The launch of a new exploit

Although it's nearly winter lets go cliff jumping!

This is officially my first piece of writing to ever air publicly on the internet. It's strange to be typing this after a few years now of just imagining it in my mind. I don't know about you but I can get lost up there sometimes, in my mind I mean, just daydreaming about all the wonderful things I could be doing. Before I know it I've gone through 10 careers, travelled europe, had children and eaten my favorite meal all within hours of a confined space in my brain. This may sound absolutely ridiculous but it's what happens, a lot. So why now?

Well first off, anyone who knows me is very aware that I write ALL the time. I have an absurd amount of hand written journals with tons of stuff that i'll never show anyone. Most of it is just conversations with God about life, basically it's for Him and me, but some of it could be for others, I suppose. I've decided that it's about time that I take pen to paper-turned into-fingers to keyboard and create a blog.

Secondly, I spent the afternoon at the ROM looking at the dead sea scrolls. Men spent years writing on paper that could have been destroyed had it not been preserved properly. Tucking their discoveries away in a safe place so people could uncover it thousands of years later and I can't start a blog with a built in security system + template. Really?

Thirdly, I'm currently in what would be the busiest part of my school year (studying International Development) and so naturally I am finding wonderful mini escapades to procrastinate. This happens to be one of those adventures or should I say misadventures. While traveling down this procrastination trail the other day, I realized Donald Millers new book was out, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (highly recommended). So I stayed up until way past my bedtime reading the first 9 chapters on google books. Naturally I had to purchase it the next day. One of the things he really focuses on is the aspect of story telling. He says that in a good story a character wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. Well I want to live a good story and for years now I have let the fear of putting my thoughts out there to all you people (wait I don't even have people yet..?) so just out there to be scrutinized, stop me from starting. I realize now just how silly this is but this fear managed to paralyze me until now! Isn't that the way it goes, we wrap ourselves in ropes of fear, attempting to ensure our safety but in the end we're just tied up, left wanting the thing we feared.

I guess I just don't want to be tied up, freedom is much nicer.

After a long process of deciding what to write about myself, the picture to use, the title to suit me....blahblahblah. Here it is. The funny thing is I will most likely fiddle around with this before getting it right, that's just how life goes. We try stuff, some stuff works, some doesn't, sometimes we fall, but when you know you don't have to lift yourself up alone after a splat, it's not scary to start moving, or jump in some cases. This is the start to God picking me up after quite a big fall. Sure I'm nervous, a bit scared, feeling a pinch vulnerable but it's exciting, it's new.

Just a few months ago I was in Maui and spent the afternoon on a private yacht with some close girlfriends of mine. About mid day I decided to swim out to big rock (it's this BIG ROCK in Lahaina) and jump off. I climbed to the top and once I was up there all the local boys were cheering me on but my heart was racing. It was my choice to jump, I didn't have to, no one was making me do it but something inside me just wanted it. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it if I looked forward, so I turned my head looked at the boys behind me and just walked off. It was a rush but the impact shocked my body. Of course I climbed back up to go for another dip. For some reason though it was harder the second time. I don't know if it was the anticipation, knowing what was coming and that it wasn't exactly comfortable or if cliff jumping is always just a little unnerving. Either way I would do it again in a second but if I had of kept my ropes on their would have been no way for me to swim back to the top of the water once I'd jumped.

I say cut off your ropes of fear and in the words of Barcelona:

"Get up I need you!"
The world needs you...