At eighteen years old I took my first trip to the mountains. I was with our church group on a snow ski trip. I’d never skied; in fact I’d only seen snow twice in my life. Growing up on the coast of Texas doesn’t allow for a person to experience but a small amount of cold weather much less snow.
It reminds me of when I worked in Saint Croix for a couple months. The average high temperature every day year round is about 92 degrees Fahrenheit. The native islanders never experience anything less that 65 degrees and when you go to the grocery store the stockers put on Eskimo coats with the furry hood just to stock milk. It is an interesting and funny sight.
We went on our ski trip to Durango Colorado. I had skied for two days; the first day I was horrible at it and the second day after we ditched the instructor I started to get the hang of it. At the end of the second day after some time in the hot tub I cleaned up and decided to go for a walk.
I’ve always liked to be alone. I like my own company. I like to just think. So I started walking and ended up on a footbridge. It was a suspension bridge over a small clear stream. I sat down between a spot in the ropes where I could swing my feet and just look around.
It was just getting dark and there was a thin line of light over the mountains to the west. The eastern sky was starting to fill with stars. On the top of the mountains the snow almost glowed in the darkness. I could smell evergreens trees around me and the only sound I heard was the stream beneath my feet.
All at once I was over whelmed by the presence of God in creation. The sensory overload was like nothing I’d experienced in the flatness of southeast Texas. The enormity of God struck me as I stared up at the mountains above me and His love moved me as I started thinking about how good my life really was.
This was in March of 1985. It was the beginning of my realization of the fact that even though I had grown up going to church and even though I had seen my parents live their faith I never really had given myself completely to God. In July of that same year I did exactly that. I said, “God, I am giving everything I know myself to be to everything I know about you.” That part of my journey of faith started when really big pile of stones cried out and declared the glory of God.
It reminds me of when I worked in Saint Croix for a couple months. The average high temperature every day year round is about 92 degrees Fahrenheit. The native islanders never experience anything less that 65 degrees and when you go to the grocery store the stockers put on Eskimo coats with the furry hood just to stock milk. It is an interesting and funny sight.
We went on our ski trip to Durango Colorado. I had skied for two days; the first day I was horrible at it and the second day after we ditched the instructor I started to get the hang of it. At the end of the second day after some time in the hot tub I cleaned up and decided to go for a walk.
I’ve always liked to be alone. I like my own company. I like to just think. So I started walking and ended up on a footbridge. It was a suspension bridge over a small clear stream. I sat down between a spot in the ropes where I could swing my feet and just look around.
It was just getting dark and there was a thin line of light over the mountains to the west. The eastern sky was starting to fill with stars. On the top of the mountains the snow almost glowed in the darkness. I could smell evergreens trees around me and the only sound I heard was the stream beneath my feet.
All at once I was over whelmed by the presence of God in creation. The sensory overload was like nothing I’d experienced in the flatness of southeast Texas. The enormity of God struck me as I stared up at the mountains above me and His love moved me as I started thinking about how good my life really was.
This was in March of 1985. It was the beginning of my realization of the fact that even though I had grown up going to church and even though I had seen my parents live their faith I never really had given myself completely to God. In July of that same year I did exactly that. I said, “God, I am giving everything I know myself to be to everything I know about you.” That part of my journey of faith started when really big pile of stones cried out and declared the glory of God.
Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Master, reprove your disciples,' but he answered, 'I tell you, if these keep silence, the stones will cry out.'
Luke 19:39-40
1 comment:
This is a quote from the book Captivating that you guys gave me by John and Staci Eldredge:
"Nature is not primarily functional. It is primarily beautiful. Which is to say, beauty is in and of itself a great and glorious good, something we need in large and daily doses (for our God has seen fit to arrange this). Nature at the height of its glory shouts, Beauty is Essential! revealing that Beauty is the essence of God. The whole world is full of His glory."
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