Tag Archive for: desert

Heights don’t usually affect me. But a week ago Sunday on the way home from Arizona, we got caught in an I-10 closure. We decided to swap the 5-hour crawl for a 2-hour adventure. We turned our dusty CRV around and headed back to Palm Springs. There we found a bougainvillea-lined alternate route (Hwy. 74) leading from flat sandy desert to towering mountain peaks. Why not? We had 4-wheel drive.

A different plunging view

The serpentine climb steepened quickly. I smiled—until we rounded a shoulder-less hairpin turn and I glanced down. Just beyond the dented silver guardrail, a dizzying plunge of speckled red rock set my heart racing.

I quickly looked away. Although I wasn’t driving, I kept my eyes on the road through the rest of the tight switchbacks, many of which lacked guardrails. Finally, the road broadened enough to allow for rocky shoulders and it felt safe enough to look around.

The route was stunning. Crimson blossoms topped bronzed foliage; tiny lemon-yellow flowers danced on gray-green stems; and withered cactus flowers waved atop tall spires. These suddenly gave way to pine trees with prickly needles looking like green pins protruding from brown pincushions. Once over the range, the road wound down among broadleaved trees and sprawling cattle ranches. At dusk we entered the lush horse and wine valley of Temecula. An hour later we pulled into our driveway, watched the aging garage door creak open, parked, and stepped out of the car onto stiff, aching legs. We were home in time for dinner.

Life can sometimes take us on an adrenaline-rushing detour with harrowing heights where we must keep our eyes focused, not on the path, but on the One who knows the path and leads the way.

I remember one such side trip when my husband Clay was diagnosed as having an aggressive form of cancer.

Foolishly, I Googled the hospital’s diagnosis and read it had 100% fatality within two years. That was a hairpin turn with a harrowing drop. I closed my browser. Clay had to back out of a teaching contract that conflicted with surgery, and finances became another potential plummet. In fact, we maneuvered through one tricky turn after another.

I had to fix my eyes on Jesus and deal with each day’s challenges as they came, forgetting about the earthly future and keeping in mind eternal hope.

Clay will write on his ordeal one day, so all I’ll say now is that the first diagnosis was mistaken: the cancer was slow growing and treatable. He’s been cancer-free now for eight years.

As on the road trip, once we were over the highest mountaintop, the scenery changed quickly and often. Another employer offered Clay work he could do from home as he recuperated. It took time to recover financially, but we managed. The cancer gave his writing and teaching on why God allows evil greater authority—the fertile valley unseen from the backside of the initial peaks.

We haven’t reached our ultimate destination yet—that won’t happen in this lifetime. But we will be there in time for dinner.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ~Hebrews 12:2

Caged Eagle: why God says no

Injured eagle rescued & now protected within cage in Sitka, Alaska

Why does God sometimes say No to things we seem to really need for peace and happiness?

Many years ago a small business I worked for shut down unexpectedly, leaving me unemployed in the middle of a recession a few months before I was to be married. I had a tough time finding a new job. Finally the owner of a small family photography studio offered me a receptionist position that would meet my former salary if I worked 48 hours per week. I took it.

On my first day, I discovered that what Tom, the owner, had called “some phone work” was really telephone solicitation, and that it was to be my main duty.

I hated it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make my quota and my stomach tied in knots every morning as I faced another day of failure. Additionally, Tom listened to everything his staff said via intercoms so he could correct every mistake and critique every lost sale.

Though I was grateful for a job that allowed our wedding to go on, I felt I needed a less stressful job and prayed regularly for such. But time stretched on and I remained there.

***

The Israelites faced something similar. During the trek through barren desert to the Promised Land, God fed them manna. It sustained them, but they grew tired of it day after day, morning, noon and night. They craved lamb and fish and garlic and leeks. Why wouldn’t God give them a varied diet?

Later Moses told them one of the reasons God met their needs, but not their cravings, had been “to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3). In other words, sometimes God says No to teach us important lessons.

He wanted to teach them that just as their bodies craved physical food, so their spirits craved the spiritual food of God’s words, even though they didn’t feel hunger pangs in the same way. Cucumbers and melons could support physical life, but not spiritual life. They needed to seek spiritual life in His words.

The fact is, our deep spiritual longings can be filled only with eternal things.

Some people never grasp this. They chase pleasures, possessions and positions. They may feel a fleeting satisfaction whenever they grab one, but it soon fades and the chase resumes.

But God wants us to live by His words and seek fulfillment in the Creator rather than creation, in the eternal rather than the temporal.

***

I persevered at the job I hated. In God’s Word I found that He wanted me to respond by trying my best, being thankful that He could work this job for my good, and looking for ways to share the gospel.

After nearly a year, two co-workers turned their lives over to Christ. We met regularly before work for Bible study. Then we all found new jobs.

I discovered that having a job I liked wasn’t a need, but a desire, and life isn’t just about enjoying myself. It’s about doing things that have eternal purpose, things that God rewards eternally. That was deeply satisfying, more satisfying, in fact, than even the agreeable jobs I’ve had since.

Are you in a difficult situation where you lack some of the things you really desire? Go ahead and ask God to change it, but until He does, seek satisfaction in Him.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ~Deuteronomy 8:3

Related:  Why God Says No: A 3 Dog Tale