Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Shocker
My last Spring Break totally rocked! .... No pun intended. Let me start at the beginning.
I have been volunteering with an after school program for high school students. One of the big trips that the group takes is to Red Rocks, Nevada. The trip gives the students the opportunity to practice what they have learned about climbing, be efficient, work as a team and of course climb some really big walls.
I was totally blessed to be invited to go to Red Rocks. However I was also really apprehensive about traveling with a bunch of people I didn't really know, climb all day for a solid week, potentially get stuck on top of a mountain, and the chance that a student would ask me if I believed in God.
I was assured, by staff, after a couple of weeks of Olympic ring training that I would be able to climb well and that if I did got tired I could take an easy day hiking. My one friend on the trip, also informed me that most staff do not share there faith with the students for years.
However, when the trip began at 5am Friday morning, I developed more fears for the trip. I would be driving, I would be climbing with a backpack and gang climbing in groups, and the walls would be huge! Thankfully my God was with me as I drove down to California, and the girls in my car questioned whether I thought humans were good or evil, if sex was the reason Adam and eve were thrown out of the garden and if the devil was an angel?
Our drive both down and back took two days each way. One night, spent in Bakersfield on the way down and one in Sacramento. We climbed eight out of the ten days we were gone. And I personally climbed 32 pitches (lengths of rope). We camped all of the days we were in Nevada and bathed only in the creeks between canyons. We also took one evening to drive the Las Vegas strip.
Some of the high-lights for me on the trip were listening about people's passions, hiking up icebox canyon to a waterfall, climbing jubilant song and driving the 13 mile loop every day. One thing that I will never forget is the immense scale of rock that was there, nothing compares.
Thank you God for keeping me safe and displaying your beauty and love in your creation.
Psalm 19
1The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun
1The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Weekend Bike Kick
This weekend I went on two good bike rides. The first up to the top of Spencer butte is definitely the best ride I have been on in Eugene. The second was neat to find a trail out west to Fern Ridge. Plus, I got to make some new fun acquantences.
God is Faithful
At bible study we read the story of Abraham's Test by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah.
I have heard this story so many times growing up in the church, but this time a fellow student said something new that struck me. He said that the story paralleled the situation of a student being tested in a math class. If the student studied the material, he/she would know the answers and would just need to prove that knowledge on paper. In this analogy, Abraham had complete confidence that he and his son would return because his past experience told him that God would do what He said. And previously, God had told Abraham that through Isaac, nations would come.
I had always viewed this story as Abraham just being incredibly faithful to do what God told him to do, not that he knew the end result before it happened. Now, this is not to say that Abraham knew exactly how he and his son would return, but that he had faith that God could raise his son from the dead- in the event that he had to actually go through with killing him.
I want to have a crazy/ dependent faith that follows God; and follows knowing that the God of past experiences is faithful for the future ventures. Thank you Lord for the peace you give those that follow you. Show me where to go. I am willing to follow today. Give strength to follow tomorrow.
I have heard this story so many times growing up in the church, but this time a fellow student said something new that struck me. He said that the story paralleled the situation of a student being tested in a math class. If the student studied the material, he/she would know the answers and would just need to prove that knowledge on paper. In this analogy, Abraham had complete confidence that he and his son would return because his past experience told him that God would do what He said. And previously, God had told Abraham that through Isaac, nations would come.
I had always viewed this story as Abraham just being incredibly faithful to do what God told him to do, not that he knew the end result before it happened. Now, this is not to say that Abraham knew exactly how he and his son would return, but that he had faith that God could raise his son from the dead- in the event that he had to actually go through with killing him.
I want to have a crazy/ dependent faith that follows God; and follows knowing that the God of past experiences is faithful for the future ventures. Thank you Lord for the peace you give those that follow you. Show me where to go. I am willing to follow today. Give strength to follow tomorrow.
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