Lessons From the Long Trail

February 11, 2026

From Pastor Eileen States

Yesterday I registered with my husband for a 10-day hike around Mont Blanc, where we will be hiking close to 100 miles through France, Italy and Switzerland. Yes, we love to hike. Yes, we absolutely enjoy the beauty of the mountains. There is, however, some valid concern in my heart about whether I will be able to make it all the way around! 

Anyone getting ready for a multi-day trek knows you don’t just show up at the trailhead and hope for the best. You train your legs. You strengthen your lungs. You choose what to carry and, just as importantly, what to leave behind. The trail will reveal very quickly whether you are prepared.

The Bible often describes our faith journey as a walk.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him.” Colossians 2:6-7

A long hike has a way of bringing clarity to what is essential. Extra weight that seemed small at the beginning becomes heavy by day three. Spiritually, it’s much the same way. Bitterness, hurry, distraction, and sin wear us down. Part of preparation is laying those things aside.

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

On a mountain trail you also learn dependence. You watch the weather. You follow the markers. You trust the guidebook. In our life with Jesus, we lean on something even better; the presence of God Himself. He does not merely show the way, He walks it with us. I plan to take Him with me around Mont Blanc too!

There will be breathtaking views on the Tour du Mont Blanc. There will also be steep climbs, sore muscles, and moments when the end of the day feels really far away. The same is true in our Christian walk with Jesus. Yet every step shapes us, strengthens us, and draws us closer to the One who called us.

I have no doubt this excursion is going to teach me many things about myself. I will seek to learn the lessons God wants to teach me through this experience. I also want to keep learning in my Christian hike to the Kingdom. God is instructing me and molding me along that journey, too. 

The journey with Jesus is not only about reaching the destination, it is about becoming different people along the way.  Happy hiking fellow Christian travelers. Let’s share our experiences together and learn the lessons God is teaching each of us along the way. I want to see you at the finish line!!