Spiritual Trekking

Trekking. To trek. To hike. To trudge. To make a slow or arduous journey. As you have probably figured out by now…I like to hike. There is something about it that is freeing to me…and also rewarding. For me, it is one thing to see a beautiful view of the mountains from the side of the road, but another to get intimate with them and to see the mountain views from somewhere that I walked to.

Clint Ulmer and I continued our SB6K (South Beyond 6000) journey this past weekend. We started at the top of Mount Mitchell and ventured off along the Black Mountain Crest Trail in hopes of conquering six more peaks on our list. Apparently this 12 mile trek was going to be one of our hardest that we would have to do but we felt up to it.

I won’t lie that I was not adequately prepared for this trek. I could blame it on my age…but most of you would laugh at me. I’ve been in better shape in my life…but I’m not quite there anymore. No matter what the excuse may be…my legs just weren’t used to walking that far, especially with the uphill and downhill grades that we had to go over with 40lb packs on. When on a trek like this you might come to a point where you want to just quit but the reality is…you’re in the middle of nowhere and quitting would mean simply deciding to live where you are.

“The Spiritual Race is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” is something I heard often growing up and I’m sure you’ve heard it too. I’ve changed that slogan in my life to, “Our Spiritual Walk aint no walk in the park, it’s a Trek.” There are a lot of ups and downs. It is really hard at times. There are times where the view is breathtaking. Times where your next step is completely because of the power and grace of God. This Spiritual Trek is something that we have to constantly work at, prepare for, and encourage one another on…or we simply choose to settle where we are, in the middle of nowhere.

T.R.E.K. (True Religion for the Eternal Kingdom) Bible Study is starting up this Thursday Night for the teens. It is a Bible Study that is going to be focused on going deeper into the Spiritual Trek we call life. We’ll be focusing on habitual practices of Spirituality to prepare and encourage one another in this Trek. I look forward to this time during the weeks because of what our teens will teach me about spirituality. They have so much to tell with their lives and I can’t wait to see how God works through them in each other’s lives.