Desert & Snow

I kinda chuckled to myself (is that something you should really say outloud? I mean, I wrote it and then I thought - who chuckles? And why would you admit you are sitting at your computer, typing, and finding yourself amusing? Somehow that's just quirky and odd...and yet, I am okay with that) when I wrote the title for this blog - having just talked about sand a few posts back. Apparently there is a theme in my life right now - and it's the desert. Last night I attended a young adult group that I recently found - for the second time. The first time I went, I immediately signed up for everything - and I'm not even kidding. I signed up for their volleyball league, their upcoming ski trip, their outdoors club and every activity available in it. Hey, if you're going to get in, get ALL in. That's how I roll.

Anyhow, back to what I was saying...the desert. Last night the pastor talked about how often God talks in the Bible about "taking them to the desert". In every instance it was a place where God had taken all the distractions of their life away - and brought them to the desert to spend time with him and him alone. How true is that of our own lives - of my life! I think about the seasons where I've had so much going on I can barely catch my breath, and then the next I find myself wondering where all the things that kept me busy have gone...and finally I realize...God is trying to get my attention. He has taken me to the desert - not to die from thirst, but to quench it. The problem is, if you're not in the desert, sometimes you aren't thirsty. Sometimes it takes going to the desert to realize how desperately you need water - Living Water. It's almost as if I've had earphones on with loud music blaring in my ears - and maybe it was really good worship music, but the point is - God has been speaking and my music has been too loud to hear what he's been saying, no matter how "holy" the music has been. Being in the desert is like God pulling those earphones out of my ears and all of the sudden I'm like - oh! I didn't realize you've been talking. Now you've got my attention. I'm all yours... The desert is a hot and dry place to be, but when you're in the desert with God...it's an oasis.

And the snow part? Well, I don't have any spiritual significance for that at the moment, just some major enthusiasm for an upcoming ski trip! It's kinda funny how it all fell together. First I signed up with the young adult group, that trip got cancelled. Then they passed my info onto another guy that was planning a ski trip - his trip got cancelled. He passed my name onto another guy that was planning a ski trip...and viola! Things came together! So I'm looking forward to being in the mountains once again in just a few weeks. I can't think of a place I love more than the mountains. Now if I could just find a way to live in them permanently...

So, here's to hoping God takes you to the desert, but that you get to live life on a mountaintop. However that all works...it sounds just about perfect :).