I love surprises. And I’m also not a planner – which means my life is full of them! For my recent trip to the National Parks of Utah you might think I would have done some sort of looking ahead to prepare for what I was about to see and do – but why do that when your travelling buddy has it all under control?

As we drove away from the Las Vegas airport on our way to our first destination, Sue (who had been to this area before) was cracking up as my jaw permanently dropped for the next few hours. I couldn’t believe the massiveness of mountains and the vastness of the ridges. “You haven’t seen anything yet!” she kept telling me.

Eight days and six national parks later, I was still in awe. I think the thing that surprised me the most was that I kept being surprised – each park was so different! The diversity of formations, colors, and textures of rock was incredible. Sue and I were constantly asking each other, “How did this even happen?”

One of my absolute favorite sights was “Balanced Rock” in Arches National Park. As you drive up to this formation, you have to do a double-take. “What in the world?”

Here’s a basic explanation: The ‘balanced’ rock, made of sandstone, is perched on a pedestal of mudstone. The pedestal, which weathers at a faster rate, is slowly shrinking and at some point, will no longer be able to support the boulder (which is about the size of three school buses and weighs 3,500 tons). Collapse is inevitable, but for now, it’s quite a sight to see!

One area of life I don’t look forward to surprises in is parenting. After working with teenagers for almost 20 years, I’m convinced that there will be plenty of “We didn’t see that coming!” moments in our future – but I’d love to keep them to a minimum. I know I can’t predict or control my girls’ future choices (no matter how much I’d like to), but as we’re learning in our Moms’ Bible Study – I can take intentional steps toward building a foundation of wisdom in their lives.

Proverbs 2:2-4 tells us that wisdom is something that must be sought after – it requires action on our part. We must ‘turn our ear,’ ‘incline our heart,’ and then be open and willing to ‘receive’ wisdom. We are to ‘raise our voice’ and ‘call out’ for it – ‘seeking’ after it like we would a treasure.

The thing is that after 10 years of parenting, I’ve found it much easier to live in “survival mode”. Life is crazy and busy and every kid and situation is different, so it seems natural to just ‘go with the flow,’ grabbing whatever bucket of sand I can find from things I hear (or happen across on Facebook) to keep things balanced. Or mostly I just do whatever I think is best in the moment.

But I’m learning that even though there’s lots of really good advice out there (and I might actually have some good ideas), none of it can replace the moment-by-moment activity of seeking after God’s wisdom. I have an entire Bible full of His wise words and the ability to ‘call out’ for help and then ‘turn my ear’ to the voice of His Spirit who can speak into my every situation.

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” (Proverbs 14:1)

Unlike these rocks, I’m not just sitting around waiting for an inevitable collapse – I don’t have to live in fear of the forces of nature (or adolescent development). I have the opportunity to build into my childrens’ foundation a solid layer of God’s wisdom. And as I seek His insight in the moment, I am not only more likely to make better parenting choices, but I’m also modeling for them how to seek God’s understanding for themselves.

Those teenage years (and beyond!) may seem scary, but the weathering forces of culture, false teaching, and even that ugly sinful nature don’t stand a chance against the solid rock of God’s wisdom. The surprises may keep coming, but maybe some of the collapses can be prevented!

In the spring of 2001, Tim and I were faced with a very important decision – where to go on our honeymoon.

If you know us now, you knew us back then – there was absolutely no question that we were “mountain-bound”. We are outdoors people and whenever we’re not on some sort of outdoor adventure, we are wishing that we were on some sort of outdoor adventure. When we see a mountain, our immediate reaction is to look at each other and say, “How do we get up there?! Let’s go!”

So, when it came to our honeymoon, we were thinking Colorado, Grand Canyon, Canadian Rockies, or some other set of peaks we’d always wanted to climb.

But our plans changed when we were offered, by Tim’s extremely generous grandfather and step-grandmother, an all-expenses-paid two-week tour of Italy! To be completely honest, we were a little disappointed – but seriously, you don’t turn down Italy! Surely we’d find some mountains and outdoor adventure there, right?

Well, not so much. We had a blast and got some ‘cultural education’ as we rode around on our tour bus full of retired senior citizens (because who else has the time to take a TWO WEEK tour of Italy?) It was a wonderful experience, but the ‘adventure’ was very much lacking.

When we got to one of our last stops, the island of Capri in the southern part of Italy, there were two optional excursions. One of them was something called the “Grotta Azzurra” where you ride on a boat into a seaside cave where the water glows blue. The other option was a chairlift ride to the top of “Monte Solaro”, the highest peak on the island. Can you guess which one we chose?

We got off the bus that morning and within minutes, we were at the top, ready to experience a breathtaking view of the island and surrounding sea! However, all we saw was this:

We were disappointed, but decided it was surely just a passing cloud and if we waited a few minutes it would clear.

But… it didn’t. We waited for almost an hour and there was no change at all. No view. We were on top of this epic mountain overlooking the island and surrounding sea and all we could see were each other’s NOT smiling faces.

If you read through the history of God’s people in the Old Testament, you’ll learn about the many different kings who led them. In the books of 1 and 2 Kings, each king is remembered for his accomplishments (or lack thereof), and most importantly, whether or not they “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD”. (1 Kings 15:11) Each king either led the people to worship the Lord – or led them to worship the gods of the peoples around them (a great temptation, especially as the worship of these gods was more exciting, personally rewarding, and physically pleasurable.)

For example, in 1 Kings 15:11-14 we read about Asa, who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. He even deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.”

So at first, you’re like “Go Asa!”, right? But wait – what’s this about the “high places”?

The land God’s people lived in at that time had previously been inhabited by other nations who worshipped other gods. Many times, their places of worship were located high up in the mountains – because maybe if they could get up closer to the gods and closer to the forces of nature, their worship would be more ‘productive’.

When Israel came in and began living in this “Promised Land” they also began worshiping in these “high places”. In some instances they may have been worshiping the God there (or at least it started out that way), but regardless, He was not pleased with this.

Why not? Because He had already given them a place to worship – the tabernacle or temple, which is where His presence rested: “There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites… I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.” (Exodus 29:42-43, 45) God had already come down to them – they didn’t need to get up “high” to be close to Him or to get something from Him!

As you read through the lists of kings, you find many who, like Asa, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, BUT… they did not remove the high places.

I think if there was a list of some of us who are followers of Jesus today, our biographies might say something similar. Our “high places” may not be physical locations, but they show up in our dependence on feeling certain emotions in order to experience the presence of God.

So many of us have what we call “mountaintop” experiences with God – times where you knew for sure He was with you. Maybe you were singing a worship song and you suddenly couldn’t hold back the tears. Maybe you were listening to a message and your heart was racing because it was like the speaker was speaking directly to you. Maybe you were with a group of people and as you shared your lives and prayed together, you felt a bond with them like you’ve never felt before.

But over time, the emotion has faded. You try to worship – but it’s just not the same. You search for something equally powerful in the sermons you hear, but nothing’s really doing it for you. And that perfect chemistry you had with that group seems to not exist anywhere else.

And you wonder if God is even with you anymore.

Feelings are powerful, but they’re not everything. Emotions are our brains’ reactions to what is going on in and around us. They very often cause physical sensations – and if those sensations are good, we naturally desire to repeat those circumstances so we can experience those sensations again.

But the presence of God in our lives is not dependent on a chemical sensations. Can God can use feelings to show us His presence? Of course – He created emotion and often makes use of it to show us His power! But they can easily become “high places” for us when we think we need them in order to be sure that He’s with us.

The Israelites didn’t need the “high places” because God’s presence already dwelled among them – and it’s the same for us. God Himself came down as a human being to make the ultimate sacrifice – so that we ourselves could become the temple of His Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). We don’t have to climb the ladder of doing the all the right things to be accepted by God and we certainly don’t have to depend on certain “high” feelings to know He’s with us. If you’ve placed your faith in Jesus, His Presence is with you in ALL places!

When we finally gave up on waiting for a view from the top of “Monte Solaro”, we begrudingly headed down the mountain. Since we had missed out on the view, we decided we might as well do that ‘Blue Grotto’ thing, so we went to buy our tickets – but it was too late. We had missed the cutoff time and there were no more boats going out.

When we got on the bus that evening, we talked to all of our senior citizen bus tour friends and they were like, “You didn’t do the Blue Grotto? How did you not do the Blue Grotto? It was AMAZING!”

And we were like “You actually saw a view from the top of the mountain?”
And they were like, “Of course! It was AMAZING!”

Because by the time they got back from the boat trip and went up the mountain, the fog had completely cleared. It turns out we were in such a rush going to a high place we thought would amaze us that we missed out on something in a low place that would have really amazed us.

When you worship, are you looking to feel something – or are you simply singing a song to God, praising Him for how great He is? I think sometimes we mentally switch “Bless the Lord, oh my soul” to “Bless my soul, Oh the Lord”.

When you listen to a message are you waiting for a #truthbomb that will make you say “Wow!” – or are you simply sitting under the teaching of your pastor, ready to take in and apply all of the truth?

When you’re in a group experience, are you looking to ‘feel the love’ – or are you ready to pour out the love on whoever God has placed around that table or in that living room?

It’s not about dismissing our emotions or trying not to have them – it’s just about not depending on them. Faith is so much less about making a “high” feeling last than it is about continually and intentionally remembering that God is with you always – no matter what you feel.

Hiking has been at the top of my list of favorite outdoor activities for most of my life. There’s nothing quite like the exhilaration of traversing a rocky path to reach a peak and take in an awe-inspiring view!

So when my friend Sue invited me to join her on a week-long tour of Utah’s National Parks, there was no hesitation – I was in! After years of seeing photographs of the iconic mountains, canyons, and rock formations in this area, I was finally going to see them with my own eyes!

On the third day of our trip, we visited Canyonlands National Park and, after a mostly-flat rim hike in the morning, we set out on our second hike of the day – a steep but short climb to Upheaval Dome.

After just a couple minutes on the trail, though, I noticed a sharp pain in my left heel. A rock had somehow crept its way into my shoe. Ughh, how annoying!

The obvious thing to do at this point would have been to stop, sit down, take off my boot, and remove the pebble. However, on this very crowded trail, with less than one mile left to climb, that seemed unnecessary. So I wiggled my foot around a little, hoping it would find its way to a less painful location – and pressed on.

Unfortunately, with every step the pain increased and I just wanted to get to the end and get it over with! I didn’t care about the view or the rocks – all I could think about was the obviously very large, very sharp pebble digging into my foot.

Having a relationship with God can feel like an uphill battle – especially when it comes to sin patterns in our lives. As believers, we know that because of Christ our sin is forgiven, but that doesn’t mean it’s all going to magically disappear and stop happening. Most of us know exactly what Paul was talking about when he wrote in Romans 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

I know for me, there are days where my selfish, sinful nature seems like an unconquerable mountain, staring me in the face. I can agree with God that my sin is sin and I can believe that the Holy Spirit is hard at work in me, doing His thing, but there are many nights where I go to bed completely discouraged.

But recently, I ran across this quote:

“It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it is the grain of sand in your shoe.”*

The mountains of our sin struggles can seem massive and overwhelming – but what if the mountains aren’t the problem? What if it’s the ‘pebbles’ instead?

If I’ve learned anything as a parent, I’ve learned that sometimes our behavior has less to do with the choices we make in the moment than it does the choices we made hours before. You don’t throw a temper tantrum when you’re four because you want to be bad, you do it because you haven’t gotten enough sleep, enough food, or because your expectation of the situation was unrealistic.

And the same is true with our sin. So much of our disobedience is rooted, not in us wanting to be ‘bad’ or to hurt ourselves or others, but in the “pebble-sized” choices we make that end up leaving us more vulnerable to temptation.

For example, we don’t get adequate sleep or make healthy eating choices – and yet we expect ourselves to be able to think clearly when a tempting situation presents itself. We fill up our to-do lists with impossible expectations and then can’t figure out why we keep yelling at our children when they cause an interruption in the schedule. We scroll though our screens for hours every day, filling our heads with loads of unnecessary images and information – and somehow think it won’t affect our thought patterns.

In Matthew 17, we find some of Jesus’ disciples at the foot of a mountain facing a mountain-sized obstacle. A man has brought his son to them for healing and no matter how hard they try, they can’t seem to make it happen.

Jesus, in His great compassion steps in to heal the boy and then in His great wisdom, teaches them an important lesson:

The disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

OUCH! Was that an insult? Mustard seeds are small things. Very small things. So was Jesus saying they basically had no faith if it was smaller than a mustard seed?

Or was He saying that moving the mountains (which are huge things) takes place in tiny mustard-seed size steps. As humans we like to see ‘faith’ happen in the big change – the dramatic commitments and 180° turnarounds. But maybe God sees faith in a completely different way.

Maybe God sees true faith as something that happens in the very small. Maybe it’s those little unseen everyday moments that are actually the mountain-moving steps. Maybe removing that “pebble” is a bigger deal than we first thought.

When Sue and I reached the overlook at Upheaval Dome, I immediately sat down and pulled off my boot to get that pebble out. It turned out that this one wasn’t just inside my boot – it was all the way inside my sock, which is why it was causing so much pain! It certainly wasn’t a size problem:

And I certainly could have spared myself a lot of pain (and not missed out on the thrill of the hike) if I had just stopped way back at the beginning and done something about it.

What are your pebbles? Is it time to stop, sit down, and take them out? As our Moms’ Bible Study leader said last week, “Learn to be wise in the small stuff and the big stuff won’t seem so big.”**

The mountains of your sin may seem daunting, but maybe you’ll find they’re not really as big as you thought they were after all.

*Author Unknown
**Tracey Paradis

​Two years ago, Tim and I made what we think might be our best purchase ever – a 1998 Starcraft Venture Pop-Up Camper. We call it our “Home Away From Home” and we love every night we get to spend in it! At almost 20 years old, though, this well-used (and well-loved!) camper is a bit of an undertaking to set up – especially in the dark.

Which is what we were attempting to do on our first camping trip of summer 2016. Having arrived at the Delaware Water Gap KOA after 9pm, we knew we would be setting up after dark – but we were up for the challenge!

At one point, as we were wrapping up the process, Tim said to me, “Mandy, can you come over here?” He sounded really concerned. And I was really concerned because if you know Tim, you know that him being “concerned” about anything is really rare!

I walked over to the side of the camper he was on and he said to me, “Run your hand along this aluminum edging.” Before I even touched it I got a shock in my hand (OW!) and then when I actually did touch it, I could feel a vibration.

This was very strange, so we began walking around the camper, touching all the metal edges (Really, it seemed like a good idea at the time!) And yes, every time you touched any of the aluminum rims of the camper, you would get a shock and then feel a vibration.

At this point, panic was setting in. Our camper was somehow producing electricity and we were supposed to sleep in there! This couldn’t be safe! The mom in me was like, “There’s no way I’m letting my kids sleep in this camper tonight!”

Unfortunately, though, we didn’t have much of a choice. So we began looking all around, above, and underneath the camper for some sort of answer. Tim even asked one of our neighbors to come over and see if he could feel it, too – you know, just to make sure we weren’t losing our minds.

“Nah, I don’t feel anything,” the man said. And as he walked away, I said to Tim, “That’s it. We are officially crazy. We are your crazy campground neighbors who pull in late at night and believe their camper is mysteriously vibrating! We need help.”

We all need help. We might not need it all the time and some of us might need more than others, but we all need help. Sometimes we need practical help – none of us are super-people and that extra hand or wisdom-filled guidance from someone who’s done it before can be life- (or sanity) saving.

But more often than we like to admit, we need real help. We are humans living in a broken world filled with other humans, so problems are a guarantee! Our struggles may look different, but everyone has them.

The question is: When you have problems, where are you looking for help? When a struggle rears its ugly head in your life, what’s your gut reaction – where do you go first?

We have four options:

1) Look inside yourself. This is everything we’ve ever been taught in Disney movies, music lyrics, and in social media quotes – “The strength is within you! The answers you seek are within yourself! You are strong! You can handle this!”

2) Look to other people. If you’re like me, your first reaction when you are upset or stressed is a dire need to tell someone about it. Most of the time you just need someone to listen to your rambling – and sometimes you really do need some advice.

3) Look to stuff. This one, unfortunately, is the number one “gut instinct” for most of us, even if we don’t realize it. Social media, games, Netflix, food, alcohol, drugs – you name it. I know my phone is a wonderful little distraction – when my eyes are on that screen I can forget about whatever it is I don’t really want to be thinking about!

4) Look up. The last option is to look outside of yourself, outside of other people, outside of this world, and do what David did in Psalm 121:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

God is not only all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful – He’s also deeply interested in helping us. He’s deeply interested in being your source of help. He’s just waiting for you to look up to Him. Looking down inside yourself, looking to others, or looking to stuff may be good options, but they’re not what’s best. The best and most helpful first thing we can do when we’re struggling is look up to God – and to make looking to Him become our gut instinct.

When Tim and I were trying to figure out our camper mystery, we had done all those things. We looked within the camper, we looked around the camper, and we asked someone else for help – but nothing was working. The thing is, we should have looked UP first! Because, as we found out later that night, our campsite was located under these:

There was so much electricity moving through those lines, we could hear it! With that much power directly above us, no wonder our old aluminum-rimmed camper was picking up some of the current!

Everyone has problems, but not everyone looks up to find the power that will truly help them. God has unlimited power to help you with everything – from the smallest of your daily worries – to the deepest of your issues – even issues that you don’t even know exist yet!

The truth is that the root of all of our problems is sin – not because we deliberately want to cause ourselves and others pain – but because instead of looking to God to be our help, we’re constantly looking to other things. We sin because we think it will help us feel better, look better, or be better.

But there’s good news because 2,000 years ago, God Himself put on human flesh and came to help. He willingly gave His life, dying a punishment kind of death to save us from ourselves.

Criminals in that time and place were hung up high – on crosses on hills – because their death was meant to be a visible warning to others. They wanted people to look up at Jesus and fear – but what they didn’t know was that looking up to Jesus on that cross would be the greatest rescue and the greatest healing and the greatest help in the history of the mankind.

Have you come to the end of yourself? Have you exhausted all other options and realized He is the only answer? And if so, is looking up to Him your gut instinct every time life gives you a shock? God is available and He’s got plenty of power to offer – so look up!