Above the Fog

It was a good day for a hike with friends and as I looked out of my upstairs window I could see a gray on gray morning, gray sky above a fog and I could just make out the trees in a silhouette across the street. As I drove down Briggs to hit the cross-street that would take me over to New York Avenue I was first immersed in the fog and just as I turned right onto Whittier Avenue it started to thin out and I could see the underbelly of the cloud cover. Whittier soon became Orange Avenue with early morning walkers; couples with dogs, singles with and without, and a jogger or two. As I made my way across the little valley squid like tendrils felt their way over the street, reaching for my Subaru like I was Captain Nemo cruising the depths of the sea.

From Mt. Lukens

I survived the fog’s attempt to draw me deeper into the shroud and reached Deukmejian Park, the trailhead where I met with my friends of faith, Scott, Steve, and Greg; it turned out that Geoff went on ahead earlier to avoid holding us up, the task that now would be left up to me. Somebody had to slow these guys down. I fell in with Scott, or rather, he fell behind to keep me company and we talked; mostly about our kids and their triumphs and struggles, my Lauren’s upcoming wedding to Taylor, his Lauren’s sprouting career and blossoming life of faith in the her new church. We talked about our sons winding paths that we believe will bring them to a solid footing of faith in our Lord. While we traversed the switchbacks climbing the face of Mount Lukens we came to the spot we’ve named John’s Point in remembrance of our late friend and fellow hiker, John Olson where we found ourselves well above the fog; we noted that we live in the valley, work there, and travel to and from all the places that we need to be and only occasionally climb up above for the vistas and a clear view over the Verdugos, over L.A. and on to Catalina Island as it peeked up above the fog out in the Pacific.

Our spiritual lives are often like that; down in the valley and so often in the fog, we need to cling to Jesus to take us through all the day-to-day foggy moments. I find that for myself, I often times have to find some way to rise above the fog to see that He has been with me all along. I got lost there for awhile in my own thoughts and reflected on “Squinting Through Fog”, a faith-blog by Cameron Lee that I’ve been enjoying for his insightful and often times witty commentary on life and the Scriptures. I recommend it: http://the-fog-blog.com. At this point in our hike I really liked Cameron’s explanation of his blog name and here, with his permission, I cut and paste that explanation: “The name of the blog comes from Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of 1 Cor 13:12 in The Message: ‘We don’t yet see things clearly.  We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.  But it won’t be long before the weather clears…’  Each post is thus an attempt at faithful “squinting,” an exercise of biblical and theological imagination in the midst of the sometimes ambiguous journey we call the Christian life.”

I recommend that you squint in the fog and peer into the mist to find the risen Christ in everything you do and I recommend that you find a way above the fog and take in the wonders of His vast creation to find your place in it and how you fit into God’s story.

Sometime you have to go to more extreme measures to get above the fog only to find out once you get there the fog lifted while you were on your way up.

Flying over San Clemente Island, coming in for a landing.