A Mount Olympus memory

It's amazing how a memory will stay in the recesses of the mind over many decades.

A long, long time ago (1963) , I climbed Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece,  with three friends.

On the way up

It was a long climb which took us two days - the mountain is just short of 10,000 ft (3000m) high and you have to begin the climb at sea level.  

Me, Norman Cumming, Sam Yapp, David Relfe, and a German girl we met on the way up

At the summit: Sam, Norman, David, me. 

 We had the advantage of climbing in perfect weather - but the particular memory which sticks in my mind is of viewing a violent thunderstorm from above. We could see the lightning and hear the thunder rolling below us, whilst we ourselves were in brilliant sunshine.

The valley after the storm

 By the time we got down the mountain the storm had disappeared.  We had arranged to stay at a Christian orphanage near the foot of the mountain, and as we approached,  we heard the orphan children singing lustily 'How great thou art' (in Greek, of course). It was a hymn which was just becoming popular in Britain at the time - indeed it has subsequently been voted Britain's most popular hymn on the BBC programme Songs of Praise.

The words in English of this hymn resonated strongly with the experiences we had just had on our climb, and 57 years later it remains a powerful memory.

Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works thy hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my saviour God to thee

How great thou art, how great thou art.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, my saviour God to thee

How great thou art, how great thou art.

The awesomeness of nature expressed in the hymn has a 

parallel written 2500 year earlier when the writer of 

Psalm 19 was awed by looking up at the night sky..... 

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies

proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day 

they pour forth speech; night after night they 

reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use 

no words; no sound is heard from them. 

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, 

their words to the ends of the world. 

Powerful stuff!