When you are in the middle of a quiet time, does scripture ever bring songs to your mind?  This happens to me all the time.  While reading in Zechariah, I came across this:

Zech. 14:⁹ The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.

Now this is a statement of fact that everyone will acknowledge, now or later.  As I was thinking on this a song came to mind.  I have put it below, not so much for the video as for the music.  Isn’t this good?  and Aren’t you Glad!!  Enjoy

Here are the lyrics

In the first light of a new day
No one knew He had arrived
Things continued as they had been
While a newborn softly cried

But the heavens rapt’ in wonder
Knew the meaning of His birth
In the weakness of a baby
They knew God had come to earth

As His mother held Him closely
It was hard to understand
That her baby not yet speaking
Was the Word of God to man

He would tell them of His Kingdom
But their hearts would not believe
They would hate Him and in anger
They would nail Him to a Tree

But the sadness would be broken
As the Song of Life arose
And the Firstborn of Creation
Would ascend and take His Throne

He had left it to redeem us
But before His life began
He knew He’d come back
Not as a baby but as The Lord of every man

Hear the Angels as they’re singing
On the morning of His birth
But how much greater will their song be
When He comes again, when He comes again

Hear the Angels as they’re singing
On the morning of His birth
But how much greater will their song be
When He comes again to Earth

When He comes, When He comes
When He comes to rule the earth

When He comes back
When He comes back
To Rule the earth

Here is something that may be helpful for you from Justin Taylor.  We could probably all use a reminder and a refresher on how to listen to sermons and why.

After 36 hours the fire is zero contained, over 7100 acres are burned, and more than 3000 people have been evacuated from the mountain communities and foothills just west of Boulder.  Slurry planes have been constantly flying over since noon to drop retardant around the fire.

The shelter on campus has closed and the Red Cross has opened others in North Boulder.  More facts are still hard to come by, but it appears to be a nasty fire that is not wanting to behave very well.

All of Boulder is still okay except for the air quality.

On Saturday we took on Longs Peak, which is the tallest mountain north of I-70, with a group of 18.  It is not called Longs Peak for nothing.  The day started when we left the house at 2am for the one hour drive to the trail head.  Spirits were high.

Then we started climbing.

The first two hours were in the dark which was sort of fun and adventurous.  The sunrise was spectacular and sparked a need to worship God.  Even after a few hours, the climbing was still enjoyable and we were having a great time.

Then came the keyhole!  Duh, duh, duh!! (hear that sinister three note jingle)

It was so bad that I am only showing just this one edge.  The whole thing would be asking too much for you to take in at once.  And just think, we were there and couldn’t get away.  And, to make matters worse, to continue to the summit we had to enter the keyhole (duh, duh, duh).  That’s right, the trail goes right through the keyhole.

Upon crossing through the keyhole, we entered an alternate mountain universe.  No longer was there a nice path to walk on.  No longer were there grasses or trees or color.  Only rock.   Cold, hard, steep, and in some places, sheer rocks with only air below us if we took a wrong step.

After a harrowing trek across the side of a cliff we came to the Trough.

Notice how the color has left the world.  After dodging falling rocks, kicked inadvertently by other climbers or sent by the Keyhole (we’ll never know), several stops for rest and making it to the top of the Trough, we were greeted with, not the summit or anything close to the summit, but a length of narrow ledges.  I’ve omitted these pictures as well for the faint of heart ( and myself so I don’t have to relive that part).

After that nasty little part we made it to the Homestretch, which is a nice sounding name for a long climb up a steep, flat rock face which keeps your insides twisted with the possibility of a long slide down.

After many stops for rest and prayer, we finally made the top.

15 out of the 18 who started made it.  Oh, the other three weren’t taken by the Keyhole, they smartly turned back before entering.  Mark it up to prophetic wisdom or a word from God.

At this point, all I wanted to do was just go home, except I was 8 miles from the trail head and feeling bad with altitude sickness ( or Keyhole disease).  So we started the trek down.  It had taken us just over 6 and a half hours to reach the top and, when all was said and done, it took 8 and a half hours to get down.  Now I know what your thinking.  Doesn’t it take a shorter time to go down?  On most mountains, yes. But this is Longs Peak (its not named that for nothing).

So 15 hours after starting our jolly little jaunt up the mountain, we were back to the beginning.  It was a slow and arduous descent compounded by shortness of breath and weakness and a stop for sickness. Oh yeah. There was also rain and hail that pounded us before and after, you know what I’m going to say, (duh, duh, duh) - the Keyhole!  Slick rocks with a sheer drop off is just not my idea of a great time.

Everyone was grateful to be back down and all mentioned how they had prayed the entire time.  Most made it down quickly (11 and a half hours), a few in 14, and me, one other student and our good friend and the one who helped us down, Menkes (15 hours).

So the adventure came to an end.  I will do more hikes in the future, but not that one.  And praise God that all made it back.

I saw this post by Joshua Harris about Jason Powell’s pictures.  These are cool pictures.

These remind me of something I read in a leadership book several years ago.  In a study mentioned in the book, it was found that those people who look back farthest into their lives, i.e. reflect on their past, see how God has worked, remember what they have learned, etc., have the longest forward vision for their lives.

What does God want us to accomplish with the lives and time He has given to us?  We should set aside some time to look back as far as we can and ponder deeply the path we have walked.  Taking this into consideration and laying it open before God, we should then ’see’ where we can be going.

It is time for an update on things in this wacky world we’re in.

-  We are grateful that Josh had his shoulder operated on last week.  His labrum was torn and so his shoulder was not working like it should and the bone at the top of his arm seemed to prefer not staying in the right place.  The surgeon is a great guy and we praise God for procedures that can be done these days.

-   We are 30% of the way towards what we need for our SEA trip! Yipeee!!

-  Spring break is coming soon.  We will be taking students to New Castle, CO to serve RiverChurches there and pray.

That’s the quick word from Boulder.

It is no secret, I have had a hard time with this blog business. But I can read them and this one from Between Two Worlds explains what my problem has been.  It looks like #7, 4 and 2 in that order.  Maybe this can be my burst of motivation.  Or, since I am having to write that, maybe not.

Justin Taylor|10:45 am CT

Blog Fail

Rev. Paul McCain, who blogs at CyberBrethren, has a wise post on why so many blogs end up failing.

Below are the reasons, but read the whole thing for an explanation of each.

1. They offer little more than constant axe-grinding and carping on a particular subject.
2. They lack focus and purpose.
3. They indulge too much in playing to the crowd.
4. They do not serve the niche they are trying to reach.
5. They are not comfortable in “their own skin.”
6. They are insincere or desperate cries for attention.
7. They don’t have a plan for regular posting.

I shall endeavor to be a better blogger for all 2 of you who read this!

It is still snowing.

The left is yesterday morning’s shot of the back porch and the right is this morning’s view.  The official total as of 10 pm last night is 17.3″ for Boulder (and its been snowing through the night).  So we have a winter fun play land right now.  CU is open as normal and Boulder Valley schools are all closed.  This makes for a tough circumstance for those who work at CU and whose children are in a Boulder school.

It is a tougher circumstance for our home schooled kids.  They are still at home and so don’t have to postpone any learning just because a little snow is outside.  Life is hard!

p.s. we did get in some good sledding yesterday, however, along with all those who weren’t in school.

We woke up this morning to a new view out of our front window.

And the same thing had happened in the back yard.

It is fun to live in a place where seasons occur.  Looks like we will have to do a little sledding today.

My good friend, Menkes, is a post doc here at CU.  He is now famous.  you can see it here.  Check out his mad skills in the video.