Following the Cloud
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way...
Exodus 13:21
This morning I woke before the sun and decided to go for a hike. I got an idea of the trail I was going to hike and when I reached the trail head the sun had just risen.
The sky was painted pink and orange before the sun slipped up behind a thick cloud mass that stretched out overhead.
I began my journey, but when I reached a height in the trail the beauty before me made me stop. A rock face up ahead was shining through the hanging cloud, declaring of the sun I could no longer see.
I had planned on taking a trail that would lead down into the valley, where there is at times a quiet pool where the summer robins bathe. But the majestic mystery of the cloud changed my plans. I would follow the cloud up the mountain.
As I hiked up the steep trail I began to enter the cloud that had once hung over my head. I was soon surrounded by white. I couldn't see much further than the tall pines, but it wasn't dark there. I could no longer see any of the rock faces that at the beginning had told me of the sunshine, yet I pressed on for the adventure I was finding.
Slowly the dense white began to thin, and I could see hints of blue sky. It was breath taking as I got high enough for the sun to again penetrate through. You could see the streams of light as they fell through the tree branches and drifted on the white haze that clung to the hillside.
When I finally emerged I turned around in wonder. The sun in all its brilliance and glory was shining brightly off of this great sea of white. I looked the other way to see the cloud clinging to the hilltops and spilling down into the valley below. I scurried up the side of a large rock and sat down on top. I remained there for a while eating a snack and taking pictures.
Finally I started making my way back down and as I went I considered my journey.
When I was young, I had a plan for my life. I had imagined in my mind the path I would take, but when I saw the light shining through the mysterious Cloud I was drawn to abandon my own plans and follow after Him.
The path was steeper than the one I had thought I wanted, but instead of living my life beneath the cloud, I climbed up into it. I have and still do walk inside the mystery of the Lord, not knowing fully where I am going, but I am never in the dark.
And still I have been to the top. I have come up above what I couldn't understand to see the Son. No long just shining on something in the distance, but shining on me.
As I came back down into the cloud, I passed to gentlemen who were resting. The one called to me.
"Howdy! How was it up there?"
"It was spectacular!" I replied.
"That's because you were above the fog," he said in understanding.
As I left them I considered his words and how my words and pictures would never be able to fully capture what I had seen.
The same is true with my walk with the Lord. I have been drawn by His beckoning call to the adventure, wandered through the white forests of mystery, and even run up the hillside so I could get a better view of the spectacular! But only those who have been, can understand what I have seen.
I wish my words could convince everyone to abandon their plans and follow the Cloud up the mountain. But we all have to choose for ourselves which path we will take.
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
Luke 9:23-24
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