Confessions of a “Survivor” Flunky

Get me some crow.  I’m ready to eat it.

I consider myself a pretty tough woman.  So when friends sneered at me as I talked about my plans to go camping all by my lonesome, I took it in stride & whispered internally “I’ll show you”.   I know how to commune with nature…heck, I’ve gone a whole weekend without hair gel & make-up, how hard can this camping thing be?  Have tent, will camp, right?  But after 3 days of roughing it I was prepared to rescind my indignation at being mocked and I willingly admit defeat.   So what was it that finally did me in?  Pick your poison…the ground was too hard, too rocky, too wet from the rains; the sleeping bag was not warm enough; the spiders crawling on my face in the dark creeped me out.  No, I’ll tell you what it was.  Stanley.  That’s what I named the massive creature I encountered outside my tent just as dark was setting in last night.  I heard the noise of something stirring outside and poked my head out to face this beast.  It was almost too dark out to snap a decent photo.  Nonetheless, I found my camera phone & shot a pic off to my favorite big game hunter with the inquiry, “WHAT IS IT & do I need to be afraid?”  Fully expecting his reply to be “Breakfast”, I waited patiently for the response.  I later learned that Stanley is an elk and probably harmless if I leave him alone.  But the news came too late.  Fear, once it is activated in a person, is difficult to assuage.  Even my weapon of choice brought little comfort.  Yes, it’s true, I was “packin”.  Still, the damage was done.

 I found a charming cottage at Dripping Springs Inn and dubbed it my new retreat.  It felt like heaven to wash off 2 layers of topsoil from my flesh & to shampoo my hair with something other than a can of Coors.  My apologies to Wet Wipes but they will never be a suitable replacement for 10 solid minutes of hot steaming water pouring out of a showerhead. After burning my smelly clothes…I’m KIDDING….and a nice long soak in the hot tub out on my back deck, I tucked myself into a four poster log bed with lots of pillows and quilts.  I left the back door ajar just enough to hear the river a few yards away singing to me.  Strangely though, the lyrics ringing in my head were those to “I Enjoy Being a Girl!”  Clearly, I was more than ready to reclaim my femininity.  Despite this I am irked that it was a fear issue that drove me to it.

 

What is it about things that go “bump in the night” that set us on edge?  I HATE being afraid, don’t you? I try so hard to come across like I’m tough & can manage on my own.  But it’s simply not true…I need someone who’s got my back.  Fortunately for me, that someone is Jesus. This journey of faith is trying at times…the enemy throws things into our camp to frighten us.  Beasts like loneliness, temptations, health problems, financial burdens assail our confidence.  Hideous creatures such as sin, fear, and death rear their ugly heads and shake us to the core.  Even when we are armed with the weapons of spiritual warfare, it is easy to fall prey to an insidious giant appearing the size of Long’s Peak in our camp.

 

So what are we to do? On a drive through Rocky Mountain National Park today, listening to a friend’s CD these lyrics jumped out at me… “Anybody gonna move this mountain? Anybody gonna change this scene?…”  One look at the gargantuan Rocky Mountains all around me, I was so stunned at the imagery of God’s Word being revealed in my heart, I had to pull the car over.  Jesus told us what it takes to move the mountains in our lives.  “If you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain ‘move from here to over there’ and it shall be removed.  Nothing shall be impossible to you.”  Matthew 7:20

 

Obviously, it is not “more faith” that we need in times of trial or testing.  The point that Jesus is making is that we need only a tiny bit of faith in a Great & Mighty God.  Take a look at these pictures from my hikes of the past several days and meditate on what Christ was saying…Nothing shall be impossible.  Ask yourself, “What are the mountains in my life that need to be moved?”  Once you’ve identified your mountains, in faith tell them where to go…

 

Oh yeah, as for the crow?  I’ll take mine with a little ketchup, please. 

 

                      

         

                                                                                                                                   

About Face

“The light of the day is sweet, and pleasant to the eye is the sight of the sun…” Ecc. 11:7

 

Sometimes God takes us in a different direction than where we are headed…if we’re open to it, this “about face” can bring unexpected joys.

 

My get away plans were to explore the Grand Tetons of Wyoming…camping, scenic drives, singing out under the stars.  I made it into southern Wyoming before having a sudden epiphany of “this is not where I’m supposed to be” and turning the car around.  I’ve been coming to Estes Park & Rocky Mountain National Park for over 20 years.  It is my second favorite place on the planet and one of only 2 places I’ve ever found myself able to sleep without ear plugs.  God bless the individual who invented the sleep machine—that gadget that simulates nature sounds.  But it is certainly no match for God’s Sleep Machine—a raging river after a season of hard rains. Nightly the Big Thompson River sings its lullaby and I obediently succumb to its charm after a hard day of hiking and climbing and exploring God’s glorious creation.   The trails here are often strenuous but the vistas make it all worthwhile.  One of my favorites is a mountain range called “Never Summer”…couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw tourists having snowball fights in the middle of  July! 

 

 

 

The view from my campsite is serene…mere inches from the river, I study the waves downstream.  I’m witnessing the sun coming up over the waters, sunlight glistening on dancing waves as the river sings its roaring song.  And just as morning light begins to cascade down the rock wall to the north, birds join in the chorus while thousands of aspen leaves wildly applaud.  The sky is as bright and blue as a Swedish child’s eyes.  A fly fisherman enjoys his solitude methodically  casting & stripping in his line.  He makes his way upstream and shoots me a smile as we share this secret of tranquility.  It’s the deepest human interaction I’ve experienced in days. 

 

I came with Bible in hand and prayers on my lips.  And though my world is in a bit of God-ordained chaos right now, there are no questions weighing heavy on my heart at this moment.  Rather, there is a fixed sense of serenity and awe at the wonder and majesty of the One who created this scene, the One who set the stage making it possible for me to be in His audience this morning.

 

“I know that whatever God does lasts forever; to add to it or subtract from it is impossible.  And He has done it all in such a way that men must feel awe in His presence.”  Ecc. 3:14

listen up

“I’m sensitive about my ears.”   Just so you know, I said this long before Barack Obama did.  I actually quit wearing my long hair in a ponytail over 2 decades ago because of a chemistry professor who came into class every morning, greeted me with “Good morning, Dumbo!” and proceeded to hang his lab coat on my protruding ear! 

Have you ever been in a situation where your ears just stop hearing what is all around you?  Even the biggest of ears, yes like mine, can grow dull to a sound that we become accustomed to over time.  I live in a Colorado Springs neighborhood adjacent to the US Air Force Academy…been here five years.  Small engine planes take off and land all throughout the day but at some point in the last 5 years I quit hearing them.  My ears grew used to the noise and I must have simply blocked it out.  Yet all day this past Monday while sitting in my home office I noticed the strangest sound coming from the Academy…airplanes…taking off & landing, circling near my house.  All week long the noise persisted.  Why now?  What has changed?

Sunday night when I returned home from our skydiving adventure, the roar of the prop plane was still screaming in my brain.  It took several hours for the pressure of the dive to release and my ears to start “popping”.  On Monday morning I awoke with a new sensitivity…to airplane noise.  The roar had been so deafening the day before, that my former “immunity” to the sound of aircraft overhead had vanished. 

That same phenomenon can happen to our spiritual ears as well.  We hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit but when we don’t obey, our ears grow dull {Matthew 13:15; Acts 28:27}, we begin to lose the ability to discern what we are being told.  Eventually, if we ignore the sounds long enough we stop hearing God’s voice altogether.  {Mark 8:18} If we’re fortunate, God will give us a sonic boom to bring us back to our senses.  Sadly, it happens this way often…God whispers only so long and if He starts to lose our attention, He calls His own back with a loud shout.  The shout may come in the form of financial difficulties, a bad report from the physician, divorce papers on the kitchen table, a runaway teen.  Count your blessings that our Lord loves us enough to shout at us.  But wouldn’t we be so much better off if we would simply listen and obey in the first place rather than provoking God to raise His voice at us?  Don’t misunderstand me, harkening to God’s voice & walking in obedience doesn’t exempt us from the aforementioned difficulties…the rain falls on the just and the unjust {Matthew 5:45}…but if we truly listen we can avoid the consequences of the sin of disobedience.  Too, we will know the voice that calls us out of this present darkness and in obedience to His calling we find rest and peace. 

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear…”       {Matthew 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8, 14:35} “Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, all the words that I shall speak, unto thee receive in thine heart and hear with thine ears.” {Ezekiel 3:10}