High Places, Narrow Roads

Have you noticed when hiking in the mountains that the trail seems to get narrower and often less pronounced the higher up one goes? But what a spectacular view at the end of the journey! It was worth the climb. The word summit always connotes adrenalin-laced, joy-filled awesome moments and places.

View of sunrise from my brother's porch in Marble CO

A number of years ago when visiting my brother Jerry out in Aspen Colorado, he took us up to the see the marble quarry in Marble, CO. His trusty Jeep "Festus" didn't let us down, but I was pretty certain at many points on the narrow, winding mountain road that there was less than an inch between the jeep's wheels and the absolute edge of the cliff where the dirt road was precariously perched. None of that seemed to phase my brother as he chatted happily while driving and bouncing along. (You've been up the mountain with such a guide too? It changes your blood chemistry doesn't it?!)

At some point we had to disembark and walk, which included crossing a mountain stream. It seemed more like a small raging river to me. But it was exquisite, absolutely crystal clear. The sights in the quarry up on the mountain at the end of the journey made the climb well worth the effort. 

Later while reading Irving Stone's biographical novel, The Agony and the Ecstasy on the life of Michelangelo, Stone's telling of getting the best marble for his sculptures were vivid in my imagination. At one point one of the assistants who was helping Michelangelo roll a large piece of marble down the mountain was crushed by it when the laws of physics came between his good intentions and the large stone. 

My visit to Marble helped me visualize this scene and weep with Michelangelo and the family of the assistant. These back stories to producing the world's masterpieces often are filled with stone-crushing, careful-steps-along-the-edge-of-the-precipice scenes. Careful crossings of pristine streams. The narrow roads. 

Ad augusta per angusta 

To high places by narrow roads

Jesus talked a lot about life's narrow roads and he "put his money where his mouth was" by walking the narrow road himself. A beautifully poignant verse in the epistle of Hebrews describes his journey succintly:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.     Hebrews 12:1

Today I've posted another organ solo on YouTube, Of the Father's Love Begotten. Through sound and the underlying text, it describes Ad augusta per angusta in the life of one whose narrow road experience has turned the world upside down. 

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Of the Father's Love Begotten 

organ solo played on the Schantz Pipe Organ 

at Resurrection Lutheran Church on Epiphany Sunday, 2004