Lake Avenue travels from South Pasadena northward to Altadena and comes to an end when it meets Loma Alta Street and the foothills. Behind these gates, which anyone can walk around, are mountain trails. Legend has it that the Marx Bro. (Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo) once owned a home here. All that remains now is a stone foundation. I’ve walked the trails many times up to Mt. Lowe, which looks out over the San Gabriel Valley and beyond to Los Angeles.

This day, I didn’t come here to hike but to paint and seek the lost. A parade of hikers walked past me as they came and went on their journeys. Finally, three young men who were headed toward the trails stopped to see what I was doing.

They seemed to enjoy watching me paint, but I was very interested to learn about them. One was an aspiring inventor, another a cartoonist and the third an entrepreneur. After listening to their dreams, I told them that they could achieve their goals with God’s help. I told them about His plan for salvation. They were receptive to the message, but not yet ready to make a commitment to Jesus.

I bid them a kind farewell as they continued on their way into the mountains.