It's a big honkin' chunk of rock perched on the edge of a beautiful series of canyons & valleys in Sequoia National Park... and some lunatic decided to build a trail to the top. (Has anyone figured out yet that I'm scared of heights?) Over 400 steps & a football field worth of rise in elevation (over 300 ft) make it quite a climb, even for "normal" adults, let alone "I'm scared I'm gonna fall off" guys like me.
And yesterday, when we took Shari's mom & dad & grandma up there for a day trip, I made the climb for a second time in my life, this time with my 2 1/2 year old son leading the way.
It's amazing - it's like genetics didn't work. He never expressed a bit of fear about the heights - in fact, I'm not even sure he understood how high up he was. I'm huffing & puffing (OK, that part was more about being out of shape) and getting aberrant brain messages like "run down the mountain screaming at the top of your lungs" and "see that nice cleft in the rock? Hide there and don't move". Meanwhile, he's yelling for Papa (his grandpa, who was climbing up ahead of us) and encouraging his mom to "come on!" (For those of you in panic mode about Shari & I letting Braeden run up the trail unmolested, please know that he & I held hands the entire way. I'm not sure who was more comforted by this.)
Even with my fear of heights, the view from the top is spectacular. Braeden and I sat down and looked out at the Sierras. I had the wonderful opportunity of getting to tell him that it was God who made the trees and the mountains and the sky.
And then we took pictures of Papa and Braeden and I standing on top of Moro Rock... a survivor of inoperable cancer (who said to Shari & I that "if you'd told me I'd get to do this two years ago, I'd have laughed at you"), a nearly freaked-out scared-of-heights city boy (that's me), and a 2 year old who was enjoying himself immensely.
Sometimes, I think we're too smart for own good. My brain works overtime about all the things that can go wrong while climbing a tall object and it makes it almost impossible for me to enjoy the incredible view.
It can be the same way with God - we spend so much time worrying about "what comes next?" or "how we will ever make it work?" when He reminds us over and over to slow down and appreciate what He's done & what He's doing. The journey of life can be scary - no arguing that. But when we focus on our fears, we miss the wonder & goodness of God.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important
than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
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