God on The Mountain 7.10.09

***This post is acting up, so unfortunately I cannot include the pics I was going to add.. I'll add them to a separate blog. ***


4 A.M came early this morning... but if you plan on hiking in Phoenix, you have to wake up before the sun gets up... Haha, and even then, you just hope it's sleeping in that day. :) My neighbor Kathy has been the biggest blessing I could have ever wanted. She will often take Jake to the park in the evenings while I'm at work and in the mornings we'll hike together. This morning we decided to get up earlier than normal since it was going to be EXTREMELY HOT.

We started our regular hike, which might I mention begins with a pretty tough incline. Uh, not the easiest way to warm up. Well, as always, I was ready to turn back when we completed the initial climb.. and, AS ALWAYS, Kathy didn't care. Haha!

She decided to go easy on me by taking a different route, uh-huh. This only meant a longer route. The 'alternate trail' literally began with a small mountain... hello?? Yes, it was straight to the top before the sun woke up. I laughed and she laughed and then kept going. Grrrr!! I kept laughing and telling her she was CRAZY and that there was NO STINKIN' WAY I was going to climb that first and then hike our regular route. She kept saying... "You can, come on."

Well, I finally made the ascent. Wow! At the top of the 'hill,' as she would call it, I saw the sun beginning to peak up behind the McDowell Mountain Range, it was so serene. I was glad I kept going! SShhh.. don't tell her that. :)

We then began our regular hike and about 2 miles into the hike, on a routine trail, my right ankle gave out. OUCH!! I tried to stand on it, enough to get on flatter ground, but it would not cooperate - AT ALL! I hopped over to a large rock and sat down. I could not touch my ankle without feeling an unbelievably sharp pain. Well, we had previously talked about people that had been rescued off the mountain. And when I say 'RESCUED,' I mean by MediVac! The mountains are steep peaks, with extremely narrow trails which can only be reached on foot or on a mountain bike. We sat for a few minutes and then Kathy realized I was probably not going to make it the rest of the way back. She offered to go 'GET HELP.' I told her to wait.. I then looked up while holding my ankle with my right hand and said out loud, "Lord, I need you to touch my ankle, right now, please help me, please." God heard me, while most of the city still slept.

I stood and gingerly began to put weight on that ankle. I then added a bit more until I was standing with my weight perfectly distributed on both ankles. I walked a little and found that all the pain was gone. I told Kathy it felt fine... she said we'd take a short cut back to the car. We continued our hike and about a mile later she said I seemed to be doing well. She decided to add a few more inclines to the end of our trail. I told her to lead the way... 3 1/2 miles after I hurt my ankle, we arrived at my car. It felt fine, actually it almost felt stronger than it had before I hurt it. I knew immediately, the Lord had heard me. Praise God for His faithfulness. His child's faintest cry resounds 'LOUDLY' in His ears. "Our walls are continually before Him."

A couple days before, I slipped on one of the trails and have several bruises and a few scrapes as souvenirs from that day. Haha... up to that point I had not even slipped, musta' been 'cause I was so 'proud of myself.' :) Oops! :) Some of the trails are pretty steep and many of them are covered in slate. The slate is smooth, so it often slides over itself causing hikers to lose their footing. (You can see the slate in the pic, this IS NOT one of the steep inclines - not even close) People are rescued off these mountains all of the time... they're beautiful to hike, but one wrong step and off you go (literally). Yikes! :-/



We logged about 5 1/2 miles today, for a total of approx. 18 miles this week!! Yippee..I feel great!!

Psalm 63

1O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

2To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

3Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

4Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.

5My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

6When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

7Because thou hast been my heltp, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

8My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.