“If I lift up my eyes to the hills, where shall I find help?
Help comes only from the Lord, Maker of Heaven and earth.”—Psalm 121
Last fall my wife and I traveled to Alaska. The cruise of the Inside Passage had been on my bucket list for many years; it did not disappoint. But the highlight of our trip was our visit to Mt. Denali—“the Great One.”
The highest mountain in North America is usually shrouded in clouds and fog. Natives and tourist guides are fond of telling visitors that only 30% of the thousands of visitors there each year get to see the mountain. And after a couple of days traveling to get there, and most of another day in Denali National Park itself, we were beginning to be resigned to being among the 70% who never glimpse it.
Then late in the afternoon on the day we were traveling through the park, the clouds suddenly and unexpectedly broke, just as we approached the mountain, and we were treated to some very special views. The next day, as we were traveling by motor coach away from the park, again unexpectedly, the sky became crystal clear, and we saw the mountain in its full glory. The accompanying painting is one I painted from a photograph I took while we were pulled off to the side of the road.
