Rock Slide Alert

I want to tell you about a man who went hiking in the cascade mountain range that spreads through British Columbia, Canada. As he left the trail head parking lot he walked across the dark and hard pavement toward the entrance to the trail. A root growing under the pavement created a crack big enough for the man to trip on. As he attempts to regain his balance he steps over the edge of the asphalt causing his foot suck deep into the mud covering his shoe and permanently staining his sock. He pulled it out with the noise of a giant suction cup and left behind an almost perfect boot sized hole. He continued past a split rail fence on started up the steep slope of the trail. The ground beneath him was solid yet padded and made for a low impact upon his joints. This continued until he passed the tree line and out into a clearing. At this point the trail disappeared and he climbed over rocks as he made his way toward the summit. Beside some simple navigating he could transverse across the rocks with relative ease. Then stepping over a rather insignificant looking stone it turned under the pressure from his foot and started falling down the steep grade gathering speed and companions until at last the noise and dust settled. The hiker looked down over the terrain he had just climbed and took in a sight never seen before. The avalanche had revealed a vein of gold beneath the trail he had just climbed. A treasure hidden below the guise of a shaky and insure rock formation.

What does it mean?

I'm the hiker. I don't have an agenda other than to experience a bit of the world normally forgotten about. The pavement represents the youth who are easy to be around but live so deeply entrenched in dark places that they have become hardened to anything but surface conversation. Though there are some places I can see roots of growth pushing against the unseen side of the pavement. The mud represents those lives we cone in contact with whom they are a sludge of emotion. Unable to take form nor support weight of any kind. It is in these youth that I hope to leave an impression of Jesus as I walk by. Then entering the trail I find lives that are secure but soft to walk alongside of. They have their dips and valleys but over all they are a place where you can experience a lot of growth along their ways. The rock surface which I sometimes comb has the same feeling of the hard pavement but also has some jagged edges caused from past hurts. It looks solid but turn over the right stone and all the facade breaks down and you are offered a glimpse into their soul.

These are not my projects or my charity cases. They are all different people that I connect with as I move through life. I don't make or force the changes but I simply walk differently on each path. These are my friends. My youth. My fellow humans. Climbing. Climb away.

Danny Ferguson
Langley Area Director
Greater Vancouver YFC / Youth Unlimited
604-968-1812
danny@youthunlimited.com

I love being married to April