Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage Defininition of the word Pilgrimage :n. A journey to a sacred place or shrine. A long journey or search, especially one of exalted purpose or moral significance. A few weeks ago, I found myself feeling distant from God. I knew that God was with me, but it felt like He was far off somewhere and the last few years, I've grown accustomed to feeling like He is standing right beside me. As always, this was not a result of God leaving me on my own, of course, it was of my own doing. From time to time in my life I become distracted by things going on around me, whether it's being busy with work, the stress of taking care of an elderly parent, getting distracted by the things of the world, or spending too much time thinking of my personal life. When this happens, I don't spend enough time reading and studying scripture, praying, or fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in the Lord. It had kept me from writing blogs, inspirationals, and scripture interpretations, and managing New Disciples Ministry as I should. It kept me from getting the ministry growing again as had been on my heart for so long. I had to take a minute and look at myself when I started feeling like this and when I did, I saw that yes, I was guilty on all counts. What was I to do about this? The idea came to me; go on a pilgrimage. Go on a journey that would be for just me and God. Get away from everything that was distracting me and clear my mind of everything but my work for the Lord that had been on my heart. So, I decided to go to my favorite place to hike, which I hadn't been to in a long time. I got up that Sunday morning and instead of getting dressed for church, I put on some old clothes and my hiking boots and set out for Uwharrie National Forest. It's about a thirty mile drive from my house here in North Carolina. On the way, I stopped at the Eldorado outpost at the edge of the forest and picked up a biscuit and a Pepsi for breakfast and some water and jerky for later. I got to the trailhead a little after 9 a.m. and started my hike along the Uwharrie trail. About thirty minutes in, I came across a couple of large rocks that made a perfect breakfast nook, so I took a little while to eat my biscuit. After eating, I got my bible out of my backpack and picked up where I had been reading in Matthew chapter 21. When I got to the verse about perfect praise coming from the mouths of babes, I stopped. For some reason that scripture hit me as what I needed to hear. I packed everything up and started hiking again. As I hiked, I kept meeting members of a Boy Scout Troop who had camped there overnight and were on their way out. All of the scouts and adults were so friendly, it warmed my heart. You don't hear much about the Scouts anymore and it was nice to see people who still care about kids enough to be volunteering their time to do something like that that seems to be fading away. It renewed my faith in people which had been at an all time low in recent times due to events in my life over the past six months. I know that sounds bad for a minister to say, but it's the truth. I'm just telling you things that most ministers won't admit. Altogether, I hiked about an hour and a half into the forest after driving a little over a half an hour to get there. I had to do this though, to get this far away from everything to find some time that was just for me and God. I started my hike back out of the forest and took time to pray and to talk to God. I took in the beauty of the North Carolina forest in the springtime all around me. I thought of how God had created all of this. It still amazes me that some people actually believe that all life just sprung forth out of a random act of nature. This was definitely the working of a higher power that we can only begin to understand. We may understand God's Word, but I don't think the human mind is capable of understanding the being that is God. Maybe that's why some people don't believe; their mind just can't fathom a being as powerful as God who could create everything in the universe. Anyway, on my hour and a half hike back, I prayed and talked to God as if He were walking right beside me on the trail; which in my heart, I know that He was. He began to flood my mind with all of the ideas that I had had in recent times which had slipped away from me. Ideas for bible studies I had forgotten, for poetry, for projects for the ministry and ideas for getting more people involved in it all came back to me. Best of all though, I knew the Lord was right there with me again. I had experienced a renewel of sorts all thanks to God. I recommend this to everybody. You may not have to go for a hike out in the mountains as I did, but do go somewhere and spend some time alone with God and take notice of all that He has created. See what kind of affect this has on you spiritually. It's a great feeling when it's just you and God having that one on one conversation and feeling yourself growing closer in your personal relationship with our maker. P.S. I also took my new Sony camera with me on this 'pilgrimage' and took quite a few photographs. I'll be posting the pictures on the ministry's webpages soon with scriptures and messages that came to me on the hike that day in the future, so look for a new photo gallery soon intitled 'Pilgrimage'. Thank you so much for reading this and supporting this online ministry. Thank you for supporting my work for the Lord. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (New Century Version) 13 So these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. Your brother in Christ, Rev. Norman L. 'Pete' Morrison Pete 5-22-10