God Give Me Joy!

Today on our schedule it was marked, “Day Trip… Caving? Hiking?” Today in the weather forecast was a large storm. Great…

This morning at about 10am, through the doors of The Mark Centre came the man who was leading our excursion and some interns in a program that he runs. We chat for a while, we sing together, we pack our lunches, and we hit the road… while it’s raining. We drive a little over an hour in some direction and get out of the cars into the snow and begin hiking… while it’s raining. We explore some old tunnels that have previously been used for railroads but are currently abandoned... while it’s raining. Needless to say I was cold, wet, and not the most cheerful person in this group. I kept stepping in puddles that soaked through my shoes, the tunnels kept dripping on me, and my hood was not very functional. It sure doesn’t rain like that in the central valley and if it does outdoor plans get canceled. I kept repeating to myself “God give me joy”. Once I finally embraced my surroundings I was able to take in the beauty of the nature I was being surrounded by regardless of the rain. There were running streams, beautiful tall trees, and mossy rocks everywhere and everything had a dusting of snow left on it.

Shortly after I embraced where I was, we piled back into the vans because now we were going to explore some caves. I have to admit my attitude was quite a bit better. My friend Sarah and I laughed and joked as we followed the trail and then we entered the mouth of the cave. There were about twenty people and two flashlights. Regardless of your division skills, you should realize that the ratio of people to flashlights was certainly not in our favor. But we trudged on anyhow and I quite enjoyed my brief stint as a spelunker

The rest of my evening was spent reading. We’ve been assigned to read The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg. It’s a book on spiritual disciples that we have to finished in a little less than a week. I started the book today and I got through all the chapters or introduction and the first chapter that was about a specific discipline was all about joy and celebration. I loved the quote from Lewis Smedes that says, “To miss out on joy is to miss out on the reason for your existence.” I love seeing God move so clearly and seeing how my entire day is tied together and not by accident.