E-Letters

Celestial Navigation

By Jeff Andrechyn
Nov 17, 2009

A couple of months ago my friends took me to a beautiful estate just outside of Charlottesville, VA. It was the beginning of Fall and the sun was setting over the Blue Ridge Mountains. We built a fire outside, set up chairs around it and then my friend, Robert, said, "Jeff I want to show you something." He took me over to a grave from the early 1800's of Peachy Ridgeway Gilmer who was a childhood friend of Meriwether Lewis. Peachy was the one who coined the phrase of Lewis "a man of undaunted courage" that Steven Ambrose used in his book Undaunted Courage about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Robert showed me where the two men grew up and played as boys together. I was standing there with the guys when God rushed in and spoke to my heart, "I thought you might like this. I love what you love."

We sat around the fire that night and told stories. It was a transcendent evening we will never forget.

It has been said that "courage is a strong desire to live manifested as a readiness to die."

On the journey west the Corps of Discovery's maps ended when they penetrated uncharted lands. At one point Lewis and Clark were not sure which direction to go and some Indians came out of their tepees and started drawing lines in the sand to say, "I think you want to go this way."

So here is the greatest exploration in the history of the United States with all of the strength, training, and skill they could combine, whose mission was to claim this land for the US, standing there trying to communicate with some Indians who were scratching lines in the dirt.

This is a critical element on the journey. There comes a time when "the maps" run out. There comes a time when our maps run out. What happens on the journey when you have no idea in which direction to go?

What I am realizing is these experiences are critical on the journey with the Lord because when you experience the frontier like this you are on the verge of discovery.

Lewis and Clark went celestial and shot the moons circling Jupiter to determine their longitude.

There came a point on the expedition when they came upon the Bitterroot Mountains. It was late in the season and it was already snowing on the peaks. Meriwether knew if they could not traverse that range before winter the expedition stood the chance of collapsing. They had to get over those daunting mountains.

It seems that God is OK with calling us to something that is impossible, where there are no earthly maps. He has a secret within us that is so deep. That Secret is our ability to go celestial because of His Life in us. We now have the ability to orient to heaven. It's on this frontier that we find a Christ as vast and expansive as the land we are possessing.

The courage Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had to have was the willingness to get lost (on earth). They were called to a place where no maps existed and the terrain was very unforgiving.

Guys, this is so often where we faint. Our knees grow weak when we are up against an impossible mountain range.

For every situation that seems impossible in your life you need to know there is a way through and that there is a Life in you that is undaunted by the mountain range in front of you.

Take time to think about your situation with some trusted allies and build a situational awareness of where you are and where you need to go. Read stories of Rangers who have gone over the mountains in front of you. Read everything you can and "go celestial". When God speaks, write it down. Then make a new map and choose a path knowing He will guide you.

Some of the men reading this need to start moving because if you don't you will die in the valley of mediocrity. The worst thing you can do is sit and do nothing.

You have to venture out like Lewis and Clark into the unknown and be willing to "get lost" for a while on earth while trusting the coordinates from heaven.

Michael Thompson said "the cool thing about getting lost is when you get found."

When you get found, come and see us. We will give you a Ranger Badge.

Jeff