Let’s see, headlamp, back pack, water bottle, food, rain gear … I was trying to clear the cobwebs out of my mind that had just moments earlier been abruptly snatched out of serenity of a good REM sleep dream.  It was 5AM high in the Colorado Rockies.  The sweet scent of pine pierced the cold air as I filled my lungs and tried to think.  ‘What else will I need?’  In a few minutes we would be heading up a trail, in the pitch blackness of night, hoping to summit Mount Belford and then Mount Oxford, two of Colorado’s majestic 14ers, before the weather hit.  My friend Jeff had made an earlier attempt on another peak only to be turned back by rain, hail and lightening.  You never really know what you will encounter on these adventures, but the lure of the quest and the beauty of the peaks draw us back time and time again. And so we were off; prepared for the worse, hoping for the best, expecting the unexpected.

This second week of advent is marked by the candle of Preparation.  It is a time to prepare, both for the celebration of our Savior’s birth as well as his soon return. Jesus had quite a bit to say about this.  At one point as he walked this earth, he told a story of a great celebration that was about to begin.  It would be grand – a royal wedding.  As was the practice of the day though, once the groom arrived, the doors would be shut.  Fashionably late apparently hadn’t caught on yet in 30 AD.  In telling the tale, Jesus shares the exploits of a group of young ladies. Ten of them in all; each thrilled at the opportunity to attend such an event.  Unfortunately, as so often happens in stately affairs, the groom was held up, perhaps in a national crisis or maybe a personal threat – whatever it was, the party wouldn’t begin, couldn’t begin, until he arrived. Not really a problem, not even much of an inconvenience, certainly not in comparison to the majesty of the evening that was planned once he did show up … unless you hadn’t prepared for the wait and forgot extra oil for your lamp.  You see, while this was a great place to celebrate, it wasn’t a safe place, not in the dark, not with the wild animals that prowled the country side. Their only choice was to go back to town and hope a merchant would open his doors to make a quick buck at their expense.  By the time they returned though, it was too late.  The groom had arrived, festivities were under way, and sorry, but the door was closed.

Jesus uses this story and others like it to drive home the point that in such a long and sustained tale as we find ourselves caught up in, preparation is everything.  In speaking of his return Jesus asks a simple, straight forward question:  “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).  The implication is that he won’t, or at least not as much as we would hope.  It’s so easy to lose faith, to get so caught up in all that is unfolding around us that we forget to prepare, to expect the unexpected. 

That is one of the gifts of this season of advent.  It reminds us to prepare, to set our hearts, our priorities, and our plans on things beyond all the pettiness and distractions of our current circumstances.  It reminds us to prepare for a King.

We made it to both peaks that day.  After hours and hours of hiking, in sun, rain, wind and cold, we sat on top of the world, taking in the beauty of the Collegiate Peaks.  Our preparation had paid off and our reward was all the sweeter because of the journey. 

To the King,

David