I am just recovering from the exquisite joy of attending the Kansas Girls’ Body for Life conference called “Living Legends at the Legends” in KC Kansas!  What an event, and what tremendous and powerful emotions it evoked in me to see so many beautiful and successful BFL’ers all in one place.

Friday night was get-acquainted time, and it happens nearly instantly with BFL’ers. After dinner there was time to talk more, well into the night for some. Saturday began with a morning workout at the local Y, an opportunity to see this group of athletes in action, and it was great fun as well. following that, there was still more free time and an opportunity to visit, break up into small groups and take in what the Legends shopping area has to offer. At 5:30 the banquet began.

The speakers were all great, and my duty was quite easy. All I had to do was to enjoy the great privilege of introducing them.They included living legend Kelly Adair, 2001 Grand Master Champion Gregg Kemp, 2003 50 plus champion Becky Southard, my good friend and 2004 jumpstart winner Dave Wendel, 2007 31 to 45 champion Suz Ihde, Transformation champion and God’s relentless servant, Denise Taylor, Tracy Jeffries, a 2002 champion, who introduced her friend and hero Kenny Vaughan, the creator of Shields of Strength and the president of Athletes for Christ.

All these men and women brought messages about transforming. Every one of them emphasized the courage and sacrifice that it takes to make an excellent transformation, and each talked about what a privilege and honor it really is to be a member of this terrific community.

This was, in a phrase “a mountaintop experience.” I was challenged and touched by the messages and by the way the crowd received them. These messages were not just instruction on how to get fit. They were challenges to transform our very lives and spirits as we strive to get stronger, happier and more effective. I wanted to just stay there in Kansas City and spend as much time as possible with all these wonderful people who came from all over the country to be there. The energy from all was literally palpable. I know when it came time to leave I hugged as many as I could, and some many times. It was really difficult to let go, get in my car and head down the road.

But, the brutal truth is that God gives us a few of these mountaintop experiences in our lives, but we are created to live most of our lives on level ground. We are not made to live and thrive in the “thin air” of the mountaintop. I honestly think these experiences like this conference are designed to give us a bit of a glimpse of what paradise might be like. There was great joy, and also moments of grief as well, especially as we all heard from Denise about Jonnae’s final days on earth. I was struck by just how close to each other those two emotions are. Both joy and grief produce tears, an inability to speak without almost sobbing at times, and a sensation that one cannot truly tolerate for very long. At times, many of us were literally laughing and sobbing at nearly the same instant. You had to be there to understand what I’m getting at.

Now, as I sit here typing this on “level ground,” I’m sad that I won’t see many of new friends for some time. I miss them already. I’m also sad that many of my friends weren’t there. These are busy times, and each had his or her reason for not making this conference a priority. Though it was very well attended, and perfectly organized, there was room for more who could have come. Those who chose to stay away–well, they just missed out on a wonderful mountaintop experience.

I know many are going to Knoxville this fall. I am. There is another great lineup of speakers, and the keynote will be by Bill Phillips. I’m going, but really it’s not mainly to hear Bill Phillips. Don’t get me wrong–I DO WANT TO HEAR Bill speak, but the real reason I want to be there is to catch up on those hugs again, to see the tears and the laughter in so many eyes, and to experience the exquisite emotions again–and by the time October rolls around I’ll be needing it badly.

You know, of all the gifts I received as a BFL champion, the one I treasure most is the privilege of doing this Blog. The money was nice, but is accounted for; the trophy was pretty, but it sits gathering dust in a display in my courtroom; the jacket, which is the one thing I thought I really “wanted most,” hangs in my closet. I’ve worn it perhaps 5 times in the last year and a half.  But this Blog, and the comments that are placed at the end of it, are my connection to a community of people that I have come to love deeply. They call me “judge,” or Yoda, or Uncle Mike, or Champ, and I love it. I call them dear friends, and I love them much.

Enough of this mush, boys and girls, let’s get out there, wipe away those tears, and blow the weekend cobs out of these creaky old bodies, shall we? God bless you! Don’t let this year go by without giving yourself the reward of attending a community event like this last one!