{"id":725,"date":"2012-08-21T07:22:25","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T11:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=725"},"modified":"2012-08-21T07:26:34","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T11:26:34","slug":"the-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=725","title":{"rendered":"the trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Note: \u00a0Today is day 9 of 10 in our annual Guest Blogger Series. \u00a0Please remember: \u00a0the Intramuralist may or may not agree with the opinion(s) expressed. \u00a0The goal is respectful articulation.]<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve started hiking a nearby trail, running some with my daughter (the things we\u2019ll do for our offspring like no one else!)<\/em> increasing distance & endurance daily, decreasing our time per mile.\u00a0 The trail we use has become familiar ~ the same stones to traverse the creek, the same logs across the trail to hurdle\u2026 but inevitably, daily there are the fallen sticks that somehow newly appear in my path.\u00a0 As I speed along the route, I kick some aside.\u00a0 For others I must slow and bend to grab and toss them aside.\u00a0 Once in awhile they\u2019re large enough that two of us have to work together to move, and occasionally there\u2019s something new fallen, big enough that we just decide to climb over or step around, creating an alternate route in the trail.\u00a0 I think of the significance of these as I hike… when do we choose to clear the existing trail… and when we create an alternate route, while clearing the path for the younger ones behind\u2026 letting them see that process, while enlisting my child\u2019s help.\u00a0 Eventually they may go before me and make my path level, as I have begun with parents having a less steady gait, now into their eighties, as well as for the generation to come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the same time, I\u2019ve been reading philosophy.\u00a0 Plato envisioned all we see as shadows of some real patterns being cast by a fire outside a cave where we are bound.\u00a0 I see some truth in what he imagined.\u00a0 There must be a plan, a pattern, an ideal intended for us to recognize and rise to embrace something higher, more solid, more eternal, and real yet than this world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I kick branches from the trail, gaining agility and grace, making it almost like a dance step while trying to keep up my speed, I maintain the path worn here by others before me, sometimes making detours, trying my best to secure it for those that will follow.\u00a0 I ponder the bigger picture:\u00a0 who cleared this trail in the beginning?\u00a0 Who is it that I trust, who decided this route best?\u00a0 Am I sure this turn is the best choice\u2026?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve made missteps.\u00a0 I\u2019ve slipped on wet ground and prayed a thankful landing without injury.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lost my balance trying not to slow while hurdling a series of fallen logs and tumbled brush, losing some skin and blood (and having to return for gear that flew off unnoticed while I focused on examining my injury.)<\/em>\u00a0 In all, I trust an unseen (but real)<\/em> presence there to thank and call out for help, to one who knows and sees and cares and has a plan that works it all for my good.\u00a0 Without that, continuing this trail would be rather pointless.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I meditate on the choices and conflicts in the world today.\u00a0 The differing paths that have woven through history and now shape our current perspectives, traditions, and decision-making \u2014 personal and political.\u00a0 As I heard Eric Metaxas, at the National Prayer Breakfast in February, \u201cThank God that we now argue over <\/em>how<\/em><\/strong> to help the poor, not <\/em>whether<\/em><\/strong> to.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Progress over the centuries?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 Now what?\u00a0 Among all the questions for our world and nation, how do we cease the arguing and progress in peace?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I consider the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the USA, as it relates to my belief in God who loves all nations, tribes and tongues of people equally, and exists in holiness beyond what can be attained by a human nation, whether or not we claim or agree to be \u201cone nation under God\u201d.\u00a0 As much as we may want to offer \u201cliberty & justice for all,\u201d we know that only God will ever be able to fully do it.\u00a0 I feel compelled to maintain my allegiance alone for him, and thus, to serve the world he\u2019s put me in out of that undivided allegiance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am grieved by the political\/spiritual battle around the issue of marriage.\u00a0 As I heard one admit recently, haven\u2019t we already allowed the biblical definition of marriage in our country to go by the wayside years ago? … by legalizing \u201cno fault divorce,\u201d among other impurities?\u00a0 When we talk of the parameters of biblical marriage, I fear most of us have missed what it is \u2014 and could yet be a most beautiful reflection of the faithful, relational nature of God.\u00a0 Am I \u2014 are we \u2014 willing to confront the \u201cplank in our own eye\u201d before humbly reaching out to others with the authority of God\u2019s love?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only one thing I know for sure.\u00a0 There is one who said, \u201cI am the way\u2026\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 What authority did he have to claim that?\u00a0 How can we know he is trustworthy to believe?\u00a0 Big questions, for sure.\u00a0 Brief answers?\u00a0 His life claims were recorded hundreds of years before he appeared.\u00a0 He lived a life of complete integrity.\u00a0 Instead of dying off quietly, his followers were themselves willing to die while continuing to proclaim his truth, assured there was more beyond their death here.\u00a0 They said this was the Creator of the world and that he had come to exhibit the very definition of love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do I know what words to speak that will last?\u00a0 …what decisions to make in the myriad of choices in life?\u00a0 …which route to take and who to call when I see I\u2019ve mis-stepped?\u00a0 How do I come to peace in my relationships and in the world at large? \u00a0I have to believe that the one who made me, beginning with the mathematically amazing, statistically unbelievable universe we live in, knows<\/em>.<\/strong>\u00a0 The one who was willing to die for me, I believe I can trust to work all things for my good.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The trail starts and ends with him.\u00a0And in between, He continues to be the way…
\n… If my people will humble themselves and pray… and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways… then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Respectfully,<\/p>\n

REH<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Intramuralist Note:\u00a0 REH and I became friends as kids at camp a couple decades ago; she has since earned an MA in counseling… and continues to spur me \u2014 and many \u2014 on.]<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Note: \u00a0Today is day 9 of 10 in our annual Guest Blogger Series. \u00a0Please remember: \u00a0the Intramuralist may or may not agree with the opinion(s) expressed. \u00a0The goal is respectful articulation.]     I\u2019ve started hiking a nearby trail, running some with my daughter (the things we\u2019ll do for our offspring like no one else!) … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “the trail”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,96],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-life","tag-biblical-marriage","tag-pledge-of-allegiance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":730,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions\/730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}