Trek Prep Devotional - Tracy Dewey

This past week I was invited to go snowshoeing up near the Mt. Baker ski resort with Caleb, a young man who is athletically inclined.  Caleb  has been living with us so he could finish up his senior year at Lynden High School. Having never been snowshoeing, I quickly learned what essential equipment I needed and picked up at a second hand store and Craigslist.

We woke up early Saturday morning and packed all are gear along with snacks and something to drink.  As we left our home it was overcast and raining as we drove up towards the mountain the rain turned to snow and we had plenty of it at the top.  The first part of our trek we stayed on the grated snow path and I found it fairly easy to maneuver in the snowshoes but was kind of uneventful.

Then we spent the last half of our time going into the back country where we had to be careful of avalanches, getting to close to the base of the tree and falling into the abyss and at times it was hard to see with the wind blowing the snow. We ended up having some spectacular views as we trudged along the way.  At one point we went down a steep hillside, I was hesitant to go down knowing it would be difficult to clime back up.  With some encouragement, I made the decent and then came the difficult climb back up. I found as I put my feet in the tracks which Caleb made then it was much easier and I safely made it back to the top.

As we continued our journey through the day the snow became slushy and it was becoming more and more difficult to walk.  At one point I lost my footing and fell over into the snow and it took me sometime to get up and moving again.  I decided as long as tried to step into Caleb's foot prints, I was able to save a lot of energy.  Caleb happens to be a few inches taller than me, so it took some effort for me to match each of his steps. By the end of the day we had spent four hours snowshoeing, we had some spectacular views but I was exhausted.

I was glad we had gone into the back country even though it was more difficult than the graded path.  As I reflect on this experience, I think of the graded path as what it may have been like in the pre mortal existence, we had progressed as far as we could to that point. The back country is similar to what we face here on earth with all the temptatons and dangers we encounter.  I think of how Jesus Christ has gone before us to make a path for us to safely return from the back country to our Heavenly Father's presence. I also know, that He will require us to stretch at times beyond our comfort zone in order for us to become a better person.  Knowing that there will be times in our lives where we will fall down as long as we make an effort to get back on our feet the Savior's atonement will help get us back on the pathway that will lead to a spectacular view of eternity.

Brother Dewey