General News
4 May, 2025
In good faith
Last time I wrote to you I spoke about the camp that we went to at Ilpili.
Today I want to speak about another of the other activities that happened there.
It was when the rangers took the students to an area not far from the campsite to show them some of the traditional skills of tracking animals.
The area they took them to was well suited to this task.
It consists of low sandy hills with sparse vegetation in an area that was well sheltered from the wind so that any animal that had passed through would easily leave obvious signs of themselves behind.
The rangers concentrated on the types of signs that might be useful to their traditional life, especially the tracking of animals that could potentially be food, such as goannas, snakes and other small creatures, but the sand was smooth and loose enough to see the tracks of many other animals.
One was even able to see and follow the footprints of a small insect which one of the rangers identified as a black beetle, an introduced species from Africa.
As we returned from this most interesting activity I was reminded of another example of footprints, a well-recognised poem known as 'Footprints in the Sand'.
First published in 1990, its authorship is not known with certainty, several different authors claiming to have been the original writer.
The poem begins with the author saying they had a dream of walking along a beach with the Lord.
Their walk took them through many scenes, including difficult times as well as easy.
The writer says that as he looked back, he noticed that sometimes there were two sets of footprints while at other times there was only one.
He also noticed that it was during the difficult times that one set of footprints disappeared.
Uncertain of what was happening, he turned to the Lord and asked why it was that the Lord was not there for him during those difficult times, feeling as though he had been abandoned during his times of greatest need.
In response, the Lord explained to him that He was indeed there at those times, and that the reason why there was only one set of footprints is that those were the times when the Lord was carrying him.
In the first chapter of the book of Deuteronomy we read: “ … You saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”
The Israelites had just come to the end of their 40-year wander around the Sinai Desert and were about to enter the promised land.
Predictably, they would have been apprehensive as to what was to come so Moses, their leader, was trying to strengthen and encourage them.
The new land that they were about to enter would present many challenges, both to their survival and their faith.
Moses reminded them that if they remained faithful to God then He would never abandon them, whatever their coming challenges may be.
The same applies to each of us as we walk through life.
In the book of Matthew, we read the words of Jesus, who said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
– DAVID YOUNG