George Crosby State Park

1 John 1:5: This is the message he has given us to announce to you: God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. But if we are living the light of God's presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.

This weekend my wife and I camped at George Crosby State Park. We didn't arrive until about 10pm at night and we still had to backpack all our gear a couple miles into our campsite.

Things started out okay, but the further we hiked into the woods, the terrain became rougher, the trail signs became less frequent, and the trail became more indistinct. At least twice we found ourselves in the middle of the woods wondering where the trail led and if we were even on the right trail--carrying two flashlights, 50 lbs of gear each, no moonlight and soaked in sweat. Oh, and Maren fell over twice.

So many verses came to our minds as we prayed to God that might find our campsite: walk by faith not by sight, God is light, the word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path, God guides those along the path of righteousness and protects those who are faithful to him.

At that moment I would have given anything for more light, though I was thankful that we did have some light. What it made me reflect on was how scary it is in the darkness and how much more scary it is to live in spiritual darkness.

God brought us safely to our site with only a minor wrong turn hear or there, but I'll never forget the experience--and never backpack in the dark ever again! Also, the rest of the weekend was fantastic after a dramatic beginning.