Denver Seminary

I had some highs and lows over the past couple weeks. My parents had been planning for a couple years to take my 11-year-old son on an adventure out of the country. My parents travel a lot and wanted to share this hobby with my oldest boy. It was tough to let him go, but my wife, Stephany, and I decided the time was right. The plans were made, the trip scheduled, and the tickets were bought. They would be gone for 10 days.

We were nervous about it, but eventually settled down to the idea that it was all pretty safe. The tour company specialized in trips for grand parents and grand children. There would be a group of 20 on this one. There were all kinds activities like learning about local culture, rafting, jungle hikes and snorkeling.

Not wanting to miss out on fun of our own, we decided to take our younger son (7 years old) and go back-packing with another family. We chose a location that had little elevation gain/loss to make it easier on the young ones (our son plus a 7 and 11 year old girls.) We hiked in about three miles and set up camp.

Although the weather called for some thunderstorms, it never panned out. The sun was out the whole time.

In planning the event, the rest of the party relied on me. They were all novices at backpacking, so I was the designated leader. I picked the spot, recommended the supplies, and led the trip as guide. There was some initial concern that perhaps the spot I had chosen would not provide the full alpine experience, but I had been there before and knew it would work out.

The area is one of my favorite spot in Colorado. I’ve fished there since I was in high school.

The camp sites are nice, there are few other people, and the setting is beautiful.

We caught lots of fish, snakes and had some great fellowship.

After two nights, we packed up and headed out.

Once we were in cell phone range, we checked our messages. We were alarmed to get a message from my mother saying that they were ok and that the coup did not seem to be causing them any immediate danger. They were in Honduras for their trip. Honduras has been stable for decades. There hadn’t been any turmoil in Central America for almost 20 years. Suddenly, there was trouble, and our son was there in the middle.

We spent the next three days trying to reach them without success. We were scared and frustrated. I found myself questioning God. You see, we had prayed that the trip would go smooth and that all would remain well while they were abroad. It seems that our prayers we not answered. My initial reaction was to stop praying (it didn’t seem to work the first time) and start scurrying around on my own. I tried a couple things and then stopped.

Steph and I prayed some more. We realized that the situation was out of our control. We also realized that God probably had more answers than we could muster. As you might imagine, things turned out o.k. They managed to avoid the road blocks, continue to have some adventures and eventually found their way out of the country safely.

Looking back, I realized I was questioning God’s plan. It is fine to work to help the situation, but dropping God to do my own thing could only lead to trouble. Just because God doesn’t meet our narrow expectations does not mean He is not in control or concerned for us. He’s the expert. He’s the guide.