“That was NOTHING like I thought it would be” My son Elty and an armload of snow gear came crashing through the front door of our house. Elty and his best friend Cody were back from their very first snowboarding adventure. They were probably 10, so a while ago!

He was soaked to the bone, exhausted and smiling from ear to ear. His face was red, his eyes glistening.  They had conquered the mountain and lived to tell the tale.

It was exhilarating. But still, not what they expected.

They had imagined themselves jumping onto rails and riding them down the hillside. They saw themselves doing back-flips with half-twists off ramps. Racing, and wiping out, and getting up and still beating the pack to the bottom of the slope. They saw themselves… in a video game.

“I was sure I could do all the tricks!”

“But, you’d never done them before.” I reminded him.

“But I thought I had.” He said. In the virtual world, they were without equal.

But there is something that cannot be simulated. Something authentic and unmatched that the real world has to offer.

The breeze on your face. The sharp burn of the snow when it grinds into your flesh. The ache of your muscles, the weariness you feel when you are forcing your body to get back up…again. The turning of your stomach when you realize the drop is steeper than you expected. The joy of victory when you land safely. The thrill of expectation when you turn around and head back up to do it all over again. The laughter. The fire. The cocoa.

Pure bliss.

God created a world for us and our children. It begs us to explore the heights and depths of color and sound, fragility and strength, clouds and caverns. It’s all there for the taking. What holds us back? Perhaps many things, but could one of them be fear of pain?

I have discovered a secret about this villain we anesthetize ourselves against so thoroughly. Pain can’t really hurt us. It’s just pain. It can only go so far, and when we get to the end of it, we’re still living and Jesus is still WITH us. Let’s not spend our precious energy avoiding it, or we’ll never really live and NEVER REALLY LOVE.

Embrace it all. Teach your children how to navigate life and stay on their feet. Because in this world, there are real wins and losses. They both take real character, both require real courage. Both test the heart.

The heart. Not the thumbs.

 

Special thanks to photographer Chase McOmber of the Mt Hood Ski Patrol.