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Backpacking on North Manitou Island
I’m not sure if my parents believed me when I said I wanted to go backpacking on North Manitou Island for a week. With no experience in camping, everyone in my family questioned my decision. I wanted to go for the community. It would be my last gathering with my leader and the senior girls in the Young Life at my high school before the fall split us in different directions. Although I had the chance to spend time with them, I learned so much more in the quiet beauty of God’s creation than I had expected. Quiet Hills and Hearts Being without my phone, miles away from land, with…
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A Father’s Love
Hiking down the west face Cadillac trail in Acadia National Park, I grip the rock with my fingertips and try not to look over the drop off. Breathing deeply, I inch my way slowly across the rock, focusing on keeping my balance. “Just stand up, Rach,” my dad calls me by my nickname, only a step behind even though I requested a five second space between us. This isn’t the first time his pointers have made me roll my eyes. Yet, I have found my parents to be right almost every time, if I just take the time to listen. My dad has always been this way. A constant presence…