In the last days

the mountain of the Lord's house will be established

at the top of the mountains

and will be raised above the hills.

All nations will stream to it,

and many people will come and say,

Come,

let us go up

 to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us about His ways

so that we may walk in his paths.

Isaiah 2: 2 - 3a

We climbed a mountain at church camp once.  Really it was hardly more than a pile of boulders, but enough to impress me at the time.  The teacher asked us to walk silently behind him, and in great testimony to his influence over thirty giddy and sleep deprived teenagers, we actually pretty well did it. 

He sat us down among the rocks and in the character of Jesus gave us word for word, completely from memory, the sermon on the mount.  It was an awe inspiring experience that lives with me thirty years later whenever I hear any of the words of those verses.

I've camped in the Colorado Rockies since then, coasted through the winding hills of the Smokey mountains of Tennessee and lived within sight on a clear day of the incredible majesty of Mt McKinley, Alaska.  Yet these verses still take me back to that rough hill where the words of Jesus were as fresh and real to me as the day they were first spoken. 

He will teach us his ways, all nations, all people, climbing that hill in breathless awe waiting for the gift of his words.