Lesson Learned

Of the long list of things that we love to do together, hiking has to be pretty high up there. So this past Monday, we found ourselves in Greenville with a little time to kill, so we decided to venture up to Asbury Hills and go on a little mountain excursion, if you will. After stopping by the office to tell them we were there and to grab a map, we launched out on our hike around high noon, with a backpack full of water and fruit. Moonshine Falls was our destination, the middle of a long loop that would be bring us back to camp and would find us walking about six miles. Not an overly aggressive hike, but one that would definitely get our blood going. The only problem was that the map contained a big X through the trail and the words, ‘Trail Closed’. We thought, oh well, we’ll just worry about that when we get to it.
The trail was great. We took our camera and using the ten second timer button, we made sure we were in the pictures. Moonshine Falls was great. It was interesting to see the barrels underneath the falls. Were they the real barrels that were used to make moonshine? Maybe, probably not, but still it was neat to see. Throughout our hike, the one disappointment was the lack of wildlife. Apart from a bird and a few butterflies, we experienced a four hour, six mile hike through the woods that was wildlife-free. Strange. Maybe it was just the time of the year.
About three hours into the hike, we crossed a part of the trail that had been washed out. Making some careful steps, we easily made it across, onto safe, dry ground. We thought, hey, that was nothing, they shouldn’t have closed the trail because of that. Little did we know what awaited us a few hundred yards ahead. “Private Property”. “No Trespassing”. “Violators will be shot on site!” Ok, so the last one was an exaggeration. But still, somehow or another, the trail simply ended. So we were faced with quite a conundrum. Do we trespass onto private property and claim stupidity if caught? Do we turn around, ultimately resulting in being very late to an important meeting in Spartanburg later that night? Or do we trail-blaze and hope for the best? You guessed it, or maybe you didn’t b/c as pastors you probably thought we would do the sensible thing and turn around and hike back on the trail, no, instead, we went trail-blazing. All of a sudden, the Man Versus Wild shows we had watched on Discovery came back to us. Bear always says, if you find yourself lost, find a river and follow it downstream. After going through a good bit of brush, down the side of a mountain, and thirty minutes through more brush, we came to Matthew’s Creek. Following the creek for some thirty minutes, we eventually stumbled upon a trail and found our way out. For several minutes, during our romp through uncut, uncharted territory, we did think, “Great, we are those people you read about who get lost and are never found again.” But only for a few moments. In the end, it was a great hike, a little more adventurous than we would like, but great nonetheless. The lesson for the day: if you go off the trail or against the map, you better be prepared for the consequences. Life’s kind of like that, isn’t it? When we decide to get off the well traveled road and to do things our own way, or better yet, against our better judgment, we had better be ready to accept the consequences that are sure to come, be they good, bad or in between. But you know, the great thing about being a disciple of Jesus Christ is that even when we get off course and go astray, even when we fall way short of what God wants us to be, God’s there, ready to pick us up and dust us off with that wonderful redeeming love. We get another shot at staying on the trail of life. Thanks be to God and lessoned learned.