Looking Down the Road

Backpacking can take you places that you wouldn't ordinarily get.  Along Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  If you hike the length of it, you can start in the town of Grand Marais and hike all of the way to Munising.  And as you make the hike, you will pass along the twelve mile beach.  Twelve Mile Beach, other than being twelve miles long, has the feature of a far off view of the rocky bluffs.  As you walk along there is this ongoing site of where you are going and that it is ever getting closer.

Now let me compare that to hiking through Grand Canyon National Park.  A hike through the Grand Canyon is very different.  Of course there is the temperature.  The cool waters of Lake Superior are vastly different than the 120 degree desert of the Colorado Plateau.  But one big difference is seeing where you are going. 

The Grand Canyon is known for its epic beauty and the views from the rim are unparalleled.  I would say that it is impossible to over anticipate how awesome the view from the rim is.  But inside of the canyon is a different story.  Inside the canyon is beautiful in a different way.  Most of the time the views are somewhat limited.  You never know what will be around the next bend.  

We would look at the map and say that our camp is on the other side of the second butte.  But each of those buttes is actually made of several smaller buttes.  So there was a lot of twists and turns and large rock out croppings to work our way around.  

Life is often more like the canyon and less like the beach.  Many times life is full of twists and turns.  We don't always see the final destination but the main thing is to stay the course and keep on.  One step after another after another after another until we have arrived.  We can't always see our destination, but God has a purpose for all of us.  We will find that purpose, maybe around the next butte.

The history of the Jewish people is full of twists and turns and ups and downs.  They didn't always see where they were going.  In fact, many did not recognize that they had arrived.  But they were called to stay the course.

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

The Roman Empire was building the roads that were going to be used to spread the Gospel.  The road builders had no way of knowing their part in the story.  Many times we don't either.  We can't always see around the next bend, but we need to trust that God will use our efforts for part of the story as well.