How many of us would admit to using a GPS device, of some sort? Whether it is mounted to the dash of your car or located in an app on your phone. I, for one, have never been directionally challenged...depending on who you ask, haha! My motto has always been, "I'll get there," and I always do...and I have stories to tell from along the way as well...
I am not a straight line walker...never have been, don't think I ever will be. I love the exit ramps and scenic views and possibilities of what could be and what I am possibly missing. It has driven me for years, in all different styles and forms.
So, back in April, we held our Spring Retreat up at beautiful Camp Glisson, in Dahlonega, Georgia. The retreat was called "Stripped" and I had the idea of going back to basics...getting quiet, away from our distractions and stripping away the outer layers of who we have made ourselves to be and bear ourselves before God, just as we are. After the first day, the students were going with it...yes, they also had fun making jokes about the retreat title as well (and so have I, for years, as I have used this idea 2 other times). But, on the particular retreat, I found out right away that some students were dealing with some pretty heavy baggage. These admissions to me and some of the other counselors, over a 24 hour period, left me rather astounded I had never been on a retreat, where students were admitting some of the their struggle in day 1. It was taking on a whole different level of seriousness than I had anticipated....so I said the prayer that many pastors say, "Lord, move me out the way because they need less of me and more of you!" I did not want to screw things up....
Well, that didn't last very long! On day 2, I opened myself up to doing something I had done countless times and always walked away cynical and laughing under my breath, until I had a moment to declare to anyone within listening distance, how stupid this meditation practice was. Yes, you have been there, I am sure, if you have been in youth ministries for any amount of time. Usually these meditation exercises are accompanied with silent moments and there is always that one middle school kid who is just waiting to disrupt any form of quiet devotion, by passing gas, just at the point when everyone gets really quiet. Once that happens, it's like someone set off a bomb in the room (sorry, had to say to it)....and the moment is lost and ruined.
There was a female leader in our church, who specialized in this quiet, silent, prayerful exercise and she sold me on it. It didn't take much. Any time I can get other adults up in front of the kids is a bonus to me. And she did her job well...I was actually hooked and I could tell the students were buying into it as well. No one had broken the tranquility of the space we were meeting in yet and as I gazed around the room, kids were sitting still, but you could see the action and intent of their prayers on their faces. One of the only times I have ever witnessed that in a genuine way.
So, as we finished the segment, we were going to maintain silence and take a nature walk...to see the beauty and the wonder of the things around us that we look past each and every day, without giving a thought to any of it. We were going to let God speak to us through His creation. Now, on paper and in my head, it sounded like a great idea. The camp is loaded with more walking paths, trees and thick brush than roads and cabins. It is a massive camp that truly is a retreat into nature, so I knew we were in the right place to do this sort of thing. I asked the camp director if such a trail existed and she assured me it did, right behind the girls cabins, down the power lines a bit and then straight up a walking path, to the top of a massive rock that was leveled off and everyone could spread out and find a place to pray.
So, as we headed up to the walking path, I located the power lines and felt confident we were on the right path. Now, I just needed to kill some time, have the group stop a few times and look at nature by spreading out and picking up anything they might normally miss and not pay attention to.
We hit the trail and went left....along the way, I was looking for the "clearly" marked path up the small mountain, so I knew how to distance the journey before we came back for the ascend....I never saw it, so we just kept walking...until it was impossible to walk any farther. Mild panic set in and I knew I had probably missed it. The students and adults gathered around, still being completely silent and I made this stop one. "Spread out, look for God in a way that you miss...He speaks to us through His creation...take about 10 minutes." As the students started to move, I moved in the opposite direction, back down the trail to see if I could locate the "clearly" marked path. I caught the eye of one of the college students who was there volunteering for the weekend and he said, "you have no idea where we are, do you?" I laughed it off and said, "Not really, but it should be just down the path we walked in on."
Well, guess what? Yep, didn't find it then either. I motioned for the group to follow back and stay in line, walking slowly, so to not miss what God might be showing them...(and slowly, so I could ask God to show me this "clearly" marked path)....We walked a bit more, passing now to the other side where we had entered the trail, and I stopped the group. Again, a planned stopped in the original planning of the walk...I was supposed to enjoy this as well and so far, all I had done was look for this "clearly" marked path. I did notice that the path kept going for a while, and just over the hill must be where the "clearly" marked path was. Some of our boy scouts took the lead and motored ahead....everyone still quiet. I couldn't believe it. The pressure to find this stupid path was on me more now....they were enjoying this and buying in to it...DANG!
As the 2 boy scouts reached the top of the hill, ahead of us, they stopped...not a good sign. Well, time for planned stop number 3. This was the last planned stop and I had no more tricks up my sleeve. As they students spread out again, I looked ahead and saw that there was no way we could continue in the current direction. As I walked down the path the other way, the way we had just come, one of the boy scouts finally clued in and said, "we're lost aren't we?" Ha, um....Yep! Thankfully, being the ever present force in nature they are, he said he may have seen the trail quite a ways back. I told him, "dude, go find it!" As I gathered the students up for what was now supposed to be the ascending up the hill, we were walking back down the path we just walked in on instead. I took up the front and blew past anything nature looking...only wanting to find the scout and success! How could I have missed this "clearly" marked path? I was about to ruin the one genuine moment of solitude and silence these students may have for a while, and they were getting more and more in to it.
There he was, just up ahead. I picked up my pace a little and got there ahead of everyone else. Silently I gazed into his eyes and said, "well?" and he just pointed, to leaves, trees, bushes and grass. "Yeah, so where is it?" Again he quietly pointed and I seriously didn't see anything different....He said, "there is is, clearly marked......
Ok, clearly marked, to someone who spends zero time in the woods, should mean a brand new sign, a well well worn, wide path, maybe even with a walking guide post at the entrance.....Oh no, not this one. The sign was maybe 20 years old and was laying on the ground, under leaves....the only thing that gave it away....the dirt colored bricks in the shape of steps leading straight up the hill....no worn path...NOPE! The bricks were 50/50 overgrown by grass, bushes, tree stumps and leaves...so yeah....it basically looked like everything else we had seen for the last hour! Seriously ...get some neon pink paint out there and paint those bricks a completely different color than the flipping ground!
The students showed up, walked straight up the path, to the top of a really awesome rock formation at teh top of a really steep incline, we prayed, meditated and dismissed as the students were ready to go back down...I figured they would all be chomping at the bit to get back down and to my amazement, steadily, over the next 40 minutes, students went back down...no one was in a hurry.
Successful mission in the eyes of the students...my heart was pounding and anxiety had set in...until I reached the top of the incline....Then I sat, trying to catch my breath and I recalled Moses, out in the wilderness for 40 years....my 40 or so minutes seemed like 40 years....but I remember the feeling of being frightened that I was gonna screw this experience up....and at each moment of panic, as it grew from "I got this" to sheer panic, no one new. Everyone thought it was planned this way.
As I was having my quiet time tonight, I came upon Isaiah 53:6, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
And the thought that won't leave my head tonight is this....it only takes one, unassuming individual, to lead a whole bunch a people astray....even if you weren't looking to be led astray....you could be, if you are not active in knowing who you are following. We all follow someone, or something. Are we sure the destination is the right place? Are we just enjoying the walk and not really paying attention to what is going on around us? If you're a leader, be careful how you lead. Sometimes, a GPS and a complete plan is still not enough...don't bank on it or you will find yourself still wandering. If you are leading someone, or if you are a follower...yes, without even planning on it, you can look up one day and ask, "how did I get here?"...you might be able to do that right now...where is it that you are and it doesn't at all match up with the surroundings you know you should be in?
Glory to God, that when we do stray off on that path, take that exit ramp and sped more time at the outlet malls than we should, making us late for arrival at our destination....those bumps in the roads were anticipated, known and paid for! "The iniquity of us all"....that which we deserved, we do not receive because of His great mercy, Amen?
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