Getting away...far away
She was standing outside Wilderness Edge intently studying the map she had received from the front desk. I came up behind her and asked if the suspension bridge was on that map. She smiled and showed me the map and our conversation began. We discussed the fact that we both wanted to see it and how we could get there. We both thought that walking the 6.1 miles might be a bit much so after we exchanged names we decided that we would bike to the bridge together.
We started out along the beautiful path that runs along the lake. We chatted happily, admiring the wonderful scenery. After traveling along the gravel path for quite some time we made our way up a rock formation and found ourselves on a road that ran past the golf course where her husband was playing golf with some of the other pastors.
We stopped at the corner and decided to look at the map one more time before moving ahead. Laurel followed the little dotted path on the paper map with her finger and we both decided that we knew which direction to go. Problem was, it was the wrong direction!
We ended up missing our turn and landed up on the main highway. No big deal we both thought as we stopped and looked at the little map once again. We would simply drive along the highway until the turn off for the suspension bridge was visible. Problem #2 was...there was absolutely no signage for anyone coming from the East! Unlike the wise men from the East who at least had a star to follow, we had nothing. We stopped a couple of times to try and get our bearings and that was when we noticed that the map showed that there was a street that continued on from where the suspension bridge turn off was. This should be simple, we would just look for that street sign.
Hmmm....no street signs, but we pedalled on. We talked...a lot...about our lives, our spiritual walk, things we would like to change about ourselves, things we struggle with, our jobs...we had lots of time to talk. We were so content on the highway that we just kept right on going. Of course the secret was that we were riding with wind so as strong as the wind was pedaling the bike was a breeze. Pardon the pun.
Finally we stopped again when we realized that somewhere along the line we must have missed the turn off. I looked ahead down the road and I started laughing, I mean really laughing. We had driven so far that we were near the bridge that takes you across the river and on to the next highway. In other words, many miles further than we should have been. This was already way more than the original 6.1 miles we had planned to drive. We stood in the ditch and laughed at our own mistake.
Here we were two women who had just barely met, riding on borrowed bicycles in bear country, on a busy highway. Laurel is a 24 year old fit young woman who had just run 11 miles the day before and is in training for an upcoming half marathon.
Me? Well, I'm a middle-aged woman who has children this girl's age and haven't been on a bike for about two years.
But, what's the big deal? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?
With more giggles and conversation we happily turned our bikes around to begin our journey back. Oh boy, we forgot how powerful that wind was, an easy thing to do when you've got it behind you, but good night nurse, we were driving into that monster wind.
A few miles down the road and my legs were screaming and there was another body part that shall remain nameless that hurt like crazy. Yet, we couldn't stop laughing and every once in awhile we stood on our pedals and coasted just to give our butts a rest, but it was never enough, so finally we stopped and walked for a bit, then got back on and drove further.
We finally got to a sign that said "Pinawa Dam" 2 km's. Ok, well, that road was WAY past Pinawa so that meant we had a lot more than 2 km's left to go and I also knew we were going to have a tough time making it back. Well, I was going to have a tough time!
We walked the 2 km's and got to another sign that let us know that the hospital was up ahead and I thought that was probably a good thing for me.
Laurel kept asking if I was alright, she was such a sweetheart, so concerned, probably wondering what in the world she had been thinking to ask this old lady along for the ride. She was texting her husband to ask him to let us know when he was done golfing because then he could come and pick us up, but he wasn't quite done yet. We decided that we should just walk the rest of the way because the wind was just too strong, but pushing our bikes proved to be challenging as well.
Finally a couple of km's outside of town a white van pulled over and it was Darren and his wife and another couple. Darren is a worship pastor that I have gotten to know a bit, very polite gentleman...too polite to laugh right in my face, but I wouldn't have blamed him if he had.
We were so happy when we saw their brake lights come on. I can't tell you how happy I was when those brake lights came on!
Val (Darren's wife) jumped out and asked if we wanted a ride. We didn't hesitate but dragged our bikes and our butts over to the van, so grateful for the help.
They stuck the bikes in the back of the van, then one person sat in the back with the bikes and they closed the door on her, yes she was literally in the back, while the rest of us piled into the front seats. We reached the entrance to Pinawa when Darren suddenly asked if we had actually seen the bridge. Laurel and I both started laughing again. No, we hadn't been able to find the turn off. So, Darren cranked the van around and drove down the highway determined that we would get a chance to see it.
Well, the sign for the turn off? I should have taken a picture of it. The only sign at the turn off was for the Pinawa Cemetery...good grief, now why couldn't we have seen that? Maybe because it wasn't on the map!!!
About a minute later we were at the parking area and a few minutes of walking and we were on the bridge. Are you serious? Laurel and I had checked that little map over and over and we couldn't see any markings on the map for anything that we were seeing now.
Ah well, we happily walked along the bridge, well, we bounced along the bridge. Two of the people we were with were joyfully jumping up and down on the bridge to get it rocking. I was too tired and sore to be scared. We walked across and back again and I asked Darren to take a picture of Laurel and me so that we could prove that yes, we had made it to the bridge.
Later on that evening Keith Poysti asked everyone to call out one word that would describe our free time that afternoon. I shifted in my seat so that I could see Laurel and she had this big beautiful smile on her face as she gave me a thumbs up. We had no words...not even one.
God has also given us a road map, a scriptural road map. Much more detailed and precise than the one that Laurel and I had that day. Yet even with this detailed map called the Bible for direction we so often lose our way. We coast along thinking we don't need to read it, study it or memorize it because the travelling is easy and the wind is behind us, but suddenly there's a shift and within a split second we can be struggling along feeling as though we are in an uphill battle going against this monster wind called life.
We started out along the beautiful path that runs along the lake. We chatted happily, admiring the wonderful scenery. After traveling along the gravel path for quite some time we made our way up a rock formation and found ourselves on a road that ran past the golf course where her husband was playing golf with some of the other pastors.
We stopped at the corner and decided to look at the map one more time before moving ahead. Laurel followed the little dotted path on the paper map with her finger and we both decided that we knew which direction to go. Problem was, it was the wrong direction!
We ended up missing our turn and landed up on the main highway. No big deal we both thought as we stopped and looked at the little map once again. We would simply drive along the highway until the turn off for the suspension bridge was visible. Problem #2 was...there was absolutely no signage for anyone coming from the East! Unlike the wise men from the East who at least had a star to follow, we had nothing. We stopped a couple of times to try and get our bearings and that was when we noticed that the map showed that there was a street that continued on from where the suspension bridge turn off was. This should be simple, we would just look for that street sign.
Hmmm....no street signs, but we pedalled on. We talked...a lot...about our lives, our spiritual walk, things we would like to change about ourselves, things we struggle with, our jobs...we had lots of time to talk. We were so content on the highway that we just kept right on going. Of course the secret was that we were riding with wind so as strong as the wind was pedaling the bike was a breeze. Pardon the pun.
Finally we stopped again when we realized that somewhere along the line we must have missed the turn off. I looked ahead down the road and I started laughing, I mean really laughing. We had driven so far that we were near the bridge that takes you across the river and on to the next highway. In other words, many miles further than we should have been. This was already way more than the original 6.1 miles we had planned to drive. We stood in the ditch and laughed at our own mistake.
Here we were two women who had just barely met, riding on borrowed bicycles in bear country, on a busy highway. Laurel is a 24 year old fit young woman who had just run 11 miles the day before and is in training for an upcoming half marathon.
Me? Well, I'm a middle-aged woman who has children this girl's age and haven't been on a bike for about two years.
But, what's the big deal? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?
With more giggles and conversation we happily turned our bikes around to begin our journey back. Oh boy, we forgot how powerful that wind was, an easy thing to do when you've got it behind you, but good night nurse, we were driving into that monster wind.
A few miles down the road and my legs were screaming and there was another body part that shall remain nameless that hurt like crazy. Yet, we couldn't stop laughing and every once in awhile we stood on our pedals and coasted just to give our butts a rest, but it was never enough, so finally we stopped and walked for a bit, then got back on and drove further.
We finally got to a sign that said "Pinawa Dam" 2 km's. Ok, well, that road was WAY past Pinawa so that meant we had a lot more than 2 km's left to go and I also knew we were going to have a tough time making it back. Well, I was going to have a tough time!
We walked the 2 km's and got to another sign that let us know that the hospital was up ahead and I thought that was probably a good thing for me.
Laurel kept asking if I was alright, she was such a sweetheart, so concerned, probably wondering what in the world she had been thinking to ask this old lady along for the ride. She was texting her husband to ask him to let us know when he was done golfing because then he could come and pick us up, but he wasn't quite done yet. We decided that we should just walk the rest of the way because the wind was just too strong, but pushing our bikes proved to be challenging as well.
Finally a couple of km's outside of town a white van pulled over and it was Darren and his wife and another couple. Darren is a worship pastor that I have gotten to know a bit, very polite gentleman...too polite to laugh right in my face, but I wouldn't have blamed him if he had.
We were so happy when we saw their brake lights come on. I can't tell you how happy I was when those brake lights came on!
Val (Darren's wife) jumped out and asked if we wanted a ride. We didn't hesitate but dragged our bikes and our butts over to the van, so grateful for the help.
They stuck the bikes in the back of the van, then one person sat in the back with the bikes and they closed the door on her, yes she was literally in the back, while the rest of us piled into the front seats. We reached the entrance to Pinawa when Darren suddenly asked if we had actually seen the bridge. Laurel and I both started laughing again. No, we hadn't been able to find the turn off. So, Darren cranked the van around and drove down the highway determined that we would get a chance to see it.
Well, the sign for the turn off? I should have taken a picture of it. The only sign at the turn off was for the Pinawa Cemetery...good grief, now why couldn't we have seen that? Maybe because it wasn't on the map!!!
About a minute later we were at the parking area and a few minutes of walking and we were on the bridge. Are you serious? Laurel and I had checked that little map over and over and we couldn't see any markings on the map for anything that we were seeing now.
Ah well, we happily walked along the bridge, well, we bounced along the bridge. Two of the people we were with were joyfully jumping up and down on the bridge to get it rocking. I was too tired and sore to be scared. We walked across and back again and I asked Darren to take a picture of Laurel and me so that we could prove that yes, we had made it to the bridge.
Later on that evening Keith Poysti asked everyone to call out one word that would describe our free time that afternoon. I shifted in my seat so that I could see Laurel and she had this big beautiful smile on her face as she gave me a thumbs up. We had no words...not even one.
God has also given us a road map, a scriptural road map. Much more detailed and precise than the one that Laurel and I had that day. Yet even with this detailed map called the Bible for direction we so often lose our way. We coast along thinking we don't need to read it, study it or memorize it because the travelling is easy and the wind is behind us, but suddenly there's a shift and within a split second we can be struggling along feeling as though we are in an uphill battle going against this monster wind called life. But, if we would just take the time to stop and pull out that road map that is literally at our fingertips and study it, every step we need to take is marked down so clearly, written by the One who loves us more than we know.
He gives the rejects His hand, and leads them step-by-step. From now on every road you travel will take you to God. Follow the covenant signs; read the charted directions. Psalm 25:9-10 (The Message)
Comments
Thanks, Dinah!