Trip Report: First 14er

Just got back a couple of days ago from a whirlwind trip to Colorado that had been several months in the making. My brother, brother-in-law and I have been talking for years about doing something epic together and while they have done some previous epics, this was the first time I was able to join them (along with their former college x-country coach). We originally were thinking of doing a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim (also known as an 'R3') in the Grand Canyon, but mother nature and the National Parks Service forced a change to those plans...so instead, we picked a couple of '14ers' in Colorado. A 14er, if you don't know, is a mountain peak above 14,000ft. There are 58 of them in Colorado and the two we attempted were Uncompahgre (14,306ft) and Wetterhorn (14,021ft). The other guys had done a few 14ers previously and their experience provided some valuable insight for me as I prepared, but I started training in April for what would be long and strenuous day. The 'loop' is 18 miles and over 6,000ft of elevation gain. Coming in, I was feeling physically good, but still somewhat nervous, having never done anything like this before. I had a really good training season which prepared me well for a long day.

The first day and a half was all driving - the first day from the Chicago area to central Nebraska where I met up with the guys and then from there to Lake City, CO which is about 4 1/2 hours from Denver. We arrived mid-afternoon to an Airbnb right in the town of Lake City. After getting everything unloaded, we went and explored a little of what is a very beautiful mountain town.

Very nearby the place we stayed

After exploring we drove to the local grocery store to get some food supplies and ended up settling on tacos for dinner which ended up hitting the spot perfectly. After organizing our gear, we all attempted to get some rest, but when you have a 2am wake-up call and an adventure ahead of you, sleep can be evasive...and it was. I think I got about 4 hours of actual sleep. I felt pretty good once I was up - the adrenaline kicked in and we were out the door by 3am.

The Dangerous Idol of "Safety"

Piggy-backing off of my last post about 9/11, I wanted to revisit an old topic - one that I've written about before and which I believe has some potential to be a 'history-repeating-itself' type thing in the very near future. The context for previous writing on this topic was COVID. At that time, as most of us remember, there was a big, scary new virus on the scene and so, as governments do, the government stepped in with a bunch of ideas, which soon became more than just ideas, about how to slow the spread. First it was the '15 days to slow the spread' lockdowns, along with masking and social-distancing guidelines, which turned into labels of 'essential' and 'non-essential'...and which led to the closure of many businesses. Then, as a vaccine was developed, they started with strong recommendations to 'get vaxxed' and continue to get new vaccinations against new variants, etc. Then pretty soon we had vaccine cards, and suddenly employment was tied to vaccination status (for some). All this was done in the name of 'safety' and while I'm sure that some of these measures saved some lives, they undoubtably also took lives. For example - how many people who had life-threatening illnesses and who were hospitalized ended up dying because no immediate family was allowed to come and sit with them? How many people, facing isolation because of government safety recommendations, or seeing their entire life's work crumble like a house of cards because their business was labeled 'non-essential', ended up deciding to end their own lives? This is what I mean when I say that these measures ended up taking lives.

On 25 Years of Remembering 9/11

While I could do without the emotionalism of 9/11 remembrances 25 years on, I have found that I'm endlessly fascinated with people's stories of where they were that day. EVERYONE remembers. I've yet to meet a single person (of remembering age) who doesn't remember basically that entire day. Whenever the topic comes up, I always ask what that person remembers about that day and it's always interesting to me. Somewhat ironically, 9/11 remembrance is also the reason I first felt like an old man...I was asking a couple of co-workers a few years ago about 9/11 and they didn't have any memories...because they were either infants or not born yet.

The Golden/Eastern Gate

 

Eastern "Golden" Gate - Temple Mount

I did some research on this awhile back and found it pretty fascinating so I'm sharing it here. It involves a lot of prophecy as well as well as end-times/return-of-the-Messiah stuff, so it's really an interesting real-world reality that points to the truth of Scripture.

What is it?

The image at the top of this post is picture of the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem leading into the Temple Mount, and which faces the Mount of Olives. It has been called by many names, but some that you might recognize would be "The Golden Gate" and the "The Mercy Gate". Josephus, the 1st century Jewish historian, mentions the Eastern gate in some of his writings and tells us that it was considered the far northeastern extremity of the inner sacred court of the 2nd temple. Obviously the gate that stands there today was not the same one Josephus mentions, since the 2nd temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.

Significance in Scripture - Outside of prophecy

• Jesus entered Jerusalem through this gate on a donkey on the first Palm Sunday, and likely went in and out of this gate many times during his life, walking between the temple and the Mount of Olives
• Some commentators suggest that this is the gate where Peter and John healed the lame man at "The Gate called Beautiful" (Acts 3:1-10)

The Prophecy

The prophecy, and where the Eastern/Golden Gate comes into focus for end-times events, comes from Ezekiel and Zechariah:

"The He brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, but it was shut. The LORD said to me: "This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut. Only the prince may sit in it to eat a sacrificial meal before the LORD; he will enter by way of the porch of the gate and will go out by the same way."" (Ezekiel 44:1-3 NET)

**Sidenote, it's worth reading the whole of Ezekiel 44 because it goes on to talk about how there will an earthquake that splits the Mount of Olives into two, and that two streams of living water will flow from Jerusalem, one stream flowing eastward toward the Dead Sea (thus bringing it back to life) and one stream flowing westward towards the Mediterranean Sea.

"On that day [Day of the LORD] his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from East to West, leaving a great valley. Half of the mountain will move northward and the other half southward." (Zechariah 14

So - to summarize, Zechariah is seeing a vision of the Day of the Lord and it says that the LORD himself, or Jesus, will physically stand on, or return to, the Mount of Olives (opposite the Eastern Gate). Ezekiel is receiving a prophecy about the End that seems to indicate that Jesus will go in and out of the Eastern Gate (the prince, someone who is not a mere man). There is also the obvious reference to that gate being sealed.

Isaiah 29

The Siege of Jerusalem (ESV)

"Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you. And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; you voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. And the multitudes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirst man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.

Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed." And when they give the book to the one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."

And the LORD said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden." Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD you counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?" You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."

My Testimony

I don't think I've ever shared this on this platform before - I guess when I started this blog it was mostly for me...a place to put my thoughts so to speak. It very much still is that; there's no one telling me what to write (or not write) about and while I do try and keep the focus of this thing pretty narrow, it's up to me. Having said that - the blogger platform does provide me with some visitor statistics and so I can see that there are a good number a people who read this. Also, I occasionally share something I've written with someone else if it's pertinent to a subject we're discussing. So - I thought why not put my story here; if it helps you or inspires you, all praise to God. So here goes:

This isn't a story about my life - this is a story about the past six years of my life, and it involves the rest of my life. The scene is February of 2019. It's a cold night, I'm outside in my backyard (letting the dog out) and yelling at God. I'd done this before, but there was one difference about this night and that was that I was actually yelling out loud, at God, as opposed to just in my head. For many years, since probably 7th grade (?) I had struggled with one particular addiction. It started because I saw a Playboy magazine at some point as a kid, and as I grew up, the internet grew up with me. I remember the days of a dial-up modem and AOL CDs. I remember the days before cell phones and remember the first time one of my friends had a phone in their car (I was in high school). So...as I grew up, the internet grew up and access to pornography grew up right along side the internet.

Christian: What Will You Think When a Third Temple is Built?

There's obviously been a lot of talk in the wake of recent clashes between the United States, Israel and Iran in the past week. A lot of what I'm seeing is people asking if there is prophetic significance to any of these events and well, I'm not just interested in any of that. Too many people have tried to read prophetic significance into current events, and been wrong, for me to dare go down those rabbit holes again. Could all of this have prophetic significance? Sure, but it's too early to tell. To me, the more interesting conversations have been around a Third Temple. I'm not quite why this subject has come up now - it might have something to do with a theoretical; something having to do with the temple mount being bombed and destroyed..."and then what would happen" kind of thing. Nevertheless - it has got me thinking...because a MAJOR sign that end times events are in play would be the construction of a third temple. Why? Because that is one of the predictions of Scripture, particularly within passages that speak of the End and Jesus' return.

Prooftexts:

Ezekiel 40-48 (a must read, but too long to put here)

Daniel 9:24-27

"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be build again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one [other translations read "the messiah"] shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."

2 Thessalonians 2:1-7

"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion come first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?"