Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

It was another beautiful day at the Colony. It was a great day to walk. I really didn't want to, but my trusty accountability partner decided he wasn't going to let me slack, so I started up the ipod and started stepping.

It didn't take long before I was thinking about stopping. I twisted my ankle a couple of days ago and it was hurting me. When I walked yesterday, it gave me trouble the first 2/3 of a mile. I walked through it and made it 2 miles. This morning it hurt worse than yesterday. I wanted to stop, but Mountain kept on me. "We've got to do 7 laps today." "Ummmmm, no," I replied. "Come on man, no slacking, we got to keep up the pace." "Yeah, 6 laps is the new pace for this week," I reminded him. "Come on man, we can do 7 and run." "You can do 7 and run, you jerk." Okay, I didn't say the jerk part, but it takes a lot to move 450 pounds 2  miles a day. He doesn't understand, but hey, he is doing what I asked him to do when I started this thing, so he's being a good friend.

The walk started like it always does, we walked at a pretty steady pace, a little slower than usual because of the ankle. ipod was not cooperating at all. Slow song, slow song, medium, then slow. It was killing what little desire I had to walk. The good part was that the pain ended by the end of the first lap. Now I had to deal with the nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "I don't want to walk, I don't want to walk, I don't want to walk."

Lap 2 went by without incident. By the time lap 2 comes around, I am trying to calculate how much time I have and what pace I need to walk to get in 2 miles. I am always trying to walk for at least 30 minutes, but I really want to go for the distance as well. I knew there was no way I would be able to fit the whole 2 miles in. The ankle pain was slowly creeping back, and it was keeping me from getting the pace I wanted.

Lap 3 came and went. Lap 4 started and I had 10 minutes left. I can get a solid 2 laps in 10 minutes if I push it. I tried to walk a little different to get my pace up. Just a slight push off at the end of my step to keep it from hurting, even get a little extension in it because it was tightening up. We turned the corner and headed up toward the shop. I saw the guys standing outside around the bell at the main campus. One of them were heading back to the Mission today. He finished his time here and was moving on. He stopped by my office yesterday and talked about how excited he was and how terrifying it is doing something entirely new. I know the feeling.

We walked on. Mountain raised his arms up in the air. Weird. I thought he was just stretching his back. I really wasn't sure what he was doing. He looked like a bird dying midflight. Mountain does weird things sometimes, so I didn't vocalize my concerns. Walk, just walk.

We walked past the shop and then headed back for the main building. I looked at the time. 3 minutes. Urg. One more, I have one more in me. Forget the knee, forget the weird Mountain dead bird dance, forget that ipod wanted to play Jewel every 3 songs (Yes, Jewel is on my ipod, don't judge me.), just walk. We headed by the pastor's office and then towards the laundry room. As we made it to the corner of the  laundry room, shouts erupted from nowhere. It sounded like a large crowd had just jumped up for joy because their team had just scored a winning basket. I looked to my left, and the entire Colony had gotten together and surprised me with a triumphant cheer and a sign:

A handmade, autographed sign from all of the men at the Colony. I told them about the Biggest Loser thing this past weekend. They were bummed out that I didn't make it, so they did this to show that they support me. I was blown away. I even cried a little, but I waited until I was in my office.

Afterwards, everything that happened made sense. Mountain was pushing me because the guys had planned this. The whole dying bird ballet on lap 4 was a sign to the guys to hide, we were on the way. I had even caught the guys the day before planning the whole thing and I didn't realize it. I would tell the story from my helper's point of view, but there is no way I can do it justice. He is a big ole country boy from the woods, and he told me about them trying to coordinate the whole thing, and you have to hear it to really do it justice.

It is amazing how God send encouragement when you really need it. And it is really heartwarming to see guys that you try so hard to reach do some reaching of their own. I really do love the guys that come through here, and it was nice to see that they realize that. Now, I have 46 more reasons to keep going strong.