When John F. Kennedy became the president of America, I was ten (and very impressionable). My mother told me that he and Jackie Kennedy had honeymooned in Acapulco, Mexico, and among other things, they’d watched men diving off steep cliffs into the Pacific Ocean. 
Somehow the glamor and mystique of their experiences became bigger than life in my imagination, and ever after I thought it would be exciting to visit Acapulco. 
In honor of our forty-fifth anniversary, Alan took me on a cruise through the Panama Canal, and we enjoyed touring Acapulco…a bit of a dream come true! 
Acapulco is an incredibly beautiful city, which caught me by surprise, because in recent years, its had such a bad reputation for being unsafe that most cruise ships won’t stop there, and I thought it was burned out and run down. No so!
However, the military police presence (to subdue gang warfare) is intimidating.
Israel and Palestine are the only countries I’ve ever visited that are more heavily guarded. There, a soldier with a machine gun got on our bus to check us out! 
All this to say, I wouldn’t recommend hitch-hiking down to Acapulco on a whim or wandering about on your own, but we loved our guided tour of the area. 
Our guide took us to El Mirador, the hotel which overlooks La Quebrada Cliffs. 
Since the La Quebrada Cliff Divers attained recognition as one of the world’s extreme sports in the 1970’s, they’ve become international “stars,” popular with tourists and highly regarded by professional high divers worldwide. 
Several times a day, these brave and daring young men scramble barefoot up the sides of the cliff and dive into the deep, blue sea below. 
Once they’re at the top, they have to get their courage up to plunge down, down,
down to the sea from as high as 137 feet…an unbelievably long way to dive! 
I was reassured to learn that although many of the young men do suffer broken bones, it’s my understanding that none of them has ever died diving here. 
How do they do survive? 
Well, many of the divers are sons of previous performers who start very young and spend years learning from their fathers, diving off lower points on La Quebrada Cliffs and practicing how to jump from higher and higher points. 
As I watched the divers, I couldn’t help but think of my own six sons—and the many “high divers” out there…perhaps you included! It takes years of inspiration, hard work, training, and lots of bumps and bruises along the way to accomplish those amazing feats that sometimes feel like jumping off a cliff. 
One of our tour guides on the trip was Armando, who’s about our age and was a cliff diver when he was young. He said a little sadly that he is the only one of his cohort who is still alive. I asked him if he had any thoughts on why he was still alive, and he said, “I married my wife at 4:30 pm on April 12, 1975, and from that day to this, I’ve been faithful to her. I also stayed away from alcohol, drugs, and crime. You gotta live clean and stay healthy if you want to live a long life.” Amen? 
Amen!
Do you ever feel like you’re climbing mountains and jumping off cliffs for Jesus? If so, here are some encouraging words for you: “Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 31:23-24, ESV).
It is a bone chilling January morning. As I back out of my driveway, the snow crunches under the weight of my car tires. I’m leaving for the MVP therapy pool in the darkness of early morning. My back pain has pretty much put a halt to life as I have known it. Immersing myself in the warmth of the therapy pool every morning is about all I can do. 
One morning a week, I am attending a Back Splash class offered at MVP. There are usually ten ladies in attendance; all of us with muscle and joint problems. Our instructor directs us to the deep end of the pool, which prevents us from touching the bottom of the pool. 
She continues to instruct us saying, “place the swim noodle under your arms and hang straight down, straight as a pencil, back straight, legs together. Look straight ahead; your head is the eraser.” These instructions sound easy enough. However, as I try to follow her directions, my legs float off to the right. I struggle in the water trying to control my body, and I attempt the pencil formation once again. This time my legs float off to the left….and this is when I hear, “You MUST strengthen your core!” 
After weeks of daily trips to MVP and attending my Back Splash class, faithfully practicing all the exercises that I am being taught, I am finally able to hold a perfect pencil formation as my instructor counts off the seconds. 
Spring is approaching, I am back on my bike….riding down the bike path, enjoying a strengthened core and the freedom that brings. 
I have another core: My spiritual core. How do I strengthen my spiritual core? The same way that I strengthen my physical core. Daily, I must practice the spiritual disciplines that keep me on the path that God has asked me to walk. “Not turning aside to the right or to the left.” 
In Celebration of Discipline, R.J. Foster tells us “God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving His grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that He can transform us.” 
……hence as I practice spiritual disciplines, it is God who strengthens my spiritual core. 
As I read and mediate on God’s Word, the Psalmist tells me, “His Word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.” The path God has chosen for me. “The Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” This is my powerful promise from God. 
Prayer is how I communicate with God. I hear His “gentle whisper” and feel His “Divine nudging.” In Luke one of the disciples asks, “Lord teach us to pray.” The Lord will teach me to pray as He taught His disciples. When I do not know what to pray the Holy Spirit directs my thoughts. The more I pray the more, I long to pray and “praying without ceasing” becomes a reality in my life not just a desire. 
Fasting has been a part of the Christian tradition for centuries. It is a discipline that Christ talks about in Matthew… “when you fast.” Why am I not pursuing this discipline like I do the other disciplines? Probably because I think it sounds like too much work and sacrifice. Maybe this is the discipline that would bring me closer to God ….. 
The key to my success in strengthening my physical core has been my daily trips to our health club and practicing all the exercises my caring instructor has given me….hence leading to the healing of my body and the freedom that brings.
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice
The object lesson for me came from her training. She was taught that she can’t focus on the boards but must focus beyond them at the man holding them. If she aims for his chest, instead of the boards, she will have enough momentum to break through.
In 2 Corinthians 9:8, it says that “God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
Super Bowl LI set nearly 25 new records and tied another 7, making it the most startling and exciting in Super Bowl history! A sampling of the firsts included:
Talk about an exciting game!! Did you watch the Super Bowl? I didn’t. Alan watched until near the end of the fourth quarter when Tevin Coleman received the six-yard pass that left the score at 28 for the Atlanta Falcons to only 3 for the New England Patriots. In all of Super Bowl history, no team had been able to recover and win with stats like that, so Alan didn’t want to stay up just to watch the bitter end. Fine by me. I was getting sleepy anyway, and I didn’t know one team from another.
As one who taught life saving and served as a water safety instructor for ten years, and as one who swims around our little lake most days during the summers, I thought we’d do okay at the Devil’s Pool. 
Alan wasn’t going to go at all, but he did sign up at the last minute—mostly in hopes of keeping me from drowning, I think. We did survive, but after thinking it over, I personally feel that the adrenaline rush and excitement wasn’t worth the risk to life, limb, and health. Here are my reasons:
1. We had to swim in the Zambezi River,
2. Even though there had been a twenty-year drought and we visited just before the rainy season began, there were all kinds of safety issues. 
3. There was a definite current to negotiate. 
4. We had to walk on somewhat slippery rocks to reach the river. 
5. We had to feel our way over slippery rocks under the water
6. We also had to swim upstream (up river) for a short distance.
7. Logs or other debris could have hit us at any time. 
8. Fish nibbled at our feet and made us all jumpy. 
9. One false move could have sent one of us over the edge. 
10. The rock ledge, though sturdy, will doubtless one day give way. 
May it not happen when anybody’s nearby!
11. Last, but perhaps most importantly (and I didn’t know this until we were having dinner a week ago with some friends who do medical mission work in Africa), the Zambezi River is known to have a strain of parasitic Schistosomiasis which is a common in Sub-saharan Africa and can be lethal if not treated. There are some 200 million people affected world wide, half of whom live in Africa. Since learning this, I’ve made an appointment with my doctor for testing. So, to answer my question: Did the Devil Make Me Do It? No. I chose to do it. Was it a wise choice? I don’t think so. Would I do it again? No. Did I pray about it? Yes. Why didn’t God tell me not to go? I’m not sure. I think sometimes God allows us to do things that aren’t wise, just like a parent allows his child to do things that the parent knows are risky. I do believe in God’s divine will (which cannot be altered) and His permissive will (which allows us freedom of choice). I prayed and didn’t get a clear “No,” so I went. And, as with all unwise decisions, there may be consequences I didn’t consider when I made my choice. In future, I think I want a clear “Yes” before making decisions, not just a “You may!”
“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life
“There is only one time when it is essential to awaken. That time is now.” ~Buddha 
“Who, being loved, is poor?” ~Oscar Wilde 
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.”
“A smile is the shortest distance between two people.” ~Victor Borge
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do
“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,
Speaking of persevering in your dreams against all odds, we recently watched an incredibly inspirational movie, Full Out, based on the life of Ariana Berlin. Ariana was just fourteen and a budding Olympic-quality gymnast whose dreams were smashed in 2001 when she and her mom were hit by a speeding car on a freeway in San Diego. Ariana spent 5 days in an induced coma at the ICU: Both her lungs were collapsed and both legs broken as well as one wrist, a collar bone, and cracked ribs. Her injuries were so severe and her therapy so protracted that Ariana gave up her dream of becoming a world-class gymnast, although she eventually joined a troupe of hip hop dancers who were working at Sea World. 
Full Out is the fascinating story of Ariana Berlin’s recovery and all she went through to fulfill her gymnastic dreams. She made a tremendous comeback, graduating from UCLA with the rank of #4 in the nation! 
One of the most exciting things to me is that Ariana actually served as her own stunt double! So, making the movie took Ariana’s dreams to a new level. At 26, Ariana decided to “go for it” and train again so she could impersonate what she’d been like at 18, even doing the “Full Out,” which she hadn’t been able to do for over 5 years. (A “Full Out” is a double somersault with a full twist done during the second somersault.)
If you’re looking for a family-friendly video that will motivate you
