Out Our Way: Over the ridge - 1Corintians 2:6-9

Out our way, open country still has surprises from those who will ride over the ridge to take a look. Those who never look for nor see anything but the road they are on often miss incredible sights and experiences. For example, out by the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation is an old abandoned Roman Catholic Church — and behind it is the cemetery. Unlike most city cemeteries, people are allowed and indeed encouraged to leave mementos and special gifts on the graves. There is no “groundskeeper” who cares for the place, but it is far from abandoned. The graves tended to be cared for and things left ranging from rawhide lariats and good, quality knives to bottles of orange pop. And no one touches these gifts, for they are sacred and speak volumes about love and family. But most people just see the old deserted and decaying Church building as they zoom by on the highway and have no idea. 

I have camped and ridden and driven in some places few even know exist where incredible rock formations can be found along with occasional sightings of mule and white tail deer, antelope — and driving bit, one can see the great elk gathering in the elk preserve or head down south a ways to the “Montana Bale Trail” for the annual “What the Hay” festival. So many glorious surprises lie in store for those who will get off the highway and go “Over the ridge.”

I really began to realize three as so much more over the ridge when Charlie and I worked cattle in the Tiger Ridge area. I had been in Montana for a number of years and thought I knew my way around, but when Charlie took me on my first cowboy expedition, he led me off the main cattle trail we had been following and cantered up the ridge and told me to follow. So I gave Doc a squeeze and hung on for dear life — for as much as I love the old goof, his canter and gallop are like riding a jackhammer — and going up the ridge in a series of hops like a jack rabbit slammed me around pretty hard. But when I got up to the top, the sight was well worth it.

I know I have sought to describe the vista seen from the top of the ridge on a horse in cattle country — and I fear I don’t have the talent to make it come alive for those who have not had the experience — but the vastness of the Big Open seen from that perspective takes your breath away. I also realized that hadn’t even begun to realize the wonders of the area I call home. I had to go over the ridge to catch a glimpse. 

The Apostle Paul speaks of the wonders that await us who are willing to ride over the ridge. Like the folks who never get off the highway and drive past such glories without a clue, saying” There’s nothing here,” Paul speaks of the secular and worldly folks who dismiss God and faith in the same way. In their “wisdom” they say, “There’s nothing here.” It is hidden from them, Pau says — but the indication is that is only hidden because they refuse to look. They “see but do not perceive” [Isaiah 6:9], or as an English writer put it way back in the 14th century, “There are none so blind as they who will not see.”

Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13 as a reminder that it has always been so — for far too few even consider riding over the ridge, taking “the road less traveled,” as Robert Frost’s famous poem describes, and so haven’t a clue of the beauty, wonders and magnificence God offers those who will “go over the ridge.” And, as riding my equine jackhammer, Doc, to get over the ridge illustrates, the way is not always comfortable nor easy.

In our fast paced world filled with so many distractions, we are in such a rush much of the time, we don’t even consider going over the ridge as it takes too much time and we are too busy with other things. Consider the Sabbath — the day of rest. The Commandment says keep it holy ... and the word “holy” in Hebrew means separate or different as well as sacred. “Oh, one of those ‘blue laws’ that used to be enforced by religious tyrants, right?” Here again is the dull-witted “wisdom” of the secular world that misses the point. “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath” says the Lord. [Mark 2:27] It is a “rule” in the same way your car’s owner guide is a true book when it tells you to change your oil every few thousand miles.

So do you take the time to let the week go and take the day for rest? Do you take the time to consider perhaps there is something in the Gospel that actually applies to you? Have you even read it Or do you just accept what Paul calls “the wisdom of his world and its rulers” that, like so many who drive blindly past one marvel after another convinced there is nothing there. Well, if you never ride over the ridge you will never know.

Blessings

John Bruington