This morning, I had the opportunity to hike up a mountain (well, more like the foothills) near the retreat center. I haven’t huffed and puffed like that in a long while. It was another affirmation that I need to get my cardio back up to speed.
As I was on top of the foothills, I was just reminded of my time in the Rocky Mountains… when I was all alone in God’s presence. Sometimes seeing things below with a higher perspective reminds me how we need to see things from God’s perspective. Especially, when there are trials and struggles.
I was also reminded of all the people in this world that are lost without the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. When we go through the daily things of life, it is easy to get myopic. But seeing a portion of the world from a higher perspective helps us to see the hundreds, thousands, millions and billions of people who need Christ.
Recently our church sang Steven Curtis Chapman’s song, “Much of You.” This song in some ways has been a theme song for me recently. It is so easy to make much of ourselves… but when we think about all that God has made (Ps 8), we are humbled to know that we are nothing without Him. And if anything good comes out of our lives, it is ALL because of Him.
Here are the words to the song:
Here are some pictures:
Looking at our retreat center from the foothills
View from the top of the foothills
Now you know why I was huffing and puffing
This tree was somewhat out of place in the barren foothills… but then I couldn’t help but to think about how God often times provides an oasis for our souls, even in the barren and dry times. It was cool standing under it and getting some much needed rest.
All this nature is beginning to soften my heart towards animals
If you read carefully, you will notice that this is part of the passage that I used for my sermon on the “Transformative Spirituality.” All the pavement here is laid with these marble stones with verses on them.