Article May 20, 2019 Issue

Love leads the way home

Mark Catlin

I was searching to understand God in a way that made sense to me. At the time, I was a Christian of another denomination and understood God as both loving and wrathful. But I’d never felt totally satisfied with this concept of God, because it didn’t seem logical for God to express two opposing qualities. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that my search led me to a new view of God, one which first became evident to me when I ran into trouble on a hike.

It was around four o’clock in the morning when I headed out to hike an almost 11,000-foot mountain in northern New Mexico. At that time, I was working at a Boy Scout high adventure base, and I would often go hiking in the back country. I was lax, though, in my planning for this trip and hadn’t fully prepared. I was hiking alone, and I hadn’t told anyone what my specific itinerary was. I mentioned to some other staff members simply that I was going to climb Black Mountain and would be back in time for work.

At first, everything seemed to be going well. During the hike, I saw a fabulous sunrise and gorgeous mountain terrain. I summited the mountain at noon, so I had six hours left before I had to be at work—just enough time to get back to base camp. I decided to attempt to save what I thought might be an hour or two by bushwhacking down the mountainside rather than continuing down the trail. Not a good idea.

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Love leads the way home

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