Colorado has quickly become a place of peace and love for me. Despite the fact that in Christian circles Colorado is usually associated with Focus on the Family, Conservative Christianity, Young Life (a organization I generally love), and Colorado Spring(the other happy valley other than the Provo Utah area). I have come to love Colorado for totally different reasons friends, hippies, liberals, walking, and mountains. Three years ago Tim and I took a week long trip to see our friends Garret, Aubrey, Jared and the rest of the Shelsta family. I still remember the week long trip as one of the funnest times in the last three years, after all it was when I feel in love with ping-pong and groudiez.
Since that time I have gone and visited the loved members of the Shelsta family two other times, one was two years ago and the other just a week ago. This time for the first time I was out in Colorado solo, in that Tim was not with me. I left on the morning of the 21st of September and arrived in Colorado one plane flight and great conversation with a very open African American women later (lets just say I now know here son's "man's part is large" and that her neighbor once tried to sell her "Adult toys" to kill the time in a snow storm). When I got off the plane Jerry, Garret's dad, picked me up and brought me to Garret's work where I sat and drank coffee and read while waiting for Garret to get off work. Afterward, we meet up with some of Garret and Aubrey's friends at a bar in Boulder to watch the Bronco's game. Being that I am a Chargers fan I wasn't too excited that the Broncos won but hey the company was good so... When the game was done we went to Garret's church were I got to be apart of a great community of people who long to see the Kingdom manifested in the world in a tangible way. For dinner Garret took myself and his sisters to a great little local Mexican food restaurant on Pearl street in Boulder.
For the next couple of days Garret and I just hung out, went to coffee shops, watched Heroes, and just caught up on each others life's. Tuesday night Garret had a youth meeting so I sat in on it and thought he did an amazing job running the meeting. As a youth worker it is always great to be around other youth workers and see them at work. Garret is great at what he does! Right before the meeting Aubrey got back from Chicago, where she was visiting friends from college. That night all three of us went to late night Sushi, that was very good btw.
Wednesday Garret had a staff meeting so I went to a local coffee shop and got some reading done and watched some "How I Meet Your Mother," which is a great show. Afterwords I meet up with Garret and grabbed some lunch. After lunch we went on the longest walk of my life! Not that is a bad thing. Garret and Aubery only have one car so when one takes the car to work the other is left walking or riding their bikes. This isn't to bad in Boulder because everything is so close. I wish I lived in a community where I could walk or bike everywhere and didn't have to rely on my car as much as I do in Socal. Not only is walking a great way to feel and be apart of your local community but walking helps save the planet, which I am always down for, after all God did give us the command to care for the world right after he created us.
Our walk took us to a local bike shop and hardware store to pick up things Garret needed to fix his bike as well as work on some other bikes him and a friend are building together. On the way back to their house Garret and sat in a park by a farms market. We had to wait for it to be 4 0'clock so Garret could pick up his produce for the week from a local farmer Aubrey and him buy from. Later that night I got to be apart of Garret and Aubrey's local church community/bible study/cell group thing. It was great to see and be apart of a community that care so much for people I also care so much about. The best thing about this community was that it was naturally multi-generational, made up of both singles and marrieds, and worked to care for others in their community. 
The next day Garret and I woke up early and went on a short 2 hour hike leaving directly from their house and walking strait up into the mountains. After the hike and a much needed shower we meet up with some of his students for lunch. I don't know how Garret got so lucky, but his students are into some amazing music and even have a great little indie band! Later that night-since it was the last night of the trip-Garret, Aubrey and I packed up a dinner of wine, cheese, crackers, and a salad and drove up into the Rocky's for dinner. We pulled off on the side of the road and ate dinner looking over a beautiful Rocky mountain valley. We sat up there until it was about dark and headed down to conclude the night with a in home movie and some of Aubrey's great peach pie and ice cream.
Overall my time in Colorado was amazing as usual. It is always so refreshing to be with people who you love and you know love you. Garret and Aubrey are two people who I know care deeply about me and who I deeply care about. My time in Colorado allowed me some great time to reflect and see some practical ways to get a intentional community together. Katie and I know that if not now, even though we hope for soon, God is calling Katie and I to be apart of an multi-generational intentional community of people who work to live out the kingdom in their daily interaction and life's. Thank you again to both of them and love and peace to all.
