Some context

So, I get back from vacation, all rested and stuff, with extra time due to a lack of TV and shaky internet, and lots to blog about, and what happens? A day later, I feel like crap, either due to an oncoming cold or some really late allergies. Oh, well, I shall try to press on!

I will get to the climb itself in due time, however, in order for some of it to make sense, you need context. The context comes in the story of, of all things, my plane trip to the West Coast. On the way out, I flew from Harrisburg to Detroit, on my way to Seattle. One of the reasons I haven't had nearly as much to blog about recently is because my reading has tailed way off. That means there's a number of books out there that I've either been interested in or had recommended to me that I haven't read yet. One of these was The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. Since the cover informs me there were at least 5 million copies of the book printed before mine, I'm going to assume that a large percentage of people who might read this have read the book. I had not, though I had heard of it many times, particularly from several folks whose opinions I value, and it was definitely on my radar.

Prior to this trip, I did not own the book. And I had brought plenty of other reading material with me for the plane trip, especially when you consider that I don't really usually read on planes anyhow. But anyhow, when I got to the Detroit airport, I had a long walk ahead of me. As I headed down to my gate, I saw a Borders coming up in front of me. Not particularly sure why, but I found myself wondering if they had The Shack in this little airport store, thinking that after I had found my gate and had something to eat, I’d come back and look. I didn’t have to “look”, because as I walked by the store and glanced into the store, the book was out on the front display, prominently featured. Now, I’ll gladly admit that could have been coincidental – the book is a bestseller after all. However, I will note at this point that I passed a number of airport bookstores on the way back and peeked in out of curiosity, and didn’t see any with this particular book at the front of the store. Take that for what it’s worth, it’s only mildly relevant to what came next.

Anyhow, coincidence or tap on the shoulder from God, I decided I’d go back and get the book after I’d indulged in some dinner at the airport Taco Bell. And that is what I did. The end result was that my flight from Detroit to Seattle was basically a 5 hour appointment with God. It’s funny, with my slowed pace of reading, my volume of books read is way down, but the few books I have read have been incredible, and it was clear to me that I had read them when I was supposed to read them and not a moment before. This was especially true in this case. Had I read the book shortly after the first time it was recommended to me (probably about a year and a half ago at this point), I’m sure I would have enjoyed it and seen it as an excellent book. In this moment, God was using it to speak to right where I was at, confirming a number of things I’d already sensed Him saying to me over the last several weeks, and also taking me further and making them more personal.

I wrote down a good bit about that experience and the book the next morning, and I’ll likely share some more of that later on, but at this point, to make a long story slightly shorter, I’ll just share the two most relevant pieces I came away from that plane fight with. First of all, God was asking me if I really trusted Him, if I trusted His goodness and His design for my life. The second thing I came away with was that I had another appointment with Him ahead of me on that trip, and it would be somewhere on the trail to Half Dome. Color me intrigued…

More to come, now I must go to bed.