On Monday I was told when I arrived at work that I must be finished by 14,00 (2pm). Ryan had a longer day and had to vacuum the 2nd floor, so even if I went to the gym and worked out until Ryan was done and then waited for him to work out I would have been at the gym much longer than I wanted to be. So what did I do? I ran back to Abrams! Shocked? I was a bit shocked myself, since I have have not ran outside since sometime last summer. But lately it has been really nice outside and most of the snow has been melting and on Monday afternoon it was absolutely beautiful out. The way I ran back was mostly on a path along our little river. It was magnificent and some reason made me feel like I could run for much longer, but instead once I arrived at Abrams I went in to get my camera and then headed out for a hike. The mountain directly behind Abrams has a restaurant part way up that we call the halfway house, although I've been informed that it is more like 1/3 of the way to the top. In the summer Ryan and I plan to hike to the top. Back to the story of my hike...
It was only 5-10 minutes when I came to a large grassy field on the side of the trail and a breath taking view of Garmisch and the mountains. About 50 meters away from me and on the edge of the bluff was a memorial for fallen soldiers. There were numerous pictures hanging from a very long long time ago and on the inside, but open inside area there were beautiful flower arrangements on the ground.
As I approached the picturesque view in front of me I was overcome with emotion and tears began to flow from my eyes. I was in no way sad, but felt such awe for God's creation that was hitting me from every direction. And I felt the Holy Spirit fill me to the point of literally overflowing in the form of tears. As I listened to Phil Wickham I felt so many of his lyrics resonating deep within my heart and my soul. Looking at the view I wondered how anyone could claim there is no God. I do not believe in these mountains just appearing. I do not think the path I have taken in life to end up standing in the spot I do today is coincidence. I don't believe the emotions that were flowing through me were made up. There is always something that causes me to feel the way I do and I could not be more convicted that on this day it was a God telling me that He was there with me and that all I had to do to find Him was seek Him, which was what I was doing. As I continued on around the trail there was Jesus up on a cross as they have outside many homes in Garmisch. I fell to my knees completely astounded again in the way God could show himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all from this one place. Once again affirming that I am not worshiping a god I am worshiping THE GOD in three persons, the Holy Trinity. If you haven't thought about creation ever or for a long time I highly recommend taking a close look at the Glorious Creator that is our Father in Heaven who loves each and every one of us more than we will ever understand because I believe with my whole self that when you find life in HIM you will find more happiness, contentment and the deepest peace that you could ever imagine.
I continued up the trail, up, up, up, the trail. At times when I wondered if I was headed toward the restaurant the thing that would keep me going were the old people coming down the trail wearing jeans. :) It really is remarkable what elderly people get out and do in this town. On the nice days they are outside walking, jogging, riding bikes, and yesterday we saw them out chopping wood, stripping off the bark, and stacking it. Eventually I made it to the halfway house and once again could not believe I was actually standing with this magnificent view in front of me. From up high I could easily spot the track in town, which I think would be a great place for GFU to come do some training. If the team comes, I'll even do track workouts while they are here. And you could run some "great" hills. :) I had a radler (half beer, half lemonade) and sat outside reading my Bible until it got too cold and I decided to head down the mountain. I failed to think that as I got higher it would get colder and there would be more snow on the trail. Thankfully going down is always much quicker, so I didn't freeze and only had one mishap when I slipped smack on my bottom on some ice. I bounced back up though and don't even have a bruise.
I can't wait to take Ryan up to the halfway house hopefully for a meal. My roommate just hiked this yesterday and said they have great food and are known to have "the best" apple strudel in all of Bavaria.
I learned once upon a time that I am an introvert, which does not mean I don't like being around people. It means I get my energy from being by myself opposed to an extrovert who gets their energy from being in groups of people. This day was the perfect day for my introvert of a self to re fuel. Living in a building with 300 people and having a roommate made this a much needed time to myself. It was wonderful!
This was an incredible day from start to finish!
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