How God Used Hiking Up A Mountain To Teach Me About Walking With Him
Happy Friday friends!
Earlier this week, a couple people at work planned an outing for our team. The outing of choice ended up being hiking. Now, if you know me at all, you’re probably chuckling right now because you know how I feel about hiking, or anything outdoorsy for that matter. If you don’t know me personally, let me fill you in.
I HATE hiking. With a burning passion.
I’m also not a fan of fishing or camping or anything of that sort. The only way you’ll get me outside is if some sort of sport is involved, or if it’s some sort of pool/beach combo. Otherwise, I prefer air conditioning.
Anyways, as I was walking through the woods on Monday, I thought back on one of the other times I had gone hiking. Just like this instance, it was a requirement. I didn’t choose to go. It was part of a project for my Physical Geography class during my freshman year of college. And even though I didn’t particularly enjoy the experience, God taught me a few really cool lessons that day through that hike. I went back through my journal and found an entry I wrote right after that hike, and I wanted to share it with you.
So, without further ado, take it away, 19-year-old me.
Dear Diary (yes I still start my entries like that even though I’m in college),
Earlier today for my Geography class, I went with my professor and classmates on a hike along the Etowah River. Now, obviously I am not a big fan of the outdoors, and we had already gone on one hike for this class. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to this experience. However, as I walked along the trails out in the middle of nowhere, God starting putting some things into my head that I had never thought about before. He started comparing different aspects of the hike to my walk with Him, and it was just really cool.
FOLLOWING HIS LEAD
First, there was my professor. He absolutely LOVES to hike, like a little too much. I’ve never seen someone get so excited about walking through the woods. For this particular hike, he took us out into the boonies. I swear if something had happened to us, no one would have ever been able to find us. I had absolutely no clue where I was at or where I was going. But I knew if I just went where he told me to go, then I would end up where I was supposed to be.
If you think about it, it’s the same way in life. God knows exactly where we need to go and what path we need to take to get there. He may take you on a path that you never expected to take. He may take you on a path where you have no clue where He’s taking you (2 Samuel 22:31). But if you just do what He tells you to do and go where He tells you to go, then you will end up exactly where you are supposed to be (Proverbs 3:5-7).
Now it may not be an easy journey. It’s not like I was walking on a flat, paved trail for the entire hike today. There were places that were downhill and easy to get through. There places that were uphill and took a little more time to travel. And there were times on this hike where I had to climb over muddy rivers, avoid poison ivy, and attempt to balance on the uneven, rocky terrain. But my professor always warned me when something was coming up and told me how to be careful and to avoid getting hurt. God’s the same way. He tells us in Scripture that the path of a Christian life is not an easy one. We are going to face trials and difficult circumstances. But we can be assured that He will be with us every step of the way (Jeremiah 29:11, Deuteronomy 31:8)
REMEMBERING HE CARES
Another thing that I thought was cool about my trip was something very personal to me, even though it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. On this particular trip, I decided to wear my nice, new tennis shoes (big mistake). I figured that it would be hot and dry so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting them too dirty. Well, once we get about halfway through the hike, my professor tells us to be careful because there is a muddy spot coming up. He looked around to see if anyone was wearing nice shoes and he noticed that mine looked pretty new. So he then proceeded to tell me how to clean my shoes and get them back to normal if they happened to get dirty.
I thought that was the coolest thing because even though it probably would not have been a big deal to anyone else, it was a big deal to me. I take my shoes vary seriously, and even though my professor wasn’t aware of that, he still cared enough to tell me what I could do to fix my little, seemingly insignificant problem. I thought that was a perfect picture of what God is like with us. No matter how small and insignificant a problem may seem to you, God still cares about it because you do, and He wants to help you with it (1 Peter 5:7). We just have to ask Him for help.
FOLLOWING WISELY AND LEADING WELL
The third takeaway from today was probably my favorite. During the hike, I tended to stay towards the middle of the group. I always had someone walking in front of me, and as we were hiking, I would watch where that person stepped. If they stepped on a solid piece of ground, I would step there too. If they stumbled on a particular spot, then I would avoid that spot and take a different route. But I was constantly watching the person in front of me so I would know where to step and where not to. This is exactly what we should do in our every day lives. Whether it’s your parents, grandparents, mentors, or friends, we should look to those who have gone before us. If we do, we can see how to walk through life in order to stumble as little as possible (Philippians 3:17). It will make our journey so much easier.
On the other hand, we also have to realize that while we are watching the people in front of us, the people behind us are watching the steps we take. So we must be extremely careful to walk in a way that will help them not to stumble and make their journey easy as well (Romans 14:13). There were a few times during the hike today where I tripped over a rock or a tree root. Whenever that happened, I would turn around and then tell the person behind me to watch out. Going forward, I really want to have that same mentality when it comes to encouraging and advising people younger than me who are watching me as I walk through life.
All of that to say, I learned a lot more from my hike than just where the Etowah River starts. It was so cool to me how God used something that I was absolutely dreading in order to teach me things that I really needed to hear. That’s the great thing about our Heavenly Father. He can use the most random things to teach us lessons and give us practical analogies and applications in order to better our understanding of Him and our relationship with Him. He wants to help us with every step we take in our hike through this life, and I'm so, so grateful for that.