The Journey

I've been reading the book, Hind's Feet on High Places. The theme of the story is a journey. It's an allegory of a girl named Much Afraid and her journey through the meadows, the valleys, the peaks, the hard, the easy, the highs, the lows. It is a beautiful picture of the adventure God wants to take us on to develop and equip us to make it to the highest places with Him.

"The Lord is my strength. He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely to walk upon the high places." Habakkuk 3:19

Along the way she faces her family, "The Fearings," continually telling her she won't make it. Some of her cousins, Craven Fear, Pride, Bitterness, and Self-Pity like to antagonize her. However, the Great Shepherd is her love and she continually follows him. She slips, falls, and listens to the constant voices of her relatives. But, she gets up and keeps going. She questions and doubts, she feels so far from the Shepherd at times, but He always comes to help. Right when she thinks she's going up, the path will veer down into another dark valley. When she comes out of it though, she has a new truth she learned. She comes out better equipped for the next part of the journey.

It has been an excellent, eye-opening read. I've been getting to run in the mornings along the mountains and fields, and it makes me feel like Much Afraid. It reminds me of the journey. I thank God that He's allowed me to read this story at this time in my life. I pray that he will develop my feet for what He has planned next. I pray that He will shape and mold me to be more like Him. I need His help to tune out the distractions and lies of the voices that constantly bring up my insecurities.

On her way, Much Afraid learns a beautiful lesson. In each part of the journey, her perspective changes. God continued to give her new viewpoints. Like Much Afraid, I can only see through a peephole compared to God. He can see above, below, behind, around, through... every part. If only I can learn to trust Him. Each time the Good Shepherd steps in to help. Each time He winds her in a way she couldn't have known was coming, she learns to trust Him more. The journey is one of knowing God more. Knowing God = Loving God. Much Afraid is falling into a deep, passionate love for her leader and sustainer.

"At each new viewpoint, she gained a new understanding of many things that had been puzzling and mysterious to her before. How much more would there be to see and learn and understand when the King took her higher. It was evident to her that there must be ranges and ranges of which she had never dreamed, while she walked along with an extraordinarily limited view. Up until this point, she had been able to see so little and was unconscious of what lay beyond and above."

"Even on the wonderfully enormous slopes, she was only looking out at a tiny corner of the whole. She was now seeing with a new perspective. It intoxicated her with joy, thanksgiving, and inexpressible relief. She wondered how she had been so blind, having had false ideas, expectations, and judgements of what she thought it would be like. She began to understand that truth cannot be understood by books alone, but only by personal growth and development in understanding. It's all in the journey."

It is a journey of spiritual experience and waking up to a new way of seeing. I told a friend yesterday, it's like putting on glasses. Without them, things were a little blurry. When you put the glasses on, you see things that you hadn't seen before. They had always been there, but because of a limited perspective, they were missed. It's like that with God. In 1st Corinthians 13:4-8, the Bible talks about love. "Love is patient, kind... it does not demand its own way." In 1st John it says, "God is love;" substitute the words of the two verses and you get: God does not demand His own way. It is up to us to put the glasses on. With God's help, we will start to see Him as He really is. We will see existence as it really is. We will see the big picture story He is writing. God will not push Himself on us. It is up to us to stand up, become awake, and seek to see Him in everything. He is there. Like a little kid playing hide-and-seek, he can't wait to be found. God is in all things; He holds all things together. He can't wait to take us higher and higher to see more. He wants to share beauty with us. He wants to put His realities into focus for us.

"How small a part of the glorious whole, Much Afraid sees. All she can do is to gasp with wonder, awe, and thanksgiving, and to long with all her heart to go higher and to see and understand more."

When I was in Italy, my friends and I hiked outside Vernazza on a trail that connects the five Cinque Terre towns. About 5 minutes up, we all had our cameras out snapping away. It was beautiful. Then we started again. Around the next curve, cameras were out again. Then back to the journey. All the way up the trail we were trying to capture the beauty and splendor of the city against the blue sky. On one of the stops, Katie said, "guys, it keeps getting better. Every stop we think we've found the best picture-place anyone's seen before, then the next place blows the one we had seen before away." We got to talk about that truth and how it applies to our lives. We think we know so much. At least I do. Without even knowing I'm doing it, I assume that Haley knows best. But really, I won't always know what's around the next corner. We don't know the view from the next peak. It is my prayer that God keeps taking us up and up, changing our ways of seeing, and leading us into trusting Him. I'm grateful for the story of Much Afraid and the inspiring excitement she has to go higher and higher...