Meeting God on a Mountain - Part I

Mount Ararat.  Mount Sinai.  The Transfiguration.  Every time someone goes up to Jerusalem.  There are so many great Biblical associations with ascending towards God.  In real life, there is something difficult about hiking up a mountain.  Oddly enough, it isn’t the hiking.

Many years ago, we decided to go up a mountain during a family vacation.  What better place to view some of the beauty of creation?  My youngest child was seven.  My second youngest child was also seven.  They were still light enough to be carried so I wasn’t worried.  The hike to the top was the easy part.  And we did pause here and there to admire God’s handiwork.  Unfortunately, in addition to God, we found a map.  I pointed out to the kids how we’d made it to the top of the trail, and it was time to head back.  They pointed out to me that the top of the trail wasn’t actually the top of the mountain.

The last quarter mile was more vertical than the rest.  I hadn’t researched exactly what that might involve.  Getting to the top of the trail had been the plan from the beginning.  We’d been hiking for three hours with likely as long before we reached the bottom, which meant there was a good chance we’d all be anxious for the bathroom when we got there.  Plus, it was starting to rain.  Those were all excellent reasons.  A reminder of who was in charge was the only reason I needed.  On the return hike, the views all seemed to be tainted by the fact that everyone knew there was a higher view we didn’t see.

The kids reminded us for years, yes years, about that time we hiked up a mountain without getting to the top of the mountain.  We did not see a lot of God in the grumbling.  But we did see an opportunity to try again.  On the morning of the next trip, the sky was full of clouds, and lightning was in the forecast.  I didn’t want to drive three hours to not climb a mountain.  I could just imagine how long I’d be hearing about that.

We prayed.  We believed God would help us make the most of the trip regardless of the weather.  A beautiful rainbow spread out in front of us as we left town.  God came down to us.  And eventually, we made it to the very top of the mountain.  The view was probably better for having to wait years to see it.  It was so good, we wanted to climb that mountain again. 

Part II