The Fragrance of Pine

   
   The storm approaching Bozeman

   Two amazing storms arrived yesterday. The first “warning” storm swept through the Gallatin Valley in the early afternoon flooding streets and streams. The sudden dark sky brought winds that left me looking for a tree to hang onto as I ran outside without shoes or a raincoat to fully enjoy God’s awesome power. Yet just as soon as the storm came, the sun cracked through the clouds and the vivid Montana blue sky reappeared.

   

   This past year in Bozeman, I once again found my love and instinctive talent for flying and began training as a student pilot at our airport just a few miles away. And although flight training is expensive and I haven’t been able to fly this summer, I’ve studied as much as I can to get all of my ground school out of the way for my private, instrument and commercial ratings.  And so after the first storm I set up my “office” in my favorite coffee shop with windows overlooking the Bridger Mountains and Spanish Peaks to prepare for the second, much larger storm to come through later on in the evening. Radar images, time-lapse satellite photographs and barometric pressure plots flooded my laptop screen as I waited and hoped for the second storm to pass over Bozeman. I poured through books and articles learning as much as I could about thunderstorm physics while waiting and watching. It’s one thing to study weather from a book, yet such an incredible opportunity to be able to study a real storm come through! Sure enough, the storm hit. I ran outside to watch the seething brewing mass of dark clouds swallow Bozeman, turning the entire city black as night. Winds reaching almost sixty miles an hour mercilessly whipped rain and golf-ball sized hail around for almost a half hour. Later on in the evening the setting sun broke out during a light rain revealing bright orange skies and a full double rainbow. So beautiful, so amazing!

   Today Caleb, one of the awesome guys I live with, mentioned that we’d be getting another thunderstorm this evening. Tensions have already been somewhat high between the two of us, and I immediately thought to myself…What do you know about weather Caleb? All you probably do is watch the Weather Channel. And once again in disgust at myself, I realized my pride and failing love. Why do I think I’m any better than anyone else? Why do I not care about others in absolute love and selflessness as Jesus does and gives us the desire to? Why do I not take every opportunity to serve and know everyone around me?

 

   Last August, I left Michigan Tech as a senior in the Electrical Engineering program to head back out West, frustrated because I hated what I was studying. I could do it, but there was never any joy. I’d rather be kayaking, climbing peaks, skiing, or even learning to swing dance. I just wanted to spend time with people and God and in the outdoors experiencing incredible love, fellowship and beauty. And yet graciously God has once again given me incredible joy at using my mind with my strength here in the mountains. I’ve loved flight school, I love pouring through molecular biology textbooks, I want to learn as many languages as I can, and I may eventually return to college here in Montana. Yeah…my creator has given me so much! I love running here; my steps grow faster and more intense with a beautiful crescendo at this altitude. The more I run, the more energy I seem to gain. I love hiking around in the woods at night or climbing straight up the sides of steep mountains. In the winter, the thrill of flying down a mountain as fast as I can go while feeling the incredible burn in my legs of my body being thrown into the ground through every turn is euphoric!

   And yet being here has been so humbling. Every day I’m reminded that everything I am is because of my creator. I own nothing, I have nothing. God gives me strength to run, He gives me the ability to think, and the capacity to love. Without Him, I am nothing! All summer I’ve tried to find work in Seattle and here in Bozeman that I thought would pay well. I was confident in my ability to learn any job quickly that would pay all I would need to leave in October. And yet all I’ve found since April have been less than three weeks of work this summer pounding away at concrete and laying asphalt in the bitter cold and intense sun. And just as soon as I was promoted to the surveying and grading crew, I cut my foot and was sent to the hospital and couldn’t walk for a month. I’m learning everyday that my confidence must come from God; everything else eventually fails. And he has provided everything I’ve needed this summer. There is such incredible joy to be able to rest in knowing I really can trust in Jesus for everything!

   I desire to see God’s glory flow through me if He wants. But everyday I realize all I really want is Him; wherever he takes me is absolutely amazing.  1 Corinthians 13:1-7 says –

 

   What point is there in possessing the glory of God if we do not love and serve others? Our creator gives us life; the very fact we breathe is because he gives us breath. And Jesus has come to give us real life…now and into eternity!

   
   Bridger Mountains

   A few days ago, some small thunderstorms rolled in during the evening, echoing their gentle yet deep and incredible rumble throughout our mountain valley. The sweet vibrant fragrance of pine from the mountains accompanied the rain and occasional light hail quenching the semi-arid landscape and greening endless miles of wheat, oats and hay. And once again, the sky turned bright blue against the disappearing white clouds as the sun began to set. Two rainbows signalled the end of the storm and dove into the Bridger Range to the northeast as the sun glowed a wheat gold into its rugged green folds. I love simply absorbing all of this, enjoying the natural beauty around me as if I were created perfectly to enjoy and rest in this. My God knows He has created my heart to open to Him in the wilderness. I am alive out here, and it is here where Jesus often whispers to me. I am captivated by His beauty, and I want to run away into the mountains and spend time alone with the one who loves me most.

One final note: That thunderstorm Caleb said would happen is just beginning to dump rain outside.