Day 59: Looking Hard or Hardly Looking

“But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.” Deuteronomy 4:29–31

During my early thirties I lived in Colorado and loved running in the Rocky Mountains. My favorite route to run was called Pulpit Rock Trail in Palmer Park near where I lived in Colorado Springs; it winds up well over a mile through an evergreen forest and ends in an alpine meadow with this amazing view of Pike’s Peak. I went there at least two or three times a week to work out and unwind during those six years I was a mountain girl.

Which is why I was really disappointed toward the end of that season of my life when newspapers and TV stations began reporting about violent crimes that had taken place in Palmer Park. The reports included scary details and grim-faced warnings that women especially should avoid hiking, biking, or running in the park until this particular criminal was apprehended. However, soon after hearing the warnings, we had an absolutely gorgeous fall weekend. The sky was bright blue, the temperature was in the sixties; I thought, Surely it’s too pretty for criminal activity this weekend!

So, with only optimistic thoughts in my head, I drove to the park that Saturday afternoon. I couldn’t help noticing that there was only one other car parked at the trail. And then, when I walked to the trail head to begin my run, I noticed signs from the Colorado Springs Police, clearly warning women not to use the trail system in light of the recent assaults. Of course, I pushed the seed of apprehension aside and jogged right past the signs. I ran my usual route uphill through those majestic Ponderosa Pines and sang worship songs in the crisp mountain air and felt like my soul was sighing contentedly within me because of the mental relaxation that came with stretching my legs in God’s beautiful Creation. That is, until I got to the very top of the trail and right before I stepped into my favorite meadow, sitting about fifty feet in front of me was a naked man.

I thought, Oh good night! I can’t believe this! Here I was being all spiritual—I was even singing a hymn—and I’ve run smack into a criminal in his birthday suit! I felt hotly indignant for a few seconds until it occurred to me that I was in a super-vulnerable position. I hadn’t seen anybody else on the trail, the sun was about to set, the area was so remote no one could hear me if I screamed, and I’d left my cell phone in my car.

Now when I get nervous, my mind races like a kid pumped up on sugar and caffeine and I have a hard time thinking clearly. There were only two minimally clear thoughts in my head as I stood there quivering behind a pine tree, hoping the naked man wouldn’t notice me:

1. I read somewhere—or maybe watched it on Oprah—that men who expose themselves are typically cowards and non-confrontive.
2. I read in a hiking magazine that if you come upon a wild animal in the woods—unless it’s a bear—it behooves you to put your hands over your head and advance toward them, all the while speaking in deep guttural tones, which usually intimidates the animal and causes them to run away.

These two thoughts seemed like perfectly rational logic at the time. So, I took a deep breath and jumped out from behind the tree with my hands over my head and ran toward him screaming “Hey!” just as guttural as I could. And it worked, because he looked really startled, then jumped up and began sprinting away from me!

It was only then that I noticed the tiny, blue running shorts he’d obviously been wearing the entire time. You know those short-shorts serious runners sometimes wear that have slits up the side, which splay open when they sit down?

Because of the way that guy was sitting and the fact that my sight line was partly obscured by a tree, I could’ve sworn he was naked! But then I got so tickled watching him run away from me because he kept looking back over his shoulder, obviously worried that I was going to start chasing him! I thought, I bet that was his car in the parking lot and when he gets to it, he’s going to pick up his cell phone and call the police and say, “It’s a GIRL up there terrorizing everybody!” Poor guy is probably still in therapy trying to get past his phobia of women in the woods with their hands over their heads.

Haven’t you ever seen something and thought for sure you knew what it was only to realize moments later that your initial perception was way off? Maybe a foreboding dark shape beside the garage at night that turns out to be a trashcan instead of a would-be intruder? Or an eerie shape coming toward you in the ocean that turns out to be the reflection of a cloud overhead instead of a Great White getting ready to bite?

Scaring an innocent, relaxed hiker in a mountain meadow or unnecessarily alerting a lifeguard because of a cloud are mild consequences compared to the damage that occurs when our view of the King of kings gets blurry—which happens all too often when our emotions run high or our circumstances seem scary. So let’s endeavor to look at God really closely and really carefully—in His Word, by His Spirit, and through prayer, thereby wiping the smudge off our spiritual lenses and squelching our propensity to panic!

• What wonderful characteristic of God have you recently discovered after years of not seeing that “grace right in front of your face”?
• What typically obscures your view of God, or tempts you to view Him the wrong way?
• How has God corrected your view of Him in past seasons? How might that help you in this season?