“Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street.” – William Blake
Training Camp itself doesn’t do something to a person, instead God uses training camp to transform the person into who they already are and who they are to become.
Training camp was a mirror for me to see who I was in Christ and to see who God wanted me to become.
During training camp, the men had a man hike. This was no ordinary hike. I remember telling me dad foolishly about how this hike was going to be a piece of cake. I hike every weekend and love it. This hike I loved and has been my favorite so far, but it was more difficult than I thought it would be.
As we were dropped off at the starting point, we went into ‘shifts.’ We had to be spread apart so there wouldn’t be a huge clump on the trail. K-Squad, my squad, went third. I was super stoked about it! I couldn’t wait!
When we started, the joy of the Lord was all around. I was looking forward to bonding with my brothers in Christ. The leadership team had said that the first few miles were difficult, and that was no joke.
We walked straight up a mountain side with our packs and food for lunch, holding our canteens as sweat poured down our faces in the Georgia heat. My thighs and calf muscles were starting to shoot pain through my legs as we climbed the incline.
As we climbed we took a break or two here and there but I also began to talk to the wonderful men around me asking them what a man of God was to them. Of course being a man of God has many parts to it, it’s hard to define in a sentence what a man of God is. But as we traveled further up the mountain, God began to speak.
There are mountains that you climb in life, mountains that you have tried to climb alone, but today you will learn that being a man of God is done in brotherhood and not as a lone wolf.
As God began to speak I began to feel what He was speaking to me. Emotions started to rise within me as I realized how I have tried for so long to climb the mountains of life alone. We continued to climb the mountain and about mile 5 we diverted to find water. Our 12 mile hike then became a bit longer adding almost four miles to our hike for just our squad.
We stopped for lunch about mile 8 for us and it was a glorious lunch. While we were resting God began to speak again.
Remember back at the mountain house you passed. Remember what happened? You shared your snacks with one another. Sustenance. What are you doing now? You’re eating lunch together. Sustenance. There are mountains in life that you have to climb spiritually. You can grab all the sustenance you want from My Word but sometimes You must share and ask for help to grab sustenance from someone. Just as iron sharpens iron, so does a man sharpen another. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
My mind was blown. I had been telling people that but had not adhered to my own words. God was definitely changing me on this mountain and allowing me to grow close to great men of God of which I am thankful.
As we continued our final trek after lunch fatigue started to settle in. It was hot, my legs were about to fall off as we went up another incline and my whole shirt was wet from sweating so much. I did not complain but I did tell Dylan that we needed to get our minds off of this and that is the first time I have asked for help in a very long time. We started singing a hymn and man, did God show up. I had more strength and we all helped encourage each other up the mountain.
When we had reached the top the view was amazing. A picture would not even give God’s creation justice. My breath was taken away in more ways than one.
It was then I realized that there are mountains that we have to climb in life. Some are easy, some are hard. Some mountains we’ve climbed before and some we haven’t and so don’t know what lies ahead. Some mountains we climb because we desire to and some we don’t even want to climb. In all of this, we have a community around us to help us climb and take the mountain. God is with us number one, but He has also provided a body of believers to help encourage and push us to where we need to be.
A brotherhood was formed that day in my heart and God taught me that it’s okay to ask for help on the mountains of life. Life was not meant to be lived alone. Life was meant to be lived in community with each other and with God.
Take your mountain today, climb it with joy, embrace the difficulty, and allow those around you to show the love of Christ to help you get to where you need to go.
“Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.” Joshua 14:12
“Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street.” – William Blake
