Only Through the Narrow Gate
Journal 2005 07 19
Only Through the Narrow Gate
Clark set out overland early in the morning with York, and two soldiers in an effort to contact the Shoshone Tribe. The Captains had concluded that the Shoshones would not be familiar with the sound of rifle fire and may recede into the safety of the mountains rather than risk a war with an enemy. Discharging their rifles was a daily event for the Corps. I haven’t discovered it recorded specifically, but I gather that most evenings rifles were discharged if they hadn’t been fired while hunting. The vision of soldiers cleaning their weapons while encamped would hold in these camps as it does for our troops around the world today. Fresh powder was the rule of the day and required frequent recharging to be trustworthy. Any of us holding on to something of power that needs to fired and reloaded? Then pull the trigger!
The Corps had left the prairie. Pine and Douglas fir trees appeared on the mountains. Aspens became more plentiful than cottonwoods. And the broad leafed cottonwood was replaced by a smaller leafed version better suited to mountain life.
The expedition was reaching new heights every day as they wove their way westward. The relatively flat high desert-like plains of eastern Montana were giving way to the eastern edge of the Rockies in what we now call the Big Belt Range. From fifteen hundred feet on the prairie to three thousand feet at Great Falls to four thousand feet at Helena the men climbed. Clark followed a steep, well-worn Indian trail over a low mountain as Lewis and the rest of the troop followed the river upstream. Lewis noted the contrast between the snow-capped mountains now readily in view and the stifling heat of the river valleys they traversed. Summer in the mountains. A personal favorite of mine.
Water in the river had also taken on the characteristics of most mountain water. Crystal clear, bracingly cold and fairly swift in its passage. Lewis and his river crew rounded a bend in the river and thought for a moment that further passage might be blocked by the high cliffs that dominated the near horizon. What awaited them was what awaits so many of us as we enter into a new realm, a great adventure worthy of qualification and note. Entrance into the next phase of their adventure required passage through almost six miles of narrow channel made all the more mysterious by their arrival late in the day. Dusk raced their advance to the end of this breech in the mountains. The river is one hundred fifty yards wide. Twelve hundred foot cliffs on both sides create an effect like a gate through a fortress wall. Lewis aptly applied the name “Gates of the Rocky Mountains” to the geologic feature. The name remains today as the “Gates of the Mountains” National Wilderness Area. The actual stretch of river is accessible only by boat and many tours are available.
Lewis held a sense of grand entrance that a gate can signify. He entered a new phase of adventure through the high, narrow passage where stopping was not a possibility and emerged to a grand view of what lay before them, the Rocky Mountains!
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The road that leads to destruction is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.”
Look for the narrow passage that leads to life. A gate in a wall provides controlled entrance to a place deemed worthy of protection. A place through which entrance is authorized by the one who built the wall, the gate and the place beyond the gate.
If you believe the earth is God’s creation, then He has just revealed a divine principal in a geologic creation for all to see and learn from. He provided a long-narrow passage that makes entrance to a place far greater than the one where you had been living.
Do you want to move to a far greater place? Then you must find the narrow gate, the gate that provides entrance to those authorized to go beyond the great walls that protect a land, a kingdom, worthy of protection.
Most people view God as inaccessible. Living in a self-made kingdom where ordinary man cannot set foot and only priests, ministers and fools dare make entrance. That is a lie. A lie that says, “You are not good enough and even if you were you are still not qualified to enter.” Reality says, “The Kingdom that lies beyond the wall and behind the gate is of such great riches and value beyond measure that He who created it requires authorization for entrance through its gate.”
Twenty miles north of Helena, MT Creation mirrors the narrow gate. Once entered, advance or retreat are your only options. A narrow passage through pure flowing water protected by high cliffs to a mountain kingdom like few in the world.
Jesus Christ is the narrow gate being mirrored in Creation. He is the narrow passage to the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom with riches beyond measure and eternal life in the presence of His Father, Our Father, who created the world and everything in it.
And He, Christ, is the one who provides passage by the pure flow of a life-giving river of blood that He shed as a sacrifice for our disqualification, our sin. Christ now authorizes us to enter the Kingdom of God if we are willing to simply immerse ourselves completely in His blood sacrifice and cross over from the life we have been living, (the broad one that leads to destruction) to fullness of eternal life beyond the wall through His narrow gate.
He, Christ, alone provides authorization for passage. Can you accept that “free” gift? If you do, it will require your very life. The good news is you will want to give it.
Will you allow the Creator of the heavens and earth to authorize you for passage through the narrow gate into His Kingdom, which is full of life, glory and joy unspeakable? He has already extended an invitation to you. You only need to respond “Yes!” That you will enter through the narrow gate provided by the pure, life-giving river of blood that flows from the heart of Christ.
A great adventure fashioned only for you awaits.
Take courage and “proceed on.”
Only Through the Narrow Gate
Clark set out overland early in the morning with York, and two soldiers in an effort to contact the Shoshone Tribe. The Captains had concluded that the Shoshones would not be familiar with the sound of rifle fire and may recede into the safety of the mountains rather than risk a war with an enemy. Discharging their rifles was a daily event for the Corps. I haven’t discovered it recorded specifically, but I gather that most evenings rifles were discharged if they hadn’t been fired while hunting. The vision of soldiers cleaning their weapons while encamped would hold in these camps as it does for our troops around the world today. Fresh powder was the rule of the day and required frequent recharging to be trustworthy. Any of us holding on to something of power that needs to fired and reloaded? Then pull the trigger!
The Corps had left the prairie. Pine and Douglas fir trees appeared on the mountains. Aspens became more plentiful than cottonwoods. And the broad leafed cottonwood was replaced by a smaller leafed version better suited to mountain life.
The expedition was reaching new heights every day as they wove their way westward. The relatively flat high desert-like plains of eastern Montana were giving way to the eastern edge of the Rockies in what we now call the Big Belt Range. From fifteen hundred feet on the prairie to three thousand feet at Great Falls to four thousand feet at Helena the men climbed. Clark followed a steep, well-worn Indian trail over a low mountain as Lewis and the rest of the troop followed the river upstream. Lewis noted the contrast between the snow-capped mountains now readily in view and the stifling heat of the river valleys they traversed. Summer in the mountains. A personal favorite of mine.
Water in the river had also taken on the characteristics of most mountain water. Crystal clear, bracingly cold and fairly swift in its passage. Lewis and his river crew rounded a bend in the river and thought for a moment that further passage might be blocked by the high cliffs that dominated the near horizon. What awaited them was what awaits so many of us as we enter into a new realm, a great adventure worthy of qualification and note. Entrance into the next phase of their adventure required passage through almost six miles of narrow channel made all the more mysterious by their arrival late in the day. Dusk raced their advance to the end of this breech in the mountains. The river is one hundred fifty yards wide. Twelve hundred foot cliffs on both sides create an effect like a gate through a fortress wall. Lewis aptly applied the name “Gates of the Rocky Mountains” to the geologic feature. The name remains today as the “Gates of the Mountains” National Wilderness Area. The actual stretch of river is accessible only by boat and many tours are available.
Lewis held a sense of grand entrance that a gate can signify. He entered a new phase of adventure through the high, narrow passage where stopping was not a possibility and emerged to a grand view of what lay before them, the Rocky Mountains!
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The road that leads to destruction is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.”
Look for the narrow passage that leads to life. A gate in a wall provides controlled entrance to a place deemed worthy of protection. A place through which entrance is authorized by the one who built the wall, the gate and the place beyond the gate.
If you believe the earth is God’s creation, then He has just revealed a divine principal in a geologic creation for all to see and learn from. He provided a long-narrow passage that makes entrance to a place far greater than the one where you had been living.
Do you want to move to a far greater place? Then you must find the narrow gate, the gate that provides entrance to those authorized to go beyond the great walls that protect a land, a kingdom, worthy of protection.
Most people view God as inaccessible. Living in a self-made kingdom where ordinary man cannot set foot and only priests, ministers and fools dare make entrance. That is a lie. A lie that says, “You are not good enough and even if you were you are still not qualified to enter.” Reality says, “The Kingdom that lies beyond the wall and behind the gate is of such great riches and value beyond measure that He who created it requires authorization for entrance through its gate.”
Twenty miles north of Helena, MT Creation mirrors the narrow gate. Once entered, advance or retreat are your only options. A narrow passage through pure flowing water protected by high cliffs to a mountain kingdom like few in the world.
Jesus Christ is the narrow gate being mirrored in Creation. He is the narrow passage to the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom with riches beyond measure and eternal life in the presence of His Father, Our Father, who created the world and everything in it.
And He, Christ, is the one who provides passage by the pure flow of a life-giving river of blood that He shed as a sacrifice for our disqualification, our sin. Christ now authorizes us to enter the Kingdom of God if we are willing to simply immerse ourselves completely in His blood sacrifice and cross over from the life we have been living, (the broad one that leads to destruction) to fullness of eternal life beyond the wall through His narrow gate.
He, Christ, alone provides authorization for passage. Can you accept that “free” gift? If you do, it will require your very life. The good news is you will want to give it.
Will you allow the Creator of the heavens and earth to authorize you for passage through the narrow gate into His Kingdom, which is full of life, glory and joy unspeakable? He has already extended an invitation to you. You only need to respond “Yes!” That you will enter through the narrow gate provided by the pure, life-giving river of blood that flows from the heart of Christ.
A great adventure fashioned only for you awaits.
Take courage and “proceed on.”
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 12:01 PM
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