~found photo ... sorry, no credit, but the note said it was taken from  35,000 feet ...  a position of privilege I think, wonderful of them to share the view.  This would be the receding edge of the eclipse ... or the dawning of a new light, complete with the optical reminder of "rainbow".  I like the photo quite a bit. 

Exodus 20:21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

I'm doing this thing ... following this guide I found on-line of "reading the Bible" in one years time.  I like that it's on the laptop ... easily accessible.  http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/

Anyway, today's reading is a bit riveting. I like the whole epic story of a man (Moses) meeting with God.  Really ... wow.  And, it could have gone differently ... as I read it I see choices being offered and selections being made.

There is a certain darkness.  There is certainly a darkness ... a thick darkness ... which seems to blanket the doings of mankind.  I think we are accustomed to "looking" in the dark, so much so in fact, that "dark" seems ... normal.  It seems normal until it is suddenly darker, like too dark to see what we thought might be "the way" or ... until it is suddenly lots brighter, as with a flash of lightning in the deep of a storm ... it illuminates for a second, and we see things as they really are, but the image is gone before we can truly process the information ... it tends to "highlight" how truly dark our darkness is, rather then lighting ... the way. I look out my window and wonder.

~Mathieu Neuforge

http://www.biblestudytools.com/passage.aspx?q=exodus+19;exodus+20;matthew+18:21-34

These verses are wrapped around the Ten Commandments, and as I read this today, it seems to me that the people were actually invited to come up on the mountain ... also.  There were instructions about preparing themselves and an admonition not to step a foot on the mountain until after a long blast from the horn ... an all clear sort of thing as I read it.

Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.

I'm going to say God really did show up on the mountain ... and I'm trying to imagine ... thunder, lightning, thick cloud, trumpet blast ... that's what it says, then ... (people tremble ... I get that ... Moses led the people out of their camp to the foot of the mountain) ... smoke, fire, trembling mountain, sound of trumpet (louder and louder) ... then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him ... and told Moses to come up, which he did and God said ...  "Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the LORD, must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them."  

now, to me, that sounds like a group invitation on to the mountain with advice to be "orderly" not to force their way through to see the Lord ... even the priests (who approach the Lord) must consecrate themselves, or ... . then this:  

23 Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, 'Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.' " 24 The LORD replied, "Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the LORD, or he will break out against them." 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.

to me it sounds like Moses is reminding God (really?  that seems so odd ... ) about the restriction, and it seems to me that he (Moses) forgot the part about ...
Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.
  
Did the ram's horn blast?  We get the loud trumpet, but where's the ram's horn? And what's the deal with a ram's horn anyway?

To me, with no intentional irreverence, it seems that God opts for a different plan and I think it was because "the people weren't listening or weren't ready ... or I don't know, and I don't even think I know, I acknowledge that I don't know ... I wonder if it was exasperating for God and He was like ... okay, just go get Aaron and tell the people to not force their way through or ... there's going to be trouble.

What if ... .  

I am thinking about a trumpet blast (in fact a whole series of trumpet blasts) which is (are) to happen sometime later.  It is prophesied about in Revelation and there is some "going up" happening there as well ... .  The words in the last book of the Bible convey similar images to these found in Exodus and portray (by choice) mankind dwelling with God.
Well, I'm thinking about that ... lots of thinking about that, cause it's very puzzling.  Umm, the choice part is clear, the sequence of events is puzzling. What ever happened to the sounding of the ram's horn?

thunder, lightning, thick cloud, trumpet blast ... smoke, fire, trembling mountain, sound of trumpet (louder and louder)

honestly, it sounds like the landing of something I really want to see ... it sounds really cool ... okay and scary if you're not used to stuff landing ... it's going to be awesome!  And then ... it gets even cooler ... it gets ... holy.  

I remember when we worked the Friday night over night shift ... volunteering for a crisis intervention hot line.  I would sit in that room near a phone and look out into the impermeable dark  ... it felt like everything "out there" was totally dark and these tormented souls would reach out towards the tiny bit of light flickering in that room (we kept in on otherwise we'd fall asleep) ... twirling the dial, reaching through their dark for at least the warmth of another soul ... it's so hard to feel all alone in the dark.  Just the idea that some invisible someone some unknown somewhere was willing to listen helped them push at the enveloping darkness.  There is all manner of darkness out there.  Sometimes it really creeped me out (still does).  Sometimes it felt like the entire world was ... dark  ... and it felt like that darkness could easily overwhelm the tiny fragile light of that room. 
I can feel it still.  I don't mean that in some weird psychological way ... what I'm saying is I have anxieties about the choices we have made ... and the choices that brought us to this place where those choices were/are made.  This little goofy blog is inadvertently attracting a (relative)ton of "hits" via a search for True North, interest stirred up by the recent LINCOLN movie ... and I think it's because the idea that "we" are "off course" resonates out there in the thick darkness, the swamps threaten.


Exodus 20:21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

God was found in the thick darkness.

That's what I'm trying to think about today(while I work on upholstering headboards, and mop the floors in my house, while spaghetti sauce simmers ... while the leaves pile up from that tree at the end of the driveway ... all that, all the sweet luxury of that).

I don't think it is realistic to try to seal my life up from the dark.  I think dark is a given and has been for quite some time.   I think the plan might be to approach God ... thick dark is what we have to work with/in and we are called to live as children of light.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. ~ Ephesians 5:8

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. ~Isaiah 9:12

That's the course of hope ... that, I think, is True North.
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con·se·crate/ˈkänsiˌkrāt/

Verb:	Make or declare (something, typically a church) sacred; dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose. (in Christian belief) Make (bread or wine) into the body or blood of Christ.
Synonyms:	dedicate - sanctify - devote - hallow - bless