Valleys and Mountains

We frequently talk about mountains and valleys when we consider the challenges of life and our walk with God. But our real-life experience of driving down one mountainside , across a valley and up another mountain really opened my eyes.

We were traveling from Cayambe to Quito, and had to cross several ranges to reach Quito which lays in a valley ringed by volcanic mountains. We had to be in Quito by nightfall since it is too dangerous to travel through the mountain after dark. As we drove down one mountainside into a valley, only one more mountain stood ahead. The sun hovered just above that last mountain.

Behind us, the mountain glowed in a red-orange late-day sunshine. I looked back at the mountain we had just crossed over and a storm was brewing behind it. The sky turned violet-deep blue in contrast to the golden-blue in front of us.

As you know, driving up and down mountains is never a straight road. The road buckles back on itself in twists and turns cut into the mountainside. Sometimes you are at the edge looking straight down hundreds of feet. Other times you hug the cliff and look up dizzyingly, hoping the hand of God holds the rocks in place as you travel beneath them. Back and forth you go, hoping you are making some progress, sometimes only being able to tell that by looking back.

When you reach the valley, you can't pause. The road is straight, and that means "Go faster!" There's urgency in your pace to reach the next mountain. The sun has slipped behind the mountains and shadows gather in your path. The mountain behind is still bathed in sunshine. It beckons you to return to the comfort of the past, the known way, the experiences that you've already conquered. That mountain was easy, a down slope in full light with the goal ahead visible and welcoming. Now, you've sped through the valley and the upslope ahead is almost in full darkness, only the silhouette of the mountain light by the waning sun. The most difficult and dangerous way lies between you and your goal. As you labor to climb, back and forth again, close to the precipice, against the wall, the engine groaning, fatigue straining everyone's nerves, you look forward into dimness, back toward even greater darkness.

You climb the last of the mountain in blackness and then at the crest you see the last glimpse of the sun as it disappears behind yet another mountain. But the city lies in the valley below. In darkness, but twinkling with thousands of little lights. Home. You breathe a sigh of relief. You've made it. But twilight is full and you can't see the reward just yet. The storms are behind you. But the sunlight isn't there either. Not until tomorrow.

Lessons learned:
1. Keep moving. The past always looks better, brighter, greener, because you've been there, you've conquered its battles and learned from them. But you can't stay there. You have to move on.
2. Moving on is almost never easy. There's a lot of back and forth, up and down, sunshine and darkness, cliffs and walls. Just keep going.
3. Sunshine isn't the goal. The valley isn't the goal. Home isn't even the goal. The journey with God is the goal. Each part of it is unique and has its own challenges and rewards. Traveling with Him teaches you to rejoice in the journey.

So I imagine the conversation between Mary and Joseph went like this:

What do you mean he's not with the caravan?Where could he be?

I thought he was with you.

Well, I thought you knew where he was.

How could this happen? How could he do this to us?

He's still in Jerusalem? Why would he do that?

My baby is in the city? What if something has happened to him? He could have been taken and sold into slavery. He could be on his way to ...

Wait till I get my hands on him...he'll be grounded for life.

I'm sure he's fine...he's very mature for his age. You'll see. He's probably having the time of his life.

Yes, well, he'd better live it up now because when I catch up with him...

Fear and anger and a whole set of what-if's must have flashed through their minds as they set out to return to Jerusalem. The city was not a place for an adolescent to be alone. Especially not this pre-teen. Since his birth, Mary had been waiting for something. Parenting Jesus was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. You can give birth to such a special child without wondering why, how, when, what. For years, she had watched him grow and wonder what God had in store for him, for them. Was this part of His plan? This disappearing? Had Jesus run away? Sometimes she thought she didn't even know her own son.

She should have seen this coming. After all, wasn't he almost a man. When she was his age, well, a year or so older, an angel had told her she would be a mother. Why couldn't that angle have stuck around for times like this?
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So why did it take three days of searching to find him? Did they have to retrace their steps through the whole city? Why as the temple the last place they looked, instead of the first place? Did they think he'd be in prison? In the marketplace? In the synagogue school? I think I'd have thought: "We always come to the temple. Every year to the same place, so that's where he'll be."

But it still took them three days to find him. Why three days?

Could it be a foreshadowing of the three days in the tomb?

When they found him, he was listening and asking questions. Not teaching, but encouraging others to answer his questions. How had this carpenter's child astonished the religious leaders and amazed his own parents? Why did none of them request the boy be left there? Didn't Solomon's mother give him to the priests to raise when he was only a toddler? Surely there was a school there and Jesus was old enough to have been left there. If he were that smart, why not leave him to be trained as a priest?

Or did the prejudices of the priests prevent this (Nothing good can come out of Nazareth)? Or perhaps they didn't want to deal with a pre-teen who knew more about the Scriptures than they did.

Or perhaps it wasn't God's time yet and Jesus knew and understood that. "He went down to Nazareth and was subject to them (his parents)." There was much to be learned in obedience, in serving, in learning from his father and his mother. "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."

At 12, he thought he was ready. But after three days, he understood he needed to grow and mature more. He needed to do that within the shelter of his family and his relationship with his parents. They cared enough to search for him, but also perhaps to give him 3 days' taste of freedom.