It’s strange that our children (and even us) may grow up thinking that water comes from a tap or a bottle. That’s not where it comes from. It comes from the ground and the sky. From glaciers, snow, and rain.
I think there is a benefit to putting your children in a situation where you can imagine them dying. Although they are probably more likely to die on a freeway than the wilderness we have adopted an illusion of safety that prevents us from true appreciation and faith.
In our culture it’s unusual to spend an extended time in close proximity with your children. I’m not talking about hours in the same house. I’m talking days within 20 feet of each other. For 9 days we were staying in a 8 foot tent. It was practically and emotionally uncomfortable. At the end of it all, we came back to a nice house with beds and privacy. We now found our family separated by stairs, doors, and walls. Both Kami and I actually found ourselves missing our children even though we are in the same house. It makes me wonder how many cultural living norms in the first world are an actual advancement for relationships.We had a strange interaction where we met a family that recognized us as “the family from the computer”. They had seen our previous YouTube videos of the trail and said that we were the reason that they were out here. This launched into a talk with our children about how beautiful the gift of true freedom is and how exciting it is to show and share that with other people. True freedom is deep, personal, emotional, spiritual, financial, rare, and contagious.Our culture sees babies as a very cute major practical inconvenience. They are so much more than that. One baby can completely transform an entire trip by unifying a team towards servanthood and providing a re-orientation of what un-hindered joy, curiosity, and discovery are like. Having Filia on our trip did not just add a 7th wheel. It completely changed the depth and enjoyment of the experience for every single member of our family. Leaving her behind would not have made a very permanent difference in her life but it would have for everyone else.
To generalize, there are 2 major way of interpreting the existence of a beautiful mountain range. The first is that it’s a unintentional geological byproduct. The second is that it’s a very personal expression of a God who wants us to more know and understand him and his beauty. If you believe the latter, we should be putting a fair amount of energy and resources towards understanding this God though the expressions that he has given us. This will probably come at the cost of the comfort and technology of our modern word.
For more details about our trip..
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