Trail Pittsburgh to Trail Jesus
My husband and I were walking a local trail when we came upon a steel plate attached to the edge of a small walking bridge. Etched in steel was TRAIL PITTSBURGH in a strong bold font. So appropriate for Steel Country and the City of Bridges, I thought. Somehow that scuffed steel plate sparked deeper thoughts about the bridges we’d crossed since moving here - how God brought us and where we are now on His path.
I am ashamed to say my first gut reaction to my husband’s proposal to move to Pittsburgh was No Way! Not being fond of change but then realizing this was our best future - fear, loss and unsettledness settled in. My lack of faith told me it would surely be an impossible foreign land with everything new and everyone new. With no friends and no family, we would have much to lose. The fear of the unknown was powerful, but I decided to trust.
Upon arrival my first impression of the “great unknown of Pittsburgh” was endless rolling hills of packed “sticks” from winter’s effect on large deciduous trees. It was pretty bleak. Until spring when the “sticks” became useful for shading bike trails that wound along gorgeous rivers. These shaded trails would provide many opportunities to bike with new friends from Orchard Hill Church. The kind of friends that Proverbs 18:24 speaks of “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.’ It was clear. Our no friend status had changed. It’s funny how things turn around.
The once bleak “sticks” provided stick, a friendship with the strongest kind of beautiful bond.
And the initial strange and unfamiliar names of everything that felt overwhelming at first soon became insignificant. When the feel-like-you’ve-known-them-forever neighbors welcomed us with Amish donuts and surprises of repeatedly bringing in our garbage can. These acts of simple kindness had been going on for quite some time. It was clear. It was no coincidence we were fortunate to have gotten in on this dream of a neighborhood. And the best thing was that this small yet growing kindness of bringing in others' garbage cans was catching on. It felt good to be part of it. It was then the latter part of Acts 17:26 came to mind, “…he (God) determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” With a faithful family of friends, victory on Trail Pittsburgh was secure, another great turnaround.
Before I knew Pittsburgh, it was perceived as a foreign great unknown, but certainly not any longer. It occurred to me this was much the same as what it is like for someone coming to faith in Jesus. At first one may feel “No Way” about a great unknown. Fear of change is powerfully real. Questions of how faith is possible may seem impossible, distant, or bleak. And believing in Jesus, would it involve loss? Plus, the strange names of things, information, and terminology may seem foreign and overwhelming.
But once a decision to trust is made, fear fades away.
The new faith territory eventually becomes so familiar it becomes a home with loving friends who become like family, willing to handle the garbage of life. And it becomes a place where one can find encouragement, love, joy and gratification. What was thought to be possibly lost is only made better. Impossibilities become possible. And the dislike for change somehow opens a door into wanting more where things seem to fall purposely into place.
Yep, we’re supposed to be here from what we learned earlier from Acts 17:26. And why? Acts 17:27 says “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” This trail journey of coming to know Pittsburgh is most definitely a victorious one. But it is only most gratifying and meaningful if we invite Jesus to join us and lead others to experience the victory of coming to know the One willing to empty us of our worst garbage once and for all. Psalm 103:11 says, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as he east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Trail Pittsburgh? Yep, we’re on it. But we’re also on the unseen trail - Trail Jesus, desiring others to walk in faith with Him. It’s the kind of faith that tells us it is okay to leave our worst garbage in Jesus’ hands. He’ll then be there to walk with us on Trail Pittsburgh or on any trail, even beyond the next great unknown.