This month's adventure brings us once again to the Texas Hill country. Our main activity was Zip Lining and if you've never tried it, YOU'RE MISSING OUT! The morning started out with the boys cooking their breakfasts, free time and then about an hour drive to the zip-lining facility. The boys did a great job with their breakfast as far as I could tell. My job was to secure my own camp gear, my lunch and prepare myself for the drive and zip line to follow.
The drive was longer than I expected, but we were still early by quite a bit. Nestled amongst the Towering Cypress Trees of the Texas Hill country, it was awesome. They had basketball, volleyball, and a small pond with row boat to keep you occupied until it was your groups turn. The boys split themselves into fun groups, some playing basketball on the twelve foot high goal. Yes Kobe would have had to jump to dunk on this goal. The height of the goal made the game of basketball even more rewarding...when they may a basket it was a major feat. Another group of boys played volleyball, which was pretty standard except for the ball going into the woods and rolling into cactus or other thorny bushes. The boys had fun and that made the wait go by faster.
When it was my groups turn we entered the equipment room and the staff converged on us like ants to candy. Clicking, tightening, strapping, clamping. Don't ask me the pieces of hard wear, all I know for sure is that something was hooked to me; I was given gloves (nothing special) and a helmet. Was I in danger of hitting my head on something...oh, yeah.......THE GROUND FROM 60 FEET UP!! I'm glad to report I didn't get to test out my helmet. We went to ground school where they showed us what we were going to be doing, but at the ground level. We then went up the tower and it was time for some zipping. We had a couple of things we had to do, but for the most part the staff clicked us in and told us when to go. They would click in our pulley devise and then click some type of safety clamp, I'm guessing to catch you if the pulley broke or gave way, and let's face it we were zipping on steel cables and I'm pretty confident they would NEVER break...I was rightJ
So our activity was six zipping stations where we were clamped in to glide along a cable, we would then reach a platform which reminded the boys of the Ewoks from the movie Return of the Jedi. We would have a brief moment where we were on the platform being clicked from one area to another where we were no attached to safety equipment. The staff did a great job of keeping us on track and moving, with little time to be unconnected or unfocused. I think in life we need to hold tight to our lifeline, our core values and for some of us our Christian values. We all have our safety equipment to keep us from falling, but from time to time we are not connected and how will we respond? Can we go it alone? Can we truly survive without counsel, guidance, a helping hand, or the safety equipment? The answer is NO. Don't get me wrong some of us will muddle thru for a time, but at some point we ALL have to click back in and follow our Core values or Christian values if you will. We all will be challenged in our lifetime to zip along, that's the easy part, coasting thru life. That's where we don't have to think, we don't have to act, and it is being done for us. But when we are in hot water we will all revert to our core. A wise man once said, you don't know how good the tea bag is--until you put it in boiling water and see what comes out. Sweet tea, bitter tea, bland tea, it all goes back to the core.
I enjoyed my zip lining adventure among the giant cypress trees of the Texas hill country, but more important I hope that I am supporting those that need support, sometimes even when they don't realize it. A clamp here, a strap, there and a helmet I hope never gets to be tested. And the tea, well it tastes GREAT!
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