Meeting with the Lord

"...the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." (Isaiah 55:12)

Imagine with me for a moment. You are overwhelmed with life and all it has to offer. You are desperate to spend time with the Lord in prayer and silence. You decide to get out to surround yourself with the serenity of God's creation completely isolated from noise and distraction. You have a preconceived picture in your mind of what to expect when you get to your destination. You arrive and even though you are there for time with the Lord, you are somewhat disappointed because the picture you had in your mind is not at all what you are seeing.

Yesterday, Sept. 3, I had an appointment to meet with the Lord in the beautiful mountains of Virginia at McAfee Knob on the Appalachian Trail. I set out for my 3.5 mile hike at 4:30 am so that I could arrive just in time for the most beautiful sunrise I could ever have imagined. I had envisioned in my mind a blaze orange sunrise with the panoramic view of the mountain ranges and a sky filled with an assortment of color. As I crested the the top of McAfee Knob I set my gaze on a picture that was far from what I imagined. I could see about 50 feet in front of me and beyond that there was only fog. I sat down and brewed a cup of coffee and listened to some music on my IPOD to begin preparing my heart for my time with the Lord. As I sat there, almost disappointed I did not see a beautiful sunrise, the Lord really spoke to me. I had expected to see this grandeur of the sunrise as I arrived at my destination and instead, I was met with the grandeur of God revealing this beautiful creation a little at a time. I started to think this is much like how God reveals Himself to us. God reveals Himself to us in life through prayer, worship, friends, trials, bible study, and life itself. As I was pondering this for a while, the mountains were slowly revealing themselves to me. There was an eagle that began circling in front of me and soon after that, there were about 50-75 little sparrows that were filing into the trees around me. A steady breeze began to blow and I listened to the birds and the trees. The trees sounded as if they were applauding God's handiwork. The passage in Isaiah came to my mind. "...The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." My heart was stirred as I listened to creation resounding their praises to the King of Kings. My expectation of this sunrise that I was so eager to greet, was met with the majesty of the Creator slowly revealing Himself to me. I sat with God in silence and marveled in His goodness and grace. My time with the Lord was sweet and caused more of a hunger and thirst for Him. I desire nothing less of submerging myself in the things of God and to know Him more. I want to be a man after God's own heart.

Click on the "Day of Prayer and Vision" tab on the blog to see some pictures of the trip.