Mick Overcomes: Rock Climbing at “Kickin It Cloudside”

July 1, 2022

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A BOB Cooper Story…

Mick is one-of-a-kind. He’s a quirky 8th grader who loves Pokemon, telling tall tales, helping others, good food, and eliciting dramatic responses from any dialogue partner who will engage him. He’s hilarious. And like most other teenagers these days, Mick is recovering from an extended season of loneliness. I’m not merely referring to the isolation caused by COVID. I mean the global relational challenges facing emerging generations in the form of online-digital-alternate-reality-life-consumption. In a word… screen-life.

 

Enter a 10 year Central MN YFC tradition—Kickin It Cloudside. Kickin It is three days of local outdoor, physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual adventure for everyone (even the not-so-bent-for-adventure types). This year, 23 Band of Brothers boys from our Cooper Ave. site said “yes” to the 3-day challenge. We basked in the glory of Psalm 19 as we mountain biked, swam, boated, played dodgeball, shared at a level deeper, ate great food, and of course, rock climbed. At the end of his rope (literally), amidst yelps of terror due to “leg pain” and bugs, when the harness was becoming unbearably uncomfortable, when he knew he just couldn’t climb any higher, Mick was lifted by the absolutely uncompromising praise and encouragement from his peers and leaders to finish the climb he’d started. Mick dug deep, groaned, stretched, and screamed his way to the top amidst wild cheering.
Loneliness overcome by the grace of God’s gathered people. Mick loved it, and we’ll never forget that moment. Thanks for supporting this life-transforming work, friends.
With so much joy, Matt