural springs that were fountains in the city. The epic conclusion was summitting Mount Sherman (14,036 feet).
Every day, we spent time reflecting on what we experienced and on a devotional thought to consider. In our final reflection on the van coming home I asked what was one thing they took away. Most of the comments revolved around the encouragement from others. There was an unconditional acceptance of each other’s limits. There was cheering for each other to go farther—even if it’s just another step. There was also the encouragement of knowing others had made it and that we could keep pressing on. There were so many lessons and I’ll go ahead and apologize — because you might be hearing about them for months to come. I’m thankful for my brothers who joined me on this trip. We will always have this core memory together. My hope is that it won’t be the last Men’s Roadtrip Retreat.
Ben