Day: Orienteering

So today I went orienteering. Doug gave me a little bit of instruction but basically there was a map, a big one. Of a portion of Oak Mountain State Park. It had thirty points on it with little clues on what each of the points looked like when you got in the area. It was tough. I took 170 minutes and found 22 of the 30 points. Doug, however, took 88 minutes to find all 30 of them. I feel like a loser. Except its Doug. Can't compare to him haha, but wandering around in the woods for a while is a difficult issue ha. Especially because if you are lost, you don't know it really. At first you think you've moved slightly to the left or to the right and so you run over there. Then realize that's not right either but you think you got closer so  you keep going. Turns out, you completely missed the point and you are now lost. And the best part is, there is no, "You are here." point on the map. You get lost, and you have to just walk until you find a landmark that you can identify on the map. The topography (altitude part of the map) doesn't really help either. So many ridges and valleys, its tough haha.

We kinda get like that in our faith sometimes. We start off really well, but we go off the path, start saying, "hey that looks like where we are supposed to be!" and instead of checking our map to see where we are going, we end up lost and without any idea what happened and completely lost. Then you know what happens? You find the landmark. The only way to find your way back is with a landmark. A friend must turn you around, a partner must tell you that you have gone off the path. He or she can guide you back to the path and keep you going where you need to go. But sometimes we think we are still going in the right direction and we ignore the landmarks we see. That's when God has to do something drastic to get your attention. Something drastic is something that just drops you to your knees in humility.

I saw a really cool picture the other day. It was almost heartbreaking. A guy kneels down and prays to God thanking Him for some great things and praying for protection and good circumstances. He gets up and begins walking away when a pebble hits him in the head and he cries out, "WHY GOD WHYYY? WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?" He turns around and is abruptly confronted by a man. Not just any man, but a colossal man. Its Jesus. He turns his head as He stands with his arms spread receiving blows from boulders and giant rocks that would have hit the man. He then says, "O I'm sorry, did I miss one?" We completely miss the big picture. We take one little hit and freak out that God isn't protecting us, when instead, its something minor that He let go just so we could know that He's still there. That's He's still there taking every giant blow just for us. So don't miss the big picture, or you could end up off the map ha. later.

---- The Walking Man