Taking a Hike

There is little more exciting for me than taking a hike. I have taken a few long ones, and a bunch of shorter trips into the beauty of this world. My longest was five days in the Three Sisters Wilderness in  Oregon, My son Matt and a couple of his friends led the way. Other shorter adventures filled me with excitement and joy,y especially the three day walk into and out of the Grand Canyon. I could go on about the trips to other spectacles I have seen around the world.  Suffice it to say God’s incredible beauty is available to us in this World. Remind yourself of the beauty – but don’t forget that “ugly” and sorrow, difficulty and pain, are also a part of the journey.

I want to suggest that life, from beginning to end, is a wonderful and beautiful hike if we just focus on the Truths of Scripture. In every hike I have taken there have been good things and bad things, beauty and ugliness. For example, on the Oregon hike, in the middle of one day, in the soaring delight of  exquisitely beautiful trees, we toped a hill as the trail led us to thousands of burned trees and parched ground from a forest fire the preceding year. It was ugly, and sad, and joy was turned to sorrow. Life is likewise a journey, regardless of desires, and the beautiful things on our hike, are interrupted with pain and sadnesses.

I learned yesterday that some one I have lloved all my life was told that the cancer would end her hike in four months or so, and suddenly (again) she has seen among the beautiful things of her life, a dark cloud now in her future.  I told her that it was a dark time for me too. Soon I will sit with her, and talk with her, about those  beautiful things in her life. A transition is coming, from this life to Eternal LIFE  as she moves from Earth to the presence of the Creator of this Earth, who has told us to fear not, because life never ends. She is a longtime child of God, and there is nothing to fear, The Scripture is clear – to be absent from this Earthly life is to be present with Him who purchased us through the death and resurrection of His own son, Jesus Christ.

Have you ever thought about your life being a “hike?” Maybe your life is filled with short hikes – but whatever you do, you cross those ugly places. I challenge you to think about it. Are you ready for the beautiful things…and the ugly things, and especially when the last hike ends? It is already on the map.