Photoshop your life away?

A cover photo for Intelligent Life magazine caused a small stir recently because it dared the unthinkable: show a celebrity's actual face. Cate Blanchett, 42, appears on the cover in little makeup, her smile lines and wrinkles un-retouched. She looks less like an Hollywood star and more like a dignified human being, like someone you might see drinking tea at a neighborhood...

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/03/28/the-satanic-ideology-of-photoshop/

To Kill a Mockingbird.

 

I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.

If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other?

If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other?

E.B.C.'s Trek Goals!

Our team’s goal is to raise at least $100,000 to support TEF in their efforts to expand their Respite, Retreat, and Reach programs. They seek to grow here in North America, as well as internationally, particularly in parts of the world where the disabled are marginalized, neglected, even abused. Our goal is to find 20 people to accept the EBC Trek challenge, including two disabled team members.

Each team member is asked to raise a minimum of $10k. A percentage of that money will cover trip expenses and the remainder of the money will go directly to the foundation.

Any trek requires effort. Trekking high altitudes in the Himalayas requires determination. Trekking with a disability requires everything TEF stands for, including and especially a thriving spiritual and physical life, not to mention the support of people around them. Our primary goal is to raise money for TEF. But as stated in our Trek Vision, we’re also motivated by a desire to display God’s glory through the lives of the disabled by completing a challenge that most would find intimidating if not impossible – disabled or not.

Excerpt taken from: http://trek4tef.com/join-the-e-b-c-trek/

When I became a personal trainer, I envisioned myself instructing healthy, athletic individuals. As it turned out, the people who needed me were mostly unfit, unassured, depressed, unassertive, unhealthy or physically disabled. These are the people who are easily ignored, and usually desperate for encouragement. They are the people who need assistance to get out of a wheelchair, or perhaps just need someone to talk to.

I was fortunate to befriend so many gems that I otherwise overlooked. Life will always present us with opportunity to be "trainers". Just grab hold of it!

There is no passion to be found

in settling for a life

that is less than the one

you are capable of living. 

- Nelson Mandela

Chris' mountaineering website V-E

http://www.vertical-endeavour.com/

Note to the Dreamer

Vertical-endeavor has a vision. What’s our vision? To see people pursuing their dreams - big or small!  We are also excited to highlight those adventurers who are out to change the world, because we believe in you and the power of your dreams!

What date is burned into your memory?  Many people impacted by disability can tell you the day it started. It is the day the child was born, or the diagnosis was made, or the accident occurred, or the virus attacked the body.  And God already knew it....That’s helpful when the days are hard because of disability. He knows, and He has a purpose. 

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/when-god-launched-a-new-ministry

Perhaps for you, trekking to Everest Base Camp is a “bucket list” opportunity. Or, maybe it’s an entirely new and exciting idea. Either way, GIVE IT PURPOSE and trek for The Elisha Foundation. In March of 2013 twenty adventurers will support The Elisha Foundation (TEF) by trekking from Lukla, Nepal to Everest Base Camp at the foot of the highest mountain in the world. This team, including two able bodied disabled participants, will push themselves to trek 16 days to more than 18,000 feet to raise money for TEF’s ministry to the disabled community and their families.

Throughout the world, the perceived worth of those with disabilities is rooted in his or her ability to contribute to society. With this common error in human evaluation often comes marginalization and restricted access to the very resources that could greatly improve a disabled person’s ability to develop and live a fuller life. In many countries, the extra resources needed to facilitate physical, cognitive, social, and intellectual development for disabled individuals is not available, leaving them very little opportunity to succeed.

In trekking to Everest Base Camp, we have the opportunity to display the glory and the sovereignty of God in the lives of the disabled. We believe that those with disabilities have been created in the image of God, just as those without. We desire to show God’s glory as our disabled participants climb these mountain trails, just as they navigate the sometimes treacherous paths of their disability. What a testament of the infinite value of those with disabilities to the cultures of the world who find little to no worth in the disabled!

Vertical Endeavour is about a passion for mountains. It is about walking in them, climbing them, appreciating them, looking after them, respecting them. We also appreciate the Creator who formed them, leaving in them his fingerprints, and for giving us the capacity to enjoy them.

We cannot convince anyone of the emotions and thoughts that well up within us when we stand on a mountain summit or study its form from below. We cannot convince anyone of why we climb them and find so much joy in being among them.

  

We can perhaps say that there is something of the Creator's fingerprint in all of us, something which makes us aware of something greater and deeper than meets the eye. Something beyond money, careers and the business of our world. We look for significance, for adventure, for something that brings the feeling of life rushing through us. We even like a little danger to provoke us to ponder about what's really essential to life. To ponder why we are and who we are.

For us this quest expresses itself in the pursuit of a mountain summit, though we realise that ultimately there is nothing but emptiness to be found there. Rather, the pursuit of mountains reflects a much deeper journey, one in which everything points back to the Creator in whom alone our lives have context.

We also appreciate the comraderie, the companionship that forms with others that share our joy. We are grateful that we are not alone in this. We love how the mountains can bond diverse people together in a common quest to survive and to reach a goal. Thanks to all our friends that we've had the privilege to hike and climb with over the years. It's another reason why we do it.

Our hearts go out to under-privileged people, especially those that live in the mountains. Vertical Endeavour is also about caring for these people and about finding ways of assisting them. We believe that those that live in the mountains should also benefit from them and have the ability to utilize and care for them in a sustainable manner.

Mountains provide an excellent place for education. We support programmes and charities in which people from all walks of life can be taken into the mountains in order to learn more about themselves, nature, leadership, team building or life. We also support initiatives to raise funds for selected charities through organised events in the mountains.

hello darling...

Wedding in South Africa