Many years ago, my family and I went to the Red Wood Forest in San Francisco, California. It was beautiful. The trees were massive – reaching as far up into the sky as they possibly could in all of their natural finery.
Despite the cold temperature (who knew it could be cold in the summer?), we were all excited to see such an amazing part of God’s creation. As we started down the wide, gray pathway – clearly meant for visitors, my brother pointed out another path. It veered straight up and to the right. Unlike the larger pathway, this one was not as wide and had dirt for its bottom.
For some reason, the thought did not occur to us that this was not the normal pathway to take, and so, we switched directions and headed on up. And we certainly went up! The sun’s rays spilled out in bucketful’s of warm, buttery happiness with the birds occasionally adding their own little tune.
After about an hour of hiking, we all began to wonder ‘when is this going to end’? Surely it could not last for much longer…right? We were practically at the top where the pathway had shrunk so much so, that it was now only wide enough for one person at a time. And we were literally the only people on this path – save for a couple, several yards ahead.
Tick. Tock. Two more hours went by.
By this point, we were done and ready to say adiós to the Red Wood Forest. Thankfully, we finally, reached the end of the pathway.
And that is the story of how my family and I got lost in the Red Wood Forest.
Southern Dreamer 