“…In a way this is our calling. To be redeemed and set afoot into the forrest of the world.” – Victor Hugo

So two things before I begin:

1) I have been reading Les Misérables.

2) I flew into New York City on Monday.

On one of my (several – thanks Irene!) flights to get here I read the above quote. I don’t know if I’ve ever been hit quite so hard by a piece of writing that isn’t scripture.

Of course, it’s obvious that Hugo has read a fair amount of scripture, so that probably was what empowered the blow I received. In fact, at this point in the story, I’m almost willing to call it a journal in narrative form over Hugo’s understanding of the Gospel.

All this to say, my year has been a forrest.
Iraq. Turkey. New Orleans. Oklahoma. Texas. New York City.
Never in my life have I done this much traveling.

I am doing my best to fully appreciate my circumstances, but I feel as if my appreciation pales in comparison to the truth of God’s graciousness in my circumstances. (Yeah, I know – this bit sounds like a previous post)

Now, from here I could walk you through a lot to get to a point, or I can just get to the point – so I will.

If I’ve learned anything about traveling from this last year it’s this: Love where you’re at, love the people and culture you’re a part of, and evidences of the Gospel will become alive in your life and the lives of the people around you. Even when you are not traveling, in fact especially when you are not traveling, as those are the people in whom you have most fully invested yourself for life.

But as for me now? I’m…

Loving New York City because this is where I am,

Ted

I’m in New Mexico this week with friends for Spring Break. We found this fantastic mountain home perched on the side of you guessed it, a mountain, and have all resolved to just stop for a week. It’s so easy to be busy, but incredibly difficult to be still.

Yesterday, a few of us decided to undertake a hike. We knew of a trail that was on the other side of the mountain across from our house and so we hopped in the car to make the scenic trek up the mountain to then drop into the valley below and then start our hike up a beaten path. Naturally, I took my camera and when we got near the top I decided to pull into the built-in scenic lookout to get a few pictures of everyone plus the beautiful New Mexico landscape.

After a couple of minutes of photo snapping, we turned around to find what might best be described as a very steep hill that capped the mountain. Our original hiking plan was quickly fading and a new idea was presenting itself: If the Mountains and hills of New Mexico looked great from here, what does it look like from up there?

I slung the camera bag over my shoulder and began the ascent with my friends. We stopped halfway between the bottom and the first line of trees to catch our breath because not only was it steep, but as residents of flat states (Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas were represented on this hike) the thin Mountain air was not being kind to our lungs.  I looked back out over where we had already climbed and it was already a much more magnificent view than the one from below.

We pushed onward and got to the first line of trees. I told my friend Matt that I wanted to go all the way to the top.

“It’s a lot farther up than it looks, you know that right?”

“Yeah, I know. But if I’m this far…”

I really wasn’t very far at all in relation to the top of the mountain, I truly thought I was a lot closer than I really was and ignored Matt’s advice guised as a question. I continued up the mountain on my own, as the rest of the group looked out over New Mexico from that tree line.

My journey to the top continued similarly to how it began. I would hike a little higher. Stop. Turn around. Be in awe of the view. Question going further. Finally turn back around.

“I bet it looks even cooler from that spot.”

And onward I’d climb, with each stop possessing it’s own unique viewpoint that would ultimately pale in comparison to the next.

Finally, I had one more hike to reach the top. I tucked the camera back into the bag and trudged up, excited to see what the new and final vantage point had to offer.

I reached the top and the first thing I noticed and took me by surprise was the lack of wind, and the peaceful silence at the top of the Mountain. I then turned around to see the full picture of what I had been getting pieces of along the way.

I was surrounded by an overwhelming silence broken only by the loudness of creation.

This is a Panoramic shot of what I saw and it doesn't even fully capture the moment.

Life seems to me much like my trip up the mountain, we reach different vantage points, face the landscape of life and exclaim “surely this is it!” Then God turns us back around, directs us higher up the mountain and says, “Just wait.”

It isn’t a material thing God has in store for us at each junction either, but rather a better understanding of His grace – something that truly grows in beauty alongside growing understanding. One day when we, fully sanctified, stand before God, the peace of His grace and mercy will only be broken by the loudness of His holiness. For it is not our climbing, nor is it our toiling for good works that brings us to the top. It is God’s grace, extended through His Son, that pulls us up the Mountain.

When I came to school at Baylor it was a major change in my life. I left Piedmont, Oklahoma with the same idea I had on my trip to the top, “I bet it (life) looks even cooler from that spot.” This is not to say that I didn’t have my reservations. Life looked good from that vantage point, “what is the use of gaining a different perspective?”

God prodded me, forced me to move forward. It wasn’t always grand, adjusting to life away from everything you have ever known doesn’t come without a few bruises. However, the view from here was worth it and I have gained a broader perspective of God’s will and grace because of the journey.

Now my time at Baylor is quickly fading and God is once again pulling me to a new vantage point. Iraq this summer, New York City in the fall, graduation in December, and more life (God willing) after that. I am sad to leave my current understanding, because “what is the use of gaining a different perspective?” Especially when I’m so comfortable with the relationships I have formed here. But I’ve been through that drill before and am trusting that God has it brilliantly planned. For better or for worse, I slave for Christ knowing that I need not work another day because He has already done the work. He has already made a place for me at the next stop, and beyond that, at the top.

I’m at a point in my life where I’m moving another step higher on the Mountain and I’m not anywhere close to the top yet.

“But if I’m this far…”

Ephesians 3:14-21 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith–that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

- Ted