This is an interesting blog that i never posted back in May, when i first got to Alaska... I remember that it didnt feel complete then...  


Maybe it isnt, maybe this  is a thought i should pursue further... 


Currently, Im sitting in a coffee shop in Anchorage, Alaska. Out of the large front windows of Kaladi Brothers (a locally owned, and local favorite coffee shop) there is a spectacular view of the Chugach Mountains, one of three mountain ranges that surround Anchorage.

Last week, i was in Denali National Park. This particular park is home of Mt. Mckinley as it is known in the lower 48, or Denali as Alaskans call it. Denali, being Athabaskan name for the largest peak in America, and arguably the highest peak in the world (it depends on where you're measuring from, from what i understand) Only about 30% of people who visit Alaska even get to see the peak of this mountain, its so large that it literally creates its own weather. My first week here in Alaska, i was able to see Denali from base to tip, and got some sick pictures of the illusive mountain.

Since i've been back in Anchorage after my whirlwind trip across Alaska for a familiarization trip, i been reading Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, the story of a young guy named Chris McCandess who in essence peaced out of modern life and became homeless and traveled across the country in search of what i perceive to be reality at its realest. He spent most of him time alone, and in the wilderness learning to survive on next to nothing and relishing in every near death experience and new adventure.

More than just talking about McCandess, the book retells the story of a few other guys who did the same sort of thing. Just taking off in to the wilderness to experience "rawness."

What is interesting to me, is that part of myself resonates with the story. The desire for adventure, to just leave everything i know and love (and dont love) behind and go experience the the raw reality of the wilderness at its harshest. I would never do it of course, because well, i really dont love backpacking that much, and the thought of being hungry for days doesnt really sound like my cup of tea. Its a great idea though, very romantic, to be sure.

More than resonating with the sentiments seem to be expressed in the book, i also am beginning to think that the desperation with which McCandess wandered the country looking for wilderness and rawness and beauty really, was so very futile.

What he didnt understand, i think, was that behind the raw, real beauty of the wilderness, is the raw real beauty of the Creator of that wilderness. Im beginning to think that the call on our souls (or maybe its just mine) for raw reality cannot be quenched by creation, creation only intensifies the longing for more.This could be why McCandess was always wandering, always searching for more wilderness.


One thing i do admire about McCandess, though is his intense drive. he really wanted whatever it was that he was after. If it was just a desire for reality at its realist, then he sought it with an unparalleled intensity.

In spite of his intensity, he died on his idea of the ultimate adventure He ventured into the Alaskan bush close to Denali National Park, unexperienced, unprepared, and totally alone.

McCandess' story made me think though...

Maybe the call of Christ is a call into the wilderness. Like John the Baptist... i mean, the dude ate bugs right? Maybe we as Christians are being called to peace out of everything that's comfortable and take off with nothing but our faith and our Jesus into the vast untamed, raw wilderness that is relationship with Christ.

Thats what i want.

I feel like most of the time God is shrouded in clouds. I cant always see him, i cant always see the peak of the mountain i seem to be ascending. Just like with Denali.

But the thing is, sometimes i do see the peak. Sometimes the clouds clear. Just a for a few minutes. Its those times, when im drawn again, into the wild. Into His wild. The wild, raw, untamed ascent up Mount Zion.