Kilimanjaro

On December 28, 2016 I did something I don't usually do.  I wrote down goals for the year.  An invite to Tanzania to teach pastors just a couple weeks later led to the fulfilling of one of those goals.  I wanted to invest in the life of at least a dozen pastors.  I try to do that regularly - but this would be yet another opportunity - and on a continent I had never visited.  I would go in May and that week would profoundly impact my life.

My first trip to Africa would be to teach at a small college in Moshi, Tanzania.  We would be staying at a Lutheran conference center that would have a view of one of the greatest mountains in the world - Mt. Kilimanjaro.  At 19000+ feet it is called 'The rooftop of Africa'.  We were in the territory where many come from all over the world to tackle a bucket list item - climb that mountain.

As the week wore on, it was cloudy every day.  Our trip was during the rainy season.  I remember asking my class one day for a small request - would they pray with me that the skies might open one day and the clouds disappear and we would be able to see the mountain before we left?  Well as the week wore on - we didn't get that view - but one student offered  to drive us on Saturday to an area where he had grown up and we could see perhaps a glimpse of the mountain from a different side.

We made that trip and caught a glimpse, and I must admit it was breathtaking.  I can't imagine what it would be like to see that entire mountain on a sunny clear day.  I must admit God taught me a powerful lesson that week however.  I learned that though I couldn't see the mountain it was still there.  The same is true with our Lord - I don't see Him - though I often see His work - but He is there - of this I am sure.

I was teaching the class 'The Inner Life of the Leader'.  Here's the lesson - trust Him - even when you don't see Him.  He's there.  A few years ago God told me I had more mountains to climb.  I've climbed some since then (not literal - but life mountains).  I'm sure there are more.  This much I know - the one who created the mountains is greater than my mountains.  I'm grateful for the lessons He taught me that week.