Wednesday, April 25, 2007

A long walk off a short pier... backwards

I think the brothers in my church might never forgive me if I post another blog before acknowledging that I fell in a lake Saturday evening. Mister Coordinated here, I tried to untangle my fishing pole from a thorn bush by walking backwards on a pier that stopped way too quickly for my taste.

We hadn't even been at the lake for three minutes before I had personally tested the depths of the water. As I took the last step backward and found nothing but air, I think I decided to focus all my mental energy, not on regaining my rapidly disappearing balance, but on keeping a careful hold on the sharp metal hook between two fingers of my left hand, lest I share the fate of the poor cricket at the end of it. After feeling the brown lake water swallow me whole--shoes, jeans, shirt, fishing pole and all, I emerged from the water with that shiny little weapon still pinched between my fingers. I figure I get a little credit for that, right?

It was a fun weekend. On Saturday, five of us went camping on some land owned by a brother (thanks Jerry!). We hiked around his place (almost a square mile in area) and hung out and talked and made a camp fire (it got pretty cold after dark). Jerry hooked us up with bamboo poles so we could go fishing by his house later. We probably caught 15-20 fish, but they were relatively small and would have taken way too long to clean and cook, so we threw them back. Nice-size steaks waited for us back at the campsite, and they were delicious.

Jeremy learned that every one of us snores, and I learned that Justin has an uncanny ability to keep mental track of the time. On the way home, both of them learned that I can talk for at least an hour straight about the philosophy behind the Matrix and Groundhog Day. I'd be interested to hear what each of the other brothers learned over the course of our trip.

We oughtta do stuff like this more often.

2 Comments:

Blogger Jeremy Uriz said...

Since no one else will see this, I'll post a comment!

I had a great time. If you hadn't walked off the pier backwards though, I don't know if would have been worth it though...

I don't know that everyone snores, but I KNOW that Jerry does.

Had a great time myself and agree that we should do things like that more often.

As to what I learned, it was something that the anti-blogger Kyle said "in order to get better at something you have to push yourself". In context he was referring to chess and playing someone better than yourself. For me it was encouraging because I am working with a personal Chinese tutor at a level I think is too advanced for me. So I have to struggle to keep my head above water. I'm sure you can apply that to many things in life (and I'll let you do that).

I learnt some other things I'll save for some other time.

Though I'm only saying it in the digital realm I mean it in all realms: You mean a lot to all of us Neil. Thanks.

9:21 PM  
Blogger Jerry said...

Almost feel like I'm eavesdropping on something personal, but thought I would just encourage you guys to keep doing what you are doing. You brothers are an encouragement to the brothers here in Philadelphia, maybe indirectly, but I know for myself when I see fellowship in Christ that is real in every way I see the Body functioning and getting deeper in Him.
Maybe Neil falling backwards into the deep was a fitting metaphor that all of us can learn from.
Falling deeper in Him.
Your friend, Jerry

1:59 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home