I’ll never
forget the time that my dad took my older brother, sister, and me into the
Rocky Mountains on a wilderness, survival trip.
I was only about 10 years old at the time, and it wasn’t really my idea
of fun. I would much rather have spent
the weekend at a theme park, but my dad is an outdoors man. He loves camping, hiking, hunting, fishing,
just about anything in the wild and wanted to share that passion with his
children, even if we were less than excited.
For Dad
the harsher the conditions the better, but he knows enough not to wander into
unknown territory without a guide. He
hired this guide named Ernest to lead our trip.
Ernest was a real mountain man. He lived in the mountains and knew the
terrain like the back of his hand. He
looked exactly like one would expect from a mountain man. He was a burly man,
with a thick beard, and leathered skin and wore animal skins as his
clothing. His cabin walls were covered
with the heads of once living creatures; trophies of his conquest over nature.
He led us into
the mountains with very little gear. And
deep in the wilderness, Ernest showed us how to build snow caves to sleep in,
to make a fire without matches, how to track and trap animals, how to survive
in the wild. It was a bit like the show survivor,
but in the mountains and without a tribal council. Of course, all that my sister and I could
think about was getting back to Grandma and Grandpa’s warm house to have a hot
cup of coco, but we were stuck.
It was good
that we had Ernest with us, we were only in the mountains for three days, but
it snowed over three feet over those three days. Without a guide to lead us, we might have
never found our way back home again. We
could have ended up as one of those terrible news stories that people talk
about for months. But, Ernest knew the
way and led us out of the mountains back home again.
It would
be foolish to embark on a difficult, treacherous journey into unknown territory
without a guide and yet, people do it all the time. People all around us attempt to make it
through this life’s journey without a guide who knows how to survive the
wilderness and can lead us back home. Come this Sunday as we discover the only
guide that can truly lead us on this Long
Journey Home.
