Courage For Today

hike

When Small Pebbles Become Mountains

Strength

I don’t know about you but, for me, whenever I go for long walks or hiking (which isn’t very often), I sometimes become overwhelmed by the length of the journey. Usually, what goes through my mind is, “how much longer?”  I tend to look at the finish line first or the mountain I need to climb and, quite honestly, it can become too much sometimes. I suspect that each of us feels that way at one time or another in our lives.

I remember there was one hike I went on years ago with a youth group.  It wasn’t an extremely long hike, maybe a couple of miles or so.  It just seemed longer because of the large group we were trying to keep on the same path along our journey.  About halfway through our trek I noticed the heel of my foot began hurting and was getting progressively worse.  I stopped for a moment and checked out my shoe, but couldn’t find anything that would be causing the pain.  So, I continued on with the group until we finished.  By the time we reached our destination, the heel of my foot was bright red and tremendously sore.  After taking a water break and resting some, I looked at my shoe once more and found a tiny pebble wedged in between the insole and the shoe itself.  It was so small; I had not seen it before.

As Christians, I would encourage you to spend the week examining the small pebbles in your own life.  It is the small things in your life or testimony that make a huge difference in your Christian walk.  No one ever tripped over the mountain itself; it is the small pebbles that cause the pain.

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The Peace in Learning to Enjoy the Journey

Encouragement

My wife and I had a great time this past summer visiting Stone Mountain Park, here in the Atlanta area, with our grandsons.  We had the opportunity to spend the day with them seeing the various sights and attractions and just had a wonderful time.  One thing that my grandsons had really wanted to do that particular day was climb to the top of the mountain.  Stone Mountain isn’t a particularly tall mountain and fortunately has walking trails to the top, but for a 5 and 6 year old, along with grandpa and grandma, it is a formidable task.

Even though our grandsons’ enthusiasm was much greater than mine and my wife’s, we relented and decided to start the slow trek up the mountain.   The beginning part of the trail was slow and gradual.  It seemed like we were taking forever to climb just a short distance, but I had to remind myself that it took 3 of their strides to equal 1 of ours, so I found myself walking ahead of them, then having to stop and let them catch-up, over and over again.

I was tired and sweaty, just wanting to get to the top of the mountain so I could rest and then start my way back.  I learned early on during our hike that this wasn’t going to be the case.  We had to stop and look at every large rock with someone’s name carved in it.  We looked at unusual plant formations.  We examined large trees that were growing crooked and we explored small rock overhangs that reminded the kids of caves. My grandsons viewed the hike as an exciting adventure.  Climbing the mountain was a trial to me and I was simply looking for the hike to be over with quickly before I succumbed to dehydration and heat stroke.  My grandsons were not focused at all on the trial of climbing the mountain; they were simply enjoying the journey of the hike.

I know when I face a trial in life, no matter what it is, I tend to dwell on the problem.  I want the trial to be over with quickly and let life get back to normal.  While I never enjoy being in the midst of a trial, I was reminded by my grandsons that I should always learn to enjoy the journey.  What can I learn during the course of the trial?  How can I grow?  What is God trying to teach me?

At some point, the trial will be over and we’ll be joyous for sure.  But, the real joy should not be that the trial’s over, but in celebrating what I learned during the journey.

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Resting in the Comforting Mist

Strength

Several years ago, my best friend and I decided to drive, one Saturday, to the North Georgia Mountains to hike.  We were still young and single and had nothing really better to do on a hot Saturday afternoon, so this would be something different and exciting for us to do.  Neither of us were avid hikers or really knew what we were doing, but it sounded like something to kill some time, if nothing else.

Off we drove for about 2 hours from Atlanta to North Georgia where we arrived at one of the State Parks.  It was gorgeous.  Campgrounds; picnic tables; playgrounds; and, of course, all set in the beautiful mountains.  I can still feel the crispness of the mountain air and how refreshing it all felt after the long drive.

The Park had several hiking trails, but we decided on hiking the trail that was marked as the most extreme.  Afterall, we were young, macho guys.  We didn’t want some wimpy walking trail.  We wanted to go for the most gusto—and we did.

The first part of the trail involved walking down what seemed like a thousand steps deep into a canyon.  From there, the trail began up and around various hilltops all amazingly marked with signs of various landmarks and types of wildlife.  It was as beautiful as we had hoped, but tiring.  It seemed like we must have walked 5 miles, but the hiking trail was only marked as a couple of miles.  The fact that we not walking on a level playing field obviously made it seem longer than it did.  We were both beginning to get very tired.  Being the experienced hikers that we were, we didn’t take any water with us so our mouths and throats were as dry as a desert.  We were suddenly discovering that we weren’t as macho as we thought we were and, to make matters worse, we had to hike back.

We had been hiking alongside a medium-sized river and seeing all that water just made us thirstier.  Just when we thought we couldn’t make it much further, we saw a small waterfall up ahead where the river we were following dropped off to a lower terrain. What really caught our eyes was that there was a ledge behind the waterfall where we could climb and actually sit and rest behind the waterfall.  We debated whether to continue hiking, or try to climb behind the waterfall and rest.  That was something I had seen in movies where people hiked behind the waterfall into some mystery cave or hideout, but I had never personally seen this before.  So, off we went.  Climbing down the ledge ever so carefully until we were actually behind the waterfall.  What an awesome sight! We literally sat there quietly watching the cool water from the river above us dropping right in front of and continuing downstream below us.

It was so refreshing. Watching the awesome power of the water while, at the same time, enjoying the cool mist blowing off the waterfall sprinkling us with much needed water. Not enough to soak us too much, but just enough to revitalize us for the journey back. We probably sat there for 30 minutes just soaking up the beauty and the cooling mist. What a blessing this was on that hot day, especially to think we almost talked ourselves into continuing our hike and we would have missed this opportunity at the waterfall.

I often think of my Christian Walk and how sometimes life just seems overwhelming. It reminds me so much of that day, many years ago, hiking in the mountains.  On that day, we walked and walked; uphill and downhill looking for the end of the trail and yearning for refreshment at the same time.   Finally, we found the mist of the waterfall and we forgot about our feelings and the long journey still ahead of us.  The comfort of the mist was worth the agony of the journey.  Whenever I have those overwhelming “life moments,” it helps me to just stop and have some quiet time with the Lord and simply wonder in His mighty grace and strength.  I couldn’t tell you how many times I missed fellowship with the Lord simply because I was too busy to slow down.  Just like that day on the trail, we would have missed the refreshing mist of the waterfall had we not stopped.  The “mist” of the Lord’s love and greatness is more than I need for any situation on any day and all that I need for the long journey ahead.

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Our Journey to Freedom

Faith

It was always an exciting time to get to spend some time with my Dad.  Like most families, we were all busy. He worked long hours so that my Mom didn’t have to work.  Whenever we had something planned together, I knew it was going to be something special.

This particular day, we were going to hike together down a country road which began at my grandmothers house and ended a couple of miles away at a Country Store that my Great Uncle owned and operated at the time.  If we could make the entire trip, my reward was to be able to get a Coke and Ice Cream at my Great Uncle’s store.  It couldn’t get any better than that.

I can remember the seemingly long journey down the road.  Along the way, we talked about all the different people that lived in the houses we passed and what my Dad may have known about them. I can remember that we passed an old, run-down house that was about to fall from decay.  It flashed through my mind who may have lived there and what had happened for the house to be in such poor shape. We passed an old logging company and admired all the logs that were cut and trimmed and the massive trucks that delivered them.  We chased off a few stray dogs that didn’t appreciate us approaching their territory.  We even relived my Dad’s story as a young boy when he mentioned he was playing at this logging company and almost got struck by lightening.

It was a long hike to my Uncle’s store, and I was beginning to get tired, but there was something special about the journey itself. Knowing that I had this great reward at the end of the journey made the journey seem more bearable.  I knew that I had a nice, cold Nutty Buddy or Fudge-Sickle awaiting me at the end, so any adversity I faced along the hike with sore feet or shortness of breath was going to be all worth it when I reached the finish line.

Boy, was I right.  Nothing tasted so good as that cold ice cream.  I’m sure it probably melted all over me, but I didn’t care.  I was hot and tired from the long journey and I was enjoying my reward. What we had discussed on the journey or the pain I had felt just didn’t matter anymore.  I had reached my goal and received my reward.

It often helps me during life’s “journey” to realize that I have a heavenly reward awaiting me at the end, whenever that end might be.  Life is tough.  Let’s not kid anyone.  Sometimes our hike through life is a struggle, whether it be health issues, financial issues, relationship issues or whatever life “throws” at us.  More often than not, we become defeated and even depressed and convince ourselves that we’re not going to make it.

It’s at these times that I make a point to remember to fall in love with the Journey itself and that as down as I may be; as defeated as I sometimes may feel; when I do finally reach the finish line, my heavenly reward will make life’s journey seem all worth it.  After I have fought the good fight, the rewards will be more than I could even imagine. There’s something liberating about knowing that you may lose a few battles along the way, but you’ve already won the war.  Keeping my eye on the finish line, just as I did that hot summer day hiking to my Uncle’s Store makes the journey seem more bearable.

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