Retreat

I recently took a mini retreat with my friend Mary. We felt that it would be good to go camping somewhere and spend time together getting closer to God. Here are a few of the valuable lessons we learned. Some can be applied to our relationship with God. :)

1. When the signs keep telling you that the road is closed and to follow the detour, the road is probably closed. We added an extra five miles to our late night drive because I wasn't completely convinced the road was closed that late at night. The man with the stop sign didn't seem to mind though, he apparently appreciated an occasional conversation with the drivers who weren't easily convinced the detour was necessary.

2. Cinder cone volcanoes are really amazing and it's worth the 1000 foot grueling uphill hike to see inside the crater and to view the lava flows. If you can ever get the time to go climb a volcano (dormant or extinct are best), I highly recommend it. To stand on top of a mountain that at one time spewed or oozed out molten rocks from deep within the earth's crust gives an amazing view of just how powerful God is. imagine picking up a rock and trying to wrap your mind around the fact that the rock, in some recent period of time (in this case 300 years ago) was deep below the surface of earth as magma.

I must admit that I am a bit obsessed with rocks, I love the stories they tell, whether they cooled deep beneath the surface of earth, or were thrown out and cooled as they flew through the air or crept along the surface. Then there are ones that hardened as sediment containing in them the fossils that tell their story. Most fascinating are the metamorphic rocks that were heated and bent and changed by the pressure, often of two plates colliding.

To me rocks and mountains do cry out in praise of God. They remind me just how powerful He is. He puts the rocks where he wants them. True we can explain them scientifically, but that doesn't leave God out of the picture; He is still the one who forms them and makes them what he wants them to be.

My point is, standing on top of Cinder Cone volcano in Lassen Volcanic National Park, I was overwhelmed with the beauty God had placed there and the power he displayed when he brought these rocks to the surface changing an entire landscape.


3. (This is most important.) We all need Daddies. A woman had carried her precious 35 pound child up the mountain on her back, stopping often to rest but determined to make it to the top. How she managed, I don't know. It was quite a feat since the angle of the trail was about 55 degrees most of the way up. Upon reaching the crater rim she discovered she was actually the second mother with a baby on the mountain that day. She offered this heartbreaking encouragement to her healthy boy, "see, you don't need a daddy, that mom carried her baby up the mountain too."

What a statement! That led to a prayer and conversation with my friend Mary. You see, recently I have been spending much time trying to grasp the fact that God is not just my FATHER but my Daddy. Father always sounds kind of severe to me, like I'd better behave or I'll be in trouble. Daddy means I'm cherished, I'm loved and the apple of someone's eye. What I thrill I have recently found, that I am the apple of God's eye. We all are! Suddenly I don't really care so much for the approval of others because my Daddy loves me. Of course I have a good earthly daddy, and I love him very much, but I think he would agree with me that the most fulfilling and wonderful relationship is with my Daddy God.

We all need a daddy. There isn’t a person on this planet that doesn’t feel the need deep within their soul. Deny it if you want, but how wonderful it feels to be loved by a father. It is those who have a good father here on earth who can best grasp what it means to have a heavenly Father, but those whose father was far from perfect or not even there, can come to a joyous discovery when they find they are cherished by a Father greater than any man could ever be.