Years back & Someone in front of you

5 and a half years ago I was so excited to move out of a dorm that most people on campus so kindly referred to as the 'Virgin Vault' and into an apartment downtown Holland with five of my closest friends. I was 19 (omigosh that's young). I wanted to be a journalist. And I had just taken the best course in my whole career as a student...learning from this guy.

Five and a half years ago I was working a summer job (thanks Dad!) for a manufacturing company inspecting small parts that would eventually be key components for car airbags. I had my nose pierced but I did not yet have a tattoo on my foot.


I went on a trip called Wilderness five and half years ago with 10 high school girls. I hopped on a bus and ended up in Colorado a day later in the middle of nowhere. This was the kind of trip where we carried everything on our backs including meals, pots and pans --we slept under the stars, ate our meals out of a 2-cup. The kind of trip where we shit in a hole -- the same hole everyone else in the group did and we didn't shower all week long while we hiked up a mountain.

(the kind of trip where you get to be in the middle of this beauty all day long)

I was a leader on this trip (along with another Young Life leader). A 19 year old college student with a couple guides and ten high school girls who complained all the way up and down the mountain. I was supposed to be the one to offer comfort and encouragement when they were throwing up from altitude poisoning or crying and wanting their mom on the second day when the guides went off in another direction in search of water. Hah. I wanted MY mom. I wanted to sit down and wait for someone in a motorized vehicle to come pick ME up and take me home. How was I supposed to be the support for these girls when I wasn't so sure I could hold myself together?

Sometimes it's hard to believe I ever did this (and survived). There are a lot of things I don't remember very clearly about this trip. But one thing I will never forget is the advice one of the guides offered us after day one. She told us this:

whenever you feel your pack getting heavy or your blisters on your feet are hurting -- whatever it is -- keep walking and pray for the person walking in front of you.

(our lovely guides who did eventually find us water & gave great advice)

She may have shared this with us because she was even more sick of the complaining than I was. And I'm not going to lie, I still heard a lot of complaints, and in my head I was still complaining, but it helped. It helped a little. And sometimes a little at a time really does go a long way.