#29 Why Are Christians So Bored? & Other Coastal Path Ponderings

On being a disciple and taking the difficult path

The “Walk the Trail” guidebook describes the route as strenuous. I would describe the guidebook as disingenuous. It's way worse than that!

This was the second year in a row that three of us had walked the South West Coastal Path in Cornwall, England. Over three days this August, we trekked from Boscastle to Padstow, via Tintagel, (the home of King Arthur’s castle), Port Isaac, (the home of the Popular TV Series Doc Martin), and Rock, (not the home of Dwayne Johnson). This year was a 26-mile hike consisting of more ups and downs than an itchy-nosed tightrope walker.

The total trial… sorry… trail would be over 1000 Kilometres if we dared to do it. It would probably take us 10-15 years at my pace.

I found this year’s section a physically challenging assault on my office-based sedentary senses. Ashamed of my performance last year, I have been improving my fitness since January, and yet still found the cardio-stretching hill ascents difficult while carrying a massive rucksack during the only hot days of this elusive British Summer.

Smiling because I can see civilization and a beach

I am not an expert when it comes to prepping for an overnight hike. While panic buying beforehand, I purchased two tins of Spam (which I never eat), and four pot noodles that became crushed after 5 minutes walking. I binned the spam at the end of the walk. I did however forget to bring an inflatable pillow. For the record; sleeping on tinned meat does not work.

Conversations on the journey through the rugged landscape ranged from boyish banter, 1990s pop culture memories, Christian musings, laugh out loud moments with Phil, and revelations from my friend Paul such as “Peter Gabriel was my neighbour.”

Paul is one of my favourite people in the world. He is an analogue man in a digital world, and I love him all the more for it. He is practical, prophetic, steadfast, and always fun to be around. Paul is also the kind of guy you want with you when walking in the wilderness. He is a trained mountain expedition guide, although he always likes to remind me his credentials are expired. For some reason, he tries to avoid the Bear Grylls comparisons I like to give him. However, this was put to rest as we travelled back to our car, via taxi, at the end of the walk, when I overheard him saying this:

“Do you like living in Bath?” Asked the Taxi Driver.

“Yes, I love living in Bath,” Paul answered… “My wife and I used to canoe to our local Morrisons Supermarket.”

Outdoor credentials forever settled.

Paul and Phil waiting for me yet again

Along with his wife Elaine, Paul lives in Mexico, and they love to serve people by building community, relationships and occasionally building houses. I admire his simple approach to faith and living out God's call for his life. We talk regularly via WhatsApp video while he is overseas, and his friendship, advice, honest reflections, and prayerful insights always point me to Jesus.

Paul has the ability to ask killer questions in his own matter of fact way.

“Do we still believe in the power of the Bible?” He enquired several years ago in relation to the youth ministry I was involved with. That one that still sticks with me.

Occasionally though, while walking on the Cornish Coastal Path, these questions felt ill-timed….

“Do you feel that you walk in all the authority God has given you” he asked as I was struggling to ascend a difficult rocky slope with a rucksack that felt like a tonne.

“Can I answer that when we are at the top?” I gasped, feeling like I didn't have authority over my lungs let alone anything spiritual in that moment!

Last year we trekked across Cornwall for two and a half days and then caught a bus back to our starting point in about 25 minutes. What took us days could have been achieved in minutes by another route. This goes to show that it is all about (cliché incoming) “the journey”.

So why then do we choose the strenuous path and not just go for the easy route? And why does Jesus often seem to encourage it?

We walk to find adventure

There’s a popular LORD OF THE RINGS-based meme that shows Frodo running out of his hobbit house with an unfurled scroll in his hands dashing through the lush green hills of the Shire whilst exclaiming, “I’m going on an adventure!”

It is the perfect depiction of that sense of excitement and expectation we feel at the start of a journey.

This image sits in stark contrast to those who feel locked on religious autopilot.

“Why are Christians so bored?”

This was one of the questions posed for long-form discussion on this year’s walk.

A dozen answers followed:

Maybe we take God for granted…?

Maybe we don’t understand the gospel?

Maybe we are trapped in the “same old same old” of religion…?

Maybe we don't really have to put into practice what we learn…?

Maybe we are not involved in God’s mission…?

Maybe we see it as someone else’s job to live the adventure and we just want to listen to them tell us about it from a platform…?

Then Paul pipes up…

“Why do we want to be entertained as Christians so much anyway?”

These kind of conversations help us wrestle to find purpose on our walk of life.

Port Isaac by night

We walk to show others a different way

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One night we decided to forgo our tents and sleep out under the stars.

While lying awake in my sleeping bag and listening to the waves of the ocean's, my gaze turned upward, adapting to the expanse of the Cornish sky. Overhead, clusters of galaxies, shooting stars, and drifting satellites came into view.

I had last lain like that back in 2012 under a Zambia night sky on a school trip.

Inevitably, the question goes through my mind, “How could anyone see all this and not believe in God?”

That very day I had been texted a faith based query that struck me as ironic, given what was happening to me at that moment.

A great young man I know had been asking my daughter questions about Christianity. Amongst the more obvious questions like “Is swearing a sin,” there was one that made us hikers giggle.

“Do Christians believe in Space?”

At first glance, that question seemed as silly as “Do atheists believe in animals?” but we figured the underlying sentiment was about God, Science, and the Big Bang. I am looking forward to talking it through with him. 

It was only afterwards that I thought about the juxtaposition of these two events on the same day.

Here I was experiencing something incredible myself. I had become engrossed in the vast night sky; available to everyone, every single day, for those who choose to pay attention. At the same time another human was wondering if any of it meant anything at all. We live in that tension all the time.

We as Christians have something incredible. We have seen the vastness of God, available to everyone, every single day, for those who choose to pay attention. Yet so many don't have the same experience as us. Maybe they haven't taken the time yet? Or they look at the same night sky and just see darkness.

What then is our job? It is not to be the star but to point to the creator of them.

While walking on the Coastal Path, so many people stopped to talk to us about our journey. We were serious backpackers amongst a crowd of casual day walkers. We stood out. 

This is why we need to be willing to take the more difficult road called discipleship. We have to do something different —- be something different —- show something different. It has to be more than another package tour to religionville.

Only as we break out of the mundaneness of religion and take the path less trodden towards discipleship adventures can we start to reveal Jesus. It is perhaps then in the rewilding of our faith that others will begin to take note of our journey.

What might that wild path look like for you?

A note from Dave

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