Solo…….Portion B

After leading worship with Ronnie and the praise team at the nightly worship service (we call it “Big Top” at the ranch) my solo time turned into a duet. My sweet friend Michelle who lives one bunk over and down from me, and I decided that we would continue our 24 hours with the Lord by hiking up the mountain and spending the night at the foot of the cross (remember that cross that I searched for and just couldn’t find last week?). While I understand the importance of solitude before the Lord, and why we had been instructed to go “solo” on this adventure, for me, spending alone time is easy, and for me to approach the Lord in community with another girl was actually going to be more of a challenge and opportunity for growth than being alone would have been. (Plus a heck of a lot safer. There are tales of folk encountering bears and mountain lions on overnight hikes in the area.)

We packed up our packs with extra layers of clothing and our tarps, camping pads and sleeping bags, food, refilled our water bottles and set off up the mountain behind the big top. For me this trek was so symbolic in so many ways. Last week when I went searching for this place of serenity and solitude, I wasn’t seeking Him out of love or a desire to find Him for Him, I was just unhappy, and was seeking something…anything…better than the situation I was in at the moment. I also wasn’t willing to listen to Him…I just ran headstrong in the direction I thought made the most sense. At least in my life, I’ve found that the Lord doesn’t always work in ways that make sense, but if when I’ve asked for direction…He has always provided it. In this case, I went straight in the direction of the cross because in my human wisdom, the way to get somewhere is to walk towards it. In this case, the path to the cross actually starts out by going the opposite direction and then snakes around and comes up the back of the mountain. However, those little white cross signs were there nailed to trees at every fork in the road. Never were we confused about which path to take, even though it didn’t seem to make sense. He allowed me to come to Him when my heart posture was submissive and actually seeking His face. When I followed His direction….in His timing…and in community with another believer, a sister in Christ.

We reached the summit after about a 30 minute hike up a steep and winding path; the time it took for the sun to leave it’s perch on the top of the mountain and sink behind it completely. When we were almost at the top, we turned around to rest and discovered that two of the guy staffers had had the same idea. We finished the climb as a quartet and set our packs down in front of two stone thrones at the top of the mountain, built for people to sit and contemplate Him. We prayed as a group and shared bits of each of our testimonies there before following the path around to the actual cross where we lingered a bit longer over apples and conversation and watched the lights flickering down on the ranch campus. We gathered our food and hung a “bear bag” (just in case they decided to pay us a visit during the night) and then the boys hiked back down the mountain a little to camp at a flat place we’d passed along the way and Michelle and I returned to set up our campsite at the peak at the foot of the thrones. I’ve never been camping before this experience and I’m so thankful that my first time was so memorable. There is nothing that can be compared to laying under a vast expanse of stars listening to the chirp of crickets and sharing stories about God’s Glory with a sister in Christ. Nor is there anything like being awakened at 5:30 in the morning as the sky gradually gets lighter and the birds begin to sing. Michelle and I got up and packed up our campsite and went back to the cross to watch the sunrise. As it was starting to peek over the trees, she handed me her iPod and told me to “listen to this.” What filled my ears was the booming velvet voice of Whitley Phips singing Amazing Grace (buy it on iTunes this very minute) and I stood sobbing at the foot of the cross watching the Son rise and bring new mercies for a new morning. His Grace is Amazing.


“There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna want to make it move
It’s always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
It’s not about how fast I get there
Or what’s waiting on the other side…..
It’s the climb”
-The Climb