Sometimes when God gives us challenges to stop us from reaching our goals, it isn't because He wants to stop us from attaining our dreams, it's because He wants us to wait so He can make the achievement even more memorable.
When I first started this journey of photographing God's artistry my son Brandon, who was twelve at the time, used to come out with me. However, as he reached High School his time with me faded away due to his new sports and social calendar. I never told him, but it left me feeling rather sad because our time out in the forest was special to me.
While Brandon was busy with his High School career, I heard about a waterfall that was beautiful and stunning. All of the information I read about it claimed you could easily drive up to the trailhead along a forest road, and hike an easy 1.8-mile out-and-back trail to it. So I jumped in my truck in 2020 and headed out to photograph it.
Sadly, when I reach the forest road that led to the trailhead, the gate was closed with a sign that read logging in process foot traffic only. But I wasn't going to allow the additional 4 miles now added to the falls to stop me. I parked just outside the gate, grabbed my gear, and headed up to the trail. As I reach the 3-mile marker, a huge summer storm rolled in over the mountains forcing me to turn back.
The next summer I decided to try my luck again, only to have the same exact thing happen. The forest road was closed forcing me to hike the rest of the route only to have another pop-up summer storm roll in forcing me to retreat. It was as if God kept telling me, "Not today!"
But then in the summer of 2023, during a waterfall tour I was guiding, I passed that forest road to discover it was now open to vehicle traffic. I was thrilled and set out the next day to photograph the falls. As I pulled up to the parking area ready to head down the trail to the falls, a huge storm settled in over the area forcing me once again to retreat. As you can imagine I was emotionally defeated and wondered if I would ever be able to photograph the falls.
The next day my son Brandon, now 19 years old, called me up and said, "Hey, want to go hiking," something I hadn't done with him in years.
"Yes," I replied immediately thinking of the waterfall that eluded my efforts for years.
As we drove together we started to chat like we used to do so many times before when he was younger. I felt like I had somehow slipped backward in time to a moment I had missed more than I even knew.
We arrived at the trailhead without a cloud in the sky, an event that had never happened before in all my times of trying to reach the falls. Put our gear on our backs, and hiked into the falls continuing to chat the entire way. It was beyond special for me as out on the trail again my son at one of the most stunning waterfalls in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Now I know why God stopped me so many times before because He wanted to make that experience even better than I could have imagined. He is so amazing, seeing this day coming years before forcing me to wait until then. Thank you, Lord
