Stairway to Heaven

We didn’t have to buy it! But saved on the parking by walking an extra two kilometres! We returned to Ireland in late June and hardly stopped to bless ourselves. We came to the far west of Fermanagh last week to:

get away,

retreat,

Listen to God, and

Be able to explore where next…

So we find ourselves in a beautiful little cabin (or shack* for more spiritually minded!), it has a real fire, a veranda and all the amenities. No TV and my data ran out two days ago so we’re offline (I had to use a friends WiFi to post this!).

Today we went for a walk to the Cuilcagh Mountain Park (54°15.0095′ N, 07°48.9507′ W). It’s a beautiful walk through and over bogland accomplished by boardwalks and then to a mountain where stairs take you over the delicate ecosystem. The views are astounding. The bogland sits on delicate limestone which where eroded has formed sinkholes and caves -as we approached the start of the walk we strode over a bridge over a dry riverbed; a bit surprising for all the rain this country gets! The park is part of the Marble Arch Cave Park which too is well worth a visit.

Angie prayed as we started our walk that we would have God encounters. We regularly ask for these as we follow Jesus and He was always on the lookout to see what His Father was up to**. We ‘bump’ into people who need encouragement, healing, or prayer.

Today as we approached a wayside information board we heard a loud exclamation- “Angie!”

It was our good friend Sarah, who had been to Bible College with us and was Angie’s housemate back then. Well they got on like a house on fire!

The path to Cuilcagh becomes a board walk, then it becomes stepped and eventually becomes stairs. I overheard someone say “stairway to heaven” and I though “Oh! Just a turn of phrase.” But no once at the top and taking in the beautiful view I checked my map and it was labelled as such there! No sign of Jacob or a 70’s rock band!

I’d been taking pictures including the required ‘selfie’ and this is what came out…

We certainly got our God encounter!

*The Shack was a bestseller from a few years back well worth a read – The Shack https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0340979496/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_YGNHDb5WEHZY2

**The Holy Bible, New Testament, John 5:19-20 So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. (New Living Translation)