Community Hike

Last Saturday and Sunday nine of us had an experience we
won’t easily forget. My knees ached by the 9^th hour of the hike, the
second hour of descending, and shot pain through my leg as the 11^th hour elapsed and
while I hobbled to catch the rest of the group. Due to the sun already setting
camp was set up in a rush…as much as a rush as soar bodies can make. We had marched
up and over the tropical terrain since 7am. During the hike everry hour past without much haste yet they seemed to
disappear vapor quick, like the clouds that had been in the sky only a few
minutes ago, protecting my neck from being scorched. Some were spent talking
about random things, other hours I barely had a phrase to add in. A

At every beautiful lookout where we could see over miles and
miles of earth, someone would say “this is beautiful”. You kinda expect that
type of talk on a trip through mountains on a tropical island. Palm trees, winding rivers that were refreshingly clear.Yet the higher
we went the less tropical the vegetation was.
Pinecones laid on the trial, the
trees they fell from were the only trees in sight. The smell of a pine forest
induced memories of a childhood at camps. “How many years had it been since I
was at LLCamp? I wonder what happened to those other guys I shared my summers
with. What were their names again? Who was it that always beat me at carpet
ball…this is crazy! I am in the DR! God I never thought you would take me
here. Again, you prove that your ways are so much better than anything I can
think up, and how did you know that I would like living in other cultures
anyway? I guess that’s more proof that you created me.” Being in that beautifull place that proved creation was just that and not an accident of some sort, I couldn’t but talk to God aloud. He was there next to me.

The hike refelected my journey. It especially spoke to me about me time while here. My future is not here but somewhere else, a very blessed and
exciting future to be exact! “Can’t I just leave and enjoy my new life?” To get over myself and “my rights” is continual.
To think I have the right to be in a place by my choosing and nothing else is worng if I have truly
given my life to serve God. To not yield to God after I told Him “My life is
for You! Use me however you want!” makes me a liar.

But like he was walking with me on the mountains, so He walks with me on my journey. This most never be lost in the back of my mind while worries and anxious thoughts take front stage.Also, like I was surrounded with my team mates, I am surrounded by people who serve me, challange me, love me…the body, the church in the true meaning of the word church. This life is a community event.