Pastor Jeff Writes–Path Markers

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Pastor Jeff Writes

It seems I have been hiking my whole life.  When I was growing up my family would travel to Colorado twice each year: once in the winter to ski and once in the summer to go hiking.  I probably didn’t enjoy it as much then as I did later but I was in hiking boots from an early age.  Of course, in Boy Scouts that love for hiking took on new extremes with summers in Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, hikes in the Grand Canyon, and even a mixed hike/canoe trip in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota.

All this hiking led me to a love for being out in the wilderness, hiking where vehicles can not go.  Thankfully, I married someone who feels the same way about hiking, backpacking, and being outdoors.  In fact, our wedding registry included backpacking stoves, dry bags (for canoeing), and other outdoor gear (we wanted to register for a canoe but they wouldn’t let us).

One of the things I have learned in all this hiking experience is how to follow a trail.  There are numerous ways to mark a trail: signs, painted “blazes” on trees, even pieces of material tied to tree branches.  But on more barren ground, especially that ground above the tree line, there are no trees to use to mark the path.  That’s where the ingenious “cairn” comes in very handy.

Cairns seem to have begun in Scotland, where much of the landscape is treeless and rocky.  They are piles of rocks, sometimes just a foot high but sometimes growing to towering structures.  In snowier climates, they are intentionally built high enough to be taller than the snow.  They are often spaced at regular intervals along the trail and/or to mark confusing turns or crossroads.

It is traditional for a hiker to pick up a stone (or several stones) at the beginning of their hike and then add them to the cairns as they travel.  Thus each hiker who follows along the path makes it easier and easier for the hikers that follow them to find their way.  I’ve seen some pretty hilarious examples of hikers trying to add even small pebbles to well-established cairns just to do their part.  And, of course, if one cairn is already built up, another cairn along the path is created and raises up from the ground.

I think our Christian journey is a little like these cairns.  At times, the paths we are supposed to follow are quite obvious, with little need to mark the trail.  But in the rockier and more barren times in our lives, we need guides and path-markers to lead us where God is calling us to walk.  Thankfully, we are not alone in this.  Others have walked this path before us.  Others have carried the same burden we bear.  And, thankfully, they have left markers along the path.

Of course, even they had a “pioneer” to mark the path for them.  Hebrews 12:2 calls Jesus the “author and perfecter of our faith.”  The Greek word used for author may be better translated “pioneer.”  Jesus is the trail blazer for our faith.  He is the pioneer who traveled this journey of faith long before us.  He walked through wilderness more barren than we could ever know and, when we walk through our own areas of wilderness, we walk with his guidance, his presence, and his grace.  His pathway led to the cross, to the tomb, and ultimately, to glory.

As we re-trace his steps in the season of Lent, we will see the trailmarkers of grace Jesus left for us throughout his life.  We will see the cairns that he began and others have added to over the years.  You may remember in your own life how others have helped to guide you through the difficult times and lead you toward stronger and richer faith.

When I see a cairn on a hike, I know that I am not the first person to walk that trail.  And I can imagine that I am not the last to walk it either.  So I leave my stone on the pile, so the next hiker along the trail will see the path before them and know that they are not alone.

When have you walked pathways of grace?  Where have you seen “cairns” along the way?  In this season of Lent, I pray you will reflect on these pathways as we walk along with Christ.

Peace,

Jeff