Sunday, October 07, 2007

hal eyring is reading my blog

some of my sources have informed me that because of elder eyring's new calling he is no longer able to comment my blog. instead he decided to respond to my last blog post in his general conference talk this morning. to shortly sum it up, he said we need to remember the moments where we have seen the hand of god acting in our lives.

here is a little selection from a post i wrote about a year ago...

just before my seventeenth birthday i hurt my back. i would eventually discover that i had cracked one of my vertebrae - a fractured spinous process on my fourth lumbar. unfortunately my parents were across the pacific ocean at my maternal grandmother's (my obachan) funeral. my older brother was living in provo going to byu. at home it was just myself and my little brother bobby.

when my parent had left for japan, i was only feeling mild discomfort and believed that i had only strained a muscle in my back. after a couple days i began having difficultly walking. eventually the softest of movements would shoot excruciating pain through my whole body. on sunday, i came home from church early because i could not handle the pain. i sent bobby to his friends so that he would not have to see me in pain. i remember lying in the guestroom bed crying and not knowing what to do. by now, even breathing caused an unbearable amount of pain. as i laid there, my body went into shock. suddenly i found myself shaking and shivering uncontrollably, screaming in agony as each shiver shot a burst of pain into every inch of body.

having nowhere to turn, i remember praying aloud, crying "oh jesus. i need your help. please help me!" as i spoke these words, the shivering stopped. the pain was still there, but it was nulled with an overwhelming warmth and sense of peace. i was calm and relaxed, falling asleep a few minutes later.
all day friday, all i could think about was hopping on my bike and hitting up a trail. the weather forecasts weren't very optimistim, predicting a cold front that was going to drop the temperature and a lot of rain that day. as soon as my classes were over, i rode home, changed clothes, packed my bike and some rations and headed off.

starting off from the riverwoods' borders, i proceeded on my plan to head up provo canyon, through south fork canyon, and onto the big springs hollow trail. while it hadn't started raining yet, the precipation was coming down heavily by the time i had reached vivian park. 4 miles later, at the trail head, i was completely soaked all the way through.

it was all worth it.



the combination of rain and the autumn colors made for a beautiful ride. i don't think there could have been any better timing. the rain filled the trickling streams and packed the trail, making for an awesome (and occasionally slippery) downhill. a deer and a pair of wild turkeys were my only riding companions (unfortunately i was too frozen and wet to get my camera out in time for them).



by the time i had reached my limit, the skies were pouring buckets on me and the temperature had dropped over twenty degrees. occasional snowflakes flurried past me. i had fourteen miles of downhill to coast before i could have the warm comfort of my car.



needless to say, by the time i had returned to my car i had a good does of hypothermia. i was shaking, feeling drunk, and my fingers were so numb i couldn't feel the strap of my helmet to take it off.



it was well worth it.

2 comments:

  1. That was one of my favorite trails to ride when I lived in Provo. I don't think I ever rode that trail without seeing a turkey, deer or moose. It was so conveniently close to Provo. Man, I miss that trail. The colors in your picture were gorgeous. I'm jealous Loyd. What bike do you ride?

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  2. i just have a hardtail specialized rock hopper. it does the trick, the i'm thinking about slowly putting together something much more glorious.

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