Keep Climbing

In Keep Climbing: Taking Responsibility for the Life You Actually Have, Dcn. Nelson Lowes, RCDD, looks back on an ordinary life filled with work, family, wrong turns, second chances, and lessons that often arrived later than he would have preferred. He has been a soldier, restaurant worker, salesman, ICT professional, husband, father, grandfather, volunteer leader, and deacon—and along the way he has succeeded, failed, hurt people, helped people, changed direction, rediscovered faith, and learned that responsibility is far more complicated than simply taking the blame.

With candor, humor, and hard-earned perspective, Lowes explores what it means to stop negotiating with the life you wish you had and begin taking responsibility for the one actually in front of you. Responsibility, he discovers, is not about controlling everything, punishing yourself for yesterday, or pretending every setback was your fault. It is about honestly identifying what belongs to you and doing something worthwhile with it.

At the heart of the book is one enduring question: What does an ordinary person owe the life he's been given? The answer is not perfection. It is honesty, effort, grace, and the willingness to make the next responsible choice—then get up tomorrow and do it again.