In school, rest and enjoyment of the present without anxiety for the future are two things that I have a lot of trouble doing. My life in school seems to be ruled by deadlines – projects, homework, tests, extracurricular activities – and my mind is always flitting from one thing on my to-do list to the next. Even when I finish several things, there always seems to be more to do – if not today, then certainly tomorrow or the next day. My mind seems most often preoccupied with the future, when I will get this and that done and what I will need to do after that. It’s a seemingly never-ending whirlwind which leaves little time for rest and enjoyment of what I have in the present, or time to just be. And it’s a whirlwind that I’m finding out I wasn’t made to deal with. As I’ve heard a few different people say, “We’re called human beings, not human doings.”
As humans, we were made to do things a lot of the time, and if someone doesn’t work at all ever, the result will not be good. But we weren’t made to work all the time, to have our minds constantly engaged and processing every moment of every day – that, I’ve found, just leads to self absorption, and any semblance of peace is drained from life. We have to rest, and for me this trip was rest. Some people might call me crazy to say that driving through the night and going on long hikes is rest, but for me physical exertion is an incredibly welcome reprieve from the unremitting mental exertion that characterizes my life at school. On this trip I didn’t have to think much more than a day ahead, and most of the time I didn’t even do that. I just enjoyed. I just lived. The residual effects of school lingered, and when my mind wandered thoughts would pop up: “What am I missing? I should be working on something. What do I need to be ready for when I get back? You have all this time, you should be reading and journaling a lot. You should do this! And that!” And so I had to step in and consciously remind myself, “Rest! Just enjoy! Just be here, now, in the present!”
We must have times of Sabbath, times of rest, times of simply enjoying what God has given us and being grateful to Him for it. It’s part of the character of God (see Genesis 2:2-3), and we were made in His image. We can rest, for Christ has done the work, and God is in control – our salvation is secure, and we are wonderfully unnecessary when it comes to keeping this world going. We can, and should, rest in Christ without worry – this is a truth that many American Christians have forgotten, and that some are rediscovering.
Besides this, there were of course a few other big lessons to be learned from this trip. First, I think my first reaction going into any of these places was that GOD is BIG. Massive beyond any comprehension I will ever have while I inhabit this mortal perspective. You look down a canyon, and it’s ridiculously huge. But honestly, it’s a tiny part of the earth. Just the world we live in is enormous beyond imagination, and we won’t even talk about anything in outer space. God made it all, and He is everywhere in it. Ridiculous. And then there are people living all over it. Billions – and that number itself is incomprehensible. Yet most of the time I forget that much of anything exists besides me and the people I see every day. I’m selfish – and that’s another truth that was quite apparent to me on this trip. When you’re in close quarters with people it means there are others right there to serve, and so it’s really obvious when you choose to serve yourself over them. 
And yet even the selfishness and pride of each of us on this trip did little to overcome the strong bond of brotherhood that we have developed over our time together at school and on this trip. Considering that we really had no major fights during 19 days at constantly close quarters, I’d say that bond is pretty strong. I count myself exceptionally blessed when I consider the kind of people God has placed in my path as friends, these men chief among them. We are very different people, and nothing but the Grace of God and His Love could have brought us together as we are. We were dead in sin apart from God, but have been redeemed by the Life, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord and Friend, Jesus Christ – and therein lies our unity and our bond. Our brotherhood is strong because we do not love with what little affection we can muster up, but God who is Love flows into our lives and relationships. We are all broken, but we can forgive each other our faults and help each other out of them because God has forgiven us and offered to heal our brokenness completely. Because of the love of Christ we respond to each other in love. This is the Gospel – the good news that defines us and is making us into who we are and who we were meant to be. This is the glue that holds our brotherhood together. 
This was an awesome trip, a truly once-in-a-lifetime journey. It was filled with laughter, adventure, majestic views, small friendly animals, food (very important), rain, snow, sun, fellowship, rest, wonder, a little bit of hardship, and so much else. This is at least a bit of what it feels like to suck the marrow out of life. And looking at this list, I am struck by the number of these things that are available to me right here, things which may be found without driving across the country. Who’s to say that we can’t live this fully most every day of our lives?
Be God's,
Dan
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