Real conversations on topics that are difficult, or uncomfortable, or divisive are hard to have. Avoidance is so much easier than real discussion, Partly because we are afraid of how the conversation itself will affect our community. Partly because we know some topics are so complex that there is no one answer that satisfies everyone, therefore it feels risky to talk about it because unless we all bring our “A Game” and listen well and choose our words perfectly, someone’s going to feel unheard. Someone’s going to be upset. People begin to feel like there is a right and a wrong and start seeing who’s on “their side” and who is not. I get it. Avoidance seems much the healthier option in some cases.
However, very soon, our denomination, the United Methodist Church, will have an excruciatingly difficult conversation on the topic of human sexuality. Specifically, whether or not the church will ordain people who are gay, lesbian and LBGTQ+, whether ordained clergy can perform same sex weddings, etc.
We’ve supposedly been having a conversation as a denomination every four years at our General Conference since 1972 when language was introduced into the polity of the United Methodist Church (The Book of Discipline which is our book of order and organization). Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult and painful for our denomination to discuss this globally.. In 2016, it looked like our United Methodist delegates and representatives from across the globe were going to have the same conversation in the same ugly and divisive way, but this time we called a time out. We asked our leadership to help us find a different way to try to make decisions about the complex topic of human sexuality honoring perspectives spanning multiple continents with many cultural contexts and different interpretations of Holy Scripture.
The Commission on a Way Forward was made up of 32 United Methodists from across the globe.
As a result, our denomination is having a specially called General Conference next year (February 23-26, 2019 in St. Louis, MO) to discuss only this one topic. At the request of our 2016 General Conference, our Bishops called for a Commission on A Way Forward to look at this request and find a different way for our denomination to respond to it compared to our sister mainline denominations that have all divided over this topic. United Methodism is the last remaining “umbrella” denomination that holds multiple perspectives all together. Our Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran brothers and sisters and several others have had this difficult conversation and ended up dividing in some way or another. Because this is a very difficult conversation.
Honestly, to say the issues simply include the ordination of men and women who are LGBTQ+, whether our clergy can perform same sex weddings and whether churches can have same sex weddings on their grounds is a simplification of complex theological and social debate with deeply, honestly held points of view on all sides.
The Commission on a Way Forward is recommending 2 Plans for consideration for our denomination and our Council of Bishops added a third option for General Conference to consider. These are 3 different ways that the church can consider as a global response to how our denomination might move forward talking about human sexuality and our church. They are the One Church Plan, The Connectional Conference Plan, and the Traditionalist Plan.
Some churches have been talking about and preparing for this conversation for a while now. Most of our churches in Western North Carolina are just now learning about what is around the corner. Boone UMC falls into this latter category. That is because this is hard for us to talk about. Our churches are not all in agreement about the best way forward. And yet our denomination is at a crossroads in which we are being asked to make some decisions and consider some possibilities that are forcing our churches to have a conversation most would rather avoid. And the truth is, no one knows how this will go in February. No one.
So at Boone UMC we are going to have 2 opportunities to have some conversation and to learn about the three proposed plans the General Conference will be considering in February. Join us on either Sunday, November 11 from 2-4 PM or Wednesday, November 14 from 6-8 PMin the Family Life Center as we practice having difficult conversations with one another and as we learn about what is going to happen next February.
I will close by saying that my prayer these past several months is that Boone UMC would be a place where we can have these difficult conversations with one another and we can go into them knowing that we will not all agree with one another on this complex topic, but that somehow we can be ok with that variety of perspectives. It is ok to disagree. How we live into that disagreement, and what it looks like may very well matter more. I pray that we can remember that our ultimate purpose is to be about God’s Kingdom work and that our mission is to Love our Community and Invite All to Discover Life in Christ. That dividing ourselves over this one topic weakens our church, not strengthens it. That before we were in any position to have to decide on one plan or another, we have worked well loving God and loving our neighbor in spite of having different perspectives within. Can we not find a way to continue to do so together. That is my fervent prayer. We will not all agree with one another. But we all love Jesus. We all love one another. And we long for community where all are welcomed because ALL of us need Jesus in our lives for a multitude of reasons.
A girl can dream. A girl can hope. A girl can pray.
I have been pondering for over a week now so many reflections resulting from the public discourse of recent current events. Being in a new appointment and not being sure if people can separate spiritual and moral conversation from political it is tricky choosing my words. However, being a woman listening to some of the discourse and not reacting has been so very difficult given my instinctual reactionary tendencies. Feeling the heaviness in my heart as I watched the pain and fearful discomfort of Dr. Blasey-Ford and the anger and frustration of Judge Kavanaugh discuss intimately personal details of their life was painful for me.
What I will say loud and clear is that it takes courage for a victim of sexual assault and abuse to speak their stories and I have known listened to my share of women for whom this was their reality and most were never able to tell their truth for fear of the consequences from those around them. This is real. This is not an assault on young men everywhere. It is an unusual season in which women’s voices are being heard in ways they haven’t been historically. Please, let us be people of empathy and compassion that recognize there are so many voices and experiences that have not been heard through the years because of power structures and dominance by fear and dismissal. I am sure there are women and even some men in your very circles of life and influence that have stories they have not been able to share because they are unsure if it is safe space.
But that’s not what I really want to focus on today. I have been keeping my own emotional temperature this past week and I do not like how it has been rising with the volume of the political and emotional rhetoric around me. So I have been thinking about how to best personally respond to this for my own spiritual and emotional health. This week has brought me a series of quotes that I believe begin to form a theme. In the battle to determine who is right and who is wrong in a “he said”, “she said”, “I believe her”, “I believe him” ping-pong public dialogue, I finally realized I had to step back and turn the volume down around me. I know what I believe. I know what I long to hear for in our public leaders. I know ultimately what is right and wrong morally in the choices we make. But I also know that at any given time, I could be wrong.
Interestingly enough our theme for this coming Sunday is on humility as part of creating healing connections within our relationships with others. A church member sent me a reminder of a quote from Augustine that resonated with my reflections for this blog.
“If you ask me what is the essential thing in the religion and discipline of Jesus Christ, I shall reply: first, humility; second, humility; and third, humility.” (cited from Augustine’s Letters 118)
When we dial down our own volume a bit and approach things from a place of humility, we are in a much better place to hear and be heard, I believe. As a reminder, humility as Christ and the early church understood it was not a sense of being a doormat groveling before God or others. Instead Dr. Roberta Bondi talks about it more as our ability to accept our limitations, imperfections and vulnerabilities while also accepting that we are valuable in God’s eyes. We don’t have to prove our accomplishments and earn high status in God’s or society’s eyes in order to have self-worth. With that in mind, we realize it’s not about perfection – our own or someone else’s. We are all struggling to work life out. I don’t know exactly what this means for Blasey Ford or for Kavanaugh and our political leaders, but I only have control over myself. This helps me better make sense of what I am feeling, thinking and the choices I am able to make.
But the unsettled way I have been feeling this week has concerned me. What if I digress to the level of some of the anger and rancor I have been listening to and make poor choices in my own actions and reactions to all of this? What if I let it create a dark cloud over my heart that slowly but surly starts calcifying? Then I stumbled across this powerful quote that reminded me of a defense that I have at my fingertips. One of the Desert Fathers from the early Christian times shared this teaching.
The nature of water is soft, that of stone is hard; but if a bottle is hung about the stone, allowing the water to fall drop by drop, it wears away the stone. So it is with the word of God; it is soft and our heart is hard, but the [one] who hears the word of God often, opens his[or her] heart to the fear of God.” Abba John from Sayings
Abba John’s point is that the constant trickle of Jesus over my life slowly and consistently reminds me that love is the most important thing. That God commanded us to love God and love neighbor. If we do those two things, the rest falls into place. When I feel anger – even righteous anger which is not necessarily a bad thing, I will not let it turn my heart to stone but will let the powerful life-giving water shape and mold me. And when the rhetoric gets too loud, I must turn the volume down.
Dripping water carves out rock.
One of our staff members led devotions this week and he helped us think about changing the channel internally so the background noise in our life can be God’s Word and teachings. If we let that Living Water drip constantly over our lives then we hopefully have enough stored up within to make this doable.
“The reason you can proclaim the Word is because you have it stored up within you. It is the background noise of your life. When the trials come you can just turn up the volume.” -Crawford Loritts
While I am craving to turn down the volume of the negative, hurtful, loud and often dismissive voices of our current times, I am reminded that if I change the channel, I can turn up the volume of the love of Christ internally. I can sing to the top of my lungs, as I have been known to do in my car, a song of love that overcomes hatred. I recently started a trial of satellite radio for a few months and finally set my stations from the hundreds of choices. It is pure joy to sing the songs of the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s while dialing down the talk radio, news and noise that I realized was weighing heavy on my spirit. Through my daily devotion and Scripture reading, I can increase the volume of the best voices in my life and protect my heart and my spirit from this storm that is raging around me.
I hope that if you are feeling the weight of the rhetoric that you, too can turn the volume down and let the Living Water drip a consistent reminder of our loving Jesus into your life. And that Jesus can remind us all how we should be caring for and treating one another- quite simply with humility and love.
Grace and Peace,
Lory Beth
PS. For those who were at church on Sunday, “I am brave enough to…” write this blog!
First of all, this blog is not about the huge church bazaar that is taking place as I type in literally every nook and cranny of our church property explicitly. It’s more about the importance of having events and opportunities in our life that bring focus and fellowship, meaning and missional purpose. The Fall Bazaar is a perfect example of that. Now to be clear, I have never in my life seen an operation quite like this. I’ve seen large yard sales, I’ve seen large rummage sales, I’ve seen silent auctions, but nothing to the scope and scale of this thing. 250 volunteers have worked in some capacity to make this happen. I don’t have any idea how many volunteer hours. And the miracle-working I witnessed was amazing. I hauled in boxes and boxes of smelly, dirty junk on Sunday afternoon. Each day I was amazed at how our volunteers cleaned, polished, glued, displayed (and yes, wisely selected items to make their way to the dumpster as appropriate) until we had treasures priced to sell every where you looked!
But what was more impressive to me was how important this event and this week’s work is to those who make it happen. You see, this is more than a massive fundraiser for missions and debt reduction at our church. It’s more than an opportunity for folks to clean out their closets at home. It’s even more than an opportunity to provide helpful stuff to folks in our community who love or need to find a bargain.
This was also a powerful opportunity to get to know church members better. Let’s face it, when you are elbow deep in someone else’s donated shoes or clothes, you are going to have interesting conversation with the other folks assigned to your “department” for the week as you prepare your items for display. With everyone wearing name tags for one solid week at the church, people kept commenting how this was the moment they began to actually get to know the people they worshipped with all year-long. By spending concentrated time together working on the same ultimate project, everyone feels united and part of a team. And especially for those who are retired (which are most of the volunteers through the week because they have the time to give to such a massive project) it was a beautiful opportunity to see all of their various gifts in motion. Having purpose and meaning in their life when many spent years being in charge and responsible in a variety of professional careers but discovering in retirement that their roles change dramatically. It is so important to be needed. This week reminded me of that lesson.
That was my favorite part. Seeing the rainbow of gifts that God has given to all the different people who make up our church on display was magnificent. People with the gift of leadership organizing and mobilizing everyone. People with the gift of hospitality just chatting and welcoming folks onto the campus today. People with the gift of administration handling the money and the behind the scenes details that make this work like a well oiled machine. People with retail experience marketing items by displaying them so beautifully. People with the gift of helps simply offering their time and helping hands willing to do whatever was asked of them. Strong people doing some heavy lifting with picking up furniture. Extroverted people seeking gift cards for the silent auction. Cooks offering their best kitchen creations for sale (of which my husband and I are enjoying!). You get the idea. It was the Body of Christ in motion for a solid week.
So as inconvenient as it has been to not have a single meeting space to have meetings other than my office. As odd as it is to not have any of our small groups or programs this week when most churches are cranking up fall programming. As exhausting as this week is for so many of our church members and their friends as they spend far more hours at the church than they are used to! The benefits outweigh the pain. It reminds me of what our guide said while we were on Kilimanjaro. While we are on the mountain it’s hard to breathe, it’s cold, we sleep on the ground with rocks underneath us and on a significant incline, we have headaches and sore muscles but somehow after we get down off the mountain we forget all of that. We only remember the beautiful vistas, the exhilaration of the accomplishment, the beauty of nature and before long, we find ourselves on another mountain. Then we remember that it’s hard to breathe and sleep and we ask ourselves why did we want to do this? The good usually always outweighs the inconvenient. And because it is important to us, we do it all over again!
Don’t underestimate the power of having a unified purpose or cause. Don’t underestimate the power of feeling needed and valued. And in the life of the church or any organization, it’s important for people to spend time with each other getting to know one another and having fun. This is not rocket science. But it’s amazing how often we forget these basic but important lessons in community.
Maybe your church or organization needs to put on a super big project like a Bazaar! If so, I know some experts you can call that will give you some helpful tips.
What does one do after the exhilarating but exhausting experience of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro? 3 days of Safari of course! What an exciting opportunity to explore the amazing animals of Africa. Standing up in the safari vehicles with the wind in your hair (and the dust in your teeth!) binoculars at hand waiting to see what animal is around the next corner. Our drivers, Edson and Ibrahim, were amazing, keeping an eye on the bumpy road while keeping an eye out for animals hiding in trees and tall grass.
This was my second time on safari in Africa (the first followed a medical mission trip in Kenya in 2009). Growing up in Asheboro, home of the N.C. Zoo where we developed one of the earlier natural boundary habitats, the first animals were from Africa. I’ve always loved these animals. But to see them in their natural environment is powerful. As I’ve said before, even the birds of Africa have the most magnificent feather colors. Our birds look shabby compared to the Lilac Breasted Roller or the King Fisher or my favorite- the Superb Starling.
We visited three different National Parks and by end of day 2 here were our highlights:
-Monkeys, monkeys everywhere! Baboons jumping on our hood, blue monkeys peering into our top, and black faced monkeys watching from a distance.
-One of my favorites are the giraffes. So tall and gangly but with the sweetest eyes and long eye lashes. I love their faces.
-Packs of zebras where multiple times they were right beside our car eating grass or trying to figure out how to cross the road. Each zebra’s stripes are different so everyone one of them are beautiful, unique creations by God. As hard as I tried I never could get one to bark (our safari drivers work for Barking Zebra Tours!)
-The elephants were wonderful to watch. We saw several babies hanging close to their mamas. So big and powerful yet they spend 18 hours a day eating up to 300kg grass a day! We never saw one not eating!
-Wildebeests or Gnus were in abundance. This was a first for me as they had migrated last time I was here. Some say these animals were designed by committee because they are so unusual looking and have characteristics from the buffalos, zebra, lion, and gazelles! I kind of liked their mushed and fuzzy faces and weird shapes bodies.
Wildebeast and zebras hanging together at the water hole
-The lions were spectacular- one day we saw 26 lions scattered throughout the reserve!
So this lioness walked right beside our car- I switched to video which I will share later. Amazing!
-Of course we saw a variety of the gazelles and impala. We saw lots of ugly little Pumbaas (warthogs)! We saw Cape Buffalo and hippos and jackals and mongoose and hyenas.
-We saw one lone rhino from a distance
It was the last day when we were one short of the Big 5. These are the hardest animals for a human to hunt on foot. They are the Cape Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, Lion and the Leopard. We were on a furious search for a leopard or even a cheetah that had alluded us so far. I’d been looking up in trees far from the truck for 3 days! Our drivers got word over their cb that there was a leopard sighting and were zooming across the reserve when our first vehicle in front of mine came to an unexpected grinding halt. Sure enough as we came up behind them to our immediate left was a male leopard sitting up in a tree right next to the road. It was early morning and he was scoping out the swamp area for breakfast- some lone animal coming to the swamp for a morning drink. But it was skittish and we had spooked it. It was showing its teeth and hissing like an upset house cat! For a second I thought it was going to leap from the limb into our vehicle! Instead it quickly climbed down the tree, gave us one last hiss and wondered over towards the swamp himself. All we could see was his tail sticking up like a periscope moving through the tall grass. It was a lucky, lucky site to catch a leopard on the move! Not only that, 20 minutes later we found another leopard lounging in a tree further from the road. We needed binoculars to view her bathing and resting on a tree limb. Wow, our lucky day!!!
We also sadly saw a zebra that had been taken down by some lions and the vultures were cleaning up the carcass. By the time we drove back by that same spot only 16 hours later there was nothing but a rib cage and bones remaining! Efficient food economy on the Tarangire reserve!
Always grateful to see the variety and interconnectedness of God’s creation right before my eyes. The beauty and quirkiness of each unique species. The variety of colors and patterns of hides. The different strengths and vulnerabilities the animals exhibit. How often we saw most of the animals cluster together (not including the big cats, of course!) sharing the same turf and grazing from the same plants. Giraffes eat up high. Wildebeests eat the medium grass and the Zebra graze close to the ground. The Impala hang around the edges nibbling on anything. Elephants pass through grabbing anything green their trunks can grab hold of. They’ve figured out to get along in spite of their differences. Sure wish we humans could manage to figure this out as well.
As I head to the airport and prepare to close out this amazing chapter in my life I’m feeling grateful. Grateful to be coming home. Although home is a new place for me, I have thought often of Boone and missed it terribly. And that made me feel more settled than I realized I actually was. I’m grateful for new friends from various parts of the US. I’m feeling grateful for good andkind people all over the world who share this amazing planet we live on. To look at our world only through the “American” lens is a huge mistake. We are not the biggest and the best. We are one among many as I heard voices from around the world climbing Kili and going on Safari. I’m grateful for showers and beds with mattresses. I’m grateful for my dear husband who when I was feeling far from home texted me words of encouragement. I love my sweet Greg. I’m grateful for God’s great big world and the reminder that I’m just one small part of a big, beautiful plan. And finally I’m grateful for the many lessons learned on this adventure. And I for the ones I haven’t even figured out or recognized yet.
How do you climb to the top of a really tall mountain? One small step at a time. And that is literally true. The Swahili phrase said over and over is Pole Pole (Po-lay) and it means slow or little by little. I learned this when I was in Kenya several years ago. East Africans approach many things in this way. But it has a whole new meaning to me now because it originated from the Mt. Kilimanjaro approach- small, slow steps. The Tanzanian Guides would observe our hiking technique and advise us to take smaller steps. Dave Hahn, our experienced American Guide, would tell us if we are taking a large step causing us to really reach with our legs then we probably missed a small step in between. Taking large steps uses lots of muscle and energy that you will need later, higher up the mountain. The more energy you can conserve on the easier parts the more gas you have in the tank for later. They were always looking at the end game and not just that day’s hike.
We spent 5 days hiking around this massive mountain in order to try and prepare for summit day. Part of that was to try and sleep as many nights at high altitude as we could fit in. 5 nights into it and we were as ready as we could be in such limited time. Interestingly enough we were told to bring Diamox, a medicine to help fight altitude sickness. Everyone I knew who climbed Kili had taken it. Dave said taking it prophylacticly was old school medicine and that modern climbing medicine protocol was wait and see how you feel and use breathing techniques first to get rid of a headache. Then use Advil. Then if symptoms persist start taking the Diamox. So I never took a single pill.
The other 5 hikes we did were nothing compared to summit day. We did an alpine start so we finished dinner by 6:30, crawled in bed around 7:00 PM. Some people actually slept but most of just rested until 11:30 PM. Then we got up, ate a light breakfast, and hit the trail about 12:45 AM. We started walking straight up with Naimen as our lead guide. We were all in a perfect row behind him stepping in time with each other, pressure breathing together. We walked about an hour and 20 minutes and then stopped for a break. About 2:15 AM we started again. The wind was picking up at this point and since it was still dark outside we were using headlamps but obviously did not have our sunglasses on. It was sometime during this walk that I began to notice some blurry vision. Once again my right eye looked like someone poured a glass of milk into it. Slowly my vision in my right eye got blurrier and blurrier until all I could see was the light of my head lamp but nothing specific on the ground. I hesitated telling Dave because I knew this was not going to go well but I finally called him over and shared what was going on. He told me to protect my eye from the wind. By this time it felt like the wind was blowing about 20-30 mph and it was really slow going for us. We should have made it to the summit by sunrise at 6:20AM but we were still hours away from the top.
Breaks are critical stops where we would quickly bundle up to keep from getting cold. We would eat some high calorie food and drink some water. We would use the bathroom on the side of the mountain if needed (at that high altitude most everything is slowing down so that was not an issue for me.) We took 4 breaks walking up the mountain and arrived at 9:00 AM to Stella Point which is the rim of the crater from where we approached the top. We then had an hour more hike to reach Uhuru Peak where we arrived at 10:00 AM.
This is an alpine start at 12:45 AM- ready for the mountain.
My problem at this point was my stupid eye had thrown me off my rhythm. I essentially climbed 2500″² on summit day with only one pole. At one point Dave told me if I didn’t protect my eye he would send me back down. I was having none of that. I handed him my right pole and held my right hand over my eye and used only one pole the rest of the way (a total of 5 more hours).
I was so glad when the sun came up because I was trying to keep my right eye out of the wind and was having a hard time seeing. I was not able to keep my typically military rhythm of rest stepping because my balance was off because of my altered depth perception and I was constantly adjusting to avoid the wind on my eye. So by the time we got to the top, I was more tired then I should have been. I had wasted more energy summiting than I would have normally. I still was feeling ok physically but my muscles were quickly fading.
Add to that it felt like I was moving in slow motion. My body kept moving but I didn’t have much control over my legs. With that strong wind, it was tough tagging the top. At one point Dave had me follow his steps to get me to the summit sign quicker. After taking our pictures I snapped a few more pics and then it was time to go. Because the ice channels on the top of the mountain were so tricky with the unusually high wind, Dave grabbed my hand and led me through the channels. He was moving fast and I was just focusing on keeping up with him!
Top of Kili- you can see the crater rim of the volcano
When we passed Stella Point and began our descent we were facing what is called volcanic scree. This is loose dirt and volcanic ash that you just slide through. Dave eventually grabbed my hand again and made me take giant steps to get me down faster. Apparently at this point most everyone was affected by the altitude in one way or another and Dave wanted us down as quickly as possible.
Dave eventually handed me off to one of my favorite native guides, Freddy. Freddy took my arm and just helped me walk faster down the mountain. So grateful for him!
Freddy ad Dave Hahn, my climbing angels!
To understand how fast we were going what took us 8 hours to go up earlier that day only took us 2 hours to go down! We were back in camp in no time packing up our stuff and having a quick brunch because believe it or not, we still had 4 more hours of downward hiking to go. Needless to say it was a quiet brunch and most of us barely felt like eating.
Off we went and 3.5 hours later at 4:30 we were cruising into our final campsite at 10,000 feet. Everyone felt much better regarding altitude side effects, just some sore muscles and lots of Advil! 12:45 AM start with a 4:30 PM finish involved 14.5 hours of the most difficult hiking I’ve ever done. Moving from snow and ice back down to tropical trees and high moisture was mind boggling! Needless to say I slept like a baby that night- 9 hours straight!
It was one of the physically hardest things I’ve ever done. Mentally I never thought once about stopping but there were moments when I just wasn’t sure I could will my body to do what it needed to do. But with some help, I accomplished the end goal.
Looking rough post climb but the T-shirt says it all regarding this climb!
Seeing the sunrise where the entire horizon turned a bright orange was beautiful. The joy of tagging the top was a lifetime memory our team will share. The sheer beauty in each of the eco-zones we traversed was magnificent all in one day! The feeling of accomplishment was satisfying in a profound way. The encouragement of others was life giving for all of us when we needed it most.
I give thanks for your prayer, your interest, and your curiosity about this experience. If you ever want to try high altitude adventures I strongly recommend using RMI to help you do it safely.
There is nothing that will ground your faith more than being on a serious mountain top and be reminded how magnificent our God is.
Have you ever had a life quest? Something you have wanted to do for a couple of years, or something you have thought about or worked towards for years? And have you ever completed said dream? I hope so. If you haven’t, sit down right now and mike a list and then pick something and work towards it, whether that is saving money to do something or planning the details, or physically training or intellectually studying something. Dream it. Explore it. Prepare for it. Do it. Life should have those ultimate experiences sprinkled through the years.
So one of mine happened this week. The first time the idea even creeped into my head was a couple on our Rainier climb in 2005 described their experience. Then after climbing Mt Rainier twice I thought I might try one other high peak. Which ultimately led me to this experience, at this time in my life with this particular climbing group. For me it was truly liminal in so many ways.
So here are several observations and my final point of reflection at the end.
⃠19,430′ is way higher than my previous height of 14,310′. My body felt it although I functioned fine until the summit.
⃠Acclimatization helps but when you are in anything above 10,000′ it is hard to breathe. The least amount of exertion and you are out of breath or a headache will onset.
⃠Pressure breathing is a technique of pushing out all of the air in your lungs and allows them to refill bringing in as much of the thin O2 as possible. This is the first line of defense towards altitude side effects.
⃠Living above the clouds for 5 days is indescribable. Looking down upon the clouds from camp each night was a humbling reminder of how small our worlds can become daily, even with massive amounts of connecting technology. If you love looking out your window in an airplane, this trip was living that perspective daily.
Barafu Hut camp above 13,000′ above even the clouds!
⃠Seeing the stars at night was even more spectacular! The Southern Hemisphere revealed the Southern Cross which can’t be seen from home. (Looks like a kite in the sky.) We saw four planets in the sky at one time which was amazing to me- Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus. The Milky Way was so vivid and stars actually twinkled since there was absolutely zero light pollution. Again, humbling.
⃠The down side to being so out in Mother Nature that happens to be the side of a mountain is nothing is level, including your tent. It took me until night 4 to figure out how to maneuver my stuff so I could push myself back up to the top of the tent in my sleeping bag!
My half of my tent. Home for 6 nights although it would be in s different camp each night. Always sloping downhill towards my feet
⃠Self inflating camping sleep pads work a lot better when you blow them up and actually tighten the cap. The first night I failed to do this and felt every rock underneath me. I bruised my hips from day one simply by being stupid. But it was one of many laughable incidents for me!
⃠When you have the right equipment and gear, you can manage the cold temperatures. I honestly never felt uncomfortably cold. However at night except at high camp we got hot water bottles to stuff in our sleeping bags. Oh my gosh was that an amazing gift.
⃠Barking Zebra was our local outfitter and Rainer Mountaineering, Inc was our climbing and trip organizer. We had 51 staff from Barking Zebra climb with a team of 11! They were amazing. 5 guides helped guide us up the mountain looking over us like shepherd dogs caring for their sheep. A team of 6 fed us- I’m sure I’ve actually gained weight the food was that good on the mountain, all prepared from one cooking tent that was picked up and hauled further up the mountain on several porter’s heads each day! And porter’s put our bags in water proof bags and hauled their stuff and ours up the hikes we made each day. They have a 50 pound limit by law.
⃠There were places on our hike where we were using two hands and scrambling around rock. It wasn’t horribly hard but when we saw the porters do this with 50 pounds of stuff on their heads and backs, it was mind boggling!
⃠While this ratio of support staff to climber seems excessive, these are good paying jobs into this economy and I was grateful for every bit of help we received.
⃠Going without a shower for a week feels and smells just as nasty as it sounds. It took three shampoo applications before my hair would lather. Do not take your showers/baths for granted!
⃠My hiking poles and hiking boots were the two best pieces of equipment I brought. No blisters from my awesome boots in spite of one day of 17 hours worth of hiking. And coming down was so very hard on my 48 year old knees. Poles helped soften the blow a bit.
⃠And finally, apparently my right eyeball does not like windy conditions. 2 out of 3 times of being in high altitudes my cornea has frozen. We had unusually windy conditions that made our ascent particularly difficult. Thankfully I felt physically strong but by the time we got to the top, I was in slow motion because my brain was a little out of it.
Our team summitinf! I’m on the first row on the far right. Orange parka
Just a word about the summit, I’ll write more later. 9 out of our 10 team members made it to the top. It was different from Rainier in that the final 45 minute hike from the crater rim of the ancient volcano to the highest peak was a walk through knee to waist high ice channels. It was a brutal haul in 35-40 mph wind gusts that could knock you into these ice walls. But it was at that moment that I felt this shedding of so much stuff in my life that has in recent times caused me to struggle internally. To look around on top of a mountain and feel almost triumphant was in a way liberating. But to become weepy when your tears freeze and your runny nose impedes your breathing is a little inconvenient!
But here’s the real catch in all of this. Two days before summit day as I was watching the most beautiful sunset I heard God say two things to me. First was very clearly, “You can do this.” However immediately followed by that was “But you can’t do it alone.” And that is exactly the way this went down. I did not climb Kilimanjaro. “We climbed Kilimanjaro.” And that “we” consists of my will and determination. It includes the 51 staff of Barking Zebra that fed, protected and provided places of rest for 6 nights and 7 days. It was the encouragement of my teammates. It was the specific assistance and guidance from my American guide, Dave Hahn. It was all of your prayers which I truly felt. It was the amazing encouragement from my amazing husband these past several months. All of this got me up that mountain and I’m deeply grateful and not too proud to admit that truth. Not “I” but “we”.
And the powerful lesson I learned from God once again is that I am not in this thing called life alone. Even when I’m surrounded by perfect strangers and I’m feeling homesick and alone, faraway from everyone I know and love. Even when I’m challenged to my physical limits. Even when I’ve come out of a difficult season of life where some people did not act kindly or trust worthy. Even when you are the sole one responsible for a given situation, whether its managing yourself on the side of a mountain or managing yourself in your family or work life, you do not have to go through this alone. God provides support to get you through whatever you are facing. Look for the “porter” in your life that is helping carrying your load. Especially over the craggy, rocky places so you can hold on with two hands. Look for the “guides” in your life that show you where to put your foot to take the next difficult step and that form a human wall at the tricky parts to make sure you feel secure. They are there. I promise. See them. Thank them. And know that God has said to us, we can do it. Just not alone. “We”, not “I”.
Grace and Peace,
Lory Beth
(PS. Tomorrow I will describe the summit day in more detail if you are interested. Now I must go sleep in a level bed with a mattress!!!)
We’ve supposedly been having a conversation as a denomination every four years at our General Conference since 1972 when language was introduced into the polity of the United Methodist Church (The Book of Discipline which is our book of order and organization). Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult and painful for our denomination to discuss this globally.. In 2016, it looked like our United Methodist delegates and representatives from across the globe were going to have the same conversation in the same ugly and divisive way, but this time we called a time out. We asked our leadership to help us find a different way to try to make decisions about the complex topic of human sexuality honoring perspectives spanning multiple continents with many cultural contexts and different interpretations of Holy Scripture.
This was also a powerful opportunity to get to know church members better. Let’s face it, when you are elbow deep in someone else’s donated shoes or clothes, you are going to have interesting conversation with the other folks assigned to your “department” for the week as you prepare your items for display. With everyone wearing name tags for one solid week at the church, people kept commenting how this was the moment they began to actually get to know the people they worshipped with all year-long. By spending concentrated time together working on the same ultimate project, everyone feels united and part of a team. And especially for those who are retired (which are most of the volunteers through the week because they have the time to give to such a massive project) it was a beautiful opportunity to see all of their various gifts in motion. Having purpose and meaning in their life when many spent years being in charge and responsible in a variety of professional careers but discovering in retirement that their roles change dramatically. It is so important to be needed. This week reminded me of that lesson.
to not have any of our small groups or programs this week when most churches are cranking up fall programming. As exhausting as this week is for so many of our church members and their friends as they spend far more hours at the church than they are used to! The benefits outweigh the pain. It reminds me of what our guide said while we were on Kilimanjaro. While we are on the mountain it’s hard to breathe, it’s cold, we sleep on the ground with rocks underneath us and on a significant incline, we have headaches and sore muscles but somehow after we get down off the mountain we forget all of that. We only remember the beautiful vistas, the exhilaration of the accomplishment, the beauty of nature and before long, we find ourselves on another mountain. Then we remember that it’s hard to breathe and sleep and we ask ourselves why did we want to do this? The good usually always outweighs the inconvenient. And because it is important to us, we do it all over again!
