By Ed Giles, If there is one thing I could say of my life it is "I have had a great time!" In the early years of my life, my father was a party man. He was funny, engaging and a great host. Our gatherings were a blast and my dad brought the party. Then it all changed. During my early teens, the parties were replaced with going to church. My carpenter dad and a few of his buddies actually built the building and we were there any time it was open. I didn't know about my father's apparent 'come to Jesus experience'; however, parties were gone and boring church was our entertainment. I saw God as a "rule-writer" and a "kill joy"! I say all of this because it had an impact on how I chose friends. Honestly, I tried to avoid Christian men and avoided going to church altogether. But God had other plans. God drew me to Himself through my wife playing piano for a young couples singing group. My wife asked and I reluctantly joined - it actually looked like they were having fun! Through this, God kept tugging on me. My wife and I started working with the young people. The year 1977 would be my last year teaching public school. I resigned from Perris High School that summer and answered God's call to serve as principal at Temple Baptist School the same fall. One of the school board members at Temple was Don Schaffer. While serving with Don I observed a man, my age, who loved God, had a relationship with Jesus and wasn't boring. Far from it! We became best friends, we served together, we vacationed together and in the next decade spent many summers in Yosemite. Day hikes to peaks and waterfalls, fishing, bridge jumping into the Merced River, campfires and sleeping under brilliant night skies were the activities we enjoyed in the beautiful Yosemite valley. The day hikes to Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls and Half Dome I believe were formative events bringing us back summer after summer and calling us to more adventure ahead. Some fifty years or so later we are still best friends. Our kids are all grown. We now have grandchildren. We don't camp together anymore but I will forever be grateful for Don's impact, in my life and in the life of Backpack.