A Nibble of Heaven

This last week I had the privilege of going to Colorado for the first time. Some of my best friends had their National Volleyball tournament, so on Wednesday afternoon Paul, Kyle and I packed up the car and headed for Denver. With a few fun stops along the way, we arrived at Colorado Christian University at 7:30 am, exhaustion breathing down our necks. Curling up in the corner of the Gym, or snuggling up in the stiff upright front seat, we tried to take 15-30 minute naps whenever we could find time.

The girls definitely didn't put us to sleep with any of their matches, as three of the four went to the fifth set. It was great to see them play in Nationals, and I would make the trip out there again in a heart beat. Even though they didn't advance out of pool play, they ended their season on a high note, and I am honored to call each of them my friend (ok...I was trying to make that sound overly corny...how did I do?). Anyway, Friday night there was a parade for all of the teams that made Nationals, and beforehand, Kyle, Paul and I (along with Coach John Barnes) challenged four guys from Colorado Christian University to a volleyball match. All of the girls filed in as we were out on the court, and all eyes were on us. To say the least it was fun, and we ended up winning the match. So yes, we are the NCCAA Mens 4v4 pre-parade champions, coming to a Wheaties Box near you.

Since the girls lost, that left Saturday open for me, Kyle and Paul to find some Coloradoan adventure. Well let me back up a little bit. Before our arrival to Colorado, all we had heard about is how beautiful the mountains were. So, entering Denver I was expecting to see the most awesome landscape my eyes had ever witnessed. Well, lets just say Mr. Snowstorm didn't allow my eyes the gift of beauty early that Thursday morning. The whole day was gloomy and foggy, and I was beginning to believe the mountains didn't even exist. Friday morning came, and Mr. Sunshine must have beat the snot out of Mr. Snowstorm during the night, because when I woke up, I finally got to see the mountains. It was right then, that Kyle said if the opportunity presented itself that we were going to go to Pikes Peak. Ok, fast-forward now to Saturday. We drove an hour south to Colorado Springs and decided to make our ascension to the top of the 14,000 + ft. mountain. I'm going to be honest, before we started driving to the top, I doubted whether the extra hours added to our trip home was worth driving to the top of some mountain, but let me tell you that it was worth every extra second. I was going to try to describe to you what it was like, standing on top of the world, knowing that everything you're looking at was created by the Savior of your life, discovering how small you actually are...but I don't think I can put those kind of emotions into words. The only thing we could come up with, is that we saw something that was truly awesome.

Thank you girls for making it to Colorado. Thanks Kyle and Paul for going with me. Thank you God for the mountains and being bigger than Pikes Peak.