The Call of the Mountain

The Call of the Mountain

I walk the trails that lead through these mountains and I feel our ancestors that walked these trails before me. I hear the echoes of the birds in flight calling their mates from the other side of the mountains from days gone by. I can hear echoes in time of bears feasting upon the fruits that the mountain gives to its woodland creatures.

I hear the voice of the Cherokee who were the first to speak to the mountain and called this place home. I feel the winds that have blown through these mountains and carried the voices of the early settlers through its valleys to the tips of its chimney tops.

This land we call the Appalachians is a gift from God for His creations. It is up to us to talk to the mountain and keep it company for it has been there for us in good and bad times, keeping us fed, and blessed with its abundance of riches. We have quenched our thirst in the streams that come from the winter snows on its caps and, with the power of her fast-moving streams coming from its highest points,

We powered our mills to grind the grain that makes our bread that we farmed in the valleys around our beautiful mountains. Our ancestors settled within the borders of these mountains we call the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. We have not only worked this land to feed our families, we have also bled from our hearts into the very dirt and rocks that make up these mountains.

We have borne our children and buried our parents within its soil. It is not just a tourist attraction for those that live in distant places, this is where we call home. The history and the ministry that lay before us in these mountains is our destiny and we would have it no other way, for we are mountain strong.