So...way back on Sunday...
Right after the morning service was over, Eric and I got our stuff into his car, changed clothes and then left for a ~2 hour drive to Hoosier National Forest that is SE of Indianapolis. We decided to try out Hickory Ridge Trail. Eric has not been there before, and neither had I, so it was going to be new for both of us! We got to the trailhead at about 3pm and got all ready to hike. Eric, for the fun of it brought along a scales so we could weigh our packs before we started out. His weighed 68 lbs. and mine "only" weighed about 60 lbs. So we strapped up and hit the trail. We hiked for two hours and finally found a place that seemed to be a good spot to stop. Looking around, we found a spot to set up camp. After we had everything set up (tent, sleeping arrangements etc) we had dinner - noodles and garlic bread. Once we had cleaned everything up, we got in the tent and read several chapters of "The Mark of a Man" by Elizabeth Elliott - (a very challenging and yet encouraging book for young men especially). I fell asleep at about 9 p.m.
Monday:
I woke up at noon (15 hours of sleep!!) and then Eric and I decided to get breakfast ready - breakfast burritos with egg, cheese, veggies, salsa etc... Those were some of the best I have ever had, and that on a camping trip!! After breakfast (or lunch, whatever you call it), we decided to take a bit of a walk along the trail to fellowship with each other and to see some more of the wonderful creation that God has made us! Along the trail, we saw some pretty funny sights - an old Chevy with a tree growing through it, and a horse saddle screwed to a weirdly shaped tree! We got back to camp at about 3 p.m. and then decided to spend 1.5 hours alone with God in prayer and reading of the Scripture. It ended up being over 2 hours! It was such a refreshing time, I need to do that more often! I think it's a good start to getting the fire in my heart going again! I read some great passages - Psalm 69, John 1, Galatians 3. They showed me some things that....well....are lacking in my life, and that saddens me quite a lot to realize that. Also I tried something that Eric suggested - writing a letter to God, it was a great experience of searching my life. So after that AWESOME (I don't use that lightly) time, we went into the tent and decided to write Joel (a guy my age that is at the Navy boot camp right now) a letter and then we read a bunch more chapters from the book "The Mark of a Man" before we had dinner. For dinner, we had a wonderfully filling selection of "mashed" potatoes, cream of mushroom soup, and stuffing. Wow that was a wonderful meal! After cleaning all that up, we went to the tent and read some more from the book until about midnight when we went to sleep.
Tuesday:
We got up about 8 a.m. and each did our Quiet Times before we had breakfast. This time it was pancakes! To think I never expected to have pancakes on a hiking trip! We could only cook one at a time so it took a while! :-) But we had plenty of time to spare! After we got everything cleaned up, we started packing up. We got the packs all ready, and hit the trail. We went out a different way than we came in, and ended up running into some private property which we went around, but that meant traveling over some hills that weren't actually part of the trail. Finally we made it to the road and after a mile more we were back at the car!! After celebrating with some cream soda (one of Eric's traditions), we weighed the packs again - his was 43 lbs, mine was 46 lbs. That's a lot of food and water that we went through!! After loading up in the car, we drove back, hit some traffic, and I ended up getting to work just on time at 6 p.m. What a trip! I hope we can do something like that again sometime!
Praise the Lord for:
Great weather - even if it did rain at night a couple times!
Safety in hiking and driving.
Wonderful growth in God and with each other.
*EDIT*
I forgot to say that on a couple occasions, Eric and I as we were hiking along the trail, stopped and listened to nothing / silence for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. It was really cool. No birds, no cars, no wind, no rustling, no people, no animals, no nothing. That's something you don't get to experience every day (its a shame though) and you are just awestruck. I'm amazed at how much noise we are always hearing! Good thing God made our ears to stand up to all that!
*End EDIT*
3 comments:
I havnt read it yet but i did skim it. Just wanted to let you know that to me its neither breakfast nor lunch....its Brunch!!!!!
~Jaci
Jaci - basically, it was a breakfast meal at lunch time. So it could be lunch because of the time, or breakfast because of what we were eating. But basically, it was brunch yes. :-)
Bekah - Yes it was a VERY good trip, and very refreshing too!
Great post Brian! It was a very refreshing time with the Lord and with you. I hope we'll be able to do it again sometime. Thanks for being adventurous and being willing to hike in NOVEMBER! I knew and ALERT guy would be crazy enough to go with me! Hopefully next time we go we can finish that book we started. Over the years I have noticed that backpacking really makes you grateful for all that you do have. It is a time to get away from all the "normal" distractions of life and to take you life in the palm of your hand and examine it. It is a time to refocus and energize. Thanks for going with me Brian...really enjoyed it, brother.
This quote by Jonathan Edwards expresses how I feel about backpacking and the sort of thing Brian and I did:
“This I know not how to express otherwise than by a calm, sweet abstraction of soul from all the concerns of this world; and sometimes a kind of visions of fixed ideas and imaginations of being alone in the mountain of some solitary wilderness, far from all mankind, sweetly conversing with Christ, and wrapped and swallowed up in God.”
I would encourage any of you who have never spent time alone with God before to find time to do so. It doesn’t have to be anything extreme. You could travel to a hotel or a cabin or someplace away from your normal routine. Brad Johnston taught me the value of times like this. It is worth the effort!
Post a Comment