Into the Wild

That was the title of a message a friend gave recently about encountering God in the wilderness. He talked about how the Hebrew word for wilderness, midbar, also means mouth, and how God speaks to us and transforms us in the solitude, fear, doubt, wonder, and awe that we experience in the wilderness, just as He did with Jacob and Moses. The long stretches of road that cut across America may not be your typical "wilderness," but I see myself experiencing that same solitude, fear, doubt, wonder, and awe as we spend hours on those roads. Let the journey begin.

This week's wilderness was spin class at the Cal Poly Rec Center (here at Cal Poly, we like our wilderness plush, haha). As we powered through our last endurance song, the instructor urged us to push through the fatigue and focus on our goals, our reasons for being there. As the lyrics "I remember" repeated slowly to the music I just felt so filled with the hope and reality of our goals, our reasons for riding: that some day the people in Marsabit will look back on those long walks for clean water, those diseases brought about by contamination, and those lives lost to AIDS as little more than a memory - that the hardships that they face today will be reduced to a simple, somber "I remember when" and a reminder of God's goodness.