Last weekend I had the privilege of embarking on an outdoor adventure with 11 other men (4 other adults and 7 students). Leading up to the trip, I had to fight my uneasiness from planning details and a forecasted upcoming winter storm. The weather report for the weekend said something to the effect, “Special Weather Statement, Unsettled Colder Weather and Snow Showers.” As far as I could tell, there seemed to be two big storms that were coming toward central Wyoming possibly going to affect Casper and the Bighorn Mountains, exactly where we were planning to go.
Friday finally came; we loaded the church van and a suburban with all of our outdoor gear and left Casper that evening under sunny skies. The weather soon changed. Roughly at Kaycee, WY the sun hid behind the clouds and the snow began to fall. The roads were soon packed with snow and the visibility was near white-out conditions as the windshield wipers struggled to clear the snow off the fast enough.
Praise God, we finally made it to our destination, about 24 miles west of Buffalo, WY in the Bighorn Mountains. We managed to park the vehicles off the side of the road having to plow our way through snow up to the axles. From there, under light of the moon and our headlamps, we dawned our cold weather gear, snow shoes or XC Skies, piled all of our food, water and extra supplies for the weekend either on our backs or in sleds and set off to our cabin on foot. After a couple trips back and forth we had all of our gear in the cabin for the weekend.
Once in the cabin we started a fire, and began to settle in. Some of the students began to build a giant pile of snow in hopes of eventually building a snow cave to sleep in, while others of us laid out our sleeping bags inside or outside under the stars.
Saturday morning rolled around and the snow again began to fly. It snowed all day further deepening the powder all around us. Some of the guys continued to build up their snow pile, and then they started to dig it out creating a quinzhee (commonly known as a snow cave). For lunch on Saturday we decided to have a picnic, man style. We strapped on our snow shoes and began hauling all of our food and supplies needed to build a fire and cook lunch. We trudged through the snow a mile and a half down Crazy Woman Canyon, dug out a fire pit in the snow, built a fire, and cooked our red meat and veggies on the open fire. After lunch we hiked back up the canyon to our cabin through blizzard like conditions. That night three of the guys finished building the quinzhee, and then slept in it all night long.
Sunday Morning rolled around and we awoke to a beautiful day, clear skies, and below 0 temperatures. We cleaned our cabin, loaded up our gear, packed it back to the vehicles, thawed out our beard and nose hair-sickles and came home.
To say the least this weekend was rugged, difficult, and there were unforeseen obstacles coming against us. It took a lot of planning and thinking before hand to ensure we would be successful in our endeavors. To be successful we also needed the right tools, clothing and gear in order to not freeze and to accomplish our goals. If we were ready and had the right mindset, though it was hard, it was a great joy. In many ways the physical difficulty of our weekend directly parallels the spiritual lessons we talked about throughout the weekend. Our series was titled, “The War Within.” Throughout the trip and while down in the Crazy Woman Canyon, we talked about the spiritual battles men struggle with specifically in the area of sexual temptation. We talked about the enemy (Satan) that we are at war with, the preparation that is needed to engage in the battle, the dangers of falling into sexual sin, the tools and weapons we use in our struggle, the power that God has given us to overcome the enemy, and the joy that comes through living in purity and in relationships how God designed them.
As we realized, we all struggle with temptations and we will until we go home to be with Jesus. The question is what will you do when your big ugly temptations are staring you in the face? Do you have a battle plan? Do you know your enemies tactics? Do you know your personal weaknesses? Do you have the correct tools to endure the battle? And do you know that there is hope for victory in the battles? As we found out fighting the physical elements this weekend, all of these questions are vitally important. However, we also realized that in our spiritual walk with the Lord we don’t often think about these questions.
As the guys were challenged this weekend to think about these things, I will leave you with the same. Do you realize there is an enemy? Do you know his tactics? Do you know your own weaknesses? Do you know how to use your tools and are you using them? Are you engaging in the battle? And lastly, do you know that there is hope for victory?
May God make us men and women who fight in the battle and overcome by the grace of God.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:12-14
12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
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