The Footpath - chapter one

“Finally here!” That was the thought in their minds when they awakened. They hoped the weatherman’s prediction was accurate – sunny and warm with a 10% chance of precipitation. What a beautiful day to begin their journey.

They had packed the night before in order to get an early start in the morning. The alarm had gone off at precisely 5:30 a.m. Breakfast was hurried because of the mounting excitement. They were out the door by 6:30 a.m. traveling by car to their drop off point. This was going to be the trip of a lifetime.

“They” were a father and two sons. The father, David, was an experienced hiker. Of the two sons, Josh was the oldest and Edward the youngest. This would be their first long hike together and they looked forward to the adventure.

David’s wife, Arlene, had grudgingly agreed to drop her “three boys” off. She was not an early riser and couldn’t understand their excitement. “It must be one of those weird male things,” she thought to herself. She wondered why they could be so eager to get up at 5:30 a.m. to take a long walk and be so unenthusiastic when it came to cleaning the basement.

The car left the highway and began its meandering journey down a country road. The speed of the car now greatly reduced only caused the anxiety of the three males to build. They began to complain about her lack of speed when suddenly a speeding pickup truck rounded a blind corner nearly colliding with their vehicle. Arlene was quite shaken by the near collision and had to stop the car and take a couple of minutes to put herself back together. “I never have liked these dirt roads,” she spouted. “You can’t see far enough ahead to avoid what’s hurtling toward you.”

The speed of their travel slowed significantly but no one complained. That was one near miss which was too close for comfort. Besides the slow speed gave David and his two sons a chance to begin noticing some of the peculiar beauty of the open fields and wooded acreage they would soon call home. Their excitement had dropped to a manageable level which seemed to bring peace to Arlene.

Arlene had not liked the idea of this trip from the beginning. What she had experienced early in her life had continued to haunt her to this very day. Dave didn’t bring it up very often because it always seemed to upset her. Josh and Edward didn’t even know about it. When David had first talked with her about this trip she was absolute in her stance – David would never take her sons on this kind of trip. David’s argument had been this kind of trip would give Josh and Edward a life experience which would help them to more fully understand and appreciate what Jesus had said so many years ago. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) The words “narrow” and “small” had a disturbing impact in her life. She was sure these words disturbed other people too. Would she ever be free of the feelings which wouldn’t die?

Her thoughts retraced those terrible days she had experienced years ago. Why couldn’t she let them go? What gave them so much power over her? She was so overcome by these thoughts she never heard David’s warning…