Difficulty Is Your Friend

My campsite view while at Attic Window in the Grandfather Mountain District via the Profile Trail

Today I thought about my hike to Attic Window. Attic Window is on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. I accessed it via the Profile Trail. Quite possibly the most difficult hike, or at least in the top 3, of all hikes I have taken.

Over 4000 feet of ascent over just 4 miles. It’s an ass kicking hike to say the least.

The views up there are stellar and I dare say some of the best in all of the Appalachians.

It’s no easy task getting there however. Especially if you are choosing to camp at the top. There are a number of campsites one can snag through the forest service for the North Carolina State parks system. You can register any number of the sites through Reserve America.

This is a hike that my son Levi had done previously and just a few days before he would enter into the next phase of his life in the Air Force, he decided to take me up there.

Levi with his 80lb pack getting ready to ascend to the top of Grandfather Mountain sporting his Black On Ammo “When He Returns” shirt.

Now, I am going to tell you, there was an awful lot of cussing and complaining on this hike. At this point in our lives together, I had yet to hike one like this. Levi, however, knows his trails and I trusted him enough to follow along. If this kid says it’s a good hike, it most certainly is. I went along, questioning my decisions after about mile 1 the entire rest of the way up.

Fitness Matters

I know far too many Christian folk who are lazy, out of shape and do nothing to take care of their physical being. The single greatest asset they have is often taken for granted, left uncared for while they pursue assets that matter significantly less. At the top of the list, of course being the pursuit of money and “stuff”.

Levi, at this point in my life was my workout partner. For the 3 years we trained together, my goal was always to keep up with him. It regularly kicked my ass and I had to mentally discipline myself to keep up. Some of my fondest memories in my entire life are of he and I spending an early morning really getting after it physically. Still to this day I shutter thinking about sprintervals at the track in Lake Nona. :-)

After he departed, there was certainly a void in my life. I was left feeling quite lonely at the gym. Even now, I am getting a little choked up thinking about the times he and I, and later Elise, and even Ed would spend together really doing it in the gym. Jacob, of course had been gone for a while by now.

This fitness training matters quite a bit in my life. It keeps me fit and allows me now, even at 54 years old to pursue hikes most my age simply can’t.

I try to keep this physical asset at the top of my priorities as I live out my days.

Exhausted after a 4.5 mile 4000+ foot ascent to the top of Grandfather Mountain. That pack is weighed in at 80lbs for pre Special Forces training.

It’s this training which allowed me to pack up on another 2 occasions to again hike the Profile Trail to Attic window, once to capture the shot you see of the sunset above and a second time to drag poor Joelle up there. Both times, to set up camp and stay the night.

Romans 8

My daughter shared with me verses from Romans 8 so I decided I’d study them a little deeper this morning. The preceding verses of those which she sent are 35-37

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

For me, one of the greatest benefits gained from the physical stress I put myself through 5 days a week at the gym is that it tells my mind in essence “difficulty is good”.

I believe one of the reasons many human beings, Christian or not, avoid physical fitness and keeping themselves in shape is that it’s difficult and it’s uncomfortable.

In fact, in my view, if you are not at least a little uncomfortable, you are not growing and gaining strength or endurance. Period.

It’s easy for us to avoid it or quit.

In this set of verses I am reminded that often, it’s in the difficulties of life and those challenges we all must face where we really grow in our walk with the Lord. Our faith increases when we are forced to endure pain and hardship. We cry and groan, yet we grow stronger.

I know, for me, the pain of losing my first wife through her poor choices, and having her abandon our family was difficult to bear. Very difficult. What made it nearly unbearable was watching how it hurt the children while going through it. I would die for every one of the kids should it be required and seeing their hearts break when their mother left was horrible. It’s by far the worst thing I have had to endure and live through.

I remember the stress and pain I felt when Levi at only 7 was hospitalized with what was initially thought to be a cancer in his colon. That month of not knowing what was going on was terribly painful as well.

I think back to when with great euphoria I thought my dream of owning Jon Anthony Florist in Lansing MI would finally come to pass was crushed and dashed to the rocks. My grandfather agreed to sell to me after 7 years of managing the operation. I thought I’d spend the rest of my life there. Just 3 short days after his saying “yes” to selling, I received a call from their attorney telling me they had changed their minds. What made it infinitely worse was hearing from this attorney that my father, who had nothing at all to do with the company, was in the meeting with them and it was he who raised the greatest case to my grandparents against selling to me. My dad’s voice was the loudest and most vehement against selling to me of all in the room according to the attorney advising me of the change of heart. I will never forget that call. A single phone call which changed the trajectory of my life and brought 25 years of hardship and difficulty for which I had not planned.

I try hard to consider all of the above and the many more things I have faced from the perspective of Joseph in Genesis 50. I am still waiting to see how it all pans out after what took place in Lansing MI as well as with the kids’ mother all those years ago. Joseph, after being deceived, hurt, lied about, and put into a life he I am sure didn’t want, and frankly, didn’t deserve due to his brother’s intense jealousy toward him, remained true and just, operating out of love toward those who harmed him. “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people…” Genesis 50: 19-20

Yet, through it all, I have and am continuing to learn there is nothing which separates the Love of Jesus Christ from me.

At times, I find I doubt it. That’s got to do with my childhood perhaps, or maybe it’s just how my mind works.

My daughter is like me in this regard and that's probably why she shared with me the verse she did last night. Romans 8:38-39

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Today, I am reminded that nothing can take me away from God through Jesus Christ. No human teaching, no demands from other’s that I live a certain way or think a certain way.

In fact, I am coming to embrace the concept the hardships I face are in fact making be better for that fateful day I will come into his kingdom.

I’ve seen a lot of amazing sites in my years of hiking, all started one day in September of 2016 with two boys named Levi James Anthony and Jaden Edward Filippone. The days we spent in the Smokies first finding our way on the hiking trails.

The Hike To Andrews Bald started EVERYTHING for us. The very first hike of hundreds in the following years.

Those days would never have been had all of the above hardship not happened. I would be in a completely different place otherwise.

God knows it all, has it all, guides it all.

I am trusting him that my life will continue to grow and become one that, if you are here reading, may in fact help you, encourage you, cause you to make changes for the better. Maybe you will try something new. Maybe you will, like me, be encouraged to take a significant risk. Maybe you too will get a sunset shot that beats them all!

You’ll need to be ready and in shape enough to endure it. So I hope…you’ll get after it.

Until next time,

rob out