Hmmm, there is something familiar about this intriguing picture. Triggers a wide spectrum of emotions for me. What is it Lord? Oh… Summer of ‘76. I was leading a mountaineering course for women in the backcountry of the High Sierra’s when one of our students fell ill. Leaving the rest of the crew in the capable hands of my assistant, I hiked the student in to the closest mountain town where she was taken to a health care center. Then I headed back to rejoin the group at our designated rendezvous spot at the 11,000 ft. base of Mt. Banner in the Minarets range. Unbeknownst to me they had changed their plans and left me a note at a trailhead that I managed to miss. So 2 days passed as I watched and waited for them. All alone in the high country was both exhilarating and seriously scary! My dwindling food supply had gotten too close to my white gas canister in my pack and reeked of petrol, which I burped up profusely throughout my unplanned solo experience. My only company the chattering marmots, I felt like Armageddon had happened and I alone was left on the face of the earth! Those are the times Your Presence, Lord, become the most precious! Neediness. Loneliness. Confusion. All set in the majesty of the mountains! Perhaps this was what David felt on the run from Saul in the wilderness of En Gedi, where he penned some of his most poignant psalms. Gassy but inspired, I too captured some passionate moments with You in my journal before I spied my comrades as tiny specks marching up the side of the mountain! What a reunion that was!