Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Journey to the Summit

     As I sit in my office this morning, I am reminded of how much I want to be outside . . .and how extremely jealous I am that my best friend is in Colorado, climbing mountains – while I am not. If you know anything about me, it is this – I have an affinity for the outdoors, and I would much rather be outside than inside, on just about any given day. With that said, I like hiking and climbing the best out of anything I get to do in the outdoors.
You may be asking yourself . . . “Self, why is he talking about how much he loves the outdoors?” Well, your answer lies in the verses I was reading this morning (and a book I read just a few weeks ago). But first things first!
     In the book of Isaiah, we find a particular passage that thrills my soul in many ways, but especially because of the specific words that Isaiah had to say about the nations of Judah and Jerusalem. In the second chapter of his writings, we find him saying this:

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say,
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

     As I read this particular passage (which is found in verses two and three), my soul jumped because of pure excitement. It is nature that thrills me in ways that I cannot describe, and even pictures can do nothing to describe the sheer isolation that you feel in the wilderness. It is only you, God, and His creation – which can be exciting and terrifying too.
     This is also true in life, because sometimes the best thing for our hearts is to get away from all the noise, clamor, hustle, and bustle of the world – and to retreat into the heart of the wilderness, where we can hear directly from the voice of God.
     The book I was telling you about is called Touching The Void by Joe Simpson. It is one man’s miraculous story of survival, when tragedy happened on the side of a snow-covered mountain. I tell you about this book, because it made me think of all the trials that we face in life. Just like Joe and Simon were climbing in insanely hard conditions, they never gave up; almost as if the entire book was a metaphor for the will of the human soul.
     The fact of the matter is that when we climb these mountains in our lives, there will be trials that must be faced, elements that must be braved, and obstacles that must be over come but in the end the reward is the sweetest thing in the world, that nobody can quite put into words. On the top of our life’s mountain is God, and through these trials he will teach us to walk in his ways; just like Isaiah talked about. So, let’s climb to the summit, overcoming each obstacle together, and hopefully we will learn something about ourselves, and our Savior along the way.