STORM CLOUDS

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A most wonderful wilderness experience is watching a storm backdropped by the horizon.  A distant large dark irregular mass is framed by blue sky above and on either side set upon the foundation of the earth. The sky beneath the cloud colored shades of grey suggesting the falling rain is limited by the promise of the blue sky behind it.  The traveler's normal breathing pattern is interrupted with every lightning flash, sometimes pausing to intersect the earth.

The experience is great theatre for the traveler, its presence powerful and yet contained by your distant perspective.  It is a spectacle one never grows tired  watching because the beauty also contains a warning of danger.  The message of the storm's power is, "Stop what you are doing, and determine my direction!"  If it is determined the storm is moving in your direction, there is no other choice but to interrupt travel and prepare, for the scope of the storm may be unavoidable.  Wilderness choices are always life and death choices.

Why do humans have so much difficulty preparing for problems that gather on life's horizon?  Not the imagined problems, but the ones that are clear dangers like debt, physical health, and other challenges that threaten future’s promise.  The Bible teaches us that it is because of the very nature of our creation.  We have eternity placed within our minds while possessing a limited grasp.  Humans can conceive of an unlimited number of responses to life while only having the ability to make a finite number of choices.  Add to that equation the freedom of choice, and you have the two basic weaknesses of the human condition; insecurity and failure to take responsibility for yourself.


The human condition is the fodder of bad choices.  This is why the most important first decision in life is to die to the world and embrace the abstract of the principles of God’s promise.  It seems over simplified but truth generally is “Simply the Truth.”  What must not be confused is truth and absolute truth.  Our honor and  integrity enable us to embrace truth, but discovering absolute truth is a lifetime wilderness adventure.  The stamina to finish the adventure is FAITH.  The big decision every human must make is, “In what will I have faith?”  It is helpful to remember EVERY DECISION IS A LIFE AND DEATH DECISION.

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