Journal 15-- Park City, Utah

Happy New Year! I've had a wonderful start to my new year. I just came home from a wonderful trip to Utah. I had the privalege of leading worship for a group of folks from Augusta, Georgia on a ski trip to Park City, Utah. We spent 4 days in the mountains and it was incredible. I met so many wonderful people and have many new friends now in Augusta. We flew into Salt Lake City, UT and took a chartered bus to Park City. We stayed in the mountain village right at the bottom of the slopes. It was unbelievable. I skiied for 3 days, and the weather was awesome. For two days, it was sunny and the temperature reached 45 degress (uncharacteristically warm for this time of the year). However, on Saturday evening, the snow started falling and didn't stop until Monday! It was beautiful. It snowed so much, and the temperature dropped, which made us feel right at home in Utah.

I split my time on the mountain skiing with other people, and skiing alone. I enjoy sharing the slopes and lift rides with other people, but there is just something about taking off and blazing my own trail alone. I loved it. It was so peaceful to ski alone, attacking the mountain terrain with just my thoughts. I was so happy and at peace. This kind of peace and happiness is special, because it wasn't in response to any certain circumstance. I was just happy to be, and happy with who I was and where I was, and who God had created me to be. There is something about being surrounded by God's majesty that brings me to a state of peace and happiness. It was beautiful to just exist in His glory and creation. I've got some pictures up on my website from the trip, check them out! UTAH PICTURES

Our worship times were great, even though they were late at night when everyone was tired. My pastor from Madison, Rick, came along for the trip and helped me lead worship. We started each night with a medly of "Oldies"...ranging from CCR to the Beatles. It was awesome. Our speaker was Chris Williams, from Texas, and he was great. I'm hoping to make a visit to Texas this summer for a tour!
I started a new book on the plane, and it's been very interesting. It's called "Between a Rock and A Hard Place" by Aron Ralston. In the book, Aron talks about living the dream...I feel like I'm doing just that...I'll leave you with a quote from his book that describes how I feel about my job! Happy New Year!

"I think it's better to be fiscally poor yet rich in experience--living the dream--than to be traditionally wealthy and live apart from one's passions."

I'll say Amen to that. Brad