Thursday, March 21, 2013

hiking

I really enjoy hiking. It saddens me that I haven't been in such a long time. I've only hiked a few places. Of those places, my favorite is Crabtree Falls. Not only is it located just a couple of hours from where I live, but it is beautiful and peaceful. The calming sound of rushing water is soothing to me. I could just sit near the waterfall for hours and listen to the calming sounds. I enjoy seeing the sun glisten in the water. I often wish I could capture this in film, but I haven't achieved that yet.

Last night I dreamed of hiking. I was hiking this trail full of brightly colored leaves, bold green grass, and some rivers running through the trail. It was quite breath taking. The sound of the rushing waters was so peaceful. I stood on this paved bridge and looked over the side to get a better view of the rushing water.

As I continued walking the bridge, something happened and I fell over the side of the bridge. I didn't land in the water though. I was close enough to the end of the bridge that I fell on the nearby land. As I fell down the side of this hill, I grabbed a branch. There I am on the side of a hill (high enough to feel like a cliff) and I'm hanging on this branch with all of my might. I squeeze the branch trying my best not to let go. I look down to see the angry river beneath me. A moment ago the rushing waters brought me peace. Now that I am facing the angry water, I see the rocks that can injure me, rushing tides that can drown me, and death. I am terrified of falling from this branch and dropping to my death. I look up to find something else I can cling to so I can climb up the side of this hill back on to even land. I grab the first branch I see, only to realize it is a snake. OH MY GOD! As I realize that I let go of a branch and grabbed a snake, terror is in my eyes and I start to fall back to the angry river. Before I have a chance to scream, I wake up! It is 3:30 am, and I am laying safely in my warm cozy bed. I did take a quick peek under the covers to see if there was a snake, and it was all clear! I started to doze back to sleep.

I've thought about this dream all day. I could see the terror on my facial expression. The fear felt so real! I could see how scared I was of the angry river and I tried everything in my power to flee the river. Then as luck would have it, what I tried failed and pushed me to the river. The Lord laid something on my heart. In my personal life I am facing an angry river. I want to flee it. Everything within me reminds me of the dangers of falling into the river. It can swallow me up, it can hurt me, it can even take my life away if I let it. I've been trying to solve this problem myself. I've done everything I know to get away from this angry river, but it is still there. I think God is trying to tell me that the more I try to fix this problem myself, the closer I get to falling into the angry river. My solution led to be a snake; which ironically is the symbol most Christians use for Satan in Genesis 1. Even more ironic, my Bible study read Exodus 6 & 7 tonight. This passage included Aaron and Moses standing before Pharoah and when Aaron throws down his rod it turns into a snake.

As much as I dislike facing this angry river, I need to Trust in God to throw me a flotation device. I need to hang on and FULLY RELY ON GOD!

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