Around The Bend

One winter, a large group of us strapped on our snowshoes and headed out on an adventure.  We ranged in age from forty-something (me) down to a few months old.  Needless to say, varying degrees of experience.

We set off from our cottage along an old overgrown logging road, past the tree house that I built with my boys, up a rocky creek bed, through some more forest and eventually to the remnants of Beaver Lake (Are We Beavers?).

At this point, the adventurous side of many of the party had been lost.  About half the party headed back to the warmth of the fire in the cottage to enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate.

Now we were left with the real adventurers!  The ones who were ready to take on anything!

"Where should we go now?"

With confidence, I pronounced that if we follow the valley at the end of the lake, it would take us to another lake that hooked up with another path that we could follow back to the cottage.  Truthfully, I wasn't certain of this but I believed it to be the case.

So we headed off confidently down the valley.  There were seven of us left.  Two of our adventurers were strapped to our backs as they were just a few months old.

Our most recent adventure
Around The Bend

The valley quickly became challenging.  The two men (also carrying the youngest members of the expedition)  started to separate themselves from the others as we broke trail trying to find the easiest way to navigate the fallen trees, rocky outcroppings and large sink holes from the small stream.

The adventurers started to get strung out and eventually cries could be heard from the back of the pack asking "Are we almost there?".

Trying to be as encouraging as possible, I would call back (frequently), "It's just around the bend".  But again truthfully, I had no idea.

The memory of this snowshoeing expedition reminds me of when Jesus speaks about the wide and narrow gates during the sermon on the mount:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7:13-14

We all come into life the same way.  Like the babies on our backs for expedition, our paths are defined by our families, where we live and the societies around us.  As we grow older, we come to a point where the choices become ours to make.

We all have the choice to take the wide and easy road (back to the cottage for some hot chocolate) or down the narrow road where adversity exists (around the never-ending blasted bend!).

Just because we have chosen the narrow road, does not mean our struggles are over.  It may even seem like it is a never ending battle that gets tougher.  

I read an older book this past summer called  "The Pursuit of Holiness".  While there were many great things that I learned in that book, the one thing that stuck with me is that the closer we think we are getting to holiness, the farther away we realize it is.

This is true in just about any pursuit!  As I've become a better guitar player, I now know how much more I need to learn.  Any top athlete will spend hundreds of hours to improve their abilities for just a slightly improved result.

As Christians, we will be forever on the hike climbing over logs and rocks, navigating steep cliffs, watching for holes and encouraging others to do the same.

But it is what is around the bend that awaits us that keeps us going.  The promise of an eternal life.  Of treasures that are beyond anything that we can imagine on earth.  A life in heaven.

Have you made the choice yet?  Have you decided to take on the adventure and go through the narrow gate?  

It is as simple as saying these words:

"Lord Jesus, I repent of my sin. I believe that you died on Calvary's cross so that I could be forgiven and brought into a saving relationship with God. I invite you to be Lord of my life."

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Thank you for taking the time to read one of the many Wandering Thoughts that God has been putting on my heart. If this has touched you in anyway, I would love to hear from you. You can leave a comment below and share your own personal revelations; or send me a personal message on Google+ or Facebook.

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Have a wonderful day.