Quick Decisions. Longer Consequences.

On the way to retreat on islet

Over the weekend we went on a retreat with our team.  We went camping.  We prepared well and had everything we needed: food, water, firewood, etc.  We remembered these things because of the last time we had gone camping.  That time instead of bringing our own firewood, we had thought we would find it on site.  We found plenty on site, but it was all soaking wet.  This made cooking a real bear. Thankfully we only had one cooked meal planned, but we had to content ourselves with slightly warm hot dogs. The quick decision to not bring firewood, led to much longer consequences (hours of struggling over pitiful flames). This time we planned much better around meals (and were much more ambitious), and the cooking and eating went great! 

Something we like to do on a campout is go for a hike.  So on the second day, we went off on a hike around the island.  It was rather spontaneous. We tossed out the idea and said, “Let’s leave in a couple minutes!” We left mid-morning, walking along the coast.  The plan was to follow the coast and eventually turn inland and walk back over the hills and to our campsite, making a loop.  Nothing overly complicated.  We had hiked the area once before and knew there were the trails the farmers used and we were pretty sure they connected to the coast on the other side.  So even though we did not know exactly the trails we would take, we didn’t think it would be too hard to find our way.  Quick decision.  Longer consequences. Now, we never got lost, but that didn’t mean our hike was easy.

On hike: Following the coast

The first quick decision was to walk along the coast and leave at midmorning.  The tide was still low, but it had already turned and was coming in. As we went along, the tide continued to come in.  There were no trails for us to follow inland. So we had to keep to the coast.  We kept walking, but more often than not the rocky coast was met with a cliff with no way up. There may have been places where we could have stopped or scrambled up, if we needed to be safe from the tide, but none of us were interested in being stranded on a beach or cliff for hours waiting for the tide to go out.  So we kept going.  Finally we rounded a corner and found a break in the cliffs.  A valley that led inland.  Thankful to finally have a way to leave the coast, we turned inland up the valley.  Quick decision.

The valley

We followed the valley inland but soon found ourselves climbing again.  Soon it became clear that to get out of this valley, we were going to need to scramble up a steep hill and that the hill was more of a rockslide. So, in flimsy footwear and with our three kids, we found ourselves scrambling up loose rocks and holding onto roots and branches as we tried to get out of the valley.  Our teammate stepped up and led the charge. Eventually a farmer friend spotted us and started giving his advice. Finally with plenty of scratches to our arms and legs and a much wilted-in-spirit hiking party, we made it to the plateau.  The rest of the trail was uneventful—trails we had traveled before and knew well, but the joy of the hike had been greatly diminished.

It seems there is a lesson for us to learn in all this.  There was nothing wrong with our plan, per se, but at the same time, we might have done things better.  If we had left at low tide, we could have been much more leisurely in our search for a trail inland.  If we had considered the fact that we didn’t really know the trail we would take, we might have prepared with better footwear.  If we had simply done our hike in the opposite order, i.e. climbing over the hills and then coming back via the coast, we could have avoided all our problems all together.  If we had remembered that hiking in the islands is NEVER as simple as you might think, we might not have been so nonchalant in our planning.  But those are the surface lessons.  Perhaps there are bigger lessons to be learned. 

We are constantly making quick decisions. Sometimes, those quick decisions have big, long-lasting consequences.  We don’t realize it because the decision itself seems so small.  Maybe the negative examples stand out more— the flippant comment that ruins a political career. The hasty email that damages a relationship. But it can happen the other way too:  a simple, quick decision that leads to a meaningful conversation that changes someone’s life. Sometimes we can learn from bad experiences and make better decisions next time, but in lots of situations we don’t know what will come of all our quick decisions. We’re thankful that we have Someone who does know. May He guide all our quick decisions more and more.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had a nice team retreat on a little islet of the tip of Clove Island. We were thankful for the beautiful location, for good weather and for God keeping us safe. Our kids finished local school and have started the new homeschool year! Our family is feeling better! (But our teammates are sick now. Pray for their quick healing!)

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Unfortunately Megan’s phone was stolen while we were on our retreat. The number of people on the islet is limited and our boat-driver friend who helped us get to the islet seemed to have an idea of who took it. Not sure if we’ll get it back, but pray for islanders and this increasing attitude that it is okay to do bad things if one can get away with it. Our colleagues on the small island still haven’t recovered their lost items. Our short-termer has just two more weeks on our island, continue to pray for his impact with the family he is living with. One of our colleagues on the small island is back for a few weeks to pack up and say goodbye. We are sad to see him go! Pray that his final interactions with his team and his island friends and neighbors could be a blessing to all! Continue to pray for our teammate and the woman who has recently accepted the things they have been studying— pray for growth and good understanding for her and her family members. Our island sister, Elewa, has had a sudden return to the debilitating abdominal pain. Island doctors are giving her various theories of the cause but with no way of confirming the problem. Pray for relief from her pain and guidance as she looks at traveling to get better care and advice.