70-Beautiful Beautiful Valley

Over the last several months you have been journeying with me as we hiked where Project Forty students have hiked, felt what they have felt and tasted the great outdoors in our imaginations as they have in reality last summer in BC. It’s been nearly a year since they began training to ascend an 8,000 foot mountain from sea level and some may wonder what is happening now? That’s a great question to have because it keeps us moving forward. We cannot look back at the mountains that we have climbed, eyes and mind fixed on the emotion of a summit experience and try to live in the valley the same way. Oh no, I wish we could, but in the most literal and figurative sense we all must come back to the valley.

The valley is not all bad, especially if you’ve seen its grandeur from the top—the finger of God scraping out the surface like a child exploring a sandy beach for the first time, watching the reactions of the individual grains as they tumble down into the newly carved trench. I always imagine the six days of creation like Mickey Mouse orchestrating Disney’s classic, “Fantasia.” God, face full of intense joy speaking and moving His powerful arms in a perfect symphony too awesome for our feeble senses to experience. Massive volumes of water carving out the valleys and continental plates colliding in forceful explosions shoving solid granite into mountainous ranges of beauty for mankind to be humbled by. Valleys are very much a part of the journey of God’s wonder and awe and we get to live in them most of our days.

I share all that to say that the valley is a matter of perspective. We cannot live in the perfect moments of God’s grace, presence or perfection, but having a glimpse can give the times of testing, trial or the mundane purpose. I quickly wanted to share that I received a call the other night from a student who requested I pray with him and for him on the phone as he set off on his spring break road trip… how awesome was that?! He has seen the valley from the summit and knew that his perspective must remain fixed on the creator of his world. I believe that this young man has taken his life experiences and is actively allowing God to make him see the world as God sees the world. This is such an example of how it ought to be! It gets me pumped and I was so blessed to receive such a request and it reminded me that the guys who are experiencing God in His creation are having their life perspectives altered as they press on living the day to day in the valley… and that, well, that’s what’s it’s all about.

-Matt