Blogging Day
Chapter 2 (HIKINGU = Japlish for Hiking)

しんどいけど　満足感がいっぱいある！
I went hiking again 2 weeks ago. Think Yasu had a lot of faith in me, and we attempted one tough terrain up Maya Mountain, which was so tough that I wanted to give up halfway...　

Haha, n this morning, I was reading Xiaowei's email. Here is the excerpt and immediately, I identified with the author.


Living Forward, Understanding Backward
by Os Hillman, December 1, 2006

The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it. - 1 Thessalonians
5:24

When I was in my 20's, I participated in a wilderness-training course in a desert and mountain area. For our "final exam," we were blindfolded, placed in the back of a pickup truck, and taken to a remote area. We were dropped off and told to meet back at the camp in three days. We did not know where we were. We had to determine our location with our compasses. It was a frightening experience for four young people who had learned to navigate through the use of a compass only a few days earlier. With our food and water on our backs, we began our trek. It had just snowed that morning, so the way was difficult. We walked through valleys, canyons, snow-covered hills, and forests. In all, we walked more than 60 miles in three days. There were times when we did not think we could go another foot. Exhaustion and frostbitten feet were taking their toll. However, we finally made it to our base camp successfully, and to our surprise, we were the first ones among the other patrols to make it back.

At the conclusion of our journey, we were able to stand on top of a ridge, look behind us and see the beautiful terrain that we had just scaled. The pain of what we had just endured seemed to subside. We could not believe we had actually walked through those valleys and snowcapped hills. There was a sense of accomplishment.

Life is very much like this. It is often lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road a bit that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale and the spiritual deposits He has made in our life as a result.

When you begin to realize some of this, you sit back and breathe a sigh of relief because you know that God was in control all along. It didn't seem like it at the time, but He was.

Are you in the midst of a difficult journey that seems almost impossible to continue? Be assured that God is providing grace even now to equip you for that journey. There will be a time when you can say, "Wow, look at what God has done because of what I gained through that valley." Trust Him with the outcome of where you find yourself today.


Mount Maya and Its Magnificence

I have almost reached the peak... just a little bit more...


A favourite picture... How did I end up among the trees?


Mt Maya and all of its 690m


Mt Maya is also known for its 10 million dollar night view.


Oh yeah, and I saw this.
Evidence of how Coca Cola has evangelised the world.

And when I reached the top successfully, Yasu was really kind enough to have considered my hungry stomach. He had reserved seats in the restaurant right on top of the mountain for a sumptous lunch. :D


END OF CHAPTER 2