In the Mountain & the Seas
My Journey with Jesus began in California. Well, that might now be entirely accurate, since with the beauty of hindsight, I can see many God touches over the course of my childhood… but my conscious decision to follow Jesus and my participation in the Journey started in a little community church in Northern California. From there Jesus took me (via marriage, the navy, and finally civilian life) to Washington, Alaska and finally (at least for now) Colorado. Throughout that journey there is one reoccurring worship song that surfaces when I pause and sit with Jesus, and take in my surroundings. I first learned it in that little Community Church in California, I remember singing it again in Washington as I stood on the Ferry between Bremerton and Seattle, and again on a trip to the Olympic Peninsula. I heard it often, while surrounded by the beauty of Alaska. Mountain & Seas both in the same place one rising up out of the other. Finally, here in Colorado it has come to visit at every single mountain retreat I have led or attended. And even now, over 30 years since the first time I heard it, it still floats thru my mind regularly.
I can’t find it online, google searches have turned up empty, I reached out to a group of people I used to go to church with back in California to see if any of them remembered it, but so far no success. If this were a video blog and I could carry a tune, I would sing it for you, but alas, you are stuck with my written word.
“As I look to the mountains, I see your beauty. As I look to the seas, your might is revealed. And in the solitude of the morning, Lord your peace fills my aching soul. You are the holy One (you are the holy One) You are the Lamb of God (you are the lamb) You are the One that I bow down too.”
I have sung this song in celebration and I have sung it in desperation. I have sung it in a crowded church and in the loneliest of seasons. I have sung it smiling, and I have sung it through sobbing tears. And I have sung it smiling through sobbing tears. Somehow, over the years, this has become Jesus’ and my song. I have talked about and written about the fact that I don’t think I appreciate the beauty of nature as much as the average bear, but then God sends a humming bird (another story for another day), or I realize that “our song” is all about seeing God in nature, and I laugh. Certainly, God has a sense of humor… but more than that, what else to I miss because I don’t pay attention or don’t think it’s “my thing.”
This week I find myself once again staring at the beauty and majesty of mountains and seas. My parents have invited their 3 adult children and their spouses on an Alaskan Cruise. I have not been back to Alaska in 20 years, and truthfully have never been in this part of the state, but I am surrounded at all times by seas and mountains. And I am in another season of change. And God is speaking to me through our song.
As I navigate the intricacies of a family vacation (pros and cons), enjoy the beauty of the here and now, and ponder the “what’s next” when I get home, I am gently reminded. The God that created this, and there really isn’t a better word than Majestic to encompass it, is in fact the beautiful, mighty, peaceful, holy lamb of God that I bow down to. And once again, at the end of myself (you’d think I’d learn that lesson). He is there and so I consciously choose to release it all to Him, knowing that He already has plans for me. My prayer is that you can too. Sit at his feet, talk through your worries and concerns, and let Him remind you of his power and glory and His love for you.