How to be an Extreme Adventurist w/ Ryan George

Welcome to an exhilarating episode of the Collide Kids Podcast! This week, host Christen Clark sits down with Ryan George, a fearless adventurer and author.

Ryan's incredible life story is packed with extreme adventures—from ice climbing in Antarctica to wing walking on biplanes—each intertwined with his faith journey. With over 30 countries under his belt, Ryan shares heartfelt lessons about discovering God through his travels and adrenaline-packed experiences.

In this episode, Ryan recounts thrilling moments like aerobatic flying, paragliding in breathtaking locations, and an amusing childhood sledding memory. He delves into overcoming fear through faith, the importance of distinguishing healthy fears from unhealthy ones, and finding personal growth in facing challenges. Ryan also touches on experiencing spirituality in diverse ways, whether through nature, music, or adventure.

Join us for this inspiring episode full of amazing tales, life lessons, and a powerful reminder that God loves you. Plus, check out the special Kids Only segment featuring Mia.

LINKS: booksbyryan.com/adventurer

Clip Finder:

Unveiling Hidden Truths Through Adventure: "But the other part is, before I leave on any trip, I ask God to reveal what it is he put in my heart to want this very specific adventure or this very specific location. And then he, as he promised, he answers that when we seek, we find, right?"
— Ryan George [00:05:21 → 00:05:35]

Discovering Hidden Passions: "I found out that I had passions for things that I didn't know. I didn't know I'd love paragliding. Like, I just never knew that about myself."
— Ryan George [00:06:38 → 00:06:44]

Life-Changing Adventures: "I wouldn't want to live a life where none of those were on my list."
— Ryan George [00:07:29 → 00:07:33]

Adventurous Solo Walkabout: "Well, when I visited my in laws in Bolivia the first time, back when they were still in the mission field, I went on a walkabout without my wife, who was my translator, which she had told me not to do."
— Ryan George [00:14:48 → 00:14:58]

"Digital Courage": "I would get the courage to do them because I thought, oh, I'm going to get likes, comments and shares later, and people are going to tell me that I'm important and I'm wanted."
— Ryan George [00:17:34 → 00:17:40]

Faith and Uncertainty: "Well, you can't have faith if you're certain about everything."
— Ryan George [00:18:00 → 00:18:03]

"Embracing Fear for Personal Growth": "And so when you focus on the reward instead of on the danger, and obviously you do that within a certain realm of like, I don't go stand in front of a train and see how long I can wait before it hits me, right?"
— Ryan George [00:19:00 → 00:19:10]

You're Not Broken: "I grew up thinking that the parts of me that make me unique were broken."
— Ryan George [00:20:02 → 00:20:07]

Spiritual Encounters in Nature: "When I'm on the edge of a mountain or I'm stuck in a river somewhere, I feel Jesus more than I do inside a building, even on Sundays."
— Ryan George [00:20:46 → 00:20:54]

"Seeing the World from a Different Angle": "But we're floating anywhere from 4 to 15 miles an hour and you just kind of pirouetting in the sky over the mountains or over the water or whatever and oh, man, there's just nothing like it."
— Ryan George [00:25:03 → 00:25:12]

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Transcript

Christen Clark [00:00:08]:

Hey, y'all. Welcome to the Collide Kids Podcast, hosted by Christen Clark. This is a show for kids and families. You are going to meet new people and have fun while you listen. Let's do it. Hey, y'all. Welcome to the Collide Kids Podcast. I'm your host, Christen Clark.

Christen Clark [00:00:34]:

The Collide Kids Podcast is a show for kids and families where we learn together how life and faith collide. It means so much to me that you're here today. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I am so glad that you're going to spend this time with me. If this is your first time listening, I just want to let you know, at the end of every episode, we have the kids only segment where kids just like you get to be on the podcast. So be sure to stick around for that. I also want to let you know that we have a YouTube channel where you can watch this entire interview on video so you can see what the person looks like and watch us talk to each other. And today's episode, I think you'll definitely want to watch me and all the facial expressions I make as my guest shares about the many adventures he has been on.

Christen Clark [00:01:16]:

I think you're really going to enjoy this episode, so definitely go check out our YouTube channel and subscribe to that today. Before I get into introducing my guest, I just want to stop to thank the the wonderful sponsors of today's episode, the Baby Believer series from Catechesis Books. Baby Believer Primers help parents teach their children the central tenets of the Christian faith that they may never know a day apart from the Lord. Well, this week we are heading to a time of some scary stuff because Halloween is right around the corner. And my favorite part of Halloween is definitely the Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins and the Almond Joys because I get all of those when my kids go trick or treating. But if you're not into Halloween and you're not into the scary stuff, I totally understand. Today we're going to talk a little bit more about facing fear. Instead of facing the spooky stuff and scary stuff, we're going to talk more about facing fear on the adventure side with my friend, Ryan George.

Christen Clark [00:02:09]:

He is an author and adventure seeker. On his blog and social media, he tells stories at the intersection of physical adventures and spiritual discoveries. He attended church on five of the seven continents he's visited and has served in his church's parking lot for 18 years. I love that he's a certified biplane wing walker. Yeah, you heard that right. A biplane wing walker who has surfed the Arctic Circle and ice climbed in Antarctica. He co founded and co leads Dude Group, a parachurch, outdoor Bible study and prayer group in the Blue Ridge Mountains where he lives with his wife Crystal, and his daughter Dioni. I cannot wait for you guys to hear this conversation with adventure seeker Ryan George.

Christen Clark [00:03:01]:

Ryan, I am so excited to have you on the Collide Kids podcast today.

Ryan George [00:03:06]:

I'm stoked to be here.

Christen Clark [00:03:07]:

Oh, my goodness. Your story is incredible to me. So I'm really excited to talk to you today. Would you just introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Ryan George [00:03:16]:

Yeah. So I'm Ryan George. I have 19 nieces and nephews. I have five brothers and sisters, and I'm the oldest. And so I was always the one inviting my younger people in my life into something fun and exciting that I was trying for the first time. I was the first to get married. I've been married for 24 years to Crystal, who's a missionary kid from Bolivia. I got into adventures, which we're going to talk about a little bit later here, but the biggest adventure of my life.

Ryan George [00:03:41]:

Five years ago, we welcomed a teenager into our home, and now my daughter is officially my daughter, and she's studying to be a social worker at college.

Christen Clark [00:03:48]:

That's amazing. I love that. And you said adventures, and I just want you to know that as you talk about the adventures that you've been through, my toes are going to be curled because it's just. Just the idea of some of the things you do makes me nervous. It's going to be so fun. Before we get into your story, because this is a show for kids, I always ask my guests to tell me a joke. So what have you got for us today?

Ryan George [00:04:11]:

Okay, so the other day, my friend Dave was in the attic and he stumbled upon this little piece of metal he'd never seen before. And he rubbed it and a genie came out. He's like, no way. This really works. And the genie's like, yeah, it works. You get three wishes. And Dave got super excited. He's like, okay, can I ask now? He said, ask right now.

Ryan George [00:04:26]:

Anything right now. And Dave goes, well, I'd love to be rich. And genie's like, okay, rich, you get two more wishes.

Christen Clark [00:04:34]:

No, he wasted it on that. That's funny too, because my husband's name is Richard, so we don't call him Rich, though. But yeah, that's good. I like that. Okay, so, Ryan, let's talk about what you do as an adventurer. This is really interesting to me. And I'd love to know what got you started in all of this.

Ryan George [00:04:54]:

Those are two different questions. So the first is I like to find the character of God everywhere I go. I've been to over 30 countries, all seven continents. I've surfed in the Arctic Circle, I've ice climbed in Antarctica. I've camped hanging 90ft off the ground on a mountain in Colorado. I jump off of buildings, mountains and airplanes. I've paraglided in 10 countries. I've bungee jumped on five continents.

Ryan George [00:05:16]:

I go all over looking to scare myself into feeling something sometimes. But the other part is, before I leave on any trip, I ask God to reveal what it is he put in my heart to want this very specific adventure or this very specific location. And then he, as he promised, he answers that when we seek, we find, right? And there's a verse in Proverbs that says the glory of God to hide a matter, but it's the glory of kings to find it. And then when you pair that with what Jesus said is, those who seek will find. It's like there's this grand scavenger hunt that we can learn more and more about Jesus the harder and harder we look. And so I just go looking for in places that other people don't. Yeah, but how it started, you know, I didn't have aspirations to be a world traveler. I didn't have a passport till I went to visit my in laws in the mission field.

Ryan George [00:06:02]:

It really wasn't a goal of mine. And then 18 years ago, we started attending a church where all of our pastors were adventurers. One was a wilderness guide, one was an ice climber in whitewater paddler, one was a motorcycle racer, one was a pilot of experimental aircraft. And I was surrounded by people who were whitewater guides and backpackers and all these different adventurers and people who'd been to countries I hadn't, in sense part of the world and absorbed it in ways I never have. And as they're telling stories like, man, I would love that. And I just started getting invited into more and more of them, like, well, hey, we're going in June, you want to go? And so what happened was I found out that I had passions for things that I didn't know. I didn't know I'd love paragliding. Like, I just never knew that about myself.

Ryan George [00:06:44]:

And, you know, I didn't sleep in tents growing up. I didn't hang off of mountains growing up. I had, I lived between soybean fields on the eastern shore of Maryland, right Like, it's just not. The highest elevation on our island was 19ft, and we think it was the overpass. So, like, I don't. I don't know where this came from. My wife, sometimes, she's like, I didn't marry this guy. Right? Like, there's something that's coming alive in you.

Ryan George [00:07:05]:

Yeah. It took me a while, as you can imagine, to get life insurance. Nine out of the 10 questions that you're not supposed to say no to, I have to say no to. So it's like, yeah, I've done that. Yeah, I've done that. Yeah, I've done that. And so. And a couple years ago, I finally got number 10.

Ryan George [00:07:20]:

I bought a motorcycle.

Christen Clark [00:07:21]:

So was that, like, your checklist? Like, let's start with this list to go first.

Ryan George [00:07:26]:

It's so funny. It wasn't meant to be, but in the end, I was like, man, I wouldn't want to live a life where none of those were on my list, right? Like, yeah. And again, it wasn't that I set out to do them right, but it's that after you experience one, you'll meet somebody. Like, you'll be in New Zealand, and you're going over. My brother and I went over the highest waterfall that's commercially navigated in the world, and we're like, this is awesome. And the latest, like, what are you doing here? You have the best whitewater three hours from where you live in the United States. You're like, oh, I didn't know. You know? So I come back to Virginia, and I find out.

Ryan George [00:07:56]:

Sure enough, my buddy was a guide on that river. You know, and so when I sailed to Antarctica, it takes, you know, two, three days each way to get down there, and you're just stuck on a ship with no wifi, no cell service, no nothing. And you just start talking to other people crazy enough to go to Antarctica and hear, like, I have two friends that have run with the bulls in Spain. Like, I. I just don't even know. I have one friend who likes. She snorkels and dives with blue whales and orcas in the wild. Like, not at SeaWorld.

Ryan George [00:08:24]:

Like, south of Australia just goes out. And then you just go, well, that sounds fun. Like, well, hey, I'm. I'm going next August if you want to go.

Christen Clark [00:08:32]:

See, this is the difference between you and me, Ryan. Because if someone said to me, I would do that, I'd be like, why would you do that? Like, and you're like, let's go. So that's amazing. That. And I Think that is true, that God put something in you, that desire? Um, and then when you're surrounded with people, I'm sure it's a better experience when you go with someone else. Right?

Ryan George [00:08:52]:

Yeah. Although I would say mostly adventures that I'm known for. I didn't take anybody from Virginia. Right. Because it's. It's a situation. You know, we didn't have a kid TILL I was 42 years old. And so most of my friends during my 30s just weren't free to do the things that I was free to do, but I was always doing them with somebody when I got there.

Ryan George [00:09:10]:

Right. Like.

Christen Clark [00:09:10]:

Right.

Ryan George [00:09:11]:

And I think that's a spiritual principle. A lot of times you can show up to a place alone, but come home with new friends. Like, you can go to a Taylor Swift concert alone and come home with, like, five friendship bracelets. Right. Like, that's just how it works. And I think that works that way in the kingdom, that when we say yes to Jesus, even if we have to do it alone, what we find out is when we get there, that there are other people who were called to do the same thing. And now we have a new collection of friends.

Christen Clark [00:09:33]:

Right.

Ryan George [00:09:34]:

And people who are cheering us on. Right. But the big principle was that as I would go past that line of I've never to. I just did. It was such an enriching, fulfilling experience that it became habit for me to go, yeah, I've never gone out on the wings of an airplane while I was doing aerobatics, but, man, when I jumped off a cliff, that turned out okay. And when I jumped off the 63rd story of a building, that turned out okay.

Christen Clark [00:09:56]:

Yeah.

Ryan George [00:09:57]:

And so you just start doing it. And when I got done my first wing walking class, my. My classmate yelled across the tarmac, how is it? And I said, I've never felt more alive.

Christen Clark [00:10:06]:

Yeah.

Ryan George [00:10:07]:

And so what. What you realize is that in those moments when. When you move past your fear into your faith, that it's heavily rewarded. And scientists are still struggling to figure this out, but they think it's almost proportional that the most scared, more scared you are, the more dopamine and epinephrine, all the other things that you get as a reward chemical. And so in some ways, and this works away in our faith as well. Right. Like, the harder it is to say yes to Jesus, to surrender something, it seems like the more reward we get for making that surrender.

Christen Clark [00:10:35]:

Yeah, that's so true. Okay, so you gotta walk us through. You did a walk across a biplane while it's doing Acrobatics? Is that what you said?

Ryan George [00:10:44]:

Aerobatics?

Christen Clark [00:10:45]:

Aerobatics. Explain this.

Ryan George [00:10:48]:

So I fly up. It's. She's a great instructor. She. I think she's a Sunday school teacher at a local church. Her kids fly with her. It's really cool. Her husband Mike is a aerobatic pilot, and he trains other aerobatic pilots.

Ryan George [00:10:59]:

But what they do is, like, those old biplanes. They're like 1938 biplanes that pull, like, the big banners over the stadiums. That's when they got into. It was. They were pulling banners over stadiums.

Christen Clark [00:11:08]:

Okay.

Ryan George [00:11:08]:

And what you do is you get about 3,000, 5,000ft up off the ground, and the pilot wiggles the wings to let you know it's time to go. You unbuckle your seatbelt and you climb up onto the top wing. And then once you're up there, he starts doing loop de loops and rolls and stalls. Then he wiggles the wings. You come back down, put your seatbelt back on. He takes the plane back up higher, he wiggles the wings again. You get out and you walk on the bottom wing out, and you hold on there. And then he starts doing stalls and spins and.

Ryan George [00:11:32]:

And loops and stuff like that.

Christen Clark [00:11:33]:

And so are you clipped in? Like, are you, like, connected to the plane while you're walking on top?

Ryan George [00:11:39]:

Uh, so you have a. They call it a lanyard. So you're wearing, like, a rock climbing harness that has a safety line. It's clipped to the plane, but if you were to fall, you'd just be hanging below the plane.

Christen Clark [00:11:49]:

Okay.

Ryan George [00:11:49]:

Um, I was student number 1100, and they said they'd never had anybody at that point had ever fallen and even relied on the harness.

Christen Clark [00:11:57]:

Okay.

Ryan George [00:11:58]:

You. You choreograph it. The reason the class takes so long is you have to. You can't just step anywhere on a biplane because the wings are actually made out of fabric. The old planes were wood with fabric wrapped.

Christen Clark [00:12:07]:

Oh, okay.

Ryan George [00:12:07]:

And you wouldn't want to put your foot through the wing. Right, Right. And so there's very specific places where you can step your feet. And I am an uncoordinated dancer. You don't want to see me at a wedding. Like, I couldn't do any of that stuff. So it was nerve wracking to me. Less about how high up I was and more about getting my feet in the right position at the right time.

Ryan George [00:12:26]:

But, yeah, you just. You walk through this choreograph steps to get to where you are, and then you hold on for dear life.

Christen Clark [00:12:31]:

Nice. And then they go to Aerobatics. Are they flipping you around?

Ryan George [00:12:35]:

Well, the plane is. Yeah. So you can do. You can pick any number of stunts. Um, you do six per wing while you're out there in the class. Yeah, they do this. They do a thing called a hammer stall, which is really cool. You go.

Ryan George [00:12:48]:

The plane goes straight up, and then it stalls and falls backwards. That. That's my favorite. And they do it one. They do it one each way. So when it goes up, it'll stall to the left. And when you're out on the left wing, you're stuck in the middle of the air, and the plane goes around you while you're weightless. That one's awesome.

Ryan George [00:13:03]:

When you do it, when he camera stalls the other way, he stalls, and the plane looks like it's sitting still in the sky. And you go around it before you drop towards the ground. But the last time I took the class, we got up to 155 miles an hour pointed straight at the ground, which is the fastest I've ever flown at the ground in my life.

Christen Clark [00:13:19]:

Have you ever heard of roller coasters? Like, can you get the same feeling from a roller coaster? Roller coaster?

Ryan George [00:13:25]:

Uh, I have not done a roller coaster since 2006. After you've done some other stuff, like, it's. It's just a bunch of shaking, and the lines are way longer at a theme park than where I go to do stuff.

Christen Clark [00:13:35]:

So what was your first thing like, what was the first thing that got you started on this? Was it bungee jumping or rock climbing? What was the first thing that really, like, tipped this off? Like, this is it. This is what I gotta do.

Ryan George [00:13:46]:

So I don't know if you're gonna believe me or not, but in second grade, it was when I started jumping my bike.

Christen Clark [00:13:51]:

Okay.

Ryan George [00:13:52]:

So I kept trying to jump my little BMX bike higher and higher and higher off the ground.

Christen Clark [00:13:56]:

Yeah.

Ryan George [00:13:56]:

And flying it. Like, I remember just sending it. No pad, no nothing. I'd be three, four feet in the air, just flying. Uh, we used to try stunts where we jump from a car ramp to a car ramp. Um, and we just kept stretching the car ramps further and further apart, and you just come down the driveway as fast as you could. And I don't know what our record was. I think we got up to, like, four or five feet.

Ryan George [00:14:16]:

We could fly in the air before we hit the other ramp. But I used to go sit out on the roof of my house. I had a difficult childhood growing up. And I had an attic bedroom, and I used to just open the window and go on nights when I was overwhelmed. Just sit on the roof.

Christen Clark [00:14:27]:

Yeah.

Ryan George [00:14:27]:

And so I think part of that was just. It was a coping mechanism. You know, my first big international trip, adventure trip, my pastor invited me to backpack in Patagonia. Yeah. That was the first time I ever slept in a tent with a stranger or like, you know, not a family member and. Yeah. And getting to experience different languages and stuff like that, that was probably my first big. Well, when I visited my in laws in Bolivia the first time, back when they were still in the mission field, I went on a walkabout without my wife, who was my translator, which she had told me not to do.

Ryan George [00:14:58]:

And I found out why, because I ended up with an M16 pointed at me by a military guy who was questioning me about where I was taking pictures. I was taking pictures of cool cars, but I didn't realize I was standing in front of this big military compound and they thought I was taking pictures of that. So having an M16 pointed at you and people asking you questions in a language you don't understand, that'll. That'll burgeon some adventure in you for sure.

Christen Clark [00:15:22]:

Okay, so here's my big one. Okay. So I never really. I did roller coasters and things like that, but I was never interested in the, like, the swinging drop things or like bungee jumping. Like, I can't even watch those videos. Um, but I was chaperoning this adventure weekend or whatever at a retreat center, and one of the kids was like, hey, Ms. Christen, you need to go up on the. On the swing.

Christen Clark [00:15:44]:

So it's one of those where it pulls you to the back and you pull the release and you swing out. It's really high up. I'm like, you know, I don't even know. Not as high as anything you've done, I'm sure. And I just remember thinking I'm going to say a lot of bad words or I'm going to just, like, pass out. Like, I was just. I was more worried about how I'd respond, But it was. There was a lot of fear there.

Christen Clark [00:16:05]:

And I have repelled before, like, off rocks and there you go. Yeah, I did that. That was pretty intense. So I think those are the most adventurous things I can say I've ever done.

Ryan George [00:16:14]:

Dude, the Giants. The Giants swing at amusement parks. That is no small thing that I swore the first time I did that, too.

Christen Clark [00:16:21]:

I was like, everybody, clear the air.

Ryan George [00:16:23]:

Because I was with a missionary kid. Yeah, I was a bunch of Christian college guys that went. But that's a step up to the next thing, right?

Christen Clark [00:16:29]:

Yeah.

Ryan George [00:16:29]:

Like a canyon swing I got. So my wife agreed to rappel with me. So I took her on a sport called canyoneering, which is where you repel waterfalls.

Christen Clark [00:16:37]:

Oh.

Ryan George [00:16:37]:

And so it's just really cool. She actually liked it. She couldn't believe she liked it. I was super happy she liked it because that gave me something I could do with her on vacations, you know? But, yeah, you kind of do it in baby steps. Right? Like, I didn't go out on the wings of the plane as my first thing.

Christen Clark [00:16:49]:

Right.

Ryan George [00:16:50]:

You know, it's like, inch it up a little bit. A little bit. A little bit.

Christen Clark [00:16:53]:

Yeah. Okay. So I know you deal with fear. Like, I know fear has to play into it. And I actually interviewed Laura Wilkinson a while back, who's a high diver for the Olympics, and she talked about how important fear was. Fear is not actually a bad thing. It's good because that's when your. Your training and your focus kicks in.

Christen Clark [00:17:10]:

But you can't let it overtake you and you can't let it dictate what you're going to do. So what, what would you say is your remedy for fear? How do you deal with fear when you're facing all of these adventures?

Ryan George [00:17:21]:

So there's two responses to that. So there's an unhealthy and a healthy. Okay, so the unhealthy is what I call digital courage. And when I First, when the GoPro first came out is right about when I first started doing these things. And I would get the courage to do them because I thought, oh, I'm going to get likes, comments and shares later, and people are going to tell me that I'm important and I'm wanted. Right. And so I would do things that made my leg shake. I was utterly scared, but I would do it to get the attention of people and hopefully maybe someday translate into an I love you or I want to be your friend.

Ryan George [00:17:50]:

So that's the unhealthy side of it. The healthy side of it is focusing on the reward. Like we were talking about earlier. You know, the Old Testament and the New Testament, it says that the just shall live by faith. Well, you can't have faith if you're certain about everything. If you're not scared or you don't have doubts, you're not have a little bit of wonder, like, is this real? Then you don't need faith at all. So what I've learned is that I have to constantly in relationships, I'm more scared to have a tough conversation than I AM to jump off of a building, right? So we're all called to different things. We're scared to.

Ryan George [00:18:19]:

We're scared to maybe go back to school or to sign up for a serving team. Everybody I talk to has a fear in the back of their head or a conversation they're avoiding or whatever. But what I focus on in those moments, or when I'm on the side of a cliff or on the back of an airplane or whatever, is that there's reward waiting at the end of this and that I'm going to learn something about myself and about Jesus through it, right? And it's 10 out of 10 every time I do that. I come home when I leave because obviously my wife doesn't do all of this stuff with me. But when I leave, I say, I promise I'm going to come home a better man than you. Just kiss goodbye. And I do, because I'm reflective on the way home, I spend the flights home, you know, on my laptop, journaling about it and figuring out what can I share with other people, what I learned about myself. And so when you focus on the reward instead of on the danger, and obviously you do that within a certain realm of like, I don't go stand in front of a train and see how long I can wait before it hits me, right? Like, I'm not standing in the middle of a high.

Ryan George [00:19:12]:

Like, I'm not playing with venomous snakes and seeing how long it takes to get bit within reason. I do my homework and whatever, but to know that, yes, I'm scared, but scared is good because I'll get reward for it later.

Christen Clark [00:19:24]:

Yeah, and I like what you said earlier too, where you ask God to show you something new in the midst of that so that you can see different things about who he is or who he created you to be every time that you take this step. And the verse in James, it made me think of that verse in James that says, when we ask God for wisdom, he gives it to us generously, right? So, like, when we ask God, will you show me something he's going to show you? Like, he's really going to show you what are some things that you've learned about God or about yourself and your relationship with God through these adventures.

Ryan George [00:19:55]:

One, this sounds really weird, but one is that I'm not broken. Like, we're all broken as far as. Like, we're not perfect people. But, you know, I grew up thinking that the parts of me that make me unique were broken. You know, people told me growing up that the things that Interested me weren't going to be in heaven, so why was I interested in them? And instead to be around people who, you know, when we process this afterwards, we'd have a small group time, we'd pray together, and we're like, what did you learn about God today? And everybody had a different story, right? Like, this is what I learned about Jesus today. And to go, oh, maybe it's just I'm wired that way. You know, one thing, one of the tools that really helped me. And there's two different frameworks you can use.

Ryan George [00:20:32]:

One has seven, one has nine, but it's the spiritual pathways assessment, and it's how do you sense God's presence and approval and affirmation in your life? And so for me, off the charts. Every test I take is nature. And outside, like, when I'm on the edge of a mountain or I'm stuck in a river somewhere, I feel Jesus more than I do inside a building, even on Sundays. And then second for that is music. So almost always music is second for me. And so if I've got my headphones in, when I'm out in nature and I'm listening to worship man, I have these encounters with Jesus I just wouldn't have had in the face communities that I grew up in because they didn't have a category for someone who could connect to Jesus that way. For my wife, it's social justice. She's walking into orphanages in Sierra Leone.

Ryan George [00:21:14]:

Like, she was just on the front lines in Ukraine giving aid, and she came home feeling Jesus in Ukraine. Right. And so we all have that. Maybe it's reading. There's a whole bunch of different ones depending on your framework. And so realizing, no, no, no, I'm not escaping my Christianity. I'm not going away from who Jesus made me to be. I'm finding him more and more the more I lean into that.

Ryan George [00:21:35]:

There's a verse in the Old Testament, I think it's Ezekiel, but it might be Isaiah, and it says that Jesus wants to replace our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, which goes against everything I was taught growing up about, oh, you can't trust the flesh. You can't trust the flesh. But we were made in his image when we were fully human. And the closer we can embrace our humanity and particularly our unique wiring of our humanity, the more we're going to feel his intent for creating us in the first place.

Christen Clark [00:22:02]:

Yeah, that's so true. And that's really good point, too, to think of we're created to appreciate who he is in different ways. And so somebody might really enjoy being outdoors and loving and worshiping God in that setting. And then some people have different ways that they connect with God. So I think that's a good reminder too. So tell us, what are some things that you've done? Maybe you've walked into a situation like you're going to do this thing and then you're like, no, I can't do this, or it was too dangerous. Have you ever, like stepped back from something and said, I can't do this?

Ryan George [00:22:33]:

Oh, man, that's a good question. Yeah. Actually, two summers ago, I took my buddy on a trip and we were doing camping on utv. So a side by side, you know, that has like the roll cage is like an atv and he's more brave in things regarding driving than I am. And we were on the edge of this, like, massive drop off and I said, I'm going to hike down. I'll meet you at the bottom. He's like, all right, I'm sending it. And he just like drove off the edge totally fine.

Ryan George [00:23:00]:

Like nothing happened. But I could just see us like tumbling, tumbling, tumbling. And I went, no, yeah, no, no. I need my legs to work because I got a hiking trip coming up. Like, I'm not risking that. So there are. There are sometimes, but, yeah, not as much as other people, probably.

Christen Clark [00:23:15]:

Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah. And I think there it is. Good to know your limits and at least everyone has turned back from something. What has been your favorite thing? Is there one thing you can say, like, this was definitely the coolest thing I've ever done? Or is it always that you're like beating the next thing you're onto something.

Ryan George [00:23:31]:

There is that this becomes habit forming and you need a bigger and bigger hit. Right. Like, I really would like to go to space, you know, like, there are certain things I want to try. I want to. A couple weeks ago, I was googling what's called a halo jump, which is where you jump out of an airplane at 30,000 to 40,000ft up. So as high as you fly when you're flying on a commercial airliner with oxygen. And then you don't open till 3,000ft off the ground. So normally you open at 5 or 6,000ft off the ground to give you some cushioned in case something doesn't go right.

Ryan George [00:23:59]:

And halo is doing none of that. It's. It's jumping early and opening late. And so, yeah, it is habit forming and it can be difficult to rein that in. So one of the ways I do. That is, rather than get into one sport and keep taking it to more and more and more adrenaline, like. Like those wingsuit flyers. Right.

Ryan George [00:24:18]:

They have to keep flying closer and closer to dangerous things or faster and faster. What I do is a diversity of things that all scare me at an entry level. And so what happens is I never get to a spot where I'm not doing it with a professional and I'm not doing it within somewhat safe guidelines. You know, you're never a hundred percent safe. But as far as my favorite, it really depends on who I'm around, like, the kind of stories they want to hear. The one that everyone asked me about is going out of the wings of a plane while they're doing aerobatics.

Christen Clark [00:24:44]:

Yeah.

Ryan George [00:24:44]:

But my favorite to do, like to book is paragliding. I love running off a mountain and then just gliding all the way down to the valley. It's such a peaceful time. It's so quiet up there.

Christen Clark [00:24:55]:

Yeah.

Ryan George [00:24:55]:

And you get to see the world from a perspective that most people don't because in an airplane you're going too fast and on the ground you can't get the same view. But we're floating anywhere from 4 to 15 miles an hour and you just kind of pirouetting in the sky over the mountains or over the water or whatever and oh, man, there's just nothing like it. Last year was my first time ever doing it upside down, which is pretty cool. In Slovenia, the guy said, hang on. Since it looks like you're up for stuff, I'm going to try something. I was like, sweet, let's do it. And I got a picture of us and the grounds on the bottom of the picture, which is really cool.

Christen Clark [00:25:26]:

That's awesome.

Ryan George [00:25:27]:

But yeah, each one is different. Right. Like the I. The shortest one I ever did was in Iceland in the rain. And we landed on a black sand beach. And where we took off, we were surrounded by puffins. There's like puffin birds everywhere, which is just epic.

Christen Clark [00:25:39]:

Yeah.

Ryan George [00:25:39]:

But it was the shortest, most like no frills flight I ever had. But it's high up there on the list. And then I had one time in Switzerland, we jumped off near the Matterhorn in the clouds and we couldn't even see the ground, which normally would make for not cool experience. But then the clouds parted while we were up there and we got to run our hands to the edge of the clouds while we're going back and forth as the sun came out. It was just like, there are moments like that where you can't predict.

Christen Clark [00:26:03]:

So what did the cloud feel like? Was it like fluffy or was it just watery? What did that feel like?

Ryan George [00:26:09]:

Honestly, it was just like a foggy day. Like, that's what it felt like on your hand, like hiking in the fog. But it's like picking your favorite kid. I'm fortunate I only have one kid so I can have a favorite. But, like, you like each kid for a different reason in different situations.

Christen Clark [00:26:21]:

You know, this is incredible. I think all the things you've done, I'm just going to live vicariously through you. Okay. I don't think I'm going to do those things, but I think it's really cool that you're doing them. Well, this has been so fun, Ryan. I've loved learning about your adventures, and I think it's really neat that you are taking every moment to learn more about God. And so I think that's amazing. Tell our listeners where they can find out more about you, your adventures, your books, all of that good stuff.

Ryan George [00:26:46]:

Yeah, all my books and all my social media links are available at booksbyryan.com on almost every social media platform. I'm @ryplane. That's R, Y, P, L, A, N E. And you can see pictures of my daughter and my wife and my friends and links to purchase the books in audiobook, print, book, or ebook.

Christen Clark [00:27:04]:

Very cool. Yeah, definitely. Go check that out. Well, this has been so fun, Ryan. Thank you so much for being on the show. Before I let you go, I always ask my guests to tell me a memory from when they were a kid. So what do you got for us?

Ryan George [00:27:15]:

Oh, man. So I used to live on top of a mountain in Pennsylvania when I was in second grade. And we lived on a dirt road off a dirt road, so it didn't get plowed after, like, the first month because the plows couldn't get up there.

Christen Clark [00:27:27]:

Wow.

Ryan George [00:27:28]:

And we did a school trip. I don't even know how the school bus came up to where we live, but they parked right at our. By our house and we all hiked. Our whole class did this. And so what happened is after it started snow, they had pushed the snow to the side, but then they stopped plowing. And the snow that came in after it basically turned our road into like a half pipe or like a bobsled track all the way down because it had banks to it. And so my buddies had older, older brothers. And they're like, hey, let's do this.

Ryan George [00:27:54]:

We're gonna. We're gonna follow the big guys down. We. We did the math in our head that the big guys would probably slide faster. Like, we thought gravity would pull them more or something. So we did it in order of age. And the first guy went down and he hit the bank and just went flying. And we're like, heck, yeah, let's do this.

Ryan George [00:28:09]:

Well, what we didn't see is where he landed. So we all took off before we saw where he landed. And we're all like six feet apart, just cruising down this mountain. And the second guy hit it, and he went flying lands. Third guy hits it. I think I was like, guy number four, and I think there was a guy behind me. But anyway, what we didn't see is that when they landed, they didn't keep sliding. They just, like, fell in the snow and stopped.

Ryan George [00:28:30]:

And so each one of us, as we went off, we just landed on the next guy, and we just kept making a thicker and thicker sandwich. Whoever was last got the best end of the deal, right? But I still remember that sense of flying. Like, whoa. Like, this is a ski jump. It was so amazing.

Christen Clark [00:28:43]:

Did it ever snow like that again where you could do it again? Or was it just that one time?

Ryan George [00:28:47]:

No, no, that's the thing we call lightning in a bottle. It was so perfect.

Christen Clark [00:28:51]:

Well, Ryan, this has been so fun. Thank you so much for being on the show today.

Ryan George [00:28:55]:

Oh, it's been great. Thanks for having me.

Christen Clark [00:29:06]:

Okay, you're going to have to go watch the YouTube video because I was trying so hard to not look shocked and surprised and nervous as he is explaining all these adventures he's been on. Isn't that incredible? I love that he said he was passionate about finding the character of God everywhere he goes. We can all do that. It doesn't have to be scary or an adventurous moment. We can always start looking for the character of God and all the things that we do each day. Ryan asked God to show him what God has put in his heart to find in each experience or adventure he goes on. And I love that he said it was really cool to show up in a place and come home with new friends. It's the same when we say yes to Jesus.

Christen Clark [00:29:47]:

We might have to start alone, but as we go along, we meet people along the way who are also following Jesus. And now we have this collection of friends who are cheering us on as we all go on adventures with God. Ryan encouraged us to move past your fear into your faith. The harder it might be to say yes to God, the greater it will be rewarded. I think that's so true. Ryan also explained the difference between Healthy fear and unhealthy fear. He said unhealthy fear is trying to conquer things just to get likes or comments on social media or approval from others. A healthy fear is focusing on the reward instead of the danger and learning something about yourself or your relationship with God through it.

Christen Clark [00:30:28]:

I just love that distinction between the two that he shared. If you'd like to learn more about Ryan and his books and his adventures, go to booksbyryan.com/adventures. Well, now it's time for the Kids Only segment. This is the part of the show where you get to be on the podcast. So here is my friend Mia. <Mia sings Jesus Loves Me>

Christen Clark [00:31:28]:

Thank you Mia for sharing that. I love when kids send in songs. That was beautiful. Hey, if you like to be like Mia and send in your favorite song or joke or a Bible verse or something you want to quote from a book or a movie, just head over to my website, collidekidspodcast.com and click the tab that says Kids only. You can record it right there or you can send it to me through my social media. I'm on Facebook at the Collide Kids Podcast or on Instagram @collidekidspod. And if you're on social media, I'd love for you to follow me there and share today's episode with someone who might need to hear it. And don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, Collide Kids Podcast.

Christen Clark [00:32:05]:

That's pretty easy to remember where you can watch the full length interview for today's episode. You know a great way to support this podcast is to leave a rating and a review you on whatever podcast app you're using. It really does help other people find out about the show and lets them know what you love about it and I love reading those and hearing what you think about each episode. You can also share this episode with friends and family through text or through social media or through email. Let them know that you listen to the Collide Kids podcast and anytime you think about it, I always appreciate your prayer support as well. Well, I hope you guys don't do anything too dangerous after today's episode, but I do hope you find a way to face your fears and to know that God is with you no matter what. And in case no one has told you today, I would love to be the first to remind you that God loves you so much. Thanks for listening.