Sorry this took so long to write y'all. I hope you get something out of it. The thought hit me about a month ago and I've had the mountains on my mind. Keep going in your walk with God. 
-D.L.


Take a look at the terrain of your life.

I stood in the low valley somewhere in Western Montana. I looked at the mountain before me. It was big, no doubt; and it's size and potential to kill me if I slipped the wrong way scared me a little bit. I put the fear out. I had long ago heard that courage isn't the absence of fear, but rather your control over it, and I made that quote a part of my daily life and walk with God. I controlled it as I took the first step. It wasn't a shear face that I was climbing, but rather an extremely steep slope. In spots it was pretty much a shear face but that was rare. I was wearing combat boots, fatigue pants, long johns, a hoodie and a jacket, and on my back was a heavy barrel Armalite AR-15 and a backpack loaded with ammo and gatorade. On my hip was a knife, a Taurus 9mm 24/7 OSS pistol, and 3 mags of 9mm ammo. The weight combined with the slope had my legs burning halfway up and I kept going, stopping at intervals to catch my breath. Finally I made it to the top and sat down on a rock that stabbed me in the butt. I sat down in the grass and looked out over the valley I had been in, thanking God for it and the climb I had conquered. Then, after a long rest, I turned to see the valley that I was headed towards and started the downhill climb.

   --One of my Montana mountains(Didn't climb this particular one).

Life is a lot like the terrain of Montana. It has wide, beautiful valleys and steep intimidating mounds of rock and earth that we call mountains. Valleys are where everything is awesome and life seems like it's never been better and getting better all the time. The valley is flat, and even though you know the mountain is coming sooner or later you enjoy the less tiring walk. It seems like it'll go on forever until one day you hit the steep slope and begin the hardest climb of your life.

The mountain is hard to conquer because it is ten times more physically wearing. The weight of your day to day life (the necessities) hang on you and pull down on you. Every now and then you stop just for a weekend to escape reality and catch your breath, then you dig in and keep climbing. It goes on forever until you reach the top and you realize that all that work and hurt was for this... The most beautiful view a man or woman could ever have. You understand things about the mountain and the previous valley that you never could have understood before, because now clarity comes and it all clicks together.

Then you head down... to the next valley and the next mountain that looms miles and miles away.

Reading the gospels, I get the feeling that Jesus liked mountains; probably more than I do. Jesus encountered one mountain in particular. It was the one he climbed when He was in the wilderness, fasting and being tempted by the devil. The whole time we see Jesus fighting back with the Word of God. Take into consideration that He WAS human and He needed food. This wasn't an easy thing for Him. Matthew 4:8(NIV) tells us: Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus told the devil to hit the road (in no uncertain terms) and the climb was over. The Bible goes on to tell us that Angels came and attended him.

Jesus encountered mountains too. He set an example for us in hard times to stay with His word and keep climbing. As Christians we are supposed to live up to that example.