The "Backpackers Find Strength In Faith" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a story in my local newspaper titled "Backpackers find strength in faith."  Glossbrenner Church of Mount Joy, Lancaster County, hosted a GEAR-UP/DEEP backpacking trip a few weeks ago in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.  The trip's acronym stands for "Glossbrenner Eperimental, Adventure, Responsible - Unique Pursuits/Department of Experiential Educational Programming."  This year's participants were David Eichler, Eric Boyer, Andrew Miller and Jordan York.  York, 18, was the first Glossbrenner Church Youth member to participate in the backpacking trip.  Eichler shared highlights from the experience in a release about the trip.  The trip offered education on backpacking basics, including packing and fitting a backpack, reading a topographic map, filtering and chemically treating water, leave-no-trace practices and more.  The group used the Black Forest Trail system.  Faith was an important element of the trip, as well, and "The Upper Room" devotional and Bible scripture readings were shared each day.  On the second day of the tip, when the group faced significant uphill travel, the day's theme was "Source of Strength."  That included a reading from Joshua 1:1-9; "Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, not dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."  York, the group's  youngest member, felt accomplished in learning how to read a map and using an orienteering compasss.  He was also proud of his ability to conquer difficult parts of the trip.  "I feel that I want to get outdoors more, even experience solo hikes to listen to the sound of wind through the trees and of birds," York said in a release about the trip, shared by Eichler.   "I may even want to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia!"  York also shared how he felt God's presence during this trip.  "I felt the Lord was present, especially the first night, when I chose and read a reading at dinner time," York said.  That night, York read from the North Carolina Outward Bound School "Book of Readings."  His selection was by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote, "Adopt the pace of nature: Its secret is patience."  Think you could do what these young men have done?  I'm not so sure I could have accomplished what they did.  Especially at my age.  Perhaps when I was a teen I might have been able to complete a trip such as this, but not now that I am in my waneing years.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.