This weekend was West Virginia for me and I only wish I had taken my camera so I could post a picture for you guys. I feel at home in the mountains. I always have and I think I might get a small place in the mountains some day for me and my wife to get away to. Just taking the mountains and rivers in with my eyes was enough to make an impression on me but luckily I was also able to experience the mountains in a very real way. The first morning I got to take a shower under a waterfall. I certainly didn't need any coffee to wake me up after that! I took about five minutes trying to muster the courage to stand under it because the water was so cold! Finally rushed under it and stood there, my whole body shaking, laughing hysterically as I finally hurried away. Later on we did a lot of hiking...more than I am used to I must say. Hiking is a whole different experience without a trail. For lunch, we went into the small town and ate at Mama's Kitchen where I stuffed myself before coming back to the cabin to nap on the couch while it rained. After lunch I was in for a surprise. More hiking! We trekked out through the words for what seemed like an hour. I slipped on a rock and gashed my leg but we kept going. Finally we arrived at a pool in the mountain stream. This is what I wish I had a picture of to show you. A waterfall plunged into the pool before moving on down stream. We stripped down and I repeated my ritual from earlier that morning of mustering courage. Everything inside me was telling me not to jump but I jumped. An spiritual analogy here possibly...I'll let you read into however you want but I will tell you that no eagle swept me out of the air. I splashed into freezing cold water that was a little too refreshing and came up to the surface screaming like your little sister did when you dumped cold water on her over the shower curtain. The whole experience was breathtaking in more ways than one; when I jumped in of course but now that I was drying off and taking in the whole scene again. A crashing water fall and a large stream that had carved out layers and layers of rock. Just looking around me made any thoughts I had entertained about the possibility of evolution seem absurd. This was beautiful.
Later that night we drove out to this fire tower and climbed up the top. I was so frightened of being up so high in the open with the mountain air taunting me with its powerful gusts. I could blow you away if I wanted. There was a mix of danger and beauty as I overlooked mountains and valleys. Maybe this was a smallest taste of what Noah felt watching from his ark as the flood wreaked havoc on humanity, beautiful and dangerous at the same time. Easter service the next morning was touching. During the service, all I could think about was how crazy it was that what Jesus, a Jewish man who made radical claims, was now transforming people's lives in this small corner of the Allegheny Mountains. The same gospel preached on the other side of the world all those years ago was now being preached here in this small church. That same man from long ago is living in me, lending me his breath, filling up my heart with wonder. Now that I'm back at school, I look around at my friends with a new heart and whisper under my breath. Fill them, Jesus. Breathe in them. Fill up their hearts. Please, Jesus...

How marvelous! How wonderful!
and my song shall ever be
How marvelous! How wonderful!
is my Saviour's love for me.

I took a weekend trip out in the Shenandoah mountain range to visit my cousin and his family. I got to do some shooting out back and also got to drive a tractor! I'm thinking of converting to redneck!. Check out the view from the tractor...