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Program Notes or Transcript

Do you feel like you’re stuck in a rut?  As though your life is boring and unproductive? Well, get out your hiking boots and join me for an adventure as we “trek the trails of life” today on Take Five. Take Five is a production of the Church of the Nazarene.  Sometimes in life, we need to step back from our situation and get a new perspective. Often in order to do so, we need to take a break, go on a vacation or retreat.  Two years ago I was traveling a lot, speaking in many different places, and the stress was getting to me.  My speaking became uninspired, routine.  I needed to take a break.  So I went with my brother to the Grand Canyon for two days of hiking.  In one day we covered 39 kilometers, going rim to rim.  And during that one day of hiking I learned a lot.  Despite the beautiful surrounding of the Grand Canyon, I became very tired.  Towards the end of the hike I could barely walk.  I wanted to stop many times.  My backpack began to feel very heavy and my shoulders started to droop. But I had to force myself to keep looking up towards the destination, up into the beautiful trees, up to the majestic mountains around me.  That enabled me to maintain my hiking rhythm. And finally after twelve hours, we made it, and I was able to look back across the vast canyon that I had just crossed. It was worth all the effort.  Life can get us down to the point we feel like quitting, giving up.  We sometimes feel like we just can’t carry our load any longer.  And it’s during those times that we need to force ourselves to stay in Rhythm. 

Today’s Music: Road Song, Fernando Ortega

Hiker and author Mark Cooper says that hiking and life have a rhythm. Maintaining that rhythm helps us to make it through the tough or boring times. The backpacker's spirit is released in the discipline of repetition; the days and the nights, the rising and the resting, the water and the food, the up and the down, the left and the right. Relax in life's meter, forget the paces and enjoy what is changing. With each step, even though it may seem like the one before, the people and the places change. Each step leads to a new adventure.  So friend, walk faithfully with God, one foot in front of the other, and you can say with the Psalmist, “My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not slipped.”