[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fhiking-to-heaven":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fhiking-to-heaven-surround":59},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":13,"columnName":42,"date":43,"description":19,"extension":44,"image":45,"meta":46,"minRead":47,"navigation":48,"path":49,"postType":50,"publication":51,"publicationUrl":45,"seo":52,"stem":53,"topics":54,"__hash__":58},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fhiking-to-heaven.md","Hiking to Heaven",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11,12],"Ezekiel","Daniel","John","1 Corinthians",{"type":14,"value":15,"toc":38},"minimark",[16,20,23,26,29,32,35],[17,18,19],"p",{},"Last summer my wife and I vacationed in Bar Harbor, Maine and nearby Acadia National Park. Our daily hikes took us up steep mountain peaks where wild blueberries and primrose bushes grew along the path. We picked our way carefully along seaside cliffs where waves crashed and foamed against the rocks. We strolled down winding gravel carriage roads built by the Rockefeller family nearly a century ago.",[17,21,22],{},"It's no surprise that expressions like \"walking by faith\" or \"walking with God\" appear so often in the Bible. Walking is an apt metaphor. When you hike up a mountain trail, you sweat and groan—but you keep moving forward. Some sections of the trail look too steep to climb—but if you keep taking one step at a time, eventually you are rewarded with the spectacular view of a valley below, or you burst into a clearing where a mountain breeze cools you down. Along the way, there are shady spots where you can rest and take a drink of water. At the end of a long hike, you feel tired, sore, and perhaps a little sunburned—but you're already planning which trail you want to try tomorrow!",[17,24,25],{},"Candy and I have an old 35-millimeter camera we have owned for years. We have taken it with us on our travels across America and to several foreign countries. During our trip to Maine, she prepared to take a picture of me while I stood on a rock ledge. In the valley far below was a mountain lake surrounded by pine trees. As she pulled the camera up to her eyes, Candy smiled and said, \"There's no way our little camera can capture this!\"",[17,27,28],{},"I nodded. \"Maybe we should buy a better camera,\" I said. But no camera on earth could fully capture the panoramic view we enjoyed on that mountaintop in Maine.",[17,30,31],{},"And so it is with heaven. Scripture strains the limits of human language to describe it. Ezekiel offers us a photograph: \"an expanse, sparkling like ice and awesome,\" and brilliant light as radiant as \"a rainbow on a cloudy day\" (1:22-28). Daniel caught another angle of the picture: \"Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever\" (12:2, 3). Jesus turned the camera toward heaven when he promised his disciples, \"I am going there to prepare a place for you\" (John 14:2). At the end of the Bible, John's revelation of Heaven tells of golden streets, gates made of pearl, a crystal-clear river, resplendent light, and spectacular scenes of worship around the throne of God.",[17,33,34],{},"Strong as they are, these word-pictures remind me of my little 35-millimeter camera struggling to capture the color and dimensions of a mountainside on the coast of Maine. And what about all the sensations no camera can photograph? The sound of the birds, the feel of the mountain breeze, and the scent of the wildflowers? If God has created this much beauty on earth, how much greater will be the splendor of our heavenly home! \"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him\" (1 Corinthians 2:9); but he has revealed enough to give us comfort and hope as we look past death's door.",[17,36,37],{},"That's why, as long as God gives me strength, I'm going to keep hiking in the mountains—and walking with God. What about you?",{"title":39,"searchDepth":40,"depth":40,"links":41},"",2,[],"First Look","2002-11-10","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fhiking-to-heaven","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":19},"articles\u002Fhiking-to-heaven",[55,56,57],"Biblical Theology","Spiritual Formation","Discipleship","54Ftb5DrsRQMcJJG12CPPv2vYs7B-_MIWUjPtarYjkE",[60,65],{"title":61,"path":62,"stem":63,"description":64,"children":-1},"He Made us Better: The Life and Ministry of Sam E. Stone","\u002Farticles\u002Fhe-made-us-better-sam-stone","articles\u002Fhe-made-us-better-sam-stone","*He Made Us Better:*",{"title":66,"path":67,"stem":68,"description":69,"children":-1},"History at the Crossroads","\u002Farticles\u002Fhistory-at-the-crossroads","articles\u002Fhistory-at-the-crossroads","We stand at a crossroads every day. Each sunrise confronts us anew with Joshua’s challenge: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15)."]