As a pastor I have received many invitations, invitations to graduations, weddings, anniversaries, and conferences. However, a few years back I got an invitation I just couldn’t pass up. It was an invitation to join others pastors who wanted to experience God away from the distractions of every day life and this would be accomplished by spending a few days hiking into the wilderness of the Colorado Rockies. I jumped at the chance and invited my friend and co-pastor Bryan to sign up as well!

Climbing Mount Trust always starts with an invitation to follow God to a place you have never been before; it is a summons to trust. With Proverbs 3:5-6 as our guide up this mountain, pay attention to the very first word “Trust…” As we study God’s Word and the people who climbed this mountain, notice they were invited to step out of the known and trust God to lead them to the right path. Remember father Abraham, who at the age of 75 was asked to leave his home and relatives and follow God to a land that was foreign to him. What 75-year-old wants to pick up and leave a comfortable life and journey 1500 miles to start all over again? Abraham’s journey started with an invitation of radical trust!

As we enter the Christmas season, recall that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God,” Luke 1:35. Some pretty unusual words for a virgin teenage girl to comprehend don’t you think? Yet, this is what we see over and over again in God’s Word, and what about you and me? Are we willing to accept the invitation to follow God the Father in a radical trust relationship?

The senior citizen Abraham and the teen Mary did not have all the details presented to them, they were lacking clarity to what exactly the future held, yet they clung to the promise that God the Father would lead them as a shepherd leads his sheep to green pastures. As a result of their invitation to trust one step at a time, Abraham makes his way up the mountain to become the “father of all who believe,” Romans 4:11, and Mary’s gigantic yes to the hike birthed the Savior of the World. These ordinary individuals display vivid pictures of trust and are a testimony to us!

Everyday when the alarm goes off we are invited to trust the Father with our lives. To say, “yes” to the hike even though we haven’t been given all the details. Each morning He invites us to come on a journey up Mount Trust with Him. What is the Father inviting you to trust Him with at this time in your life? Take some time this week and ask the Father to show you where He’s calling you to climb Mount Trust, where He is saying to you “follow me.”

Okay, for those of you wondering how the invitation to the Rocky Mountains ended up. When our team of pastors arrived at the trailhead with our 45-50 pound backpacks with every thing we needed for the next five days, we were surprised to find that our guides were college students! This was an interesting scenario of trust as most pastors are used to being the ones leading, however none of us “more experienced ones” had any idea where we were supposed to go! Our “young” guides only took us on one wrong turn and eventually we ended up at a tranquil spot where we could set up our camp. The quiet days of sunrises, sunsets, singing and studying God’s Word alone and with the group was a wonderful time of experiencing God in new and fresh ways. However, my friend Bryan experienced a much deeper level of trust, God’s protection, and the answered prayers of his wife for safety, as a mountain lion also liked the spot where Bryan was having his quiet time.