So what did I do on my day off? I love nature and innately despise the city so I was delighted to take last Monday to go off by myself to hike up Mt. Wilson. Now you wouldn't think that LA is known for much nature, but I was surprised to find that 10-15 minutes away from here are several really nice trails back up into the mountains. So I decided to go on an approximately 16 mile hike round trip; over seven miles up and over seven back and then some at the top. Mt. Wilson is known for its many astronomical observatories which I wanted to see as well. Now you could drive up there, but why drive if you can spend time in nature hiking up?
As I hiked, it was a steady incline--often quite steep--with little respite. It was a fairly narrow trail that decreased in size the farther along I went. From about three miles in, I had multiple thoughts of how I should just call it quits and return; but I was determined to get to the top. I was struggling at times to continue because I was so tired and sore. Sometimes I had to climb up rocky parts; other times I had to fight against slipping back down the steep slope on sand and loose dirt and it was very wearing. I frequently had to stop and rest. A couple miles from the summit, the trail got much wider and seemed to turn into a gravel road that cars drove on. Once I turned onto this wide gravel road, even though it was still a steep incline and in the sun, I began moving at a much more rapid pace. Yes, I was tired and sore, but it was so much easier on my legs. I don't think I took a break from that point all the way to the top!
Here I was almost to the top of the mountain. I could see the peak not far off, but how did I know that I was actually on the trail? I stopped seeing trail signs and kept wondering if this road would really take me where I wanted to go. Looking up the trail later online, I noticed a note that another hiker had left saying that many people take the gravel road but that that actually isn't the trail. The trail is really had to notice and goes more directly to the summit. It is so small that most hikers miss it.
What a lesson God brought to my mind! As it turns out, the wide road was just a longer easier way around to the top, but it wasn't the trail. For the point of this object lesson, the road actually did go where I was heading eventually (so don't take the comparison too far), but what if it didn't? I still would not have known until I was far down it. In our Christian walk, how often do we fight our way up a mountain of difficulty. We are nearly to the top, almost to victory, and we come across a wide easy road and completely miss the real trail never making to the top. It might be a big temptation of money or family or anything else that looks attractive and looks like the easy way out. But we are then going off in the wrong direction. All because it is easier to walk on and you can move faster. So few people had taken the actual trail that it was practically invisible except to those who had been there before.
Yes the true trail is more challenging, more narrow, more tiring, and harder to find. But that is the trail we need to be on.
I thank God for that warning from nature. I pray that as I climb the narrow road with Jesus, that He will guide me to stay on the true trail. Yes it seems harder at the time, but He knows the way and it'll take me where I want to go in the end. No matter how many roads I cross that look easier to travel on, I want to stay on the narrow climb directly to the prize at the top--heaven and eternal life with Jesus! And I want each one of you to stay on that same trail with me so we can meet there together!
"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14
beginning. It became probably a third
or less of the size of the trail here.
At the top!
The observatory for the 100-inch telescope
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