When planning for our visit to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, I was filled with excitement and I just could NOT wait to get there! However, travel tips indicated that there was some preparation involved. In order to avoid altitude sickness, many advised to drink more water than usual.
Here’s a “fun” fact about me on road trips: I drink a limited amount of fluids. Drinking more than usual means increased visits to public restrooms which I HATE. I know, that’s a strong word but I have quite an aversion to using a public restroom. I began to tell myself that perhaps I could be the exception to this advice. If I could manage childbirth, surely I could manage high altitude with just a few ounces of water in my system, right??
Eventually, I decided to prepare my body by following this advice. I had to tell myself that an extra public restroom was a small sacrifice in comparison to headaches, nausea/vomiting, and dizziness while gazing at the Rocky Mountains.
So, from the time our family hit the road, I made an hourly announcement to drink from our water bottles. You can only imagine how much my children enjoyed that ;) We definitely had to make a lot more pit stops than usual, but by the time we reached an elevation of 10,000 feet a few days into our trip, we were all able to enjoy the breathtaking view without any sickness. It was AMAZING!
Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.” When reading Genesis chapters 6 through 9, we see that in spite of the lack of evidence of rain, God instructed Noah to build an ark for the flood that was forecasted to come. Like his neighbors, he could have dismissed it as preposterous. I mean, who wants to spend years of their life cutting and collecting wood, building an ark, adding flooring and roofing, and making it a livable environment for both people and animals, not knowing what will really happen? But Noah decided to prepare for the flood and it resulted in his family being saved while all those around him sadly perished.
A temporary sacrifice for a permanent blessing … I’d say it’s worth the time and labor (and pit stops) to be prepared. Wouldn’t you?
~Joyce
