Be Thou My Guide!

My greatest passion in life (from a secular point of view) is to ski deep powder off-piste, in crystalline shimmering sunlight, while cutting new, fresh, tracks. Sadly thinning cartilages in my knees, not to mention advancing age, make this pristine pleasure more infrequent by the year.

There are significant risks, of course, when surfing wild white-stuff: losing skis is common, breaking a leg can occur, posing an avalanche risk or encountering local wildlife are not out of the question either - hors piste (as the French refer to it) is perilous in fog: on one mountain in a resort which I skied two years back, a child, last season, flew off the cliff to death.

For inexperienced first-timers, or even for seasoned skiers, most wise owls would advise going with a guide: not only does this make it far more likely that you'll survive to tell the tale - it also makes it much more enjoyable when there is someone who knows the mountain and has hurtled down that route on many previous occasions himself. No only do skiguides point out hidden dangers on the slopes: what "ticks their boxes" best is to point you down a path that will exhilarate and delight, by weaving through tall pines, or even concluding with a jump.

How wonderful it is that every Christian has a guide - there are so many hidden snares and dangers on the path of life. The LORD who is our Shepherd is the One who made the mountains. Our guide is the King who has pioneered the path and has come through the experience of death and resurrection on earth. He has faced icy looks surfing deep snow of his sorrows. He has plunged off the cliff having stared into the abyss - and miraculously survived.

Jesus has all the experience, skill, and grace to help nervous believers negotiate steep slopes. His wise, bold, example and loving, beckoning, call encourages the timid to trust His voice and to plunge down the slopes in faith - to follow the pioneer and ski behind Him in His tracks. In glory we will, no doubt, be able to share our half-scared, heart-in-the-mouth, accounts of how our God-given guide in life brought us safely home to rest - just as the sun set for the children of God on earth. Christ will be the toast of all the safe-home saints! No doubt we'll be all-talk about our brilliant, loving, guide who risked his own life, in love, to rescue us from certain death - it is wonderful to think how the people of God will be bathed in radiant light as we behold, and are transfigured, by His glorious, snow-white, face.