Courage For Today

rock

Never Shaken

Strength

“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.  As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.”  (Psalms 125:1-2)

My wife and I have been on vacation this week and had the pleasure of spending a day visiting Providence Canyon State Park in Georgia.  It is a State Park that I had only read about and had only heard about, but never visited.  It is a beautiful park known as Georgia’s “Little Grand Canyon” with gorgeous rock formations and caves, along with a surprised deer or two and seemingly never-ending tree-lines.

During our time in the park, we made a choice to hike along one of their many available trails.  This particular trail took us down a long and winding path gradually inching us closer to the valley at the bottom of the canyons.   When we finally reached the canyon floor, we began to walk along a dried creek bed that twisted through the canyons sandwiching us between the multi-faced walls of rock formations on each side of us.

It was such an interesting feeling for me as I walked down the creek bed surrounded by this fortress of stone.  The quietness of the moment was so peaceful and calm.  The walls of the canyon gave me a sense of protection and strength.  Even though I was walking in the deepest valley of the canyon, I felt calmer and more strengthened than I did at the top of the canyon.  In fact, the more I walked along the valley floor, the more I witnessed and experienced the strength of the surrounding mountain walls.

At some point in your Christian life, you will face adversity and heartache.  There will be times when you feel like you can’t carry on any further and you just want to give up.  You’ll have those days when the world is seemingly against you and the valley you are in seems too deep to overcome.  It is during those times, you should remind yourself that you are truly surrounded by the Lord both now and forever.  Your valley doesn’t have to be a place of hurt and failure; instead, let it be your reminder of the strength and majesty that is God surrounding your life with a fortress that cannot be shaken.

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The Peace in Learning to Enjoy the Journey

Encouragement

My wife and I had a great time this past summer visiting Stone Mountain Park, here in the Atlanta area, with our grandsons.  We had the opportunity to spend the day with them seeing the various sights and attractions and just had a wonderful time.  One thing that my grandsons had really wanted to do that particular day was climb to the top of the mountain.  Stone Mountain isn’t a particularly tall mountain and fortunately has walking trails to the top, but for a 5 and 6 year old, along with grandpa and grandma, it is a formidable task.

Even though our grandsons’ enthusiasm was much greater than mine and my wife’s, we relented and decided to start the slow trek up the mountain.   The beginning part of the trail was slow and gradual.  It seemed like we were taking forever to climb just a short distance, but I had to remind myself that it took 3 of their strides to equal 1 of ours, so I found myself walking ahead of them, then having to stop and let them catch-up, over and over again.

I was tired and sweaty, just wanting to get to the top of the mountain so I could rest and then start my way back.  I learned early on during our hike that this wasn’t going to be the case.  We had to stop and look at every large rock with someone’s name carved in it.  We looked at unusual plant formations.  We examined large trees that were growing crooked and we explored small rock overhangs that reminded the kids of caves. My grandsons viewed the hike as an exciting adventure.  Climbing the mountain was a trial to me and I was simply looking for the hike to be over with quickly before I succumbed to dehydration and heat stroke.  My grandsons were not focused at all on the trial of climbing the mountain; they were simply enjoying the journey of the hike.

I know when I face a trial in life, no matter what it is, I tend to dwell on the problem.  I want the trial to be over with quickly and let life get back to normal.  While I never enjoy being in the midst of a trial, I was reminded by my grandsons that I should always learn to enjoy the journey.  What can I learn during the course of the trial?  How can I grow?  What is God trying to teach me?

At some point, the trial will be over and we’ll be joyous for sure.  But, the real joy should not be that the trial’s over, but in celebrating what I learned during the journey.

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