Stephen De La Vega

Angels Landing stands 1,488 feet above the valley floor at Zion National Park in Utah, United States. It is perched behind me in the photo. I stood on Scout Lookout , the turnaround point of my hike with my wife and son. There were good reasons we didn’t continue to Angels Landing:   1.     My son was only 10 years old at the time and one misstep could’ve been fatal. 2.     We would’ve had to file within a string of hikers, so the rest of the way would’ve been at the pace of the crowd. 3.     We were exhausted! Whew!   So, Scout Lookout was where we celebrated and looked forward to the remaining, mostly downhill, 1.9 miles. A 3.8-mile round trip doesn’t sound long, but this hike was strenuous. Very strenuous. The trail was 81% paved, but that doesn’t mean the steep elevation gain with an incline of up to 23 ° under nearly continuous sun exposure was easy. The only hike that was more difficult for me in terms of physical e...

I’ve been a Christian for 40 years and I was not always productive. I put time and resources into things that were not that important. I should’ve spent my days on more worthwhile endeavors…for life on this earth and for all eternity. Much is worthwhile, but I'm sharing my short list - those things that demand our attention, our very best efforts, and our most costly sacrifices (1 Corinthians 10:23). Don’t be like me. Pay attention to these things now. What follows are endeavors I consider to be critically important. In subsequent posts, I’ll offer more detail. For now, we’ll stay high level because I don’t want us to miss the forest for the trees. Let’s spend time considering what’s important to us and whether it’s also important to God. Here are four endeavors I call “life pursuits” that matter more than most other pursuits. ꟷꟷꟷꟷꟷ Life Pursuit 1: Recognize that everyone is valuable Deep down, we know everyone has value, but do we believe it and live it? Honestly spe...

This is the framing of the lower floors of a planned 24-story office tower that will open its doors next year. It will boast dramatic 360° views of San Francisco, the Oakland Hills, UC Berkeley, and the surrounding areas. Shorenstein Properties ‘dubs’ it 601 City Center , and I highlight ‘dubs’ because it's just a block away from the Golden State Warriors headquarters. Shorenstein broke ground in Q2 of this year and they expect to build for another couple of quarters. That’s about a year of construction. Occasionally, you might find a person or two staring at the work, but, for the most part, people just walk by this everyday activity. Business as usual. We are more amazed when buildings are demolished. We have a peculiar fascination with the quick destruction of something grand. What takes months, maybe years, to build, can be destroyed in only days, or even hours. Society pays more attention to the quick fall of the mighty than it does the day-to-day, continued effo...