Mountain Climbing and God's Special Gifts Renee and I lived within sight of Mt. Kilimanjaro for the 11 years    we stayed with the Maasai. I climbed it twice, the first time with Renee and Thomas and then again in 2002 with Zeb and some of his high school friends. Climbing Kili the first time increased my interest in such things, so in 1998 and 2000 we also climbed Mt. Kenya. The first time we climbed Mt. Kenya, the Lord blessed us to see an every 30 year meteor shower. I do not remember the name of that particular phenomenon only that it sounds Russian. Meteors fell continuously in every quadrant of the sky as we climbed from the last shelter to the top of the mountain. All our Kenyan guides were young, so like us, they had no idea what was happening. We only found out weeks later when bringing in the New Year with some colleagues in Kisumu. The dad of one of them had written her to tell her to be watching the sky on the very date we climbed to the summit between the hours of 1 a.m. and sunrise.        The second time we climbed Mt. Kenya, at the top we got to see the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro sticking up through the clouds. Again, while not an every 30 year thing, it was a sight not all climbers get.  Then just 2 days ago, I got to witness an eclipse from the Appalachian Trail. I heard it was the first of its type in America in 90+ years. I bought the glasses required for viewing it so I had the full experience. While it was not 100%, it was  close enough for the forest to grow pretty dark, and the temperature dropped by maybe 10 degrees. I needed that relief because it was a very hot and humid day and it was also a day with big climbs. One can never know exactly what will transpire when he/she takes off on a big venture.  However, followers of Jesus always can take off knowing He is guiding and protecting them. And when our gracious King gives us unique experiences along the way, it makes the going even more special. Uncle