Back in October I went on a hike with three young people from my church. I had been to Elk River Falls numerous times in years past and even recently, but I did not know until recently that there are two falls beyond that on downstream tributaries. My hiking partner and I were looking for the second one but didn’t find the trail. We have to go back and try again. On the way back I stopped for water and a snack while he went to catch up with the other two who had turned back after Jones Falls. They temporarily got off trail and I passed them, going all the way back to the parking lot at back. Finally, we met up, but I must confess that I was a bit nervous for them. None of that spoiled the beautiful day we enjoyed in the woods finding something new. Click on “Jones Falls” for a few pictures.
Archive for March, 2024
Jones Falls
Posted in General, Nature, Outdoors, Waterfall, tagged Hike, Jones Falls, Outdoors, Waterfalls on March 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Mount Rogers VA
Posted in General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Hike, Lewis Fork Wilderness, Mount Rogers, Mountain Ponies, Outdoors on March 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Due to time, distance, and responsibility, no sixer (1) in reach, we decided to hike Mt. Rogers, the highest point in Virginia at 5729′. The easiest access is from Grayson Highlands State Park, but that is not how we roll. So, we came from VA 603, 6.5 miles to the summit. The road does most of the elevation, leaving a 2400′ elevation gain to the summit. Though listed as hard, for 13 miles out and back, this is a very moderate route with easy grade and smooth trail surface.
My daughter and I hardly felt tired at the summit, so we decided to go back another way, lengthening the return a little and the difficulty a bit. But it was well worth it because the best views and most interesting details were on the return trip. We followed the Appalachian Trail around to the Lewis Fork Wilderness Trail and then the Lewis Fork Spur Trail back to the Mount Rogers Trail back to VA 603. As best I can calculate, our return trip was 7 to 7.5 miles. Being conservative, we hiked 13.5 miles. The cost was some bouldery, ankle-twisting sections and a good half-of-a-mile boggy section. My daughter corrected me to say it was a fen since it was flowing, but I don’t know if there is a term for flowing saturated flat areas in a high mountain forest. It was wet, squishy and required much rock and log hopping to navigate.
When got to the section where the Appalachian Trail and Grayson Highlands Trails used the same path, it was well frequented. On the rest of the Mount Rogers and Lewis Fork Trails, we saw no one. The hike was moderate enough that we finished in less than 8 hours with much sight-seeing and some lounging for peaks and views. If you would like to share a small bit of our adventure, click on “Virginia’s Highest” for pictures and commentary.
Trust God Rather Than Man or Things
Posted in Faith, General, God Thoughts, God's Word, Mercy, tagged Contrast, Faith, Psalm 62, Salvation, Trust, Waiting upon God on March 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Psalm 62 gives praise to God by drawing a strong contrast between 1) God, who is strong, stable, and substantial, and 2) man, who is weak, unstable, and insubstantial. By men David means a) evil men (v.3-4), b) all men (v.9), and c) himself (v.3) who he describes as a “leaning wall” and “tottering fence”. And yet, because he “waits…for God only” (v.1, 5), that is he trusts in God rather than men (v.9) or things (v.10), he “shall not be greatly shaken.” (v.2)
This is indeed the theme of the psalm: Trust God rather than man or things. Matthew Henry wrote, “We are both in the way of duty and comfort when our souls wait upon God…” I wait for His timing, His way, His provision, His defense, His wisdom, His understanding, His justice, and ultimately His salvation. The basis of our trust is twofold: 1) His Word wherein His attributes, works, and promises are recorded, and 2) our experience of Him wherein He proves His Word in our walk before Him. The latter can never inform the former, but our experience does fortify and deepen our trust. The result is as follows: The Word declares that He is good. He has been good to me. Therefore, I may trust fully that He will be good to me. Afterall, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)
Take note of the structure of the psalm, which is after all a poem to be sung. It begins with a refrain of trust in verses 1 and 2 which is repeated in verses 5 and 6, though with some variation. Starting thus, “My soul waits in silence for God only” (v.1), David communicates the way in which he trusts in God. In battle, David no doubt moved and was at the ready with his weapons and slashed both offensively and defensively. He was a man of action. But here he sits or bows in anticipatory trust. And for what or who does he wait? He waits for God, not salvation. He knows that when God comes and when God acts, He will bring salvation, but David’s focus is on God. Though best and ultimate is eternal, spiritual salvation, I do not believe, based on what David does and says that he does not also mean physical salvation. There are just too many times when he calls on God to rescue him in and from situations. The skeptic and doubter will immediately throw exceptions on this blaze, but God does rescue His own and help them in time of trouble. He does also allow them to take hits for His glory and their greater good. I am thankful that I may ask for rescue as He has helped me many times.
The variation in the refrain is of interest. The first time he says, “From Him is my salvation,” while the second time he says, “For my hope is from Him.” (v.1, 5) This looks like Hebrew parallelism to me, which means he is saying the same thing with difference in emphasis. He does a similar thing with the other variation. He says, “I shall not be greatly shaken”, but then says, “I shall not be shaken.” (v.2, 6) Is his faith strengthening at the thought of God’s protection? A fright may shake us from our composure temporarily, but we will not ultimately be shaken, for God is able to keep us unto salvation (2 Timothy 1:12).
The psalm ends with an admonition. I like best the translation of verse 11 and 12 from the Wycliffe Bible: “God spake once, I heard these two things; that power is of God (that power belongeth to God), and, thou Lord, mercy is to thee; for thou shalt yield to each man by his works. (and, O Lord, that true love is from thee; for thou shalt yield to each person according to his works.)” The center notes for the NASB agree with this rendering and it makes more plain sense, namely that there were two things in the one pronouncement. Those two things are power and mercy belong to, and therefore are implied to have come from, God. The last phrase grates upon our “by grace alone through faith alone” hearing: “For you recompense a man according to his work.” (v.12) Works prove the faith present (see James 2:14-26). It is God who saves, in whom we should trust, the very point of this psalm.
88
Posted in Birthday, Family, tagged Birthday, Family, Siblings on March 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »
My wife has seven siblings and she is number seven. Last weekend five of the siblings got together along with spouses and other family to celebrate the oldest sister’s birthday. The oldest brother, who will turn 90 soon, was there. We are thankful that all eight siblings are still alive, along with my three sibling brothers who we ate with on Saturday evening. Check out some pictures of the party at “88“.
How We Glorify Him
Posted in Delights, Faith, General, Glory, God Thoughts, tagged Catechism, God's glory, Purpose on March 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »
A catechism is “a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians.” (1) Catechisms are useful tools for instructing the one poor in Bible knowledge, fortifying unity among like-minded believers, explaining the Gospel and Scripture to the unsaved, and rooting out wolves and heretics from damaging the church. However, they are not Scripture, and therefore, they are not inspired and may be discussed as to faithfulness and accuracy in summarizing Scripture.
In the varied church company that I have kept over the years, the most well known catechism question is the first one of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “1. What is the chief end of man?” Answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” (2)
It is a concise statement, but I think slightly inaccurate. As I have contemplated it over several years as it comes up in sermons and discussions, I feel that I want to make two changes to the answer. Firstly, I think that the purpose of all things created is to glorify their Creator. The second reason given in the answer is an example of how we do that. Therefore, I would change “and to enjoy” to “by enjoying”. This thought is not original with me (3), and I honestly don’t know if I came up with it independently or if I just cooped it from things I had heard or read unawares. That doesn’t really matter. Relationship with God and enjoying it is certainly beneficial for us in every way, but it is also glorifying to Him, especially in an environment of God-hating demons and people.
Secondly, I think that there is more to glorifying God than enjoying Him forever. One iteration of my change would read something like the following: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God by enjoying, worshipping, obeying, and serving Him forever.” Then my list grew and grew. So much for conciseness. I considered my list and concluded that all of the items after enjoying Him were examples of serving Him. Some will argue, and this probably includes the writers of the question and answer, that serving is a subset of enjoying. I would agree that we do enjoy Him when we serve Him, but He will have service for us to do.
Therefore, my final draft of how I think the answer should read for the reason of better faithfulness to Scripture is as follows: “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying and serving Him forever.”
- Oxford Languages online
- https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-shorter-catechism
- https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/our-grand-obligation
- 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 4:10, 7:9
CreatorWorship 
Murphy to Manteo
Posted in Analogy, Cultural commentary, General, tagged Analogy, Sayings on March 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I had a discussion with my brother recently about a camping trip that he and his wife took to Murphy, NC. He asked if I knew where that is, since I lived in NC for a number of years. “Oh yes,” I replied, “As they say, “From Murphy to Manteo”. By that ‘they’ mean the full length of the state or applying to everyone in NC (1). In Tennessee where I have returned to after all those years in WNC, they say “Mountain City to Memphis” to mean across TN (2). Are there other states or countries that use this code of place names to mean all of the territory? And what is the origin of this type of phrase? Is it the Bible? Nine times in the Old Testament the writers refer to the full extent of Israel in a way similar to the following: “Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah.” (Judges 20:1) Dan was not on the northern border and Beersheba was not near to the southern border, even less so than the 4 “M” towns of TN and NC, but it meant all of the territory or all of its people. If that is not the source of this turn of phrase, then is it somehow baked into our perception to use location names over the word “all” to designate the full extent of a territory? Do any of you know of places names representing all of you territory where you live or have been?
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