STAND FIRM

(Lessons from the Canadian Rockies)

How do you teach a young man the underpinning principle called faith? How does one move a young man from the world of see and touch to the world of faith and vision? The world where God is viewed in greys to a world where God is in living colour? The answer is... you don't! That's not how it's done...

To say that the Canadian Rockies are rugged would in no way be an exageration. The wild untamed wilderness is alive and well in Canada and many people yearly they find themselves lost or experiencing some difficulties in the rockies with tragic results. The Canadian Rockies have taken their share of lives. So it was not a trivial thing when I found myself stranded on the top of a pass miles from the trailhead and unable to move.

Walking, hiking and camping have always been second nature to my Dad and his experience of growing up in Calgary and spending all of his teenage years in the backcountry provided him with a deep love for the mountains and all their grandeur. So as his son, I naturally wanted to join him on his adventures...that is until I turned 13. Then sleeping on the ground in a small tent just did not seem as fun as it used to. It wasn't cool. No girls.

But Dad who somehow always knew just what to say, suggested that maybe I would be interested in going hiking with a friend and he could come along as the guide, chief cook and bottle washer. Well I tell you that sounded great to this 13 year old. So on a warm day in July we set out from the trailhead and began our long trek into the formitable Rockies. Darryl, the friend who came along, was a young man who like many young men simply did not get that whole faith/God thing.

So we walked...and Dad talked... "Derryl do you see that mountain? God has provided that mountain for us. Derryl do you see that stream...isn't God great how he made that stream...He's a great provider." You get the idea...

As the day wore on, my God carefully and methodically set the scene in place to build into our lives the principle of faith.

Then my legs quit. Slowly at first... then more rapidly, they began to ache and strain. Rhabdomyolysis was setting in. (An acute, fulminant, potentially fatal disease that destroys skeletal muscle) I’ve had an acute case since I was was four and now in the middle of the unforgiving mountains my muscles were packing it in. With little water, due to the fact that we found ourselves on the top of a mountainplateau ...things, shall we say, did not look good.

So lying on a flat rock in the middle of a mountain meadow, miles down a trail from help, I stopped, unable to move, and Derryl pounced!

Where is your God now Mr. Wood? Where is that provision that you are talking about? Lying there... I was so angry I could spit! My Dad? He stood silent. Looking back down the trail from which we had come... he waited...silently. No more than 30 seconds after Derryl's question I looked at where Dad's eyes were focused and I noticed the distinctive view of a ranger cap rising over the top of the plateau's rise.

"Derryl", Dad said quietly, "that's a National Park Ranger... David is going to ride out on his horse" ...and it was ...and I did.

Paul said, "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong." (1 Cor. 16:13) In our relativist culture the idea of standing firm is almost viewed as antiquated. At best, something from history, at worst a sign of a thoughtless, ignorant person. And yet, in the bible, we are encouraged to stand firm. WHY? Is God grey? He certainly is not when talking about our faith. His words are clear... (Do a bible search on the words stand firm and find out for yourself.) our faith in him must not be grey...because life is not grey... nor white...it's black...and out to kill you. Face it! None of us are getting out of here alive!

Faith is not a skill. It is not learned through lectures and notes...through truth read and items noted. It's not grown through blogs typed and responces discussed. If allowed... it is a living breathing reality that must be experienced to bring it to life. If allowed... Faith comes to life in the dark. If allowed... it grows strongest in the place of death. If allowed... It advances in the moments when all else has already retreated. If allowed... Faith is learned on the top of a mountain plateau on a day in July.

A wise man once said, "Faith is not faith unless it is the only thing you have left to hang on to."

So... Hang on!