On October 2 I had the opportunity
to take a walk with God as a part of the fantastic bible study Experiencing
God. I have done the study once
before and the walk was probably the single most powerful experience I had
during the entire study, so I was very much looking forward to a repeat
performance. How many of you know that
God very rarely does repeat performances? At the point in my life when I did
the first walk I only heard from God when he would shout into my spiritual ears
and I had my hearing aids turned all the way up. Now, only because the grace of God which is
still at work in my life, God has taken to speaking to me in more subtle ways,
so in order to find Him I still need to seek him with the same level of effort,
which is all my heart. (see Jeremiah 29:13)
With great expectations I stepped
out of my car at the Kennerdell Tract of Clear Creek State Forest and prayed,
“God anything that happens from now until I return to the car I will attribute
to you.” As I was walking along I kept
expecting to see something huge and amazing.
I repeatedly saw interesting and fun things, but not the big thing I
wanted. Eventually, I got to a path I
had never seen or heard of before and followed it quite a ways down into the
Dennison Run ravine. When I had gone as
far down the trail as I had time to go, something caught my eye on the ground; bending
down I picked up two acorns. I had seen
acorns upon acorns on my walk so far, but these were completely different. First of all, they were incredibly oblong for
acorns. Their shapes more closely
resembled, as best I can compare them, to elongated grapes. Their color patterns were also unique. The first was all brown, but at one time it
had a very large cap on it that prevented the color on almost half of its body
from fading, resulting in a great “tan line.”
The second looked like a piece of candy corn. It had a brown end, a large yellow band
around the middle, and a red tip at the other end. I put them both in my pocket, turned around,
and finished my walk still expecting God to show up the way I expected him
to. You already know how this story ends
don’t you? You guessed it! At the end of
my walk those two acorns were the grandest thing that I had encountered.
I know what you are thinking: “Jon
you told us a story about acorns in the woods.
What’s the point?” You see, I
almost missed the point too, until I went back and considered that trail’s
name. I had been walking down, I kid you
not, Blunder Trail. I had given
everything to God that hike and He made sure I would only go so far down
Blunder Trail, find what I would not have been able to find anywhere else on my
hike, then bring me back out of the woods to my small group session where I would
share what I had found. God said that
day, “Jon, I love you. Remember that at
one time your entire life was a walk down Blunder Trail. Now I am taking those
things you only would have learned at your lowest and furthest points to bring
glory to me.” What is it that God is
using from your trip down Blunder Trail to bring about His glory?
