So, last night a group of my friends, my little brother, and myself all went on a night hike. You hike about a mile, then cut across to these massive rocks/mini boulders, and climb about 3/5 of a mile (which seems like a ridiculous amount more when you're climbing instead of hiking). But, we split the 10 of us up into 4 groups because we only had 4 headlamps... Although, we discovered fairly quickly that it was actually easier without the light to cause dramatic shadows. We pretty much paired up according to desire to be adventurous in the climbing (the three super-athlete boys), height (the tall girls and the nugget girls ;), and then the height similar-boys.
My climbing partner and I decided fairly early on to operate with the light off... and it was one of the coolest things we could have done. While we were climbing we realized all of the similarities between what we were doing and our relationship with God... So, I thought I'd share with you a bit about our revelation...
As we were climbing, it became apparent very quickly you had to focus on what you were doing right now, watch your feet, look at the next step, hand hold etc..etc.. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Because it was dark, it was a whole lot harder to see what was coming... Obviously only God knows our futures.
When we would look down where we came, each time our response was "whoa!.. Look how far we've come!" And, then we would look up and go "dang, look how far we have to go!"... And then, you would actually focus on your goal and what we saw was breathtaking!... The Milkyway was bright and beautiful, and outshines the black silhouettes of the rocks we were climbing.. The majesty and the sheer size of what our goal was, was truly breathtaking! Even when we couldn't see everything, the mere shadows of what we were seeing we breathtaking, and every time we stopped to look around and take it all in we just kept saying "this is AMAZING!"
As we were climbing we started breathing harder and harder, and at points would just stop and converse about not being sure about making it the rest of the way.. PLUS back down.. and then we'd see how short it was to the top.. and lets be honest, you can't quit so close to the end!.. So, we would get re-energized and start once again... Only to not too long later have to encourage each other once again that we can make it and it is not as far or hard as it seems...
On our way back down it was ridiculously slow moving for us because we were tired, our leg muscles were fatigued, and our knees were unstable, our shoulders were getting more work than we realized on the way up... and lets be honest.. it's a mile in a half of climbing!... In the dark!
We had an absolute blast.. worked and sweated in gross amounts.. but it was worth it and the memories are so fun from it! I'd do it all over, scrapes and bruises and all...
The place we went hiking is called Devil's Marbleyard... And yet our goal was to reach the Heavens... Ironic when you think of it :)
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