Dangerous Wonder... I GET IT!

So last week I decided to step a little out of the norm, take a short break from work and have a nice 3 day adventure trekking the Appalachian Trail. Ever since trekking in Fiji it has just been something I have found so exhilarating. So me and my last roomate from Eastern, Bryan Jones, not to be confused with my senior pastor Brian Jones, hit the trails late Thursday night at the Pennsylvania-Maryland border.

I found very quickly that hiking at night can potentially be a very BAD idea...

Even with our snazzy head lamps we could hardly see. The blazes on the trail were somewhat faded, and there were trees knocked down all over the trail from a very large storm that they got in that area a few days prior. About 2 miles down the trail we ran into a down tree, and began the difficult task of searching for where the path continued on the opposite side. After about 10 minutes of searching, we had still not found the path, and decided if we should make the executive decision to hike back down to the Jeep, and drive to our next checkpoint.

Finally the decision was made to head back... HOWEVER, we quickly realized that we had gone back down the mountain a different way than we had come up, and we had run right into the REAL Appalachian Trail, which was NOT the one we were hiking on... If we would have continued we would have hiked all night to nowhere. We had eventually gotten to a spot where we laid down our tents and continued the next day.

The next day was just... Hard...

We hiked basically uphill for about 8 hours that day... When we finally reached our checkpoint 15 miles later we were absolutely exhausted. We were sore, our legs felt like Jello, and man were we excited to find a shelter. They have these shelters along the AT for hikers to hang out, and not have to set up a tent. So we set up camp, took showers in the freezing spring, and cooked a nice freeze dried dinner. Shortly after we set up camp we were greeted by two separate groups. The first was a man in his mid 40's named Gene, and the next group was two women in their mid-40's as well.

Our time spent with these people was so much fun, we laughed, we gave advice about the trail that was ahead of us the next day, we shared our food, we talked about our home lives and what has lead us to be in the middle of nowhere that very night. We had just met these three people, but it felt like I've known them all my life by the time we parted ways the next day. At the very end of our stay with them, the topic came up of what I do for a living. We told them we are youth ministry majors and and work at churches, and they told us immediately that they were Christians as well. It was an incredible experience.

The last day was spent doing a lot of downhill, we also got to jump in the Potomac river, and lastly have a huge "ManBurger" immediately following our 45 mile journey. It's moments like that where I just feel so... alive... It's what I live for... It's what I write about. Heck, if even one person can get a little look inside a reckless life for Christ by reading this rambling, than I will be one happy man.

So what I learned:

1 ) - Even when it is dark in your life, and you are a little scared and not quite sure where you are going, doesn't mean that you should ever give up the adventurous attitude. With a true, genuine faith in Jesus Christ, you will come to find that the woods will end eventually... A clearing will come...

2 ) - If you want something bad enough... You will have to WORK YOUR (fill in the blank) off to get it... the reward will follow. Sometimes when life seems to be all uphill, you have to work really hard to get up it, but when you do... there isn't a better feeling. Working hard is definately a big part of the dangerous wonderer's life.

3 ) - Sometimes being Religious can really get in the way of being Spiritual. Right after meeting our friends in the shelter on the trail, I immediately had this weird feeling that this is what Acts 4 is like:

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. ³⁴There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.


I now work at a church, and this time I got to spend seeing the world as God created it, and not necessarily knowing what was coming next was probably the closest I have felt with Got in months. Don't ever let Religion get in the way of your faith. Continue fighting to learn more, and to do what truly makes you feel alive. God has given us the feeling of happiness to be used abundantly... go live in harms way... go down paths you may be unfamiliar with... Dangerous Wonder... I get it...