Part 1: This isn’t a mission trip Part 2: Prescription glasses
I was seeking God in the life I had built for myself but God called me to seek him in a whole new way. He put me with 26 other people who are also on a pilgrimage, who are also seeking who God is and who they are in Him. The World Race is not always fun and easy. I don’t always get along with those around me. I get frustrated and annoyed. I’m sure they get frustrated and annoyed with me. But a pilgrimage, the road to finding yourself, isn’t always easy.
I’m reading Hinds’ Feet for High Places. The main character is a girl named Much-Afraid. She is crippled and has a hard time walking. The Shepherd has invited her to travel to the High Places where love abounds and only perfection exists. He promises her that along the journey she will develop hinds’ feet and be able to leap across the rocky mountains as easily as He can. After traveling along a path that has taken her not straight to the mountain, but on a detour through the desert and along the ocean, she finally reaches the base of the mountain. Instead of a nice sloping road, she is faced with a massive vertical cliff with a very narrow, rocky path. She cries out that it is impossible for her to make it up such a steep and narrow path; she will surely fall. She calls out to the Shepherd but he tells her there is no other way. If you want to develop hinds’ feet, you must travel the same path that the hinds do. There’s no other way to go, no other path you can take. You must do it the hard way.
Much-Afraid’s pilgrimage did not lead her down an easy road and the road of my pilgrimage has certainly not been a paved expressway. For the past 3 months it’s been a long, dusty, pot-hole-filled dirt road in Africa (literally and figuratively). But somewhere along that road my feet began to change. My steps became more sure. I began to anticipate the potholes and some I was able to jump over, avoiding them altogether. The road to becoming like Christ is not always easy, but He went before us and prepared the way. He promises to walk the road with you, never deviating from your side.
“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you;
he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 31:8
