Categories: spirituality, swansea
Date: 07 January 2006 18:29:31
This afternoon, at about 2.30, a housemate asked me if I fancied going down to the Gower with her. I didn't have any definate plans for the afternoon, so jumped at the chance. We decided to go down to Oxwich Bay and explore the cliff west of the bay. I spent a reasonable about of time at this bay during the summer, because on several occasions I accompanied Ramblin' Folkie, when she was working on her project, but I had never explored the section between Oxwich and Horton, which is what we hoped to do.
I grabbed a map, compass, my hiking boots and some warm clothes and we jumped into the car. We arrived at the car park and by this time it was about 3.20, and were surprised to find a man taking money for parking still, who informed us the car park would shut up at 4.30. We decided to still set out on the walk, and see where we got to.
We climbed up steeply, to the top of the cliffs and could clearly see on the map where we were. We were walking along the level path at the top, when a couple shouted to us, from about a hundred metres away. They obviously weren't as prepared, and were completely lost. They were trying to get back to Oxwich, but were the other side of a barbed wire fence to us. I showed them on the map, where they were and explained their options - either climbing over the barbed wire fence, or walking back the way they'd come and finding the other path, which I could see on the map. The girl decided the fence would be easier - I got the impression the guy thought differently, but he didn't get much of a say in the matter!
Getting lost isn't very nice. I should know, I have done it enough times! Later in the walk, I was very glad we had a map. If you go prepared - take a map, compass, torch, GPS (!), mobile phone, etc, then it should help you not to get lost. In the same way, that you can get lost down at Oxwich bay, you can get lost from God. But, just like you can use a map (etc) to prevent you from being lost physically, you can use the bible, Greenbelt, pastoral leaders, etc, to help prevent you becoming spiritually lost. I know that is not as simple as that - you can still get lost when following a map, just like you can still get lost when reading the bible. But, I know when I am lost physically, I am very pleased to have a map with me. Just as I can turn to the bible when I get spiritually lost.
We didn't have a major problem with getting lost this afternoon, though as I say we glad to have a map! Our main problem was a lack of time. At 4.20 we were still in a middle of a field on the top of the cliff. At 4.30, we were half walking, half running, down into Oxwich. As much as a night spent in Oxwich Bay hotel, sounds glamourous and would definately make the walk memorable, we didn't particularly want to be stuck in Oxwich for the night! Just as the car park came into sight, we saw the parking attendant drive away. We also saw that the barrier was still open. Phew!