Climb Every Mountain

So it turns out the hills surrounding Drumheller are higher than they appear to be. Having experienced them in the past, this did not surprise me. However, the trek came as a little bit of a shock for some.

I haven't posted for a while, so this is a bit dated, but I feel like it remains true. I am speaking of the Day of the Intense Hike.

For those who have not been to the valley before, surrounding the theatre are large hills. The taller ones take you up to the prairie land; where the rest of Alberta lies. This is what we climbed.

It all started when three of us decided we would go for a hike some time in the near future. Soon the near future arrived. A few more people decided to join us. Eventually, about 6 of us set out. A seventh, was coming, but he said he would catch up. We started to hike and climb. It was a beautiful day all and all. It was great. And then the complaining started. It was subtle at first. perhaps a little warranted, as they did not know what to expect. I think the Crafty Conspirator and the Savvy Boss were among the most vocal. I'm actually fairly certain they were complaining simply for the sake of complaining. I think they enjoy it, I really do. The Mountain Goat Girl was right in her element. She zoomed off like nobodies business, followed quickly by JI, one of the cast members helping out on site. The Cool Tech Guy had done this hike with me before, so he was practically a pro by now. The first great obstacle was a slight canyon type crevasse with a thick pool of mud lying underneath. It was a feat, but we made it. Next came a large impasse, preceded by a rather large pool of water which was upwards of a foot deep. Plus the mud underneath. It took some griping, teamwork and manouvering, but we all got over it. The path seemed to be a little more friendly from here on. I found a giant hole which the CC called a plotting cave. I used large amounts of energy getting out, but I feel it was worth it.

About that time AJ caught up with us. He explained how he would have caught up sooner, had he not fallen and gotten stuck in a large hole on the way. In my mind the event played out much like a made-for-TV Family Channel movie. We greeted him, exchanged gripes, and continued on our journey. Eventually, we reached the top. Everyone was really excited to get there. There was much buzz from everyone. It was an accomplishment. It was not a small hill by any means.

Whenever I climb around here, I always feel this huge sense of God's presence and work in my life. The hills are delightfully poetic. The life of a believer is not an easy one. Sometimes it is lighter, sometimes there are holes and traps and pools to get stuck in. Sometimes it just seems easy to give up. But when you get to the top and look down on the path you just took, with all it's trials and trappings, there is a sense of accomplishment and of sucess. You could drive up the same point using the highway and just as easily - in fact more easily - see the same view we did. But its not nearly as beautiful as the view you see when you've made the trek on your own.

You can see the Passion Play site from where we were. Looking down on it, it looks so small. How much smaller are we to God? And yet still he somehow decided we were worth it. David said in Psalms, "What is man that you are mindful of him? Mere mortal that you think of him? Yet you have made him a little less than the angels, a little less than the heavenly beings." He has given us dominion over the whole of the earth. And yet from that hill, people looked like ants. And how much greater is God than that hill we were on. It's an incredible thought.

The trip down was much quicker and easier. We came down through the Passion Play site. An incredible accomplishment.

We open in three days time. That is so strange to think about.

In Humble Regality,

JB