If ADHD=Yes then

Sermon in a trail short version

"Stick to the ridges. As long as I have the energy to climb from craig to craig, I will try. The ridge is within view now, perhaps I can regain it."

ELSE

Sermon in a hike (buckle up friend)

The trail was "Chestnut Ridge Trail". A couple who turned around warned, "Just don't step off the trail".

I little bit of fear crept in as I thought about the chance of breaking an ankle and rolling unknown of the edge of the mountain. Hypothermia would set in before morning. I wondered if the night time temperatures were cool enough to preserve the body, until someone found me. Would it be cool enough to look good for a funeral.

I checked in with myself and counted a new blessing: this self-preservation urge was evidence that I'm not suicidal.

The trees were enormous. I stared up at the forest canopy to see if they were oak or actually the legendary Chestnut trees. The top of the forest was so high above me, the wind was whooshing through the tree tops, but on the forest floor it was calm.

I wondered where God was. The whooshing in the trees answered. These tall living things are so easy to take for granted. I don't think humans have ever made anything like them. I made a mental note that humans have the superpower to blindly wander through the most beautiful forest and wonder where God is, if there is a God.

Was God the interstitial dark matter scientists are looking for? Everywhere and close at hand and invisible to scientists? Are we pretending to be blind because it's a skill we have at deceiving ourselves.

It's not possible to deceive God is the conclusion I have recently come to. The only fool I deceive is myself. The only question is, how much do I need to cooperate with Him. Thankfully I'm good at boundary setting. I've taken that course in couples' counseling.

It's exhilarating to walk on a ridge. Rain falling on either side will end up in an entirely different watershed. I can see the future up here for the rain drops as they land. If any of them were curious to ask me as the fall, "where am I going", I could look at a elevation map and tell them.

I realized: wise men and wise women are just better life basic language programmers than the rest of us. There are open source documents like the Bible to download, as well as fun versions like Harry Potter if you want a nice GUI.

Teachers give us a program architecture when we are little so we have an internal program running.

Some of us venture out on our own and try our hand at programming. It can get messy.

But life is just a program. You either download a previous debugged version or you DIY. If you got a big ego and make your own, get ready for some head bashing debug moments.

End