It was Shabbat. What a better way to get off the island than go for a hike and see what's on the other side of our view.
We started our descent with just enough light for our feet. Flashlights came out soon after and the night-hiking began. We were at the bottom of a ravine when somehow the path stopped short and we lost our way. After trying this way and that, we had no choice but to start tromping down nature to get to some kind of opening.
It's a strange feeling when you have just enough light for the step in front of you and manage to keep going. I was amazed over and over again how a roving flashlight could not pick up a clue to a path, but a flashlight inches in front of my feet could deduce the way.
The path was maybe just 6 inches wide and only hooved out by the paws of small animals. You got to know its pattern, shape and style. In recognizing it, confidence grew. When you went ahead of it, thinking you knew the way, you lost it and ended up in the bushes.
Just an encouragement if you were wondering about getting into something new but unfamiliar on the Path. The unfamiliar can be so exciting. After you dive on in, the water's fine!
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| The top of this hillside was our goal. |
We left at 3:30 in the afternoon armed with flashlights and backpacks full of water. It was tricky finding just the right way down. After a few dead ends, we got on a good line--probably made by some wild jackals. Avoiding thorn bushes and marveling at wild mint growing by the side, we slid down fertile red soil and jumped off any rocks we could find.
Reaching the top, the view was close enough to touch and with the wind blowing through the hills, we felt refreshed as only foreign air can rejuvenate you. Our little group was made up of a camera-happy Polish guy (who, incidentally took his bike with him to Israel and has lived in Portland, OR) a Columbian who themed our hike with various stages of worship music from his phone, a quiet, but motivated, hiker of a Finnish girl and myself--the short smiley one.
We started our descent with just enough light for our feet. Flashlights came out soon after and the night-hiking began. We were at the bottom of a ravine when somehow the path stopped short and we lost our way. After trying this way and that, we had no choice but to start tromping down nature to get to some kind of opening.
It's a strange feeling when you have just enough light for the step in front of you and manage to keep going. I was amazed over and over again how a roving flashlight could not pick up a clue to a path, but a flashlight inches in front of my feet could deduce the way.
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| The same hillside through the trees. |
The path was maybe just 6 inches wide and only hooved out by the paws of small animals. You got to know its pattern, shape and style. In recognizing it, confidence grew. When you went ahead of it, thinking you knew the way, you lost it and ended up in the bushes.
When you concentrated on its features, you could find it through boulders, overgrown underbrush and all sorts of twists and turns. You started to get a glimpse into the mind of the creature that created the path. You noticed how it moved and how it made decisions on where to step next.
It made me think of the path that God has marked out for us. It all seems so dark and hidden sometimes--daunting if I look too far ahead. Usually, I just know what's on the docket for today. Maybe that's okay and maybe that's the way it should be. But how exciting to find that path tonight. How exciting to be on His Path; to recognize its markings and follow its twists and turns even through the 'darkness' of my understanding at times.
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| That same hill viewed from the top of our hill. |
Just an encouragement if you were wondering about getting into something new but unfamiliar on the Path. The unfamiliar can be so exciting. After you dive on in, the water's fine!
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