Adventure 2015-Part 1

Before heading off on the Adventure

This summer our family had the pleasure of planning, and then going on, an adventure. It isn't the first we've gone on, and Lord willing it won't be our last. My husband loves adventures. He's been fulfilling his love of adventuring for years, and it gives him such pleasure to now be taking his family. As his family, the boys and I love experiencing all that he plans. The adventures we've been on thus far have been very planned out and prayed over. Food, shelter, and safety are all the things that he considers, and thus far he's done an amazing job at planning down to the last detail, and the adventure is amazing because of his thoughtfulness. This adventure was no different. Certainly it was more challenging because of the length, as well as what he'd planned for us during this adventure.

The plan for this one was to go to hike in to Duffy Lake and set up base camp. Base camp included the Tajmatent, a kitchen, a laundry line, a food line (to make sure we didn't get crittered), and a fishing gear station. The day after we hiked in the plan was to bushwack to the Pacific Coast Trail at the base of Three-Fingered Jack, climb up and down the mountain, bushwack down to Santiam lake to water up, and then find and hike the train back to Duffy Lake. The next day the plan was to chill by Duffy, fish, and rest our sore and tired muscles, and then the following day to hike out and meet up with grandparents at Black Butte. The plan. The master plan. It took much planning to work out sleep, food, safety, and then stuff like a rubber raft, climbing gear...and put it into four packs while the while being reasonable weight wise. I mean, the youngest is 6 1/2 for pete's sake. He's not a little guy for 6 1/2, but he's not hercules (although I'm pretty sure he think's he is).

Before heading off on our adventure this summer, we had some clear ideas of what we wanted to accomplish. We'd never done this long of a trip before, and we certainly had never climbed a mountain. 

Base Camp

Before we even begun to pack, before we walked out the front door, before we left our car and headed off into the woods, we could have decided that this wasn't what we wanted to do. We could have decided that the things we'd planned were too difficult, or that it wasn't worth the hardship. What we gained from the experience was absolutely priceless, and the views we saw were worth any hardship. One of the lessons I learned from this experience is that I always have a choice to take a challenge or not, and I will always gain wisdom and experience from the challenge, or not. I could have said, "No. I don't think I want to go." I would have not known the difference, but I would have missed so much. There is so much in life that is challenging, but unless we say yes to all that the hardship means, we won't take from it what God has planned for us.

The picture below was taken the morning after we arrived. I walked down to the lake to pump water for the day's adventure, and this beautiful sight met me. This lake is always here. It is always declaring the glory of the Lord. I'm so thankful to have said yes to this adventure so I could partake of this glory. I wonder how many times I've said no to something the Lord would have me do, something hard, and I've missed seeing Him work? I wonder how many times I've missed seeing His glory? I want the answer on my lips to be yes. I want to not shrink back from the hard, but to seek out God's glory in the midst of it. I want the hard to draw me closer to Him, to lean on His mighty strength, and to experience Him at work in me. His thoughts and ways are so much higher than mine (Isaiah 55), and His ways are always for my good (Romans 8). Even the hard ones. I'm so thankful for this adventure and the way it stretched me and our family. We are closer and stronger for it. And we climbed a mountain. It takes my breath away every time I think about it. More about that later...

Early Morning Fog on Duffy Lake