By Cindy Koch –
Well, friends, today we are off on a new adventure. My husband and I are all packed up and headed out to the John Muir Trail. We will begin in Yosemite National Park and end up on Mount Whitney, provided everything goes well. In the end, we hope to hike 217 miles in the next 23 days. If you happen to think of us, please pray for our safe return!
We have no cell phones or computers with us at all right now, so to be completely honest, I wrote this before we left on our trip. Now, don’t worry. Our five amazing children are safe at home with grandparents and the dog. They’re fine, and it’s just the two of us out on the trail. But over the next couple of weeks, I wanted to share just a few of my quick thoughts on marriage, really because this is what we are celebrating on this trip. It’s not because I’m any kind of expert at all, but if anything helps a marriage in this day and age, I’m all for it.
As we begin this unknown trail today out in the High Sierras, I look down at my own boots and get a little scared. These feet are responsible for carrying me through. What if I fall? What if I can’t make it? For those of you who don’t know already, I have only recently recovered (mostly) from a foot injury that happened less than three months ago. I consider my feet and what they are capable of, and I really don’t think I’m strong enough to do this.
But as we begin this unknown trail today beyond the paved roads of modern civilization, I look over at the pair of boots next to me. Those feet will run to me if I fall. Those boots will be there to drag me out of the forest if it comes to that. I’m not on this adventure alone, and together we will find a path that we both can walk. It might be short. It might be exactly as we planned. But together, that’s how this trail is going to go.
As it has gone in our marriage. Whether it was just the two of us forging our own way to an unfamiliar city across the country to study and become parents for the first time. Or whether it was walking boldly into a strange new church to love them as a pastor and family. Or even when we discovered ourselves navigating the uncharted territories of teenagers. Together: that’s how this trail has always gone.
Unknown, but always our adventure.
