Is it a Vacation or a Field Trip?

I would say both a vacation and a field trip!  After all the best vacations are ones in which you see something new and learn something new.  This past week we went to the Kenai Peninsula.  We visited the port town of Seward.  We had not been camping in five long years and it was time!  We camped out in a few yurts at the Seward Military Resort.

On the way we stopped at the Crow Creek Gold Mine.  It is still a functioning and active gold mine and we went down to the river to pan for gold.  Three of us actually found gold in the fast moving creek that flows from the mine!

In Seward we walked along the pier,

watched sea lions and otters play in the ocean while we wandered the beach,

took in the beauty of a waterfall,

and hiked a bit in the rain forest.

We also visited the Sea Life Center

and stopped at Mile Zero on the Iditarod Trail.

We watched men weigh and fillet their catches (one caught a 115 pound halibut)!  I hope my hubby catches a huge barn door halibut next week-end when he goes deep sea fishing!

We also visited Exit Glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was a great hiking trail and there is nothing like the refreshing cool breeze coming from a glacier after a good hike, especially when you just carried the baby in the backpack up the mountain! It was beautiful!

We would finish our nights with dinner cooked over an open fire, except for one evening when we ate on the pier. We would finish our evening with either a visit to the creamery or s’mores.

On our way home we stopped in Hope, Alaska. There is really nothing in Hope. The population numbers 147. It is a GREAT place though if you want to take some photos. If you like old school houses and log homes with a great view in the background, Hope is the place to go!

After getting home, we visited Thunderbird Falls. It was a very well maintained path, we could have even taken the stroller. I kind of wish we had! It is nice having waterfalls only minutes from the house! We had a great hike but did the mosquito dance the whole way! We forgot the repellent! NEVER again will that happen. I have mosquito bites on my mosquito bites!

We ended the week with a midnight BBQ! That is just something you need to do if you live in Alaska! It was a lot of fun and many of us were beginning to feel our age! LOL Only it was overcast and drizzly so it was actually kind of dark! Oh well, maybe next time we will have better weather. It was still a lot of fun!

Climbing the Mountain

Most have heard of the peaks and valleys in the Christian life.  We all tend to love the peaks of the mountain top.  Mountain top experiences are those times when everything is going great, you are on top of the world, nothing except for heaven could be better, the Lord is so close and vibrantly at work in your life and it seems that you can see everything.  All is well with the world. Mountain top experiences however rarely last long. 

Then there are the valleys.  Most consider the valleys to be those times when nothing seems right with the world.  Sometimes it is when something very devastating happens.  They see these as the hardest of times.   Yet, I would like to challenge this way of thinking.  Often people focus on the peaks and the valleys but tend to forget that there is a mountain to climb in between.  It is as if there is nothing but peaks and valleys and we jump and fall between the two extremes. 

Maybe it is because I am a mountain girl but I see this a bit differently.  Let me challenge you to look at life with more than just the usual peak/valley mentality.

Mountains have more than just the valley at the base of the mountain.  There are valleys at all different altitudes.  Let us start however at the base of the mountain.  When one believes in Jesus Christ with a true belief of faith that produces works to bring honor and glory to the Lord we awaken in this vibrant valley. The valley is full of blosoming flowers, animals feed and raise their young, it is warm;  life in the valley can be a very vibrant place to live.  It can be an immense time of growth, faith,  and closeness with the Lord.  Yet, we cannot remain there.  We must grow in our likeness to Christ.  We must move heavenward.  We cannot fully live out our calling of obedience to the Lord by remaining in the valley.  We must begin our climb.  We must race toward the prize.

The majority of life is lived between the valleys of different altitudes and the mountain top.  We climb a while and come to another valley.  This valley can be where we rest when something devastaing happens.  It is a time of refreshing.  We may need to sit and rest longer than others.  Being in a valley is when most people tend to cling to the Psalm 23 passage.  God alone is our sole source of strength.  We lean upon him for all our needs, strength, and comfort. 

When on the mountain top you can enjoy the full splendor of the Lord but we tend to forget that unless the mountain top is a low peak then there is usually not much growth.  Mountain tops are usually barren and rocky and if you read my previous post you will also realize that they can be an explosive and dangerous place to be.  In the valley (no matter how difficult) you lean upon and cling to the Savior.  But, climbing the mountain that is a task!

I do not  feel as if the valley is necessarily where and when devasting events occurs.  It can be, but the more I grow the more I see the valley as the place in which I rest and am nourished and refreshed.  The task of climbing the mountain is when you are going about your ordinary life.  Climbing a mountain can be very enjoyable.  I love mountain climbing.  Climbing a mountain though is anything but easy.  There are of course a few places that are not too strenuous but for the most part mountain climbing is hard work.  You use so many muscles, so much energy, your trip and stumble over rocks, deal with the altitude, and face many dangers; even that roaming mountain lion. It can be tiring.  The climb can be fun but it can also be filled with challenges.  We will stumble and sometimes tragedy will occur.  But God provides a new valley at a higher elevation for your rest.  We need to cling to the Psalm 23 passage while climbing more than we would ever need to while resting.  It pushes us and propels us to strive all the more for that valley of rest.

May your walk with the Lord be a continual climb filled with valleys of nourishing rest which brings glory to the precious Savior and brings you closer and closer to him.  Keep your eye on the prize and keep moving heavenward but do not long so much for the mountain top that you miss the blessings, struggles, comfort, trials, beauty, and rest of the journey up the mountain.