LIke a Banner on a Hill

Our gear clattered to the floor as we slid into the desk at the ski lodge to check in.
"Do they have time to get their stuff on and make the lesson?" I asked breathlessly.
 Originally, we had not planned on a snowboard lesson, but then on the drive, the kids seemed to feel if they could get a lesson beyond rank beginner, it could be useful. It was included in the rental cost anyway. We had to fly into our ski clothes and racewalk to the lodge as the lesson started very soon.
"They are past beginners," I said, "They can stop and turn and stay upright most of the time."
"The intermediate lesson starts in 5 minutes," she said.
I didn't ask what kind of skill they might need to do an intermediate lesson. We were in too big a hurry. I just hustled Asherel and Ben into their gear and shoved them out the door. It occurred to me belatedly that intermediate might not be their level.

As I saw their teacher leading them to a blue diamond hill, the feeling became a certainty. There are three levels of colors , sometimes four, to designate skill level needed to successfully make it down the slope without the aid of a medic and helicopter. Green is for beginners. That is the hightest level my snowboarders had tackled. Blue is intermediate, or more difficult. Black is suicidal. or impossible for people with fully functioning cerebrums.

The kids did not seem to notice the color of the diamond as they boarded the chair lift. I followed at a distance, like Judas. Oh Lord, forgive me, I thought as I climbed into the chair lift behind them and we went up up up. The sound of skiers and snowboarders crashing and tumbling came from both sides.  I had been on a blue diamond hill last trip and so knew what to expect. Since Ben and Asherel still thought they were on a beginner, maybe advanced beginner hill, they did not know what to expect. I saw them at the top of the mountain and whispered, "Will you be ok?"
Asherel waved me away. I don't blame her. She sure better hang on every word of the instructor if she hoped to make it to Saturday unscathed.

It is interesting how perceptions color responses and actions. The teacher assumed they were intermediate snowboarders. Not someone who had been on a snowboard a grand total of twice, like Ben. The kids assumed that I would not put them in a situation they were not prepared to survive, and thus thought this must be a beginner slope. And so for the next hour, they all snowboarded under that illusion, and when the lesson ended, wanted to spend the whole afternoon on that slope.

"I was shocked to see him lead you to a blue diamond hill," I said, "You guys were awesome."
"That was a blue diamond hill?" asked Ben.
They both smiled, a little incredulously.
"I wouldn't have gone on a blue diamond hill myself," he admitted.
And I wouldn't have wanted you to, I admitted.

This was a classic example of rising to the occasion. Within a few runs, both kids were racing down the mountain without falling at all. It really was miraculous to me. I stood on the mountaintop looking out over the incredible vista and thought about perceptions, and misperceptions.

Isaiah is my favorite prophet. I love the imagery in his words. He has quite a bit to say about mountaintops and misperceptions.  He berates his people because they refuse to see truth. They want to listen only to prophets who bathe them in false illusions. He says they crumble and flee at the first sign of trouble, and will be left all alone, like a banner on a mountaintop. He begs them to see the truth, the right way, the error of their deceitful hearts....yet they would have none of it. They preferred a fantasy that required no repentence, no righteous action on their part. But Isaiah told them that even then, even in the midst of their stubborn desire to promote their own interests in the face of God's convicting truths, even then, God longed for them to return to Him.

It is so easy to fall into self deception, to think we can stand alone atop a mountain, that the world revolves around our interests, that we don't need to listen to the clear commands of our Creator. Isaiah warns us that it is the hand of God that must lead us down the right path.

I've been on black diamond slopes of life, and I sure don't want to navigate those without God hanging on to me. Ben and Asherel made it safely down a mountain that was beyond their skill under the protection of a skillful guide. And soon, they could navigate it on their own, because they knew the way. I love that image, the one that will have to hold me til next ski season, as this was our last trip for this season. The snow is melting, the days are warming, and so soon I will be seeking new ways to endanger life and limb.



Isaiah 30: 10-12, 15, 17-18

Tell us pleasant things,
   prophesy illusions.
¹¹ Leave this way,
   get off this path,
and stop confronting us
   with the Holy One of Israel!”  ¹² Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
   “Because you have rejected this message,
   relied on oppression
   and depended on deceit,

 “In repentance and rest is your salvation,
   in quietness and trust is your strength,
   but you would have none of it.

you will all flee away,
till you are left
   like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
   like a banner on a hill.”

 ¹⁸ Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
   therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
   Blessed are all who wait for him!