It all started about two months ago in August, I began to have a feeling I needed to go away on a trip alone. A personal journey with just me and God. I've never had this feeling before, the feeling was so clear it was without a doubt that God had something planned for me to experience. An experience that could not happen in a place of comfort. I knew that where ever God wanted me to go would be somewhere far away from the busyness of New York City, far from any comfort zones I am accustom to. I began to search on the internet for campsites, and at the time I thought to myself camping would be a great idea. I would have the chance to be alone with nature and this would be something I've never done before, a fresh and new experience.
As I continued my search I came across the CatSkills area, there seem to be quite a few campsites to choose from. However I knew that the place I needed to go would have to allow me to be secluded from people. So as I continued searching I realized that these campsites would not allow me to be secluded, they all seem to be limited in size so it wouldn't be possible to go off somewhere and still be on the campsite. After a few days of searching my vision became clearer how and where I would spend my time alone with God. A place where there would possibly be no one to call or run to for any reason.
However there was not much of a pull to stay in the Catskills area but at the time if nothing else came up, that seemed better and I was going to go through with what I had. Now for me, this is when things really started to get interesting. During my search other links about campsites and anything related would pop up, and one link that kept showing up was a link to a site about the Adirondacks. I knew nothing about the Adirondacks at the time, so I decided to see what the Adirondacks was all about. The Adirondacks is a vast area in upstate New York about 6 million acres of land, with 20,000 miles of rivers and streams, 3,000 lakes and around over 200 different mountains and the Adirondacks is home to the highest mountain in the state of New York. The Catskills area was no comparison to the Adirondacks. At this time I didn't see myself going but it started to look a little bit more interesting as time went on. I continued on and researched a little more.
One link that came up was 4peaks.com, it was a site for renting your own cabin but I wanted to see what the 4 peaks were, so as I read on I was amazed to find out there was an area called Jay wilderness and further more the next thing I found out is that in the Jay wilderness, was Jay Mountain which is one of the four peaks. I was speechless at the time and knew right then and there God was showing me where I were to go. Now at this point in my life I have reached a place where I do not believe in coincidence, even the word coincidence I believe was created by someone who did not believe in the power and greatness of God, I've learned that sometimes the language gets us further away from getting to know God for ourselves.
At this point going to Jay mountain in the Adirondacks was a done deal, there was nothing that was going to get in the way of going to the place where God has for me. I then began to do my research and started planning for this journey. It took me a few weeks to plan and equip myself. So 5 days before I was planning on leaving I had most of what I needed, water, food, sleeping bag, I was ready. One thing I was unsure about was how long I was to stay on Jay Mountain. At first I was thinking 5 days but I did not want to come up with this number from me just thinking about it, I wanted God to tell me how long.
However I did have a thought of one Sunday a while back, and in this thought pastor Micheal Walrond was saying the words 3 days. Here I learned there are times when you will really have to wait on God to receive conformation. As it got closer to my day of departure God said something i'll never forget,
"Great things happen when a man meets his mountain, and even greater things happen when he conquers it." The night before I was to leave, in my moment of silence God said, meet me on the mountain and I will be there with you.
When I finally reached the Adirondack border and was on my way to my first stop, which was the Mountaineer shop - I needed a Bear canister(a locked container to store your food, in this part of the Adirondacks it's required if your staying overnight) and a map. I was taken back by the scenery. Once I reached the base of Jay mountain, I was amazed that I made it this far, I was ready to meet a mountain that had my name on it. As I gathered my things I stepped on to the path. At this point I knew there was a good chance I would not see another person during my stay, I quickly learned what it feels like to be in the wilderness, a place I've never been and journey to a height I've never reached, God put me in a place where all of my dependence and trust is on Him. As I began my hike up the mountain, the sound from the wind was like something I've never heard. It is hard for me to describe it, you would have to be there to know but it was like the wind whispered to me.
So then I said to myself, what ever is there is of no concern to me, and kept walking up the mountain. (sometimes you don't realize how crazy something was until after, what ever it was could have very well attacked me but God's word is true) As I continued I realized how intense this hike was going to be, by no means was this an easy hike, physically this was the hardest thing I've ever done. God is so amazing, here I am hiking up a mountain with what feels like 70lbs on my back coming from a night of no sleep started driving 4 o'clock in the morning, and no breakfast, the feeling was like no other and at this point of my life I am ready to come face to face with my fears, and I soon found out I was about to meet that enemy head on.
After about 3 hours of hiking I finally reach one of the first summits on the mountain and everything I had just been through was worth it. I could not have imagined a view more amazing, to be standing on top of a mountain 3,000 feet high is indescribable. To look out and see nothing but open land and mountains all around you, it will alter your perspective on a lot of things. This was the hardest, most challenging thing I've ever done. But I wanted to go higher, there was another peak that was probably about 500 ft above where I was, but it was more then 2 hours away. So I continued on.
At this point I'm walking on a lot of smooth rock surface that slopes down off the side of the mountain and in my mind as long as I focus on my path the fact that the edge of the cliff is 10 feet from me won't bother me. At this point there were a few moments I would look back in the direction I just came from and ask myself how did I even get passed that. As I moved froward the slopes seem to get steeper and my legs were cramping and along with what feels like 100lbs of equipment on my back.At this point I felt like I had gone far enough. As I began it felt like going down would be harder than hiking up. As I continued on it became time to look for a place to set up my campsite. After about maybe an hour I found a reasonably leveled area that didn't have a lot of bushes and plants covering the ground.
After everything was set up my conversation with God was about to be a very humbling experience. As it got later the temperature dropped significantly from being near 70 to what felt like 40 degrees. I became more concerned about how cold it would get later. As I was laying down trying to see how warm I could get. After a while of laying in my tent I realized I wasn't getting warm enough and with the certainty it would get even colder during the night I said to myself "I can't do this I need to get back to my car". I needed to get back to a place with some heat. So I grabbed my bag and left my tent and my food behind and as fast as I could, starting to head further down the mountain. At this point the sun was going down and there wasn't a lot of sun light left. I really had no idea of how far I was from my car, it could have easily been a good 2 and a half hours away, then about 10 minutes later I stopped myself, there was a moment of confusion, and I said to myself what am I doing, then I realized what was going on, I was confronting my enemy and it was from within. The fearful me was running back down the mountain, the fearful me was worried about all the bad things that might happen. I had faced myself. I had faced the enemy that says things like, what if you reach hypothermia, what if you die up there. Then in that moment, physically fatigue, out of breath, and on the brink of given up.
I remembered, meet me on the mountain and I will be with you, I have to trust, so I turned around and went back up the mountain where I came.
As the evening came I still was not sure how long I was suppose to be on the mountain. With the idea of 3 days still hovering other me God put all that to rest and with no easy way of putting it. Late into the night and cold, God said you wanted it to be three days to make for a good story, Do not dwell in one place for too long for it is to doubt the next step, All I need is one day and one night, you can get what you search for tomorrow, today,
did I send you to a mountain that had places to camp, I want you to learn I have made a place for you where there is no place,
show your strength do not hide it, do not worry,
do not make for good stories
listen to the wind doesn't it whisper and doesn't it blow hard, be that
I am alpha and omega the light and the dark for I am here with you,
do not over think, know my voice
As it got later the temperature dropped even more and it was a real struggle to keep warm but at this point after all I heard and went though I know God would keep me warm through the night. There was a moment during the night when I was so warm I was sitting up without my sleeping bag covering me, then there were times it seem to get even colder. I learned when you push yourself to an extreme sometimes odd things can go on in your mind. There was a time when my mind seem to see and hear things that weren't there, I remember talking to someone about how cold it was and it was like we were both trying to figure out how to stay warm. At the time it didn't seem odd that this was happening.
Most of the night was very quiet, there was absolutely nothing making any kind of noise. As it got to be early morning around 4 am that's when the animals in the wilderness seem to start becoming active. As you here things walking around your tent and hearing branches breaking, you are confronted with another fear you must get over. Another reminder that you are in the wilderness, and no one is around and there is no one to call on, but being in the middle of no where was being in the center of Gods presence.
It is now the next morning and I am on my way down headed to the base of the mountain, when I reached the log book at the start of the trail I looked at what I had wrote the day before and in the column labeled days I noticed I wrote 2 days,(1 day and 1 night) all I could do was smile, because I do not remember writing 2 days I knew at that time I was thinking 3 days. Another interesting thing was when I went back to the Mountaineer shop to return my Bear canister the guy who worked there had wrote down a two day rental,(1 day and 1 night) at the time I was thinking 2 nights 3 days. God had already wrote it into existence. That was all God needed, one day and one night, what I thought needed 3 days, only took one day and one night for God.
I learned truly with God I can endure anything, later I found out the temperature went down to 26 degrees that night and since I was up a few hundred feet in the mountain it was probably a little colder then 26. I thought to myself, "I have endured below freezing temperatures". There was nothing else to say after that, the realization hit me that the only thing to do from here on is to walk like I've never walked before, and remember what God said.
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| 2nd summit on Jay Mountain |
did I send you to a mountain that had places to camp, I want you to learn I have made a place for you,
show your strength do not hide it, do not worry,
do not make for good stories
listen to the wind doesn't it whisper and doesn't it blow hard, be that.
I am alpha and omega the light and the dark for I am here with you.
do not over think, know my voice
I know my experience will help minister to someone, my struggles and triumphs are not only for me. I could not keep this experience to myself, where would we be if Jesus did not share his experience on the mountain, and by him sharing with the few it reached all, this is who I follow. So this I share with the few.
If there are any questions feel free to ask.
