This week my family took a \u201csnow day.\u201d It wasn\u2019t because the weather was bad, and we couldn\u2019t get out the driveway. My niece was visiting from Indiana over her college spring break. So what does every midwesterner do when they visit Colorado in the winter? They go skiing, of course.<\/p>\n
So we packed up the SUV, our rented skis, a cooler for lunch, and off we went. After two and half hours of scenic driving along the Arkansas River, we arrive at the destination. Who knew that the hardest part of the entire day would wind up being the process of getting the ski boots off and on. After a short fight with the footwear in the parking lot, we finally embarked on the bunny hill.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve skied several times. My two girls (14 & 17) went once two years ago. My niece was a rookie, and her boyfriend had one experience on the slopes. All in all, the bunny hill was the place to start.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After a couple of runs and a bit of coaching, I abandoned everyone to their practice routines while I checked out the mountain. I had never been to this particular mountain so I was unfamiliar with the scene. I decided it would be a good idea to take a couple of runs down the mountain to get a feel for how difficult it would be for the rest of the family to give it a shot. After making myself familiar with what was ahead, it was time to see if everyone else was ready to brave the adventure. I wasn\u2019t sure how it would go over \u2014 particularly for my oldest daughter.<\/p>\n
I can remember the days and nights with her little heart filled with fear. I remember laying in bed with her at night praying scripture over her. \u201cRepeat after me \u2026 \u2018God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and a sound mind.\u2019 Now say this, \u2018Perfect love casts out all fear.\u2019\u201d I remember coaxing her to get on the bus while she was in tears fearful to take on the day. I remember the evenings leaving her with the babysitter at the front door in tears because she was afraid we wouldn\u2019t come back.<\/p>\n
Honestly, I think the fear that she felt during those times, I felt too. Would she ever be able to handle all of this \u201cstuff\u201d that life hands out? Would we get through this? Was there hope? As she got older, we got better at managing the fear, but it was still there \u2026 like a nagging cough that would never really go away.<\/p>\n
I remember the moments before her talent shows when she was nearly in tears because she was scared. I remember the audition for the local symphony talent show where I thought we would have to turn around and go home. Yet there was this innate desire to press through and sing and play anyway. Looking back on all of that now, I don\u2019t think music was a talent given for her like it was for the others. It was a God-given gift to drive her and force her to face the fears that were there from birth.<\/p>\n
You see, as an adopted child abandoned at a day old, fear was resident in her being. A friend once told us that she wasn\u2019t really abandoned at birth; she was abandoned in the womb. Because of that, fear of being left alone textured so many events of life for her particularly in those early days. Honestly, I\u2019m sure it still does.<\/p>\n
So you see, when we got off the chair lift at the top of the hill to find that my once fear-filled daughter was the first to head down that hill, it wasn\u2019t just an ordinary day. She didn\u2019t have the look of fear in her eyes as she pushed off with those two poles in her hands. She didn\u2019t look back as she often did in her seventeen years of life for me to reassure her that it would be ok. She didn\u2019t even look back. No \u2026 she said \u201clet\u2019s go\u201d and off she went.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we all get caught up in the moments that bring us fear and paralyze us. But when those times subside, we forget. We forget the fear that we once fought to overcome. We forget how we fought hard with the help of Jesus for freedom. And then it comes. And sometimes we don\u2019t even recognize the freedom. As a dad \u2026 a pastor \u2026 a Christ follower \u2026 I never want to be so focused on freedom that I forget the fight. I don\u2019t want to forget what the fight produces. And once the freedom comes, I want to celebrate the fight that defeated the fear \u2026 and be free.<\/p>\n
By the way, we\u2019re already planning our next ski trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week my family took a \u201csnow day.\u201d It wasn\u2019t because the weather was bad, and we couldn\u2019t get out the driveway. My niece was visiting from Indiana over her college spring break. So what does every midwesterner do when they visit Colorado in the winter? They go skiing, of course. So we packed up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[81,3,45,95,6,8,33],"class_list":["post-1378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","tag-colorado","tag-family","tag-fathering","tag-fear","tag-life","tag-my-girls","tag-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pzg9k-me","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1067,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/im-a-good-kid-really-i-am\/","url_meta":{"origin":1378,"position":0},"title":"I’m a Good Kid \u2014 Really I Am","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"January 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, this blog has been awhile in the making. I've thought about sitting down and writing this so many times but didn't quite know what to say or how to say it. Many of you know that a little over a year ago God began to stir something in our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main"","block_context":{"text":"Main","link":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/category\/main\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1938,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/life-update-were-moving\/","url_meta":{"origin":1378,"position":1},"title":"Life Update: We\u2019re Moving!","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"May 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Time for another LIFE UPDATE. If you\u2019ve stayed up to date with the Plotner Happenings, you know that I quit my job at the end of 2018 not knowing quite what the future would look like. Yet, I was confident there was something promising ahead. 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Help a family in need by sponsoring them, shopping for their Christmas gifts, and then delivering them to their home \u2014 all in the matter of one afternoon. Watch this video and visit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main"","block_context":{"text":"Main","link":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/category\/main\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1338,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/christmas-letter-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":1378,"position":3},"title":"Christmas Letter 2015","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"December 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been awhile since we've sent a family Christmas letter, but this year has been filled with so many changes that we thought we should update all of you on the latest on the Plotner's in Colorado. 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Yet, the Bible is pretty clear about what it is . . . it's the \"confidence in what we hope for\u00a0and assurance about what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main"","block_context":{"text":"Main","link":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/category\/main\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1567,"url":"https:\/\/jonplotner.com\/v1\/ten-reasons-i-love-my-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":1378,"position":5},"title":"Ten Reasons I Love My Church","author":"Jon Plotner","date":"January 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This month my family and I are celebrating five years since we made the decision to leave our Indiana home and relocate to Colorado Springs. On our first Sunday here in June 2012, we attended New Life Church and have been here ever since. 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