“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” James 1:2-3
A good hundred yards of jutted rock ledges making up a slope, leading down to the Pedernales River. That was a definite test of my endurance. It had nothing to do with being very difficult to navigate. Finding footing, in itself, was not very taxing. Yet, as many times as my buddy Ryan and I traversed that particular area, it was a definite struggle. I would feel a little light headed. My stomach would be taking a “how to tie knots” course inside of me. I have hiked more hazardous terrain, filled with more obstacles than this one. Why should this particular terrain be a total attack upon my body? Gravity!
You see, while the ledges were not particular hazardous to navigate, even for Ryan that had less experience on the trails than I. The formations, also made for firm footing but, it was the incline of the slope. It wasn’t steep enough that we were forced to hug the ground, going up or down. However, you could REALLY feel the gravity that was pulling you down to the bottom. My body was being pulled in the direction of the slope. I didn’t feel gravity holding my body with the usual vertical pull. This pull was a diagonal feeling. Imagine climbing an almost perfectly vertical ladder but, you are being pulled out and away from the ladder, instead of straight down. THAT really messes with the body’s center of balance.
As prepared as I am, when scouting a particular hiking route, I wasn’t prepared for that feeling. I pressed through, although there were times that I had to pause before taking the next step. The next time, I felt the opposing forces but, I was better prepared. The same for the next time and the time following that. It didn’t reduce how my body reacted, I was just better prepared to face and handle those moments.
Many times, our own senses cripple us. They become our own handicap. It happens when we rely solely on just one or two, such as just relying on visual senses. Instead, we should be mindful in counting on ALL of our senses working in tandem. That is what happened to me on that slope. Visually, it looked pretty “tame”, though still a little bit challenging. It was the unseen that I wasn’t ready for. That is what caught me off guard. I’m not fond of being caught off guard, either.
What did I learn from this? Things are not always what they appear to be. Something more is always lurking beneath the surface. Can you think of a situation that you walked into, thinking that it will be a piece of cake and you can handle it? You find out that there are many factors that you were not prepared for and it overwhelms, quickly. We cannot be totally prepared for the unknown. However, we can learn from each experience, or each of “life’s trail ways”, so that we are more alert to possible unknown variables that we might not be aware of, in the beginning. When we do, and we finally feel that factor pulling on us, we can pause enough to collect ourselves and, with God’s help, continue to move forward.
I am surely learning this now!
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