This is not a pretty picture! The Rocky Mountains that I love were hidden by dense cloud cover the day after this year’s CCWC ended. And 15″ of snow was forecast – yes, in May!
I had planned to take those who had not yet gone home into Rocky Mountain National Park after church. We gathered in the lobby of Alpen Inn pulling chairs into a circle that kept expanding.
“We’ve come here knowing we are risking our lives to meet together,” I say. “Pastor along with his family were arrested when a portion of the Bible was found as his home was searched because of a tip from a neighbor.
“Many drop to their knees and begin to intercede. Someone else begins to quietly seek God’s strength for their pastor and his family through song. Others share a Scripture and a word of encouragement. They become the body of Christ ministering to one another as the presence of the Lord fills the place where they are hiding.
“Even if their pastor had not been arrested, he wouldn’t have come with a sermon, complete with PowerPoints, that he had worked on for several days. The worship team would not have had their instruments tuned and the songs planned and practiced.”
And so, I set the stage for what has been very special times of experiencing “church” for 24 years at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference as we allow the Spirit to lead.
Amazingly, by the time “church” ends, the clouds have parted and we are able to go up to the park in several cars.
We see herds of magnificent elk but no moose. The folks with Dick Bruso spot one. I am disappointed, but as always the grandeur of His creation fills me to overflowing with His presence.
But getting back to where this blog started . . .
Coming down from the mountain after CCWC, or from the high of the Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference last Thursday through Saturday, or any powerful experience is difficult. For one thing, we are probably exhausted and thus more vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one. Especially if we’ve been away from home for several days, it’s hard to return to our daily routine. We want to hang on to the sense of His presence we felt, but again we’re ruled by the “tyranny of the urgent” and the expectations of others.
But God . . . as Beatrice Bruno reminded us in her closing keynote at both conferences this year. Even when, like the mountains hidden in clouds, we cannot see Him or feel His presence, He is with us. And even when snowstorms or, ___________________ you fill in the blank, threaten us, we can trust in His faithfulness.
Father, help us never to lose sight of those mountain-top experiences when we hear You speaking to us and to the commitments we make in response. Draw us close to You, keep us in Your Word, and bless us with rich and deep fellowship with others.
And the mountains were still there,
just as “Our God is with Us.”
Write His Answer 
Amen! I had no trouble filing in the blank – as I’m sure you do not either. There are so many things in our lives that are far from what the desires of our hearts want and cry out for. BUT GOD…is faithful, is trustworthy, is able, is wiling. He hears and answers our prayers. Maybe not in the ways we expect or hope for. But trusting in God is not believing that He will answer our prayers in the ways we see as good. But it is believing that whatever way God answers our prayers, is good.