The glory of God.

Me on the top of Flattop Mountain

At the risk of sounding like all I've done and experienced in Alaska so far is mountain climbing, I'm going to talk about more mountains today. Friday was the first time I had ever climbed a mountain, and Monday I took my sabbath day and climbed an even higher mountain with some staff and students on the project. It. Was. Hard. I don't think any of us students were quite ready for what we got ourselves into. We climbed Wolverine Peak which has an elevation gain of 3380 feet (that is compared to an elevation gain of 1300 feet at Flattop). It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but we made it to the top. As we sat at the top of the mountain enjoying lunch, we were actually in a cloud. It was amazing. Until it started sprinkling, which turned into a downpour, which then turned into hail. I think if my group had been anyone different it would have been miserable, but as it was, hail and all, the hike was amazing.
I don't think I have ever understood the glory and majesty of God quite as well as I do at the top of a mountain. You look down, and trees that are twenty or thirty feet tall look an inch high. You see people standing against the backdrop of taller, snowier mountains and you realize how tiny and insignificant we are compared to these monstrous rocks. It is amazing to me that God spoke those monstrous structures into being, that those mountains might not look like they used to when they were first created, but that is all part of the plan.

The view of higher mountains from the top of Flattop (Wolverine is back there somewhere)

 The mountains have made me think a lot about faith too. I think about the time when Jesus tells his disciples, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can tell this mountain 'move from here to there', and it will move." That is amazing to me, especially after seeing mountains and being on the top of one of them. It makes me think of something that Charles Spurgeon wrote in his book All of Grace, he says, that just as slender telephone wires can conduct a message great distances so is our faith. We have to remember that even if our faith is as weak as the most slender wire, we have to remember that the wire of our faith is plugged into the infinite power of God. The powerful God that created the vast and magnificent mountains, and created the intricacies and personalities of human beings is the source of our power, not our faith. That even weak faith is still faith and can still connect us to our awesome God.