Spencer
Butte rises from about 1300 feet at the base to a little over 2000 feet at the
summit. There are two trails up; one is about half a mile mostly straight up,
the less steep one stretches on for a little over a mile. Among other things, I
discovered that I am hilariously out of shape. That's not all that I
discovered.
There
is a trail intersection about halfway up. It's a convenient place to turn
around if the summit seems too much. I was already quite winded by the time I
got to that point. But I had no intention of quitting that easily, so I took a
short breather and continued on. The trail immediately got steeper.
I
slowed my pace. After all, I concluded that I wasn't out to set any speed
records, I was just out to finish the climb. Even a mild slowing of the pace
made the trek easier, though I still found myself stopping more than I would
have liked to. As I came to the last probably 100 feet of elevation, the trail
all but disappeared. It was replaced by more or less bare rock face. I picked
my way through, trying to find the most easily traversable path that I could
yet never seeming to come any closer to the summit. It seemed an eternity
before I finally crested the last rock and gazed over the top of the butte. I
had made it.
I
rested for a few minutes, then began my descent. As I looked down, there was
the trail that I had missed. I made my way to it and followed it downward. A
couple of times I turned back to look, and was amazed to not see the trail I
had just walked along. It was hidden, somehow only visible on the way down.
There's
a few pretty obvious metaphors at work here.
We've
got some mountains coming up on our horizon right now. At the beginning of
January, Andrea's job came to an end. Now, in just a couple of weeks, the folks
we've been house-sitting for will come home. The idea for the timing on both
was that we figured we'd be in Thailand by that time. That has now changed as
well, and we're looking (hopefully) more toward late spring or early summer.
We've got a tough, uphill road ahead of us. Sometimes we have a difficult time
seeing the path we're supposed to be on. And with every bit of progress, it
seems that the goal moves further away from us. We can see the destination, but
it continues to elude us.
However,
when we look back we can see the trail that God has had us on. It's definitely clearer
in hindsight. And honestly, slowing down our departure time a little might make
raising what's left of our support a little less stress filled. After all, it's
the end goal that is important. And we don't think God wants us to give up on
following the call. It really is all about timing. The point is to make it
there, not burn ourselves out trying to do it too quickly (that's a very hard
thing for us to admit, but it's true). And every step is a step closer to our
summit.
Please
join us in praying for more partners. Please join us in praying for perseverance
(not patience, that's a really dangerous thing to pray for). Please join us in praying for wisdom and
strength and peace through the process.
