Everyone loves music.

Headbands. Tonny was our connection with the wonderful church in Guatemala. He's my hero. Be praying for him, his wife, and his first baby boy that was born just days after we left.

Watching the game.

Calling out formations. They were so much better than me.

A day of new shoes and smiles.

A huge thank you to all who decided to "walk good" along side me in Guatemala.
You built churches, shared meals with those needing to be encouraged, delivered food to mountain dwelling communities, played soccer with kids longing for smiles and attention, buried Bibles (I'll explain later), led worship and devotionals, delivered shoes, led VBS, and were the literal hands and feet of Christ.
Also, you changed me. Thank you for providing the environment for new growth.

Throwing luggage on the van.

Starting the first wall.

Juandi getting beat up by Hervin.

Connection.

Watching the ducks.

Val and the girls. One of my favorite parts of the trip was having the privilege of leading worship at the church with Valerie.

No skills.

Getting megged.

My best pal loving his new kicks.

Goodbye, Machu Picchu.
A great adventure.
The way to do it is the Inca Trail.
The hike leading up to the ruins adds so much to the viewing experience.
Next year...Bolivian jungle here we come.


Goodbye, hostel.
We were completely spent, but that is how we knew we did it right.

The first glance of the old Machu Picchu.

Directionally challenged.

Covered windows.

New life.

Sliding.

The temple.

The whole crew.

Really siked.

Spotty beard.

Johnny, Clemy, Ad, and I on the 68 terrace agricultural ruin.

Where's David? David was our guide on the trip.

Stages.

Hiking pals.

Ups.

The descent.

"Bro...we made it."

There were hundreds of these at every high point and some of them have been there for hundreds of years.

So I was chilling on this deserted island the other day...
Really I was. I went kayaking up on Lake Keowee and ended up finding an amazing camping spot on an island after a few hours of paddling.
However, the reason I write isn't to tell you about the color-blasted sunset or the early morning rain, but to highly recommend a book I just finished while I was there.
If you want your energy to be refreshed, your perspective to be altered, your heart to be convicted, your life to be made more exciting, your wants to be inspected, and your faith to be true and deep...read "Radical" by David Platt.

At the end of the book he recommends taking a Radical Experiment for a year.
The experiment consists of following through with these five things and seeing how your life changes because of them.
-Pray for the entire world.
-Read through the entire Word.
-Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose.
-Spend time in another context.
-Commit to a multiplying community.

I'm trying the experiment and I'm asking myself some tough questions.
God, may I stay committed to you and this experiment.
"Just bend me."

I was in Peru and they don't really celebrate the day of the US independence.
So I didn't get my fireworks this year.
Actually, the extent of it was Adam saying to me while laying in our tent, "Hey dude, it's the 4th of July."
I mumbled from within my sleeping bag, "Go America." Then we didn't say another word and just went to sleep.

However, I saw something better than fireworks. I saw what is beyond the fireworks every time we look up in amazement at them.
Stars.
More than I have ever seen.

I took a picture but it turned out to be an awfully wimpy representation.
So just go look for yourself sometime.

I highly recommend a lay down and look up get-away.

Much needed rest.

Victory.

Zipping white light beams.

Up above.

Monday night was a night of celebration.
My Grandmother, my Dad, and I all have birthdays within a few days of each other so it is a regular practice gather and share a three-fold birthday bash. Where the number of years we are celebrating may be spread out, we all party just the same.

Quick side note...the best homemade ice cream results come if you add crushed Oreos into the vanilla mix while it is still churning.

Do whatever it takes to celebrate life with your family.
There was a moment that evening, while sitting on the couch in my parents living room and laughing about my granddad's "Eighty-and-Out" health care solution, that I realized this celebration of life would one day end in it's earthly form.
However, it would also, after a short delay, extend heavenly in maybe just the same way, over ice cream and pasta, never to conclude.


Guatemala stories and pictures coming soon.

The Incas believed that hiking the trail built by their own hands was a way to get close to the gods. God knows it brought me closer to Him.

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu:


And so it begins.
Our first site of Inca ruins.


The river that directed our hike for the entire first day.


One of the Quechua people. This guy was carrying 60lbs. on his back and running up the stone stairs. He stopped just long enough to smile for the picture.


The jungle section of the trek. All stairs. All the time. We hiked for four hours straight up on the stone path laid by the Incas centuries before.


A much enjoyed lunch half way up to Dead Woman's Pass.

"In the end, a Spartan's true strength is the warrior next to him. So give respect and honor to him, and it will be returned to you."

"Stelios: It's an honor to die at your side.
Leonidas: It's an honor to have lived at yours."

"Xerxes: It isn't wise to stand against me, Leonidas. Imagine what horrible fate awaits my enemies when I would gladly kill any of my own men for victory.
King Leonidas: And I would die for any one of mine."
-300


Though our battles may look different, the strategies for victory are still the same.