Guiding the Tour

While on vacation, we toured Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota and took their 1.5 mile Fairgrounds Tour. The tour took us through some of Wind Cave’s largest rooms. As we neared the end of the tour, our guide Sam told us some last minute details and a story about exploring the cave with his dad, also a Park Ranger at Wind Cave. After explaining that we would be retracing our steps through part of the cave that we walked through at the beginning of the tour, Sam then led us to the elevator entrance of the cave.

Having been encouraged at the beginning of the tour to take the time to look at the different passageways and formations, not everyone stayed close on the way out of the cave. Most of the time, I could see the half of the group ahead of me, but not the half behind me. Directly ahead of me was my youngest son. Behind me, enjoying the view of cave was my husband.

At one point, keeping my eye on Simon, I looked back and waited until I saw Paul come up the steps. I then turned and followed Simon, who was mostly following those ahead of him fairly closely. A few minutes later, I looked up at the splendor of a cavern above me. When I turned back, I could not see Simon ahead of me. I walked forward and came to a fork in the path.

I had no idea which way the Park Ranger had taken the rest of the tour group. Did I go straight, or turn? I tried to listen, but could not hear voices from either direction. By this time, Paul had caught up to me and the rest of the group was in view behind us. I choose a path based on – well, I’m not sure why I thought it was the right path. I became the leader of twenty some people taking the wrong path.

When we do not follow our Spiritual Tour Guide, we usually take the wrong path. Not only do we make bad decisions for ourselves, but we encourage others to make bad decisions also. We may not be intentionally leading our children and friends to a path of destruction, but if we are following anything other than God and His Word, we are doing just that. When we compromise what we claim to believe and tell our children to tell whoever is on the phone that we are not there, we teach them to lie. When we tell allow them to put sports, school, or anything else above church attendance on a somewhat regular frequency, we teach them idolatry.

As we got to a part of the cave that did not look familiar at all, we heard the Park Ranger’s voice behind us. He got to the entrance and realized that not only had his designated caboose not arrived, but he was short half his tour, so he came back into the cave to find us.

Our Spiritual Tour Guide does the same thing. No matter how far away from the right path we wander, He is calling out to us. He seeks us out and guides us back on the right path. We only have to listen, to turn back to Him.

I am no tour guide that could get one safely out of Wind Cave or any other cave for that matter. But I am, qualified or not, a tour guide for my children and others who witness my life. It is my goal to guide them towards Christ, not away from Him.

We had a great vacation in the Black Hills, leaving Friday and returning Monday. The boys were motivated to get back home on Monday to go to a birthday party that night. Simon was excited to collect four Junior Ranger pins from the National Park system. The boys got these by filling out workbooks regarding information gleaned at each of the sites. They got one for the Badlands on Friday, Devil's Tower on Saturday and Wind Cave and Mt Rushmore on Sunday.

For me, one highlight of the trip was seeing bison so close I was tempted to roll up my window. Here are a few pictures of the herd that caused traffic to stop from both directions.

Vacation

We are leaving to go out of town for the weekend. We will be in the Black Hills of South Dakota at the “hunting lodge” owned by a group from our church in Sioux Falls. Whenever we go on a trip even for a weekend, I make a list of things to bring. We need sleeping bags, clothes, food, bug spray, sunscreen, etc for our trip. But it always seems that, even with a list, we get partway down the road, or to our destination, and realize that we forgot something important. Our last camping trip, I forgot to pack pillows – for everyone. I had such a stiff neck afterwards that I could not turn my head far enough to the side to align it with my shoulder.

When I go on trips, I usually remember to bring my Bible. Unfortunately, I sometimes put my Bible reading on vacation as well. As my routine is interrupted by a change of location and schedule, I put off or forget to do my quiet time.

At other times, I find myself sitting in the quiet of a select location in God’s beautiful creation and spending more time with Him than I would at home. This is the type of vacation I want for this weekend. Not to leave the Spiritual Disciplines unpacked and at home, but to pack them into the time I have away.