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So I made my decision, I’m going hiking. Dustin was more than happy to abandon plans and head to the mountain and we even talked Ryan into joining us. This was a good thing, because little known to me, to get up to the trail you have to be with a Hawaii resident.

After a 7-11 stop for some much needed protein, we drove up the first part of the ridge through a very ritzy gated community. We kept going up and eventually urban sprawl gave way to the trailhead. And then we hiked.

I can’t remember the last time I hiked, maybe because I don’t think I’ve actually done it before. In spite of the fact I had no idea what I was doing, God wanted me to be a hiker that day. So we hiked… and hiked… and hiked. Then we sat on a rock. Then we hiked more.

I have never “hit the wall” before, because I usually quit doing whatever I’m doing to make me that tired far before I get to that part. Today was my day. I hit the wall with about 3/4 of a mile left to go… straight up the face of the mountain. Normally I would throw in the towel and say, “This is good. We don’t need to go any farther.”

Now I don’t know if it was the Holy Spirit taking over, the protein bar I downed or the thought of being on top of that mountain, but I got my 2nd wind. I stopped thinking about how tired I was and just thought about the top. And up we went. In what felt like minutes, we cleared the last set of ropes that help you climb the steep parts and the last few steps up a rudimentary staircase we saw the sign, “End of Trail.” We made it and I looked around… and I couldn’t see 5 feet in front of my face. We were standing in the middle of a cloud. And this is where the story gets cool.

Ever since I was a little kid I have wanted to know what it would be like to be in a cloud. I remember flying in planes looking down and imagining running across the tops of those puffy balls of cotton. And there I was. Check that one of list of impossible goals accomplished.

How did it feel? Well, you’ll just have to climb a mountain and find out for yourself.

The Epilogue:

So I just assumed God wanted me at the top of the mountain so I could check that cloud thing off my list. Then I prayed the next day.

Where I left off reading, “Jesus of Nazareth” I was reading about the importance of Mountains. The next day, I read about the importance of clouds.

The Lord speaks in a cloud. In Exodus, it’s in the cloud that descends upon the tent that God speaks to Moses and during the Transfiguration, it’s the cloud that descends upon Peter, James and John to let them know they are in the presence of God. And it was in the cloud 2,000 years later that, not being able to see 5 feet in front of my face, I saw God clearly. Do I know what that sentence means? Yes. Can I explain what that sentence means? No.

He is beautiful and I’ve been blessed to see Him so close to heaven. I’ll be climbing that mountain for the rest of my life, and hopefully on the days when I can only feel how tired I am, I’ll be able to see the summit and get my legs moving again.

I’ll race you if you want.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 13th, 2008 at 5:12 am and is filed under blog. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.