Bathurst
Just south of Sydney and inland from the Blue Mountains lies a lovely picturesque expansive bowl shaped valley, and right in the middle of the valley is a conical hill, with a quaint wee town nestled right up against its base, you are now in Bathurst, New South Wales. There is only one way up and down this mountain, and over the decades, many a brave knight has mounted his trusty fire breathing steed, and has gone into battle with the mountain. It is an interesting place to drive to, you head out right behind the town, and there it is, rising majestically before you, with its name in white at its top “Mount Panorama,” and the road heads straight towards it.
The road gets to an interesting Tee intersection where you stop, turn on your right hand blinker, look both ways, and proceed right, only to find yourself actually on the “Start – Finish Straight,” with all the markings on the road, Commentary box, pit lane garages, it is all there on a public road. You travel up a slight rise, a hard left turn at Hell Corner, and there you are now climbing up Mountain Straight, turn right and start to climb, left turn and you are really climbing very steeply up through the Cutting. With a right sweep you find yourself almost on top of the mountain with panoramic views spread out below, but your eye is firmly fixed to that very narrow strip of smooth black seal quickly speeding below you.
You curve left, and then you whizz past Skyline, slight right at McPhillamy Park, and you literally start to fall off the mountain along a very narrow ridge, zig zag through the Dipper, hard left and you literally free fall through Forrest Elbow, and there, straight ahead, is “Conrod Straight” and you dip and soar over the undulations continuing to rapidly descend downwards. “The Chase” is upon you instantly and it is deceptively narrow and tight, survive that, and it is down once again to the valley floor, with a sharp left at “Murrays Corner” and the start-finish line is almost upon you, you have just survived a lap of, “The Mountain.” Want to go around again?
Almost the whole circuit is a continuous line of solid concrete walls on both sides of the narrow ribbon of black seal, with the odd opening to let the home owners into their properties, the advertising signs are everywhere on the walls of concrete, and you often find a set of four very thick black lines leading straight into them, where in the recent past somebody has strayed off the straight and narrow, to their often excessive demise. Each race day, there is a collection of vehicles taken home battered and bruised from the unforgiving walls, and some are “unto death” (Wages of Sin), and are now a very expensive pile of scrap metal, but the less battered spend days and weeks in their garages getting re-built, to live to fight and to battle another day on the race tracks.
Our lives here are so much like Mount Panorama, we race through life and forget to stop and smell the flowers along the way and to pause to look at the stunning scenery, for it is often just head down and flat out. We find that any straying to the left and the right, can lead to disastrous situations, “Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14. Life has the perils of Sin all around us, and they will rip you to shreds in a moment, so being fully committed to Jesus Christ and with “The Holy Spirit” strapped in right beside us, together as a Team, we can circulate safely basically forever, well as long as we listen and quickly obey. 1 Samuel 15:22 “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams.”
Living under “God’s Providential care and Guiding” we are more than able to conquer all things through Christ Jesus, but so often we just plaster his Name as Stickers on our doors (Christian), and that is about as far as it goes, no depth to our relationship, no robustness, just “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:5. If you have wandered from The Lord, and Satan has left you as scrap on the side of Life’s Highway, you realize that you followed the wrong advice, then call out to God and Jesus Christ, for they will rescue you, they will take you back to their workshops and with all their skill and helpers (Angels), they can put Humpty Dumpty back together again better than new.
At Pentecost, the people asked Peter and the Disciples, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38. Repentance in scripture is the same as 180 degrees on a compass, it is a “U” Turn, a complete change in direction, a “once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” We once served Satan, Sin and Death, but it is now Jesus Christ and life unto Life. Psalm 24:3-4 “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” In the “Great Race” the best cars are entered the gruelling battle for “King of the Mountain,” so are you on Gods Team, for God in Christ Jesus has already conquered all things.
