Cedar Mountain, Lutheran Valley Retreat, Divide, CO

Life is an uphill climb.

It had been over ten years since I climbed Cedar Mountain.  The last time I made the ascent was before the Hayman burn (June 2002).  At the Holy Cross men's retreat this past weekend I once again took the challenge and climbed the peak. The trip was not the same.

The elevation gain was the same.  The rock scrambling was the same.  The cross at the top was the same (other than more rocks at its base).  But there were two important differences.

• The trees were gone
• I'm older.

The trip had changed.  So also the road of our lives changes from day-to-day and year-to year.  We hear Solomon's words, "Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure."  Proverb 4:26 ESV

The landscape of our lives changes. 

• Like the trees that no longer exist on the Cedar Mountain trail, there are external changes to our lives.
• Like the fact that I'm older, there are personal changes to our lives.

God calls us to ponder this path of life and remember that it was a path to a cross that Jesus climbed.  Yes, life is an uphill climb, but like the cross at the top of Cedar Mountain, we remember that Jesus climbed this path for us and with us.

Feel free to check out Lutheran Valley Retreat's (LVR) website at www.lvr.org.  Amazing place with amazing people.  Thank you Steve Johnson and your staff for hosting us.

(Click on picture to enlarge.)

Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2012 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.