An Early Morning Butte Top Experience

 At 5:30 in the morning, Rebekah and I hopped out of bed, dressed, and packed our cameras as we headed out into the dark morning, lit by the city lights of Bend. We set out at a brisk pace for Pilot Butte, the ginormous butte that overshadows Bend. 

 Pilot Butte (in the second picture you can see the butte's shadow over the city).

We took the paved road and despite the slight nip we worked up a sweat as we tackled the slope with strong strides. Reaching the top, the air was cool and the wind permeated our thin layers chilling our ears and fingers. We huddled behind a rock wall for protection and warmth as we scanned the colorful horizon, waiting for the sun to burst over the hills. 

As I watched, the mountains and buttes once hidden by hazy clouds and darkness, were revealed as the sun's rays brightened the horizon more and more with each passing minute. 

It made me think how Jesus, God's Son, is like the sun. When I chose to have Him become a part of my life, He revealed (and continues to reveal) the hidden parts of my life that are not right—bitterness, selfishness, pride. All those things, I didn't recognize were there are exposed by the Bible and the counsel of other Godly men and women in my life. Sometimes how I respond to the events happening that I don't like or the differences I have between me and another person bring out the worst in me—things that I must choose to change. Just as the dark bumps of the mountains become beautiful as their snowy tops become aglow from the sun, so Jesus has taken the messes in my life and transformed them into beautiful mountains of trust, patience, unconditional love, and forgiveness. 

I jumped to my feet and quickly snapped photos as the sun burst over the horizon. Never before had I been able to watch the sunrise from such a high altitude and all directions at once. It seemed so cleansing and transforming.

Delighted, I found that the day's Bible reading reflected my thoughts. The comparison of light driving away the darkness took on a new meaning for me in that moment, one that I hope to remember for a very long time.

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light."

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."

"But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” Ephesians 5:8,11,13