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in her early twenties. Then another one in the group said,
“Mary has a double portion of curiosity,” which the others quickly affirmed with their laughs. Mary seemed not to notice.
“So Mary has a lot of questions, which keeps everyone else seeking answers. Good, we need that,” I said.
“That you are here means you have heard the call, and you made the choice to obey it. It is one of the most important choices you have ever made. As Bonhoeffer once wrote, ‘When the Lord calls a man, He bids him to come and die.’ You are about to experience the truth of that, but you will also know the truth of what the Lord said, that if we lose our life for His sake we will find it. You will die some every day, but you are now on the greatest adventure that one can have in this life.”
    And so the journey began.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    THE PATH
    M ary had questions because she wanted answers. She was not just seeking attention. In fact, she was so confident that I could tell that she did not need or want the attention or deference the others gave her. She wanted the truth. I could also sense that I was about to be subjected to her tests to see if I was qualified to be their leader. This was interesting to me because when I had met them on the beach they had somehow known that I was to be their leader.
“It seems that you are well prepared for this journey,” I said to the group. “I have made it through this part of the wilderness, and I want to share with you how I did it. I did not do everything right, and some of the things I did we don’t want to repeat, but I think we can learn from them so as not to make those mistakes again. My goal is to get you through this part as fast and as safely as possible, while learning everything we’re here to learn.
“I think one of the things that helped me most was to reckon myself as dead. I not only resolved to take up the cross and die to my own wants and even my needs, I considered that every day would be my last, and I would very likely die that day. The last few days I did not have to imagine this, I really thought that death was likely, the journey had become so difficult.”
“That’s a bit melodramatic, isn’t it?” someone in the back remarked.
“I think it would be if it were not true.” I answered. “There is an advantage to this. As I was saying, we are likely to experience things ahead that make us think it really will be our last day in this life. Considering yourself as already dead to this world makes it much easier to face this. If we live or die, we are the Lord’s. If the fear of death starts to control us we will not make it through.
“There is another way this can help us. When you consider that every day might be your last it brings a focus to your life so that you live more every day than you may ever have before. That enables us to get the most out of every day, which is one of the purposes of the wilderness. When we are threatened with death we begin to live like never before.”
    As I surveyed the group, I was encouraged by how they listened so intently. The art of listening had become rare in our times, but this group was different. I knew the living water had a lot to do with their present mental sharpness, but they seemed exceptionally clear and resolute for this journey. The Voice leaned over and whispered to me:
“Vision is what you are seeing. They would not be sojourners if they were not people of exceptional vision. This helps to give them their focus. You must have uncommon vision to even hear the call to come here.”
    As Elijah motioned for me to continue, I did:
“If we walk in fear, we are almost certain to fall. We are going to need more faith and more of the peace of God in our hearts for the battles ahead of us. Fear will cause us to make the wrong choices. If we are already dead to this world what can the world do to us? A dead man has nothing to fear. If we have truly died with Christ, we will be raised with