Slideshow image
It’s the Thursday before the MVPC Picnic this Sunday, October 20th! 
Come on out for a great time of food, frivolity, Fritos and festivities…
Picnic will be held from 12:00 to 4:00 pm at Lone Mountain Park, Gazebo Area #2,
4445 N Jensen St., Las Vegas, 89129. 
(Maps are in the Narthex!)
 
This past Sunday I hiked through the Grand Canyon - Rim to Rim. 
Our three man team started out on the South Rim and we finished on the North Rim in one day. 
 
The hike itself was about twenty-five miles and due to one of our team members getting ill during the hike it took much longer to complete than we had anticipated. What we thought would be a ten to twelve hour hike became a plodding, “start and stop” trek which consumed twenty and one-half hours on the trail. 
 
We began the hike at 3:15 am on Sunday morning and finished up around 11:45 pm on Sunday night. 
We started in the dark and finished in the dark. 
 
What struck me afterward when looking at our “Hiking” app, was the amount of “descent” and “ascent” we experienced on the trail. 
 
For the first six to seven miles we were descending from the South Rim to the Colorado River to the tune of about 5,000 feet. 
 
Once we crossed the river, after fighting off alligators and water moccasins (LOL), we began our ascent for the next fourteen to fifteen miles with an elevation gain of about 6,228 feet.
 
I am not quite sure which is harder on the body and mind - constant descent or constant ascent?
 
Down, down, down, and down some more and then across and then up, up, up and up some more!
 
Sometimes life is a little bit, maybe even a lot like that hike.
 
We find ourselves moving in a downward spiral, descending motion wondering when will our trajectory even out.
 
Other times we find the ascent a literal “uphill battle”! Each step harder to move up and up. The relentless incline wears on our psyche and soul. 
 
We wonder in silence or aloud, “Am I ever going to make it?”
 
I asked that same question many times on Sunday’s “walk in the park!”
 
The answer I heard from God’s tender heart over and over was, “I am with you…”
 
Four words which gave me the confidence, the security and the hope that, “Yes! I am going to make it, because God is with me.”
 
How about you today?
May those four words carry you through the day, the weeks, the months and the years ahead…
 
See you Sunday!
David!