Motivation and Mountain Air

This past week I was scheduled for a speaking engagement in the upstate of South Carolina. When my responsibilities were over, my wife and I took a trip up the Blueridge Parkway. I'm not sure how far we traveled on the parkway, but I know that it was more than 60 miles. It took us several hours to make the trip. Susan slept and I enjoyed the view and squeeling of the tires! We had beautiful weather (we were in the high 60's on the parkway) and great views. We even stopped at a place called the Graveyard Ridge. The sign said that a powerful natural disaster took place and uprooted an entire forest. The debris left in the wake of that storm eventually decayed until the remnants of the forest looked like tombstones across the mountain. Sometime in the early 20's, though, a fire burned it all down. We hiked about 2 miles or so around in that. We had a wonderful time.

What I've found to be most interesting, though, is my renewed desire to get to work. I've had a higher level of motivation since returning from that short trip. I'm not sure if it was the mountain air or just the down time, but I'm sure something good happened to help recharge me. There are about six or seven times in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life where he just disappears. Well, let me tell what I mean. I don't mean that he vanishes like a ghost or something. What I mean is that Jesus would just go off to another place. Nobody would know where he was and he would stay gone for a little while and then come back. He would slip off in the evening to pray. He would take a walk and spend time with the Father. It seems to me, if the Creator of the universe needed some time away, those of us who are created could probably use a little R&R, too!