I’m planning a hike/journey up the side of this mountain. I’ve got to know The Way to be able to get to the top! Not just any ole way, but The Way! I can see from where I am standing that there are many ways to climb up this mountain terrain.
I could go the easy way, but where is it? It might end up being the hard way in the long run. I scan the beautiful side of the mountain for any clues. Pretty sure I see a dangerous way straight up the middle Over to the left is a less rocky way, but more snowdrift. That’s OK ’cause I’ve got snow shoes just for that purpose.
There’s a way with a scenic view (over the rock cliffs). Looks like there’s a way that everyone has gone. How do I know? Tracks…… and lots of them.
That’s a lot of tracks!! What kind? Mainly people, lots of dog tracks, horses? llama?? Whompus cats??? Finding the way you say? Just follow all the other tracks. It’s not that easy and not that obvious. Most of these tracks go about 40 yards up and then double back to the main road in the valley. My destination is to the top. But to get there, I must find The Way.
Part of the fun in this type of adventure is in not knowing what lies ahead. Part of the headache and worry in this type of adventure is in …….. (you guessed it,) not knowing what lies ahead.
Whether I am guiding folks on a hike or out on a solo venture, my eyes are constantly searching for the way.
Any way, the best way, the quickest way, the shortest way, the fill in your own kind of way. Friend, I don’t know about you but when it comes down to it, just give me The Way.
“You don’t need to see the way if you follow the one that is the Way.” — Author Unknown
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So, if I’m to get to the top I don’t have to see the way. I just have to follow the way. How do you follow the way up a mountain? Faith and trust…… I must have faith in my experiences in the wilderness to keep taking one step at a time. I must trust my instincts, my physical abilities, my senses, (including the most valuable sense…… COMMON SENSE) to help me find a way to the top.
How do we get to the top spiritually? I don’t have to see the way,….. I just have to follow The Way/JESUS. That’s too simple to us humans isn’t it? We need faith and trust. We will take a journey putting faith and trust in ourselves. Yet in the spiritual journey, we find it difficult to put faith and trust in Jesus.
When Jesus says that He is the way, he also give us a big extra! What folks call “abundant life”. He adds in truth and life. You don’t know about any of this till you have experienced The Way.
Here’s something more to ponder over. If Jesus is the way, then HE WILL BE WITH YOU no matter what your way is at the moment. Your way may be hard, long, stressful, joyful, sad, confusing, on and on,…….. When Jesus is The Way for you, then you don’t need to see your way. Just follow.
“Lord would you please be with us as we journey. Give us guidance and protection. Keep us focused on You because you are THE WAY!!
See Ya! Dan Ainsworth Wilderness Preacher, part time guide, always looking for an adventure, Following THE WAY!
I’ve been asked to be a mentor at the church camp. I’m guessing what qualifies me for that is that I’m an older guy with experiences in life (both good and bad). So they match me with this younger guy from Arkansas. Hey, at least we can understand each other being from the South and having the same “accent”. Hmmmm,…… what should I say to a younger person who is looking at me as his mentor. Does this make him my “mentee”? Should I invite him over for coffee and share our life’s stories? Staci would be so much better at small talk than I. I’ve always had a dread for that “awkward silence” that shows up when I’m trying to lead in conversations with people. Well, Dan being Dan, I did what seemed to me to be the best way to get a conversation (and hopefully a new friendship) started. I asked him a question. A most unusual question…….
“Hey Chris! I’m going on about a five mile hike in 10 inches of snow to find a dead elk, cut his stinky, rotten head and horns off, (elk had been dead close to three weeks), then bring the trophy horns out, clean them up, and have them on display at my house. You want to come help?”
I hadn’t gotten the words out of my mouth before these thoughts hit me. First of all, this guy doesn’t even know me. Who wants to hike with some guy he doesn’t know five miles into the wilderness? Second thought is why would he even WANT to help me haul out a dead elk. (Did I mention this animal had been dead and had a very putrid smell.) I’m almost regretting asking him, well, because I probably put him on the spot and everything. I’m already expecting to hear him say he’s already got plans, or he’s got work to finish at camp. But his reply is this. “Haul out a dead elk? That’s right up my alley! Count me in! Yes Sir, I’d like to go!” ……And this is where today’s story begins…..
I had a group of hunters up this week for Archery elk hunting (and fly fishing). Shout out to C J, Tyler, Jody, Wendall, and Dave. These guys are super fun to be around! They are also top notched hunters and fishermen. Even where we hunt in the wilderness, you can still send out texts. They informed me that they were in elk, and while hunting they walked up on this dead elk. They also sent me a picture of his horns. Once I saw the picture of the horns, I told them keep hunting, but tell me where this animal is because I didn’t want to see those horns go to waste.
Now, I’m realizing as I’m looking at the map that this is going to involve a fairly long hike in the ten inches of snow that hadn’t melted from the storm a couple days earlier. Traveling in the wilderness by myself is no problem as I have gone many times in the past. But I’m not stupid. I probably lean more on the cautious side. Trips I make by myself are always on specific trails, going to specific lakes to fish. If something were to happen to me, twisted ankle, some type of physical ailment, a bear attack(just kiddin’) someone would know where to find me. On this adventure, no one would know how I’m going in, or how I would be heading out. I need a safety net. Someone would need to go with me. Hopefully someone with young legs and strong muscles to help carry this twenty- five pounds of horn and bones of a burden that I’m wanting to haul out. The mentor’s “mentee” will fit this position perfectly.
The first couple of miles were not that bad. Horses and hunters had already established a trail which we gladly followed. Once we reached the top of the pass (see picture above), we were on our own. We now had to bushwhack our way to the coordinates my hunter buddies had given me to get to the dead elk and those horns.
The storm that came two days earlier had dumped up to two feet of snow. What made my footing so treacherous, was that the snow had melted, refrozen, and was melting again. Every time my hiking boots landed on a smooth sided rock underneath the snow, I fell. Probably fell fifteen maybe twenty times before we made it back to the established trail. I was surely glad I had my “safety net” of a guy there with me.
When we were within a couple hundred yards of our dead elk, we ran into a lot of these………
Mountain Lion Tracks!!……. and lots of them. They actually led us straight to the elk carcass. Hey, it looked like the mountain lion himself had fallen a time or two in the slippery snow. I didn’t feel quite so bad about my capabilities of hiking after seeing that. 😉 As we approached our target, closing the distance to about fifty yards, the smell became overwhelming. The ravens let us know where they were feasting, so we knew right where to go. Now the fun begins………
I have a picture of the carcass, but Staci said don’t show it because someone’s probably eating breakfast. I will just describe the scene for you. Picture a dirty diaper, a dead mouse caught in a trap for 3 days, Sour milk, my son’s tennis shoes, and road kill……. all put into a blender and poured out onto the snow. I then kneel in this substance as I cut the head and horns from this mixture. Lots of gagging, and grimacing going on, but hey it was worth it. You never know what goes on behind the scenes of a picture!
Success! Now to haul our elk horns back out of the wilderness. Chris was great at being a pack mule. He did more than his share of hauling out my burden. My burden became his burden.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
On our Christian adventures we should all bear one another’s burdens. We are all in this together, right? The struggles, the battles, the highs and the lows of life aren’t meant to be handled alone. God gives us so many opportunities to see Him when we share. My burden of “elk horns’, may not compare to the personal burdens you are carrying right now, or the burdens of someone you know. But when we share in others burdens, likewise when we allow others to share our burdens, we are fulfilling the law of Christ. What law is that? Loving our God with all your heart, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Truly a Godly way to live right?
So don’t miss out on those Godly opportunities to share with others in their burdens. Also realize YOUR OWN BURDENS may need to be shared with someone else. Again this Christian journey is not meant to be traveled alone. God has His all knowing abilities and power to show us things we need to see. Sometimes He uses other people for His purpose. Burdens whether great or small become opportunities for us to interact with each other while seeing God’s care and helping hand in the example of another human being.
“Dear Lord, thank You for Chris and his willingness to share in “my burden”. May his example help me and my friends reading this become more aware of the opportunities that You God give us each day. The opportunities to help and be helped. Those opportunities to Love God, and to love others as ourselves. Amen.”
Do you ever feel like your life is going in reverse, but you have the “Ahah!” moment and realize you are actually moving forward? Well let this story of the ant going in reverse to move forward sink in to your heart and soul.
I’m taking a break from chainsaw work at the church camp, to eat a pack of Nabs. To you “city folks”, a pack of Nabs is what we call those six peanut butter crackers wrapped in a small package you can get at any convenience store. I don’t care where you’re from, they are called Nabs, not cheese crackers, not snack crackers, but Nabs. Glad we got that out of the way. 😉
But as I’m eating my NABS, a small crumb falls to the ground in front of the stump that I’m sitting on. In just a few brief moments, from nowhere, these three ants show up. Without missing a beat, they tag team on the cracker crumb and immediately begin their journey back to their nest with their new found food item. (pretty sure they would call it a Nabs too).
My phone took a pretty decent close up picture don’t ya think of these creatures working together? What caught my eye is how they worked together to accomplish their goal of carrying the food back to their home. One ant goes forward like any of us would think to do. One ant is kinda walking sideways but still facing forward. The other ant,……. well he chooses to walk backwards as he carries the food forward to his home. I was impressed.
How do ants communicate? Little ant voices, hand signals, a football type playbook??? I can picture in my mind right now……. “Hey there’s a piece of peanut butter nabs. Let’s get it! 32- 12- 16 Hut Hut!!” And there they go!
Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Proverbs 6:6
I’m not sure I want to be called a “sluggard” do you? That’s someone who is considered sluggish….. slow moving,….. inactive….. LAZY. UH oh!!
OK, here’s the point I’m making. Sometimes in our lives (and yes even in our spiritual lives), we get sluggish (slow moving, inactive). Especially when it seems that we are the ones having to go in reverse. You and I experience “going in reverse” all the time in our daily lives. We feel like we should be moving forward but that’s when “Reverse” hits. Reverse as in a financial setback, a relationship on the downswing, a physical ailment,…. even small things like not being able to find your phone. You fill in your own “reverse” i.e. hard times.
But let’s learn from this small ant. Could it be that God is having you go “in reverse” to move forward. For your own good,….. as well as maybe for others….?
Think about it. Whatever is happening in your life may seem to be causing you to go backwards. That’s what you are seeing. But IN THE EYES OF GOD, He’s got you moving forward on your spiritual journey. He’s even got you carrying some Nabs (spiritual food) back to have a feast on later.
Little ole ant. Sometimes he makes more sense about life than a wilderness preacher can. I need to be like that little ole ant. What would that be? Focus on going forward in my spiritual journey, even when it looks to everyone that I’m going backwards.
“Lord, thank you for this little ole ant! Thanks you that he taught me to continue to follow you Lord. To move forward and closer to you Lord Jesus. To keep my eyes on You even when circumstances cause me to be the one that is “going backwards”. Be with me as I travel this world in a “reverse” way as I travel through hard times. Whether traveling in good times, or hard “reverse” times, I’m glad God that You are there with me. I’m also glad that you gave us Nabs! Amen”
See Ya! Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher Nabs eater, ant watcher
