Scenic Route

From Roaring Brook to Chimney Pond
Photo by Bgrace

 A couple nights ago I was getting ready to curl up with my pile of books in bed and Matt comes in and with a half smirk says, "So you're really going to read all of those books?" 

"Not going to," I said, "I am reading them." 

"These two," I pointed to the books I was referring to, "I read sections that are a couple pages long every day.  The A. Carmichael book I read about a Chapter a day because I need a little dose of A.C. to keep things in perspective." 

"These two are Bibles," I continued, "and the Siblings book I read a little bit out of every couple of days." 

"Why are you reading the Appalachian Trail Guide to Maine?" he asked.  

"Well," (I sighed because I wasn't sure if he would think it was weird), "I think there are a lot of correlations between the spiritual journey and hiking on the A.T. So as I read it I see a lot of connections."  

Matt came over to me, wrapped his arms around me and tucked my head under his chin.  "I think you're really smart," he said.  

Just led, I thought happily.

That incident came back to me this morning as I was reading the A.T. guide to Maine.  I have been wrestling with God about some things over the past few days.  I have felt a bit conflicted at the direction He's taking me in right now.  It seems to be going away from where I've been headed and I feel a bit perplexed, somewhat disturbed, and confused about what I am sensing from Him.  So I keep checking in, "Is this just me?  Am I being drawn away from my destination and just thinking it's you God?  I want to be strong, I don't want to give up, I need to see this through...but the things you are showing me don't seem to be a direct route.  What if I get sidetracked?  What if I get so caught up in things I forget where I'm headed?" 

I remembered a few years back when Matt accepted a job offer in Seattle.  I had been looking for clarity about my journey through this decision.  I asked the Lord to give me an answer by either taking me away or keeping me here.  Everything I thought I needed was there.  A phenomenal seminary program--I could get an M. Div. with an emphasis in spiritual formation, Ted and Nancy nearby, a good job for Matt...a new life.  I desperately wanted a new life but I didn't want to go out of weakness. I only wanted to go if I was led.  So Matt accepted the offer, and I prayed to God about it all, and the Lord clearly spoke to me and said, "You can go, but you will miss the blessing."  

Funny, I believed that God had spoken, but I wasn't sure that I believed Him.  (I wrote more about that in a piece called Lit From Within.) I decided to follow anyway.  Matt had asked me what I thought we should do--if we should go or not, and I told him that because I was too confused about what was God and what wasn't, that he needed to make the decision, and I would go along with it no matter what.  And once I told the Lord I would rather have the blessing and that I would rather go the route that would bring Him the most glory, I received a knowing from Him that we were not going to go.  But I knew that God would have to be the One who intervened to keep us here.  I told Jean, and she then shared with me that God had given her the same knowing, even though she had been willing to release me to the Lord's will.  I told my Pastor who I had been meeting with at the time as well.  But I made every effort to put my house in order so that we were ready to go.  I boxed up almost everything.  We painted the whole house and put new flooring in.  We had a yard sale and sold much of our furniture because it would be cheaper to buy new stuff than move it across the country.  I can't really explain it other than it was like Abraham going through all the motions of putting Isaac on the altar even though he believed God would provide the sacrifice in the stead of his son.  The day before we were to put our house on the market Matt got a phone call from a company in the area he had not sent a resume to, not interviewed with, and not sought a job with--it was an even better job offer than Seattle.  A man who had mentored him at another company asked him to come and work with him.  

After everything had panned out, I told Matt that the Lord had told me we wouldn't be going. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" he said with a fair amount of exasperation. 

"Because you needed to know it was God, and not me," I replied.  (For that matter, so did I.)  

This morning, as I was reading the A.T. guide to Maine, I learned that there are some hiking points that can be reached by access roads if you wanted to drive there instead of hiking. I was tempted by the thought, Why didn't we drive there? for a few seconds.  Then I remembered another incident of a few years back.
The light I was wrestling for finally broke through.
I could drive there, but I would miss the blessings along the trail.
This truth has been coming at me so often the past couple of weeks.  If I had given up on my job when they cut my salary, I would have missed an enormous blessing--THE WHOLE POINT OF MY BEING THERE!  I would not have seen God's words about my ministry bear fruit.
What I'm trying to say is this: there are enormous blessings in store for us when we stay the course, when we stay on the path God puts us on.  Often God does not take us on the most direct route.  He doesn't drive us there on the easy access roads. Why?  Because we'd miss the blessings along the way.  And sometimes He takes us on paths where there are no easy access routes.  The blessings along those trailsl are ones you don't find yourself taking for granted.  Nor are the blessings at the end of those trails.
This morning God was saying to me--I'm not changing your destination, but I'm taking you along the scenic path.  Enjoy the journey.  

Mirror Image at Chimney Pond
Photo by Bgrace

It reminded me of the path to chimney pond--there aren't any access roads there.  It's on the way to Cathedral Trail, the path we took to the top of Mount K.  The view of the mountain from the campground is aptly named.  It inspires a holy awe.  Absolutely worth the hike.

Chimney Pond Campground with Cathedral in the background.

Photo by Bgrace

I'll close with an few excerpts from the forewords to Mimosa, Who Was Charmed (A.Carmichael).

First Edition, 1924

It spoke in a clear, glad voice, and it said: "Fear not at all.  Where your hands cannot reach and your love cannot help, His hands reach and His love can help.  So why are you afraid?"

And it said that miles of space and solid walls and locked doors are nothing to Love.  Nothing at all.

And it said--and we set it down with great hope that it may cheer some other, for it said it very earnestly: "The seed is not your poor little word.  The seed is the word of God."

Fifth Edition, 1930

But here in this strip of room..."Take off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." And a new insight, like the sudden flash that sometimes lights the evening sky in these tropical lands and shows kingdoms beyond the clouds, was granted in that moment.  I knew, not by faith now, but as it were by sight, that our Lord Jesus Christ can do anything, keep anyone, shine anywhere, succour in spite of all the forces of the enemy, comfort in any circumstances.  Verily, circumstances are nothing to Him.  He is King of them all.  The material is powerless to cramp or to subdue.  It is naught.  The Spiritual conquers every time. 

Sixth Edition, 1935

For her (Star) too, we ask the protection of the Shield, for the powers of darkness are not figments of missionary imagination.  They are mighty, they are present.  But mightier, far and very present is the Shield of our God.