Coming to the Still Waters

  I got my feet wet in the alpine lake of Lake Parika after hiking 9 miles to get there.  A rise of about 2800 feet in elevation and 6 hours of breath taking scenery.  Parika Peak is behind me and someday I hope to summit it.  It takes some discipline to make these hikes.  It was another 3 hours to get back to the trailhead before heading home. We ventured into Matthew 6 this week and what I call the trilogy of spiritual disciplines, giving, praying and fasting.  The similar language that Jesus uses in each of these shows us that each is important to the life of the believer.  It is interesting that He starts with the one that we might think less of as a spiritual discipline.  Maybe it is also the one that we as less to be diligent at even though it is probably the one most easily to keep these days.  We can now schedule our giving to be done and forget about it.  Pretty hard to do that with prayer and fasting. The Bible gives us 2 ways ...

  Another Cascade Falls on the trail from Monarch Lake up to Crater Lake. Crater Lake and looking at Lone Eagle Peak. Maybe the cascading waterfalls is a good picture of what Jesus' disciples are experiencing as they sit with Him on the mountainside and He is instructing them on what a disciple of Himself is like.  It might have felt like a cascading waterfall of information that involved tremendous life change.  Jesus was pouring out to them that His ways are much higher than man's ways. Last week we studied that He told them to not promote themselves by puffing themselves up but that their communication would be a simple yes and no response.  He told them not to return insult for insult.  He told them to give to those who want to take and rely on Him for their needs.  He told them to go the extra mile with those who who are using force or rights to get their way.  He told them to be people who share instead of store.  Each of these situations co...

  The view of Grand Lake from the summit of Shadow mountain. This is a very different perspective from the beach in town below.  From the beach you are looking up and from here you are looking down.  From the beach you see a part of the lake and from here you can view all of the lake.  From each vantage point you can learn something about what you are seeing.  What if I had never climbed Shadow Mountain to see it from this different view? Jesus has been taking His disciples through some of the commandments of the Bible and showing them a different perspective so they could have a different response to the common teachings of the day.  Instead of just making sure you don't murder someone, Jesus points them to take many steps back and deal with unresolved anger toward another and work toward true reconciliation.  Instead of just making sure you don't commit adultery with someone else's spouse, Jesus points them to take many steps back and deal with impur...

  My first summit is Shadow Mountain at 10,160 elevation.  It was on my mother's birthday, July 9th.  She would have been 90 years old.  It is amazing that she has been gone for 16 years.  Here is a view from the top. On the way up on another vantage point is the old Shadow Mountain Fire Tower.  It is not manned and there is a plan to renovate it so people can go up again on the catwalk and experience a 360 view including Lake Granby, Shadow Mountain Lake, and Grand Lake.  It was an 11 mile day and I was beat when I got home. Jesus is giving us God's way and man's way.  God's way when dealing with anger can lead to reconciliation and back at the altar of worship.  Man's way when dealing with anger can lead you to court and possible time in prison.  God's way when dealing with lust upholds the marriage covenant created by God between His created man and woman as the two become one.  Man's way when dealing with lust could lead to divo...

Another trek up the mountain trail this morning with my best hiking buddy.  This is a beautiful spot where you cross over Beaver Creek on the Timber Lake Trail.  We are probably smiling because we are on our way down.  And these in the picture below are grateful tools we have to get us up the trail and back to the trailhead.   The views like this one keep us going back and pushing up the trail a little further.  We will try this trail again so we can view Timber Lake for ourselves.   Jesus is starting a realigning of some of the 10 commandments with His disciples.  He is going from the external to the internal.  You could say, "Well I have never murdered anyone." But Jesus is asking, "Do you hold unholy anger toward another?"   This is the first example of a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.  They were focusing on outward murder while Jesus was zeroed in on a heart that resolved anger with reconciliation...