More Than Conquerors

     I conquered McGinnis Mountain. Five miles up to a 4,228 foot summit overlooking the monstrous Mendenhall Glacier. It was a beast, but I didn't let it beat me! Between my time in Colorado and Alaska, I've gotten the opportunity to hike a handful of mountains over the past couple of years; it's easily become one of my favorite outdoor ventures to take on when I have the chance. There's just something about standing at the foot of a mountain looking up to the summit and thinking to myself "I'm going to conquer this today!" After fighting my way up for a couple of hours trying to not think of how sore I'll be the next day, I get to the summit. I can look out over every direction and see all of the different chains of mountains stretching past the horizon. The phrase "on top of the world" takes on a whole new meaning at the summit. On top of the picturesque overload is the overwhelming sense of accomplishment -- knowing that I just conquered a freakin' mountain! I've yet to find many other things that quite match up with the experience that conquering a mountain offers.

     Coming down off of a mountain is the worst; tired and sore and hungry you start to daydream of escalators. Needless to say, there's a lot of time to think about the obscurities of life on the way down. The word that kept coming to mind in this time was 'conqueror' (see previous paragraph). I began to think of the mountains I've conquered, the hikes I've conquered, the skills I've conquered, the accomplishments I've conquered, the bachelor's degree I will have conquered in six months. By some measures, I would say (pridefully) that I am a conqueror. Then, amidst the escalator daydreams, my mind took a turn to reflect on the accomplishments that I've strived for for years and still haven't conquered; being the man that God has called me to be, finding freedom from the fleshly passions of this world, living out a Christ-like walk in all of my pursuits. No, I haven't completely and utterly failed at all of these, but there's still plenty of mountain to climb in those areas. I could confidently say that the countless hours that I've poured into this bachelor's degree has been far easier than some of the spiritual trials that I've faced in my life!

     A little bit further down the mountain, God reminded me of Romans 8:37. After writing extensively on the continuous war between the Spirit and the flesh that we face as followers of Christ, Paul writes "... in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Yea, I'm sufficient to conquer some of the simple trials in life, but as for those trials that I find myself insufficient to conquer, I am reminded of the promised Holy Spirit. Having died to myself and having been baptized into a new identity in Christ and received the Spirit, there is no separation from the love that Christ showed on the cross.

     So, yes, McGinnis Mountain was pretty spectacular and I really look forward to hiking the other summits that Juneau has to offer, but oh how much greater it will be to conquer the trials of this life through the love of Christ.

Send Me

I just spent 9 days driving 3,500 miles across North America with 19 other students to Juneau, Alaska… Awesome? Yep! This was 9 days of experiencing up-close and personal some of the most beautiful and awe inspiring sights that I’ve seen in my life. 9 days of relying on God’s protection and provision for every leg of our trip. Many times, I found myself at a loss of words basking in the majesty of the landscapes that we covered. In these times, it was as if I was face-to-face with God looking upon endless chains of Canadian mountains, looking out over the rolling hills of the great plains, or looking out over beginnings of the vast Pacific Ocean. The sights we saw undoubtedly radiated with the glory of the Creator who crafted it into existence so many years ago.

Pictures and stories will reserve some of the memories and experiences, but the one thing that I will take away from this road trip for years to come is the level to which I experienced God’s glory. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. We serve a big God. An everlasting God. An omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly holy God. When I came to the realization that what I experienced is just a fragment of his awesome creation, I began to understand his immense size. More beautiful than God’s creation is the fact that he created you and I in his own image giving us dominion over all his creation; we are his most prized creation, so much so that he gave his son for us. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Speechless, I find myself humbly brought to my knees knowing that I have been sought out and loved by this Creator. 

I began reading James MacDonald’s Vertical Church this past week (with countless hours of reading time on the road). He begins by writing on the significance of experiencing God’s transcendence in our lives; that is, God’s existence above and apart from his creation. Realizing God’s transcendence is realizing just how big God is and just how small we are. On experiencing God’s transcendence, MacDonald writes “I experience transcendence when something infinite reminds me I am finite…. All of these experiences diminish any sense of personal sovereignty…. Transcendence cuts us all down to our proper proportion before an awesome God.” Only, realizing God’s position is just the beginning of our walk. We must realize our rightful position on our knees before the everlasting God of this creation that is above all things. Like nothing else, experiencing God’s magnificence through the medium of his creation brings me to a point of honest humility and submissiveness. When I look at these mountains, the only thing I can think is “I want to serve that God!” I pray that that is our anthem throughout every waking moment of our lives. When that becomes our anthem is when God begins to do indescribable things through us for his ministry. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

(Psalm 90:2, Psalm 8:3-4, Isaiah 6:8)