Living for One

This weekend was a crazy road trip to New Braunfels with some friends to float the Comal.  I had never been before, so I was pumped!  As I am the one with the hybrid, I was elected to drive, though I didn't mind at all, as Mushu loves road trips!  Despite some awesome (and sometimes intimidating) Texas thunderstorms on the way, our trip went well and was more than I hoped for in a weekend away.

We stayed up until 2:30am both nights, played nintendo, dominoes, a random dice game...told ridiculous jokes, and just had great fellowship inside the cabin, as much as outside, braving the rapids and helping redefine the name of the lazy river.  The place we stayed was right on the river, and the chutes were my favorite, as each time we went through we came up with some new crazy version of a group chain.  I think the best stunt was our bubba tub setup, and the most odd my 3 tube attempt (and success!) to make it through the 2nd chute.  Even though we never completely held it solid, we had periodical "stand up on your tube" challenges, and basically acted like crazy college kids all weekend.  For a brief few days I thought I might be back in the days of Aggieland, but then reality hit this morning as we made one last trip down the river and said our goodbyes.  

Now the real world waits again, though visiting Neverland for a brief time was divine.  Perhaps that's what happens now, you get to live life as you had in the past, with the same fun, the same desire for risk, adventure, and excitement, only with a new position, a new perspective.  

I'll tell you one thing I realized.  The blessing of the here and now, living for yourself.  There were a few married couples in our group, and the position and perspective had changed.  (Though some really pushed into Neverland for the weekend wanting to play Nintendo at all times and doing crazy stunts off the river...)  But for me, I could do absolutely anything I wanted without consequence.  One of the couples have a baby...they are living for someone else.  Even if they were just married...again, living for someone else.  But me, as I contemplated riding down a drainage ditch, to a 5 foot drop off into the river while it was pouring down rain Saturday afternoon, I realized the beauty of singleness.  There wasn't anyone else depending on me; I had no limits.  I was living for one, but also living for the One.  God and I went on a little adventure this weekend, and I thrived in the challenge, the excitement, and the glory of his creation and the gift of a weekend away from the usual.  

(I didn't ride the drainage ditch by the way...although part of me wishes I had attempted it.  The guys were too heavy, so it was up to me.  But even though the engineer gave me an 80% chance of survival and my new insurance finally just kicked in, I opted for the safer than sorry route.)