Parents, What Does Your Hike Look Like?* Words from COVID 19 quarantine

 Parents, what does your hike look like? My Pastor’s story of his hike to the Chimney Tops near Gatlinburg reminded me of my own climbing misadventure with some friends on the same trail. “Let’s hike to the Chimneys, it’s beautiful at the top, it’s only two miles up… it’ll be fun!”... is what I told the group as we were deciding on the day’s activity. My family of six would sometimes go on a weekend retreat with another wonderful family of four. This particular trip, we were staying in a lodge in Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains and we were trying to decide from a myriad of activity choices: Hillbilly Golf, gondola ride, ice skating, shopping, watching taffy being pulled... I convinced the crowd ages 8 to adult that we should summit the Chimneys... and off we hiked. What I had neglected to tell them is the last time I had hiked the Chimneys was on my 12th birthday and I had forgotten that there was a vertical climb of 1400 ft in those 2 miles! It became a very strenuous climb for this group... some of us had rarely hiked past the refrigerator. I had not brought water, or snacks for us or told anyone to dress appropriately for the weather at the top… therefore, my kids had to find icicles to hydrate themselves and our friend was heard to say, “I’ll give you $20 for a donut right now!" At the top it was cold and there were steeply angled rocks with a 200 foot drop off just feet away, throwing the moms’ into a panic as our kids scrambled all over the precipice with reckless excitement. We all had blisters and sore muscles for a few days from the rugged trail. We survived the hike, but I was never allowed to choose the activity for the group again... go figure! The group walking with me was not happy that I had not fully prepared them for what was coming. I had only told them of the wonderful benefit of the beauty at the top of the mountain, not the suffering it would take to get there.

Fortunately for those who follow Jesus, He makes no euphemisms about walking with Him in this life. He alludes to the beauties of our final destination with Him, but He lets us know there will be suffering along the way. He does promise peace as we go. He says, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world." John 16:33 (CSBBible) So, how do suffering and peace go together? It is our connection with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is always with us and glad to be with us. We are connected to the Eternal, Almighty God, Who brings us a peace that transcends any earthly circumstances we find ourselves in. When our hike is getting strenuous and we are suffering, Jesus reminds us with Whom we are hiking right now and the promised wonderfulness of our final beautiful destination. When we remember that He is the God of all creation, we are filled with peace and we can also encourage the others on the hike with us to enjoy His peace now and look forward to the summit too.

Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for you all!

(here’s the DBC worship service that includes Pastor JD’s sermon from the Psalms of Accent https://www.facebook.com/dublinbaptist/videos/431586274499123/)