The Hills are Alive with the Sound Of…

… nothing. Literally nothing. What a country of peace and quiet… Well, not to begin with. My journey started, just like many others, with a decision. Have you ever had to make a decision that wasn’t really important, but for some reason, you just couldn’t make up your mind? My decision was to go white water rafting or not to go white water rafting. Lame, I know. Something you should know: I played a couple sports in junior high (a good 10 years ago) but that’s about where my athletic ability stops. In the end, I caved. I went class 4 white water rafting on the river inn in Austria. It was the best decision of my time in Austria. It was a hot day, so hot, about 32 C (90F). But, the water was about 4 C (39 F). And, let me tell you. You have not lived until you’ve drank ice cold water, straight from the Alps. And I mean straight from the Alps. Let me give you an image. Imagine 50 people in wet suits waddling in a stream that lead from the Austrian Alps. Now imagine those 50 people drinking the water they were sitting in. Sounds nasty, right? Wrong! It was the freshest, cleanest, most refreshing water I have ever had in my entire life. I have no shame in saying that. If you ever have the chance, I highly suggest you go white water rafting in Austria just to drink the water. I’m not going to lie, it was scary… at first. But the adrenaline rush it gave, and the shock of the cold water, and the experience of doing something completely new. It was something I will never, ever, forget. Innsbruck, the city, was also pretty great.

After exploring Innsbruck, I went to a small town called Hopfgarten, still in the Tyrol region. I love small towns. Hopfgarten in the summer was relatively quiet. But if it were winter, I’ve been told it would have been very boisterous. Hopfgarten is a ski town. Austria: the land of extreme sports. But this was the dead of summer… and I was in Austria… and there was nothing I wanted to do more than to play “Maria” and sing, “the hills are alive with the sound of music” in the hills. (If you have never seen The Sound of Music, stop everything you are doing and watch it right now. That movie was my childhood.) So, I did. Now, I had never hiked before but I do now. It. Was. Exhausting. But worth it. I climbed up a nearby hill and reached the (near) top just in time to watch the sun set over the town below. It was magical, and I got my “Maria” picture. It looked nothing like the movie and I didn’t see any Edelweiss, but it was still beautiful. And, I am grateful. Grateful for the experience. Grateful for what followed as I sat there, in silence, at the top of my hill watching the sunset. Albert Einstein once said, “look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” Decipher from that what you will, but, sitting there in nature, I suddenly understood everything better. I wanted so desperately to take a picture of the beauty unfolding before my eyes but it just didn’t turn out in picture the same way that I was seeing it. In the end I had to stop. Stop with the cell phone. Stop with the image. Stop with the technology and listen. God is the voice in the silence. I think that’s the thing with God. No matter how hard you try to replicate his work. Do things on your own. Or even say, “look at my amazing photography skills’. Nothing. Nothing we can ever do will match the power of our almighty God. None of us are so great an artist that we are greater than the first Artist. No one can match the Almighty. Nothing. No one. None. Zip. Nada. Look deep into nature and you will see Everything (capital E). I guess what I’m trying to get at here is, if you ever doubt that God is out there or that God is in control, take a hike!

Best water I’ve ever tasted.

Austria, looking nothing like The Sound of Music, but still a beauty. “The hills are alive with the sound of music.”

Look deep into nature and you will see Everything.