Independence Pass

On our recent vacation in Colorado, we decided on a whim to drive up to a place called Independence Pass.  It is a high mountain road where the pavement stops and a gravel road begins.  That is what we could tell from the map.  We could find very little information on what was there but it was near by and there was a break in the rain clouds so we decided to check it out.

We were amazed.  I have driven some other high mountain roads and passes before. We have been through the famous Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park but the sights we saw at Independence Pass rivals anything we had seen.  When you reach the pass at just over 12,000 feet elevation, you look down on some beautiful valleys and the mountain vistas you can see there seem to stretch on forever. 

It was stunning.  We were pleasantly surprised.  There was a large parking lot, restroom facilities, several trails that went off from the pass and numerous great spots just made for picture taking.  None of this was what we expected.

After spending some time there we began to make our way back down to get home before dark.  We descended down several switch backs and came to a place where three are four cars were parked precariously on the side of the road looking out over one of the beautiful valleys we had seen up above.

We passed these site seers in flash but the thought occurred to me to tell them, "The view is so much better further up."  I wished for them to know what was ahead, you don't have to park on the side of the road, there is a better place.  I wanted to yell, "Keep climbing, don't settle." 

I shared all this with Judith and she reminded me that it is human nature to want to settle when you have found something good without journeying on and knowing something even better.  How many times have we all done that?  How much do we do that in the Christian life?  We get to something better and try to hang on to it, settle into it and not loose it.  When all the time, there is something so much better if we keep climbing.

We will have a lot of opportunities to climb to new heights in our discipleship this fall.  I hope you will keep climbing.  I know God has some great experiences for us, just a little higher.

for the journey...

Tim