Here’s a thought….
For centuries Explorers, Travelers and Sailors have used the North Star to navigate uncharted areas because its placement in the night sky is consistent and unchanging. To find your way in the darkness, you don’t need sophisticated instruments. Just find the star that sits by itself, across from the cup of the Big Dipper.
An ancient prophet once said, “I am the Lord, and I do not change” (Malachi 3:6 NLT). Because God is consistent and unchanging, he is the perfect “guiding star” to show us the way through life’s wilderness. A cloud covered sky can hinder us from clearing seeing the North Star and from our perspective it may seem that it is gone. Equally, the world has a way of clouding our vision and would have us believe that God has abandoned us. Dispite our view of the night sky, the North Star and our Heavenly Father are there longing to guide us. Unfortunately, many people today know how to find the North Star, but they don’t know how to find God.
Our mission at Compass Wilderness is to point people in the right direction, to show them how to find their spiritual “North Star”. And our staff has been trained in the critical steps necessary to help them find their way.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
Weekend in the Wichita Mountains
We spent last weekend with a group from Ft Worth camping in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. They arrived a little late Friday evening so we just had time to get tents set up and enjoy the campfire before heading off to bed. We had about 13-14 deer that decided to join us in our camp that night. This is not uncommon as we were in a wildlife refuge.
Saturday morning after a warm breakfast we packed our lunches and headed off to climb some rocks. A quick 8 minute hike and we were there. While the staff set the ropes, the group enjoyed a few minutes alone with God soaking up His creation. Once the ropes were ready we got the group into their harnesses and helmets, went through our safety class on proper climbing and belaying techniques and started climbing. The group had a few "natural" climbers and a few "not so natural" climbers but at the end of the day, with encouragement from the group we had 100% success. The weather was spectacular, the group was incredibly fun and everyone was able to climb as many times as they wanted.
We returned to camp after a brief stop to watch the prairie dogs and enjoyed a little free time before dinner. The traditional camping dinner of fire roasted hot dogs was followed by a short hike to the top of "Little Baldy" to get a great view of the sunset. Unfortunately clouds prevented us from actually seeing the sun, but the view was still awesome. While on top, the staff led a discussion on ways that climbing can relate to our personal walk with Christ. The group used analogise from their experience to gain a deeper understanding of Christ's love for us. With the use of flashlights, we hiked back down to camp and finished off the day with smores. What a great day!
Sunday morning starts again with breakfast and preparing lunches followed by tearing down camp and loading up the vans as we take a short drive to the top of Mt Scott. Rappelling is the activity of the day. Stepping backwards off of a 100' cliff will certainly get the adreniline going especially as we over look western Oklahoma. Following Christ is an adventure that can at times be scary and rappelling is a great way to open up discussion about how our fears can keep us from experiencing all that Christ has to offer us. After saying our good byes, we were on the road.
Saturday morning after a warm breakfast we packed our lunches and headed off to climb some rocks. A quick 8 minute hike and we were there. While the staff set the ropes, the group enjoyed a few minutes alone with God soaking up His creation. Once the ropes were ready we got the group into their harnesses and helmets, went through our safety class on proper climbing and belaying techniques and started climbing. The group had a few "natural" climbers and a few "not so natural" climbers but at the end of the day, with encouragement from the group we had 100% success. The weather was spectacular, the group was incredibly fun and everyone was able to climb as many times as they wanted.
We returned to camp after a brief stop to watch the prairie dogs and enjoyed a little free time before dinner. The traditional camping dinner of fire roasted hot dogs was followed by a short hike to the top of "Little Baldy" to get a great view of the sunset. Unfortunately clouds prevented us from actually seeing the sun, but the view was still awesome. While on top, the staff led a discussion on ways that climbing can relate to our personal walk with Christ. The group used analogise from their experience to gain a deeper understanding of Christ's love for us. With the use of flashlights, we hiked back down to camp and finished off the day with smores. What a great day!
Sunday morning starts again with breakfast and preparing lunches followed by tearing down camp and loading up the vans as we take a short drive to the top of Mt Scott. Rappelling is the activity of the day. Stepping backwards off of a 100' cliff will certainly get the adreniline going especially as we over look western Oklahoma. Following Christ is an adventure that can at times be scary and rappelling is a great way to open up discussion about how our fears can keep us from experiencing all that Christ has to offer us. After saying our good byes, we were on the road.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
