Life is a hiking track

30 September 2007
I love going to mountains and beaches more than going to malls and shopping centres. So I am quite enthusiastic about going to Curug Panjang along with my youth commission. This also commemorates the 41st birthday of the commission and welcoming new members of the commission.
Nevertheless, the track that we had to go through was so heavy. I fell once and once more. The first fall made me unable to trust my feet anymore. My feet that I can always trust to keep me balanced suddenly could not cope with the track and thus the second fall. It reminds me that when we suddenly lose faith in something to fundamental for us, the consequences can be devastating. Throughout the next hour I had to learn to bring back my trust to my feet, and I still can’t really trust my feet the day after the hiking. Imagine if that happens to your faith in God. Well, I’d rather not imagine.
Another thing that I learn about walking through difficult terrain is it is much better when we don’t hold to anything else. When I walked, I brought a bottle of water and my slippers that unfortunately were not strong enough and broke away in the middle of the journey. This made me clumsier so I found it difficult to keep my balance. It suddenly brought to my memory a lesson from the Gospel saying that to go to heaven, you must let go all the things that attach you to the world. This is very true. When we are busy doing other things and holding to other trivial things, our way upward becomes more difficult and we lose concentration and sight of the main goal. So after the second fall, I let go the slippers and the bottle as well, and then, I stopped falling.
Apart from the difficult track, I found it very nice to speak to Oka and Avia. They are a recently married couple in the congregation.
Oka is very firmly committed to his life goals—fixing Indonesian economy and propagating the Gospel. His wife is no less committed to her goals to reduce poverty and bring more people to know the Lord. When I meet people like this, I can’t stop myself from being idealist and I do hope that I will maintain my idealism throughout my life. It was a very different approach taken by the preacher that day who said she would keep herself realistic to the present problems and keep away the idealism that can bring disappointment. Christianity, I believe, is strongly built on idealism. Who is Jesus if he was not an idealist? What would the world be without people like Martin Luther King, Jr or Mother Teresa? They are truly idealists. Without idealism we will linger on the trivialities of life and can never dream big; thus, achieve nothing at all.
So it was a nice day of reflection despite the bruises and tiredness. Now, I question myself how long I would stay in a job that I understand more clearly everyday is not my calling and not really the place the Lord wants me to stay for a long time. If only the difficulties of life only occur during hiking to Curug Panjang, our lives would be much easier. But, our lives are actually a long hiking to a higher ground, a stiller ground found not in the profanity of Earth. That is why it is never easy.