Upward and Onward

You never know what being on top of the world feels like until you actually stand on the top, after grueling hours of getting there.  The burn of the lactic acid in your muscles, haggard breaths and side cramps threaten to deter you from your goal, your mission, but determined you press on.  Our Kaléo group took three days in Strathcona Park, and  trekked on up Mnt. Albert-Edwards.   Over 6k on the first day, 10.8k the second day all the way up to the summit at 6800 ft, it was probably one of the more difficult feats I've accomplished in my life.  Your legs get so sore, your face is sunburnt, you run out of water, and it is a while til you see the next glacier-fed lake.  Throughout all of it, though, you are looking around you and see the beauty of God's majesty and glory.  As you climb higher, you can see your campsite and the many lakes as tiny droplets in the distance, and you realize just how big our God is.  At one point I saw the Pacific Ocean and the mainland a blueish haze in the distance.  I was so close, but so far away from home.  Every time I wanted to give up, I had to keep telling myself to push on, that God was going to give me strength.  I saw others who were struggling more than I was, but we all managed to make it up to that summit, victorious.  This hike for me was more than just a physical activity, or something to bring our group together.  This hike was my life.  There were flats and downhills, but it was the uphills and the rocky places that really tested my endurance and will to continue.  If I had tried to climb on my own, I know I would probably not have made it in the shape I was, and with such a positive outlook.  The backpacks that we hiked up to the peak with were not the big hiking packs, but smaller day packs.  God pointed out baggage in my life that I had been trying to lug around me everywhere, and is now telling me to put it down.  When I focus on myself, all I can think is how heavy that weight is and how tired I am, but when I finally get to the summit, and look around, I see how small I am compared to all his glory and how big his grace and love is for me. 
"I look up to the mountains - does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!" - Psalm 121:1-2

"Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.  Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths." - Psalm 36:5-6