Lost Off Trail
I am the Lord, your Holy One The Creator of Israel, your King, who makes a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters. –Isaiah 43:15-16
GPS maps have revolutionized hiking and backpacking. Gone are the days when you had to know how to properly read a map and compass. Or are they?
A recent study by SmokyMountains.com shows that wandering off trail is the number one reason––ahead of injury and bad weather––that adult hikers require search and rescue. The study analyzed 100+ news reports over the past 25 years to identify the most common ways adults in North America got lost while hiking in national parks and wilderness, what they did to survive, and how they made it out alive. The report found that 41% of survivors got lost by accidentally losing the trail.
Another big reason hikers get lost is that they can’t properly read a map—even one on their phone that they downloaded ahead of time for off-line use. Apps like onX, AllTrails, and Gaia are great—unless you get disoriented and are unable to read them. Or what if your phone dies? Or you break it or lose it? Good old fashioned navigation skills using a map and compass are critical.
God’s man needs to be ready at all times for the false paths, rabbit trails, and wrong turns in life. It’s not enough to depend on the world’s equivalent of GPS—popular opinions or theories not based on the timeless dependability of the Way Maker. We all take unintended detours at times—a bad decision made in the heat of the moment, horrible advice from a well-meaning friend, or just plain ignorance. Finding our way back to God’s “narrow path” is the key.
The most important piece of advice from the survey mentioned above? Tell at least two people exactly where you are going if you decide to hike into the wilderness. Likewise, before plunging “off trail” in life—a new job opportunity; a cross-country move; a big relationship decision—get the advice of at least two solid friends. Jesus nails it: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
Father, help me stay on the trail and listen to You, and not the world.
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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/hikers-survival-tips