NIFTY NIFTY LOOK WHO'S FIFTY!!

Thank you all for all the wonderful Facebook birthday wishes & text messages!!! Praise Jesus, I'm celebrating 50 years of life... or as I like to call it my 2nd round of turning 25 =) =) =) . 

I never imagined I'd make it past 40 with all the travels & adventures we do combined with my propensity to be a little klutzy. That's a lot of protective angels, supernatural intervention, mercy, grace, and Bandaids! All glory to God!! Aaaaaand special thanks to Johnson & Johnson ;) 

I'm usually pretty low key on my birthday and just like to go to a restaurant with family and friends throughout the day... or work on a project at home. But hitting 50 feels super special to me so I'm enjoying a long weekend of first-time adventures... so stay tuned for some adventure posts =).

I originally planned a "Land, Sea, & Air Day of Adventure" for my birthday, but the forecast called for a 70% chance of storms on my birthday so I switched the adventures from Friday to Monday. The weather ended up perfect on my birthday and now the forecast is for 70% chance of storms on Monday hahaha!! I hope Monday's "storms" are as beautifully sunny as yesterday's "storms" LOL!

(Thanks to a special friend I was able to get one unexpected surprise adventure in on my birthday... it was so much fun! I'll post it in a little bit)

Last night we had a wonderful family time at the Columbia restaurant on Sand Key Beach. It was such a great time =). Check out the cool poster board my sister made for me! I'm so blessed to have such an amazing family! That is true riches =)

I always wished I lived in America during the 50's... now I guess I do haha!

Round 2 of turning 25, I'm here for you!!

Love'n Life Because of Jesus Christ!!!!!!!!!!

Updates On The Way!

 

I have several posts & updates I'm a little behind on... so many good things to share (as well as a few health challenges that my parents are experiencing). I'm looking forward to getting caught up over the next couple of weeks =).

God is soooooo good!!

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PADDLE-MANIA! ... GOD PROVIDES A HEAVY DOSE OF VITAMIN D AND NATURAL ANTIDEPRESSANTS IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS!!

This past Saturday we had a great time kayaking and canoeing with nearly 40 youth from Calvary Chapel Fellowship of St Petersburg!

There's nothing better than playing in God's amazing playground!! In fact, the sun is our best source of Vitamin D, and just being active in the outdoors is one of the best natural antidepressants ever created.

I love that we serve a God whose top priorities in our lives include joy (John 15), pure pleasures of His provisions (1 Timothy 6), being worry-free (Matthew 6), and walking in a depth of faith that rejects anxiety (Matthew 6).

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." - 1 Timothy 6:17

THANK YOU GOD! YOU'RE AN AMAZING FATHER!!

RAFTING THRILLS THE SOUL!!... "SOUL ADVENTURES" TOOK ON THE OCOEE RIVER!

(I forgot to post this a couple of months ago)

In June we finished up our Adventure Trip with Soul Adventures by rafting the exciting white water rapids of the Ocoee River. It was like a 2 hour rollercoaster on the water all while surrounded by beautiful tree covered mountains!

Everyone had a blast! 

In the midst of all the stay-at-home Coronavirus stuff this white water outdoor adventure truly thrilled the soul =) 

Check out all of the rafting pictures with Soul Adventures as well as the entire week's adventures on The GTD Online Photo Album at this link:

 

https://goingthedistance.smugmug.com/2020/2020-Adv-Trip---SOUL-Adventures

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OH THE MEMORIES WE'VE BUILT!

 

Celebrating over 30 years of friendship and unknown amounts of adventures together!

Last week my buddy Bryan was in town and we got together with our other buddy Jano and hung out over the next few days. It was so much fun reliving so many great memories that we all built together during my late teens, 20's & 30's... road trips to Colorado, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and all over Florida... dirt bike riding, snow skiing, waterskiing, inner tubing, bike riding, sprint triathlons, impromptu under-trained for marathons, hundreds of pranks & jokes & laughs, and just about every weekend (and weeknight) doing something fun, cheap, and hilarious!! My memory is so full of phenomenal & unforgettable moments with these guys (and several others) that have forever enriched my life! All of these great memories often make me feel like the richest man on earth. And the best part was that Jesus was at the center of it all (except we went a little too far on a few pranks hahaha!)... we would go to church together, do an accountability group together, share our walk with God together. It continues to be one of the most cherished honors of my life to share a friendship with these guys. God used these friendships & the adventures we shared together to launch GTD. Most of our adventures together eventually became many of the adventures and destinations we go to year after year in GTD. These guys helped me lay the foundation of God-awesome fun that we have gone on to build 24 years of adventure ministry. I'm forever grateful to God for putting together a college age young adult ministry in our local church (with amazing pastors) that served to bring together a group of friends that would form an eternal bond that still bears fruit 30 years later. All I exclaim year after year after year from every fiber of my being is an unending THANK YOU to Jesus for blessing me with such Godly fun friends. In the great words of Lou Gehrig this is how I feel everyday, "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." (except, it isn't luck, it's divine blessing).

PS: We were able to visit a few more friends from years ago that I haven't seen in way too long - Thomas & Mary... they now have 9 beautiful kids and a HUGE BUS for amazing family vacations!!

I love these people!!! THANK YOU JESUS!!

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WAVE 1 OF 3 ON THE WAY! ...GTD THANK YOU GIFT PACKAGES .....FOR OUR AWESOME SUPPORTERS!!

 

It has taken a lot longer than imagined, but our first wave of gift packages have been mailed out (or are about to be hand delivered if you live in the Pinellas County Florida area). 

If you've donated to GTD in the past 2 1/2 years then look for one of these packages full of GTD swag to be headed your way!

Thank you so much for supporting the work of this ministry!! God bless you dear friends!

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CHRISTMAS IN JULY! ... MERRY GTD CHRISTMAS!!

GTD is so blessed to have the best supporters in the world!!! It's that time of the year that we package up a lot of the GTD T-shirts and SWAG we've acquired over the past few years and get it into the hands of our amazing supporters.

We can't thank you guys enough for your faithful support through overflowing years, struggling years, crazy pandemic years, and everything in-between. We are touched to the core by our prayer warriors and faithful donors. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!! We couldn't do what we do without YOU!

Special thanks to my Mom (Birddog) and Laurie for working on the first third of this 115 package mission. Local donors, we will be delivering your package to your doorstep. Out of town donors look for your "Christmas" gifts in the mail =)

(Note: This set of gift packages is for the 115 donors over the past 3 years who donated a total of $100 or more to GTD)

DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS!

Thank you Austin & Hailey Spicer!!! GTD is so blessed to have incredible volunteers who give of their time, treasure, and talents for the betterment of the ministry. The Spicer's surrendered their Saturday morning to serve GTD by detailing our most important piece of equipment - the GTD truck (which was donated to the ministry about 10 years ago by an amazing young couple). It's a 15 years old Ford F250 diesel with 242,000 miles on it and still going strong (with annual repairs). Now it looks & feels like a brand new truck!!! Thank you so much Spicer Productions!!!

(PS: We are in need of a 2nd big truck like this one to pull our other big trailer and as a vital part of our Adventure Trip & Retreat programs.)