Victory in Victory!
We have had a busy summer like everyone else our age. To top it off, it has been an unusually damp summer. Successive flooding kept me busy at work, and the desire to camp got dampend by the diluge we experienced at Ascutney State Park in July. https://madpadventures.blogspot.com/2023/08/mt-ascutney-251-club-adventures.html Ann and 3 of her lady friends planned for some beach therapy in Maine, leaving me and the pooch to fend for ourselves. No problem. I seized the moment to take a few days off, and do some wilderness camping for myself
Flood of 2023
Victory Bog
Molly's Falls
White Mountains of New Hampshire
My kitchen window
Relaxing by the fire
Ann and I visited the remote Northeast Kingdom town of Victory, Vt. with our Christian friends, Mike and Kimberly recently. The town has a population of 70 people and is mostly bog and State forestry land. I wanted to know and experience more. Extensive research did not garner any solid proof that drive in wilderness sites existed. I second guessed myself, and the Spiritul direction I was sensing. I wanted to camp near water, so that Tucker and I could kayak together. Victory only appeared to offer the Moose River, which I was unfamilair with. Without praying, I opted for another remote campsite that I had on my bucket list.
This is where my Lord began to change my plans. Our pastor was invited to visit Syracuse, Ny. on the very weekend I had planned for myself. Since I am on the preaching rotation, Pastor Kevin asked me to fill the pulpit for that Sunday. To be honest, I would normaly say no. ( for selfish reasons ). Fortunatley for me, my Lord had already begun giving me a theme to my next message. Saying yes to Pastor Kevin came easy and with great Peace. Now the trip had a different meaning. Drawing close to my Lord became imperitive. I always try to prepare a message that has my Lord's stamp of approval.
Molly Falls State Park is a remote campsite in Marshfield, Vt. on a huge resevoir with some nice views. I felt confident that I could drive in and set up on the water. WRONG! None of the sites were vehicle accsessible and the best one was being occupied by the Youth Conservation Corps. Since my idea didn't work, I thought, now would be a good time to begin a conversation with my Lord, and get His direction. Since this mission was for His Glory, I simply reasoned that this new direction was from Him. Why not consult Him? Ideas popped up, and I entered them into my GPS, only to have problems. When Wilderness campsites in Victory, Vt. popped up with directions, it was easy to push start.
On to Victory with Tucker and no real plan, other than to be senseitve to His leading. Past experience has proven to me that His plan is so much better than mine. I don't usually listen to country music these days, but I came across a New Hampshire station that peeked my interest enough to keep listening. My GPS directed me onto River Rd. and then onto Victory Hill Rd., where I found the first sign for Victory State Forest. As I entered down the road, a song by Josh Turner came on called Long Black Train. It had been a while since I heard it. What peeked my interest was that it mentions having Victory in Jesus. Here I am in Victory, Vt. listening to country music, about to write a sermon, and I hear the lyrics; Victory in Jesus. A coincedense? I think not! My spiritual eyes and ears were now open.
Victory
I drove in about a half mile when I came upon a washout in the road that I was not willing to navigate. I felt like an engeneer as I backed up with Long Black Train blaring from the speakers. Further up I found Umpire Rd and began my search for a campsite. Nothing looked very promising. About 3 miles in I began speaking to my Lord out loud. I surrendered my will into His and agreed to be happy with whatever He provided. I began to envision a dead end with a stone fire pit in the middle of the woods. I had come across these in my search of other sites in the forrest, so this was nothing new. Shortly after surrendering my will and agreeing to be satisfied with whatever He provided, a space opened up at the top of a hill. It was a 4 way intersection that was clearly used in the winter time as a VAST ( Vermont Association of Snow Travelers ) trail. I looked down, and to my right was a stone firepit with the most amazing view of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This was it. Thank you Lord!
To be honest, I began to quip about not having enough shade trees, until I remembered my promise. He promised in Psalm 37 that if I commit my way to Him, that He will give me the desires of my heart. My desire was a campsite to spend time with Him. He honored His promise; I needed to honor mine.
I began the nesting process by unpacking and placing my gear in the most strategic places. My camp kitchen, chair and even the truck we slept in was positioned to watch the sunrise over the great White Mountains. My kitchen set acted as the center piece. Everything was going good until I realized that I did not bring any potable water. Whelp, my Lord provided me a campsite, so I trusted that He would help me find water as well. I remembered crossing a stream of quickly running water. Knowing that we were in swampy bog area and that Giardia was real a concern, I was reluctant. With no other known water source, I reasoned that a good old fashioned boiling would do the trick. I made the 1.5 mile journey to the stream and loaded up. People cringe when I tell this story. I wouldnt reccomend doing this, but I did it without a single incedent. A plate of beans and a case of Giardia could have ruined my whole weekend!
The afternoon was spent getting acclimated to camp. I found a Christian KLOVE radio station and began worshipping as I went about my business. I prayed for a download to begin my message but nothing came. Writing at first was laborious. This is not unusual for me. Seldom has the Lord answered my prayers for a download instantly. In fact never. I have to pray and trust that it will arrive when and where He wants it too. In the meantime I just enjoyed my Heavenly surroundings with Tucker by my side.
Tucker was never far away
Not much in the way of a download had arrived to my spirit. I managed to get a few words down, but it was not flowing. I turned up the worship music and communed with my Lord. I experienced so much freedom worshipping Him alone in the wilderness. I could feel the weight lifting from me as I raised my hands in joyful adoration. From time to time a name would randomly pop into my mind. Surprisingly, I had excellent cell service, so I sent a few messages of encouragement to the people I felt led to contact. I enjoyed the evening with a late dinner and a good fire. Eventually my eyes got heavy. Tucker and I retired to the truck and hunkered down for a cold night.
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In the morning I was greeted by the majestic Whie Mountains, surrounded in purple skies. The cold night and warm earth created a blanket of fog in the valley below. The thick white blanket, flowed around the mountains like milk over honey. The soft easy flow of fog seemed to be a sign of things to come. Taking in the changing flow, while cooking breakfast heightened by joyful anticipation. I could hardly wait to have my coffee and a warm fire with Tucker looking on.
I also looked forward to cooking with my cast iron skillets. I am always trying to perfect my cooking method with them. I learned that I could cook my bacon and homefries in one skillet and keep them warm in the other while I cooked my eggs. There are few things worse than eating a cold breakfast after cooking it over a hot fire. I like everything to be hot and served at the same time.
This was Friday morning. I had a day and a half before I would have to pack up and head out. Normally I would begin to get anxious over not having something resembling a message by now. This time it was different. While writing a few ideas down, I mingled in a couple of walks with Tucker, picked some wild blackberries off my "front lawn" and built a makeshift awning for of my FJ Cruiser. It was an unusually hot day, and my Lord had given me a spot with little shade. Fortunatley I was prepared with a tarp, poles and rope to secure things down with. I had been wanting to do this for a while now. Since I cant afford a batwing awning, this was the best I could do. Eating lunch under it was such a cool delight!
By evening my faith paid off. The download arrived in a "bushel basket"! I couldn't stop writing. The words flowed beautifully like the majestic scene I had woken up to that morning! I barely recognized that dusk had arrived and that soon I would need to break out the lamps. The sky at dusk mirrored the morning sky. My perfect day was bookended by beautiful skies that I felt was created just for me. My Creator is the ultimate artist!
Most of my work is done on my phone and tablet. I was alternating between devices so as to keep them charged. Eventually my power pack that I used to charge my devices with was down to 12%. my message was done and so was my charger. I connected my phone to the 12 volt adapter in the FJ, and turned the key to auxilary. My phone is my main source of work and my lifline to the world should anything happen. It was important that I kept a little life in my charger and charge my phone.
In the middle of the night I woke up to check on the condition of the phone. I turned the ignition to start, in order to give a little life back to the car battery. When I turned the key, I heard a series of succesive clicks that resembled a toy machine gun. My heart sunk! I am deep in the wilderness, and though I had plenty of cell service, I had no way of giving good directions. My friends Mike and Kimberly live 1 hour away, and are the only one's I know who could locate me. It was a call I didn't want to make.
Once my heart resumed it's natural position, I began to pray. I think I even asked Tucker to pray. My primary charger has the capability to jumpstart a car battery, but it only had 12% of life left in it. It was my only chance. I made sure every connection was secure as I prayed. The charger clicked and a light came on. It was all systems go. I prayed one more time as I approached the door. With Tucker eagerly looking over my shoulder, I turned the key with apprehension. The ole girl fired up! The tuned exhaust pierced the silence of the dark wilderness. It was a welcomed sound. Even Tucker seemed to be excited, as he did several tight circles, in rapid succession, before laying down.
Tucker's bed
The long road into the wilderness
Tucker exercising his hurding skills
I was confident in my Sunday message and I still had daylight to use before heading home. Tucker n I made a trip up the Burke Mountain Toll Road and made a brief stop at the summit for a hike. As if my mountain top experience in Victory was not enough! It was not a stunning day for pictures, but I did get a few to add to my 251 Club album for the town of Burke.
This excitement would not wear off. My friends Mike and Kiberly were along my way home. I knew they would be home and share in my excitement. We have different practices of our Christian faith, but we believe in the same God. I am proud that we have crossed religious boundaries to respect one another's relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ. I know this is not the norm, but it SHOULD BE! We don't argue over methods or practices. We find the common ground in Jesus and Glory in it! We have found that we have more in common than we have not. Our lives have been enriched by their presence in our lives. They have prayed for us, encouraged us, cried with us and suffered with us. I'd like to say that we have done the same for them. There is a special bond in the Spirit when you have Christ like people like that in your life. We call or text when the Spirit leads, we pray and send one another encoragement as the Spirit leads. Never has there been a time when the timing was not perfect! Tell me there is not a Holy Spirit!
Mike n Kim to the right
I think the world is missing out on a beautiful gift that is so easy to receive. It started in believing that there is something greater than myself. For me; looking at all that has been created in my natural surroundings, especially when I am in the backcountry, or driving into a beautiful sunset, is more than I need to believe that there is a God. When I understand through science how complex and interwoven this planet, and it's universe is, it becomes easy for me to believe that the Creator God, could come down to earth in the form of a human being. Knowing that, left to my own best devices, I can do no pure good, is a humbling truth. Once I grasped that humbling Truth, it became easier for me to believe that this Son of Creation, Jesus Christ, came to set me free, by His example of life and death. Who else could resurect His human self and live for eternity? If the Word ( the bible ) was left behind to tell me that He did it out of love, so that I could be forgiven for my most inpure thoughts and motives, so that I could receive Eternal Life, then Im all in! If He endured the pain and persecution which the Bible ( an ancient history book ) says He did, then I owe Him my life in service to Him.
My phone was fully charged, so I kept the truck running for a while. I plugged my little battery pack that saved my bacon into the FJ's 12 volt charger. It was a chilly night, so I turned on the heat for good measure. Once good and comfy, I turned the key off, and went to bed. Rested, and excited to start the day, I reached over to give the FJ a quick charge from it's alternator. Clickity click again! I had turned the key to auxilary by mistake. My heart didn't drop as far this time. The battery pack had more juice in it from my clumsy mistake. I told Tucker not to worry because I knew what to do. I jumped into action and did everything in the sequence I had done just hours before. I rushed to the door, reached through the window, and with confidence turned the key. Clickity click, clickity click!
A long way from civilization to have AAA rescue me
Now my heart was somewhere below my belt. "What did I do wrong," I asked myself. It wasn't a blinding light of Revelational Glory, but a light did go on in my head. The words fell out of my mouth as if my God himself was answering my question for me. I looked at Tucker and said "we didn't pray"! This was an easy and simple fix. Without making any adjustments to the terminlal clamps, I simply asked my Lord to "please help my truck to start". The tuned exhaust came to life and echoed through the valley below, as if to say, "prayer works ya big dummy." It was a simple but profound message that bared remembering
With everything that goes on in our life, and in the life of family and extended family, there is very little I can do without praying to my Lord. The answer may not arrive as fast as a jumpstart, or come in a bushel basket. It may look different than a campsite in the middle of the woods. In fact, if I trust in the process, my Lord often gives me something better than I could have hoped or imagined, like a campsite with majestic views on top of a mountain. Just because He wants to express His Love for me, and because He can!
This fresh revelation of an old Truth confirmed the message I had written the night before. I was having a mountain top experience that was preparing me for the valley below. This made sitting in front of the fire with a hot cup of coffee all the more special. If I had an extra chair, I would have pulled it out, and set it up to symbolize His presence with me. Breakfast had a new sence of Peace and Joy.
While finsihing up breakfast, I could hear a vehicle coming up the mountain. I was a little apprehesive as folks can be pretty territorial at times. Slowly driving past were 2 old gents from New York, looking for their hunting camp. I thought to myself, that "if you are looking for your camp, then you are drinking the wrong beverages." Shortly behind them were 2 fellows in a side by side working to prepare the trails for winter travel. They stopped and we talked for a long while. I showed them my camp setup while they helped me get more familiar with the Northeast Kingdom backcountry. Our conversation got my dream factory going for sure. The 2 old gents passed back through with big smiles on their faces. I think they were just as happy as I was, but under a different influence. I grinned and remembered the days of other influences in my life and how I am now set free!
2/18/89
Picking up camp is always a slow and somber event for me. Emotions of excitement (to share the message I had received), and sadness (for having to leave the mountain top) came together like the scambled eggs I had for breakfast. Somehow I had to digest and come to terms with it all. Once my gear was packed, I said one final goodbye and praised my Lord for such a site. Rambling down the road to civilization, I felt a strong sence to change the radio station again. I found the country station I was listening to while driving in. At that very same spot, I heard Long Black Train again. What are the chances that an older song on mainstream radio be played twice within days, AND in the same place I was in, at different times? Tell me there isn' t a God.
The adventurous spirit was still within me. I wreaked of camp smoke and in need of some cleaning up. The Moose River runs through Victory Bog and deserved a stop. In a large parking lot, I prepared myself for a good old fashion river washing. Little did I know how cold the Moose River is. Each dunk of refreshing cold water was more like a good old fashioned river baptism, than a river washing. I gasped for air out of the shear exhileration caused by the icey cold water. As I became more acclimated to the water, I could feel the cleansing of body and soul. I turned and watched the soap take my dirt and filth downstream. It was so refreshing!
Icey cold waters of the Moose River
Tucker loved the experience as well. He didn't join me with a full baptism, but he dabbled in the water. Occaisonally he would look at me with a curious, or amazed look. He knew the water was cold and thought I should know too. Though my outer extremities were beginning to get numb, I really didn't want to leave. It was as if this cleansing was part of my mountain top experience. Tucker was clearly anxious to move on. Border Collies are very faithful to their master but they can get bored rather easily. Tucker, a young pup, needed to find something new to be stimuated by. A ride seemed to be on his mind, as he kept looking back to the truck.
Burke Mountain
This excitement would not wear off. My friends Mike and Kiberly were along my way home. I knew they would be home and share in my excitement. We have different practices of our Christian faith, but we believe in the same God. I am proud that we have crossed religious boundaries to respect one another's relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ. I know this is not the norm, but it SHOULD BE! We don't argue over methods or practices. We find the common ground in Jesus and Glory in it! We have found that we have more in common than we have not. Our lives have been enriched by their presence in our lives. They have prayed for us, encouraged us, cried with us and suffered with us. I'd like to say that we have done the same for them. There is a special bond in the Spirit when you have Christ like people like that in your life. We call or text when the Spirit leads, we pray and send one another encoragement as the Spirit leads. Never has there been a time when the timing was not perfect! Tell me there is not a Holy Spirit!
The final chapter was coming to an end. As I said goodbye to Mike, he mentioned going to another concert together. Our experience seeing Stryper, a Christian metal band was incredible. I had remembered that our friend Fred, had invited us and our wives to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and that he was in the process of purchasing tickets for us. I asked if I was able to get another ticket, if he would be interested in going. The answer was yes. On my way home I mediated through text to see if Fred had already purchased the tickets. If not I was praying that he would be willing to purchase another. I felt in my spirit that the 3 of us like minded Christain men should get together. I prayed that if it was God's Will, that He would make a way. Indeed He did!
The moment it was confirmed I was on Rt. 58 in lowell where there is an incredible vista of Jay Peak and the surrounding mountains. The sun was setting behind it, causing the most amazing colors. I was in awe of the beauty and timing of it all. I recognized that I was riding a spiritual high, and that I may be misinterpreting this as confirmation. I shared with Mke what I was experienceing, but regretfully did not take a picture. Kim responded to my text and informed me that they were experiencing the same thing In Newark. Mike was outside taking a picture of it as we were speaking. That was confirmation! Once again proving to me that my God is a relational God and that I hear from Him and He from me.
Mike and Kimberly's picture to me from their house
Because I have already proven that I can't do that on my own, God, through His Son Jesus Christ, sent a Spirit, so Holy, that it lives within me. That Spirit, when I let it, has helped me accomplish a new creation in myself that I never thought was possible. If you really knew me back in the day, you would know that today is a miracle! The miracle began when I first believed. I'm eternally grateful that I stepped off that long black train.
https://youtu.be/OKP-j9lp4fw?si=h0VOG5Vu41zZGGX1
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