October 05th, 2020

Hiking alone in bear country is a little nerve wracking. It's probably not the most advised idea in the world, but being a landscape photographer it kind of comes with the territory. During such an experience, you have a lot of time to pray and you might take advantage of it, because if you're like me at all, you're probably not going to be all that calm.

This particular morning began early, about 2:45 A.M. An hour and a half drive or so later and I was dropped off and ready to hike, sort of. I'd never been alone in grizzly country at 4ish in the morning so I wasn't sure how to feel. 

But as I began to walk I got a chance to pray and think and frankly, repent. The day before was the flight in, and it was a long day. I was grumpy and anxious for a lot of it. The details of the trip were stressing me.

The irony of it is that I spent a portion of the flight looking in my Bible at the goodness of God. 

I'm sure we've all heard the phrase, in some form or another, "God is good always, and God is always good". It's nice, catchy, but I hope we take stock in what we're really saying.

"The LORD is good to all,
And His mercies are over all His works." Psalm 145:9

Knowing this, I still fret and worry and struggle. Details.... Does anyone else worry about the details?

Yet God in His infinite wisdom works them out. In spite of me. And this particular morning as I hustled and slowly stopped being afraid of Yogi, for a brief moment, my mind returned to the goodness of God.

Yeah no patting myself on the back, it's not like it lasts. But in my seeming inability to trust in His goodness, He is still faithful.

He in His goodness blessed me with a beautiful and solitary place. I could hear the bugle of elk, see the fog rising above the lake, and the first hints of light on the face of a distant mountain. He even kept me from falling into freezing cold water, and from getting attacked by a grizzly. You might laugh, but both were thoughts I was thinking!

And that was just the start of the trip, and the blessings continued. I don't know why other than to say that God is good.

But is He not still good in the darker times? He is. And as I usually do, I seem to go back to Romans 8:28... You should know this one by now from reading my blogs. 

He works all things for what? For good. 

Ephesians 1:3 tells just how good He has been to us.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,"

And of course, He displayed His goodness at the cross, providing salvation for those that would believe.
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So do I still worry? Yeah I do, and I fret, and I get lost in the details, and I need His help to overcome, desperately. But God is good always, and He is always good.
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​"Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation."