Dear Friends,

Its wonderful to be back..........and I really do mean that. Normally after a holiday I'm glad to be back and to start being normal again because the break has done me good. This time however, my hiking trip was a bit of a misadventure. Things didn't really work out and I had quite a tough time of it, the conditions were much more difficult than I had imagined and I also got sick and injured a knee. As a result...........I'm really glad to be back and so thankful that God has watched over me and kept me safe. If you're keen to read the report of my trip which I submitted to the rangers, you can read it here.

The worst part of my trip was accidentally losing most of my water supply. I didn't do the lid up properly on one of my water bottles and it all spilled. The nearest creek was over 10 kilometres away through very thick scrub and so I suddenly realised "I might die of thirst out here." I was very aware of how much I was dependant on God.....he was the only thing that kept me going. It took me nearly 2 days of intense hiking to make it up the ridge and over the tableland to the nearest creek..........Cabbage Tree Creek..............praise God it still had water in it. At left you can see the picture of the creek........nearly dried out.

As I lay there at night incredibly thirsty God spoke to me about my spiritual dependance on Him. Its not just our bodies which need to be provided for, it is our spirits within us that need God. In fact we need and depend on God more than our bodies need and depend on food and water. The Bible even says in Matthew 4 that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God." When there is physical pain or need, it can be easier to understand our spiritual needs also.

I had to cut the hiking trip short. My knee was swollen and unable to carry my backpack so I had to dump it and head home on foot. My backpack is still there up on the Consuelo Tableland. This was the second lesson I learned.............sometimes we carry around things in our lives which hinder our spiritual progress. If we are going to make it to where we have to, we will need to dump our burdens otherwise we might jeopardise our safety. What burdens are you carrying at the moment? Are you worried about money, job or other things. Or are you obsessed with activities, habits or other struggles? These and other things can be burdens which weigh you down. It might be time to dump these things in the lap of God and leave them behind.

Even though I was reluctanct, I had no choice but to dump my backpack. I could no longer carry on with it. My backpack was a valuable piece of equipment and all up there is perhaps $300 - $500 worth of gear I dumped. Sometimes even things which are valuable or important to us can be burdens too.......and they need to be dumped as well.

Let me encourage you to press on in your walk with God. Don't lose sight of the goal which is to know God deeply and to serve Him. When you get to the end, it really is always worth the effort as is shown by one of my photos below.

Take care
Cheers
David