Snow Skiing and Brussel Sprouts

Snow Skiing is for other people!  

Bones can be broken.  
It is expensive.  
You have to buy special clothes.  

Mountains and snow are required and those are hard to find in Alabama just about anytime - especially in July!  No - I have lived a successful life without ever snow skiing.  No point in changing that now!

Bariloche, Argentina

Then Stefanie asked us to join them on a vacation to Bariloche, Argentina in Northern Patagonia.  She is our daughter - the only child - and mother to our only grandchild - Lydia.  I do not say "NO" to a vacation with Stefanie, Josh, and Lydia.  

She told me we were going to snow ski!!!  My resolve was now going to be tested.  I have no experience at this.  I'm 60 years old.  I am freshly recovered from a cracked rib at Junior High I Camp at Camp McDowell.  Those snow skis are narrow - the hills are steep.  Suddenly I was remembering ABC's Wide World of Sports and the agony of defeat.  

I would just watch.

But, Stefanie booked our ski lessons and lift tickets...

And paid for it all upfront!!!

Lydia, our 6-year-old Granddaughter

Now I could go on and on with this tale, but suffice it to say...

I skied!  It was great!  

I was not graceful.  I fell - and so did everyone else.  I went too fast and missed turns and introduced myself rather abruptly to several folks I did not know.  But I don't know if I have ever had more fun.  And there are no broken bones!

The moral of this story is that I keep discovering this whole world out there of new experiences just waiting to be experienced.  Five years ago I would not have imagined traveling to South America.  I did not know that Bariloche existed. Patagonia was just a clothing brand.  We never considered the possibility that ExxonMobil would move Josh, Stefanie, and Lydia to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Then it all happened and it has been amazing.  We have traveled up and down Argentina, sailed around Cape Horn and up the Straits of Magellan in Chile, stood in awe at Iguazu Falls in Brazil and walked the historic streets of Montevideo, Uruguay.  My Spanish is terrible - it doesn't matter.  I can't read the signs, menus, or directions - someone always helps.  Stefanie, Josh, and Lydia will return to the United States later this year - we are coming back because we have more new experiences in South America yet to come.

Bariloche at Sunset

As I stood on the balcony of our Airbnb apartment and watched a sunset beyond words, I thought about all the times I have decided that surely I know enough about God, I have done enough in the Church, and I don't need to take on anything new.  I'm 60!  I've done my share!  I just got over a cracked rib at Junior High I Camp!  There was this amazing sky and surely there are amazing experiences of God just waiting to be experienced.  

Change is...

Trying on a new experience means we change.  Of course, we already change every day.  There is a new person at work or in our neighborhood, road construction, Daylight Savings Time, a new recipe, rain or not, the list goes on and on.  We should be coming to Church expecting to be changed.  We should live expecting to be changed if we also believe that God gives us new life every day.  Change is expecting that God will work in us and offer us new experiences.  There can be the new experience of helping someone, volunteering for a new experience in the parish, and experiencing spiritual growth when we live each day purposefully conscious that God is with us.  Seeking new experiences of God in our lives is living in faith and expecting change.  

Brussel Sprouts

Next comes Brussel Sprouts.  I have always maintained that this is a culinary experience I just don't need to experience.  I have never actually eaten a Brussel Sprout, but they look like something I just know I won't like.  I'm 60 years old, I just got over a cracked rib at Junior High I Camp...