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Mt. Shasta – Mt. Shasta, CA

Today was our second longest day of driving (that I can remember). We drove 761.1 miles. That’s a lot. A whole lot. But we got to see LOTS of amazing stuff along the way.

One thing we greatly anticipated on today’s trip was the drive past Mt. Shasta. As you can see above, it is an impressive sight!

Well, we were still TWO HUNDRED miles away, but we saw this cool-looking snow-capped mountain in the distance in the direction that Mt Shasta would be… and we got excited! “Could that be it???” I couldn’t really believe we could see it from so far away! It did look kinda small, but I figured that’s cause of the distance.

So for 20-30 miles, we drove, in complete awe of this mountain that we could see so well from 200 miles away! We drove 50 miles, and it kept getting closer. And I became more and more convinced that it was Mt. Shasta.

Until I saw it.

On the horizon, blurred by distance and its height reduced significantly by the curvature of the earth, was an ENORMOUS white mountain!!! THAT was the real Mt. Shasta.

And then I felt silly. I looked at what I thought had been Mt. Shasta, and then at the real thing, and I couldn’t believe I had ever accepted the imposter as the real thing!!!

And that made me think. Don’t we do that all the time with sin? Don’t we size up our sin, convincing ourselves that it is indeed the real thing? Even though we know our Father has something far better for us in mind? We convince ourselves that the puny imitation we see is really the majestic genuine article we actually want.

But it’s not.

One of Satan’s grand schemes is to get us to accept a counterfeit. Often, the sins that most entangle us appear to be the thing we most need. Or, if we notice it’s not quite right, we convince ourselves that it is the thing we need. But then if it is placed next to the real deal, it seems so small and worthless in comparison.

Mt. Shasta is an amazing piece of God’s handiwork. Really. If you’ve never seen it, the above picture just can’t capture the jaw-dropping hugeness of this big piece of rock! It’s incredible.

And to think I was willing to accept a little ant hill in comparison! 🙂

God reminded me today to watch out for counterfeits in my life. To always keep my eyes open for the real deal. It is so much more amazing. Boy, is that true!!!