Have you ever been faced with a challenge that brought anxiety, fear, doubt as you considered it? I was recently in Yosemite for my 5th Yosemite Summit with Kidology. (Www.Yosemitesummit.org) Its a time where guys in ministry truly unplug from everything, we shut everything down and focus on one thing, just BEING a follower of Jesus. Not a Husband, Father, Pastor, Leader. Just a Follower!
While out following Jesus on the trail I began praying and worshipping while I was enjoying all of God awesome creation.
The path God had me on wasn’t a physical one, but one of deep thought and introspection. I’m not a deep thinker and the Father often uses object lessons for me to see the truth he wants for me to grab on. The first of 3 encounters came on one of my favorite trails because its where I got so much of my life back, (see post, hiking in reverse) While on the loop this year, I again heard God’s voice whispering to my heart. The words were clear and simple, “PUSH THROUGH!” Why should I Lord?” I began to ask.
“Why and how should I push through?” What brought this thought on, well, let’s just say a cold and painful object lesson. There has been so much snowfall this year that the runoff was at its highest level in all the 5 times I’ve been there. The trail we were hiking next
What brought this thought on, well, let’s just say a cold and painful object lesson. There has been so much snowfall this year that the runoff was at its highest level compared to the 5 times I’ve been there before. We were hiking alongside the Merced river running and it was rushing by hard and fast. We came to a spot on the trail were we realized there was only one way to continue and that was taking off our boots and barefooting through the ICE COLD runoff. If you want go buy a 5lb bag of ice and put into a bucket and stand in it for as long as you can. (It hurts!) We were forced to hike onward through this water and it hurt.
Then I heard the words, “Push Through.”
I didn’t want to continue, I actually was wanting, to turn back and take an easier way around, or just not finish the loop altogether. I wanted to turn back. “PUSH THROUGH!” It hit me that my holy ground trail was now again another object lesson to mold me into something more the Father wanted me to become. He wanted me to truly commit to what was ahead no matter how hard, challenging or demanding it may be.
PUSH THROUGH! I had to push forward and I had to because I had knowledge and experience for what was ahead. I knew this trail and the beauty of it all and I wanted to experience it all. I knew the Father had more for me to learn and I wanted to eagerly continue. It hurt so bad at times, the bones in my feet and ankles were begging for warmth and relief. I had to, you guessed it, push through!
As I did, I found myself focusing less and less on the pain in my feet, and more in the beauty and real fun of the adventure. It turned into a challenge to see how far I could make it without stepping up on something for a break.
I can honestly say, God used that simple, but painful, object lesson to get me to 
focus on the purpose for me on this years trip. My desire to be Rooted in Relationship with Jesus, requires me to push through in every area of following Jesus, not just the times we know where we’re going or we are comfortable with. The deeper our spiritual roots, the deeper the relationship, the greater the power we will realize we have access to.
I know, I have a tendency to back off, hold, back, turn around or even quit when opposition or the unknown are presented in front of me but my determination has grown because of that little trail adventure, and those words spoken to my heart on that amazing summer day in Yosemite.
So what do you need to push through on? How can I help? Let’s connect, and allow me to help you walk through some steps that took me to the next level in my faith.
Be on the look out for the next couple posts as I share more about my lessons learned from the trail and my cross country adventure with Giant Cows!
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