On Monday, July 31, 2000, we had the privilege of visiting Denali National Park in Alaska. The park’s name comes from the Athabaskan word describing the mountain Americans named Mount McKinley. The Native American Athabaskans called the mountain Denali, meaning The Great One. It is in deed a HUGE mountain. So big that it creates its own weather system, and has a way of hiding itself behind clouds most of the time, especially in the summer when most tourists come to look for it. On average it’s visible only about 30% of the time.
Being fully aware that our chances of seeing the mountain were slim, we began consulting the weather forecast regularly about a week before our trip. It didn’t look at all hopeful. The National Weather Service was pretty sure it was going to be either raining or at least cloudy the whole time we were there. Ken writes a weekly devotional message called "A Fresh Look at Jesus" that he sends out to more than 600 subscribers. He’s been writing about faith and prayer recently, so on Saturday, July 29, when he sent out his message, he tacked on a little note at the end.
This coming week my wife and I will be in Alaska for a couple of days of vacation followed by some speaking appointments. Meanwhile, my laptop computer is spending a few days in Kentucky for recuperation and repairs, so there won't be a Fresh Look mailing. Just checked the weather forecast and it calls for “showers” the two days we'll be up by Mt. McKinley. We'd like to at least see the mountain once, so if you think of it, pray for a quick break in the clouds next Monday!
But the weather forecast continued to be uniformly bad. The best the prognosticators could come up with was a prediction of “Scattered Showers” for Monday. So we didn’t hold out much hope of seeing the mountain. But you already guessed the end of the story, because of the pictures above. On Monday we took one of the regular shuttle buses that run into the park during the summer. Along the way, we began to see a few glimpses of parts of the Great One, but it wasn’t until we reached the Stony Point Overlook that the mountain lifted its veil and let itself be seen. Our bus driver was amazed. He said it was the first time he’d seen the mountain at all in more than a month. Was this an answer to prayer, or just a neat coincidence? The mountain remained visible for only half an hour or so that day, then the clouds moved in again. I don’t know. Does that sound like the exact thing we asked people to pray for or not--”a quick break in the clouds”? Some may choose to chalk it all up to lucky happenstance, but we prefer to give thanks to the true Great One--our Father in heaven.
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