what i learned about life on the high ropes

Last weekend Aqua went on a retreat. It was a blast. Man, I love those guys. We stayed up way late on Friday night and got up early on Saturday to head out to take on a high-ropes course.

High ropes is a challenging, team-building, personal-development activity consisting of ropes elements and obstacles usually 30 to 40 feet above the ground.

This was my third time to do a high-ropes course. It's scary...and fun...[kinda]. The thing I love most about the high ropes course are the lessons I learn about life. Here are a few things our team learned Saturday:

• Community. You can't do ropes [life] alone. On the ropes, you're accountable to and for your teammates. If you're not accountable, you're in danger. Also, everyone was interesting in seeing every other person succeed. It wasn't about individual success. So we cheered, encouraged, and congratulated our teammates all the way.


• Trust. You have to trust your teammates. You have to trust the equipment. If you can't trust, you can't move.



• Perspective. Everything changes when you're 40 feet high. But those on the ground have different perspective. They can see things you can't. They can help you which brings me to...


• Humility. It's humbling when you can't climb the centipede pole [that'd be me]. It's humbling to admit you need help. But nobody cared. We all wanted to see each other succeed. So on the ropes [and in life] you can't be afraid to ask for help.


• Courage. I heard Amy say this: "I'm trying to get my balance so I can take my next step but I can't get my balance...I'm not sure I ever will, so I guess I'm just going to have to go for it." I love that! Isn't that true in life? If we wait until things "calm down" before we take big steps, we'll never do it. The reality is, things aren't going to calm down anyway so sometimes we just have to go for it.
  
• Faith. While I was sitting on a platform 45 feet above the ground trying to muster the courage to jump off and go screaming down the zip line, a hundred thoughts were running through my mind: Is my harness secure? Will this fabric loop hold my weight? What if the line is rusty? What if something goes wrong? Am I hooked on correctly? Finally I just had to say, "Enough, I'm just going to take a leap of faith and trust in the equipment and God and let the chips fall where they may. [I'm still alive...and really glad I took the risk.]


• Overcoming. I heard David say this: "I'm going on that obstacle because it's the one that scares me the most. I love that attitude.
  
• Communication. With out it, someone dies.

What an experience. What a great time. I'm looking forward to our next Aqua retreat!