23 Tips to Living in Westcliffe, CO - Mel White

1. It’s always best to have another layer of clothing handy because the weather is going to change.
   
   
2. If you don’t know what a fusty is, you haven’t cleaned toilets at Horn Creek!
   
   
3. Snow on the mountain is better than snow anywhere else
   
   
4. Low gear is your new best friend when mountain driving
   
   
5. Always squeeze-check your carabiners
   
   
6. In a town of 591 people, there CAN be 5 local coffee shops
   
   
7. Westcliffe: where cows are pets
   
   
8. The average person’s skin burns at 6 minutes at 10,000 feet (where we live)
   
   
9. Dollar General staying open until 10pm is reason to celebrate
   
   
10. Finding a parking spot is never an issue
    
    
11. At 9,000ft, water boils at only 196⁰F, while food takes 30% longer to cook in it!
    
    
12. Trying to climb a mountain in the dark is a terrible, terrible idea - you will get lost and end up climbing the wrong mountain
    
    
13. The further you are away from civilization, the more beautiful the stars are.
    
    
14. Leaving the house without your pants has a whole new meaning when you always have to have your radio and keys
    
    
15. You don’t have to go to flight school to learn how to fly #belay #highropes
    
    
16. Being here has made me acutely aware of the ways I spend my free time and have started reading a lot more. I would highly recommend Love Lives Here by Maria Goff.
    
    
17. Living in a house with 8 strangers has been the biggest surprise and biggest blessing.
    
    
18. Reading through the Old Testament prophets: I’m so thankful that I am on this side of the covenant.
    
    
19. Thaumazo - to marvel. In Luke 7, Jesus has an encounter with a centurion from Capernaum. The centurion had a sick servant and when Jesus came to his house he said, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore, I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.” The centurion knew the power of Jesus and knew his own unworthiness. After Jesus and the disciples left his house, Jesus told them that He had never seen faith like the centurion’s before. Luke uses the Greek word thaumazo to describe Jesus’ reaction. This word is only used twice in the Bible and both times it is used to describe someone’s faith. You can’t surprise God, but you can amaze Him with your faith.
    
    
20. When you realize that life isn’t about you, the things that the Lord teaches you from your peers is astounding. I’m constantly humbled by the way my housemates fight for my righteousness and refuse to let me believe my identity is anything less than a daughter of the King.
    
    
21. I’m learning from David through the Psalms and 1 & 2 Samuel, that we take the Holy Spirit for granted. I read daily his pleas for the Lord not to remove His Spirit and we are sealed by the Spirit and never have to worry about Him leaving us. This truth is so humbling. So, I make this a constant prayer: God, my exceeding joy. You know the groanings of my heart too deep for words. Thank you for Your Spirit. Thank you for not leaving the earth void of Your presence. Thank you for loving us enough to send a Helper - an Advocate - a Counselor. Thank you for someone who, like You, knows my thoughts and how prone I am to wander, and you love me anyway. Send Your Spirit and cover me today because I lack all grace, patience, love, mercy, gentleness, and so much more, in order to handle today.
    
    
22. I’m listening to a sermon series on Jonah during cleaning days at camp, and my heart is continually wrecked by the juxtaposition between Jonah’s rejection of sharing eternity with Nineveh, to Jesus’ desire to share eternity with us. Jonah ran from sharing the Lord with Nineveh because he didn’t think they were worthy of God’s love and forgiveness, while Jesus knows we could not earn eternity, but calls us worthy of the cross.
    
    
23. If we had the slightest understanding of how deeply the Father loves us, or how furiously He pursues us, we would run toward Him and never look back.

- Mel White