Having Gone This Way Before

Why are you going down the path you are going? Why are you headed in the direction we are headed? Is the journey we are trekking one that is safe? wise? correct?

We have so many choices to make in our journey … turn right? turn left? keep straight? turn around? head uphill? head downhill? Those are the simple ones, but there are so many others … take this job? leave this job? try that restaurant? ask that person out? choose this school? and yada yada yada? to infinity and beyond …

The other day, I hiked to Humpback Rocks but took the Appalachian Trail to get there. It was not my first time to the rocks, but was the first time I did the AT approach. It was Monday, so the trail was pretty empty. There was only one person on the AT, and six at the top.

Halfway up, I pondered why I would take this way. I also thought of who set this path in the first place? Who decided to cut-back, to twist around a rock to the left, to split off the path at the certain place? It had been here for years, but …

Whose path was I following?

It’s not just trails, it’s life. We so often follow others, we go down a path that many have gone the same way before us. In my vocation, many follow a path laid out by those who’ve gone before … involvement in a local church, undergraduate studies, seminary, maybe even post-graduate studies. Many follow as a secondary staff member, and then take a smaller church as a senior (possibly single staffed) pastor.

It is like in the Milton Bradley’s Game of Life, there is a process one ‘drives’ along as they journey through life. School, career, marriage, kids, and so on. Why do we go down certain paths?

As I walked the AT, as I pondered great choices in life, as I thought of the spin the wheel in Game of Life … I came up with a few things to ponder.

• You’ve got to start to walk. You can’t get to the end, no matter what that end is, unless you start. So up the mountain I went. Get out of your parent’s basement and start life. Leave the one job you’re at, knowing you need to move on.
• You’ve got to eventually have a destination. Otherwise, you will wonder around, maybe aimlessly. Nothing wrong with explore to explore, but even that should have a goal. Maybe a mountain peak, a position at work, a relationship, a ministry. Eventually you need to have a destination.
• TRUST. Yes, trust. You have to trust others …
  — those that laid out the path (Planners)
  — those that cut the path that they followed the plan (Path Cutters)
  — those that marked the trail (Blazers)
  — those that mapped the trail (AllTrails, Cartographers, Artist)
  — those that are the trail with you (Fellow Journeyers)
• Perseverance. You’ve got to keep on keeping on. This may take several attempts.

It took me three attempts to complete Old Rag Trail for my first time. First time I headed up the wrong way. Second I gave in early for I was ill and not sure if I could complete the trek. Than third, I actually got behind an experienced hiking group from George Mason and I knew I was on the correct trail and I was not alone. I stuck with it, and I conquered that 14 mile trail.

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Final Thoughts …

I will trust the path when I trust those that walked before me. This is more than about the Blue Ridge Mountains (or wherever), this is about life. I want to void rockslides, quicksand, and dead ends in nature and in life. And if others have gone this way before, i must choose if I can trust them and will I trust them?

Sometimes, you need to get off the trail, be adventurous, and create new experiences. Yes, trust the path and those that go before. However, know that there are often things wonderful off the beaten path.

Trust … and Try Stuff. That’s a lesson from walking a trail that others have gone this way before.