Doe River Gorge = Epic Win :D

I am not a big outdoors person. I like sitting outside and either reading or hanging out with friends when it's warm, but I don't do much other than that. When I decided to go to Doe River Gorge for the Discover Weekend this past weekend because a friend asked me to go with her, I knew that I would have to get over it and participate in outdoor activities. On top of that, it was cold......yeah. (Side note: Can't Spring stop rebelling and stay warm?) So, I plucked up my courage and went. saturday morning when we had quite time, we rode on a train to get to a trail. Naturally, we walked up the trail. It being uphill, I soon was already aching and breathing heavily, me being out of shape and all. :P When we arrived at our destination, I quickly sat on a rock. But when I looked out, the view was stunning.

Lord of all creation, of water earth and sky
The heavens are your tabernacle, glory to the Lord on high
God of wonders beyond our galaxy, you are holy, holy
The universe declares your majesty, you are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth


All around me were mountains, beautiful mountains with gorgeous trees. Down below in the gorge was the Doe River. The rushing river was beautiful, and whenever the sun came out from behind the dense clouds, it glistened. Just being still and listening to the sound of the river was simply relaxing. Seeing how magnificent the view was on this cold and overcast day made me want to see it when it was warm and sunny. I just looked out and stared at the view for a while before opening my Bible.

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation revealing your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings


I opened my Bible in the Psalms, trying to find something. The first thing I came across was Psalm 19:1-4. It says,

             "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the earth."

:O After what I had just seen and then reading this, I thought, "How awesome my God truly is."

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go

Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow

Who imaged the sun and gives source to its light

Or conceals it to bring us the coolness of night

NONE CAN FATHOM

Then, I turned a few pages and found Psalm 46:1-3

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging."

I have been having a hard time in school, trying to stay calm and not get stressed out, and reading that God is our refuge and strength is so comforting. Then, Psalm 47:1-9

"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.

How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth!

He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet.

He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.

Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.

God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.

The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the god of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted."

This reminded me how we should always be praising God, even in times of stress and worry. Finally, Psalm 86:1-13

"Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.

Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.

Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.

In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.

Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.

All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.

For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave."

I was reminded that I can call on the Lord in my times of need. I forget these things sometimes (like others), and sometimes I need a reminder of this.

Indescribable, uncontainable

You placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name

You are amazing, God

All powerful, untamable

Awestruck, we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim

You are amazing, God

...THAT was just quiet time. I learned other things too over the course of the day. I will be working my way backwards through the activities that we did. (Mainly because I learned the most from the first one.)

- - - - -The last activity we did was shooting. (I found out that I have pretty good aim, by the way. :D) Through this activity, we learned that we need to have good aim, and to aim for Jesus. Sometimes, we do get off, but we keep going back to Him.

- - - - -The one before that was fun. Being hooked to a harness, climbing on a net, walking across a bridge called "The Way", and then repelling down on a rope. "The Way" is over the Doe River, which was a beautiful view. The cool thing is the symbolism of "The Way". This bridge is made up of wooden boards, one after one, making the bridge narrow. Narrow is the way that leads to salvation. Pretty cool, right?

- - - - -The one before that, I actually didn't do, but I learned from it none-the-less from watching the others. The Leap of Faith. You are harnessed to a bungee cord from behind, climb up a really tall pole, and jump off the top and try to reach a bar that's in front of you. This can symbolize life. The bungee cord is God. He will hold us up and keep us from falling, just like the bungee cord. All we have to do is just leap and let God handle the rest, even though we can't see Him.

- - - - -The first one: "Tree Climbing". Harnessed to a rope in a tree, you pull yourself up with your legs to a standing position on a smaller rope, push the one rope up, and ascent. It actually didn't look that hard. Boy was I wrong! I couldn't pull myself up for the life of me. >_< And, you know, sometimes I think we do this with Christianity. We hide things and make it seem easy on the outside, but people come expecting Christianity to be easy and then fall away when things get hard. So, while I was desperately trying to pull myself up, I was only able to get up when some of the guys were helping me and trying to give me pointers. (I still didn't make it very high.) And this is how it is with God (except the me not getting very high part.) When we find ourselves at our lowest low and can't pull ourselves up out of it, we have to rely on God to help us, to give us a boost and push us so we can get back on our feet.

The whole weekend not only reminded me that I can cling to Him when I need Him, but I haev also been reminded of the awesome power of my Lord and Savior. After thinking and praying, I really do feel a pull towards Doe River Gorge, and I hope that I can get involved in it this summer. It will be a big time commitment, but I feel like God wants me to at least apply and see what happens. I can't wait to see what the Lord will show me through this place.

The heavens declare you are God

And the mountains rejoice

The oceans cry Alleluia

As we worship you Lord

For this is our song of love

-Katie Grace