The Old Man of the Mountain

In the mountains of northern New Hampshire lies Profile Lake. For decades people have made their way to its shore so that from a certain spot they can look 1200 feet up the mountainside to see the shape of a man’s head. It’s a huge rock outcropping jutting out from the side of Profile Mountain. It was carved out of the red granite by storms, water and freezing temperatures. That outcropping was the size of a 4 story building. (Does this remind us about McIntyre Bluff looking like a face from some angles?)
People living in the area became attached to it. It was almost as though they got comfort from that idea that someone seemed to constantly be watching over them. The Old Man of the Mountain would always be there for them. Tourists came to see it. Daniel Webster wrote about it. Nathanial Hawthorne authored a book about it called “The Great Stone Face”. In 1939 a 13 year old boy, Robert Doane, wrote a poem about it in which he said:
“It was made from a mountain of granite with the skill of a sculptor’s hand,
And guards the green valley below it as time passes over the land.”

Time did pass and on May 3, 2003 the forces of nature carved one crack too many and the huge, great stone face came crashing down. There was a sense of deep loss from some of the residents. It was as though there would now be no one watching over them. But that is not the case. Centuries ago the psalmist wrote:
I lift my eyes up to the hills – where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He concludes Psalm 121 with:
…the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
This is a Guard you can depend on. He will not come crashing down. Place your faith in the Lord.

Keeping on the sunny side,
Henry Wiebe