黃藥師心靈鋪子

  During the autumn of 2002, I got lost while I was hiking, and I was forced to stay overnight in a valley between high mountains without enough facilities and other stuff for survival. In the beginning, I was scared and worried. Unexpectedly, God helped me overcome my fear, accompanied me through the dark night and helped me find the way out the next morning.

  My wife Shuman, our friend Alice and I were hiking on the Yuan-Tsue Mountain. It is said this famous trail is challenging and exciting but safe and short. It takes only 5-6 hours for normal hikers to complete. This was our first time hiking on the mountain over 2000 meters high. We had been planning and looking forward to this new challenge and experience. Unexpectedly, this is really an experience we won’t forget in our entire lives.

  For some reason, we began to hike at 11 am, 2 hours later than we had planned. Shuman and Alice began hiking immediately. I spent one hour, 40 minutes longer than planned, making arrangements for our return home, so I started hiking one and a half hours later that they did. That was why I hiked as quickly as I could all the way so that I would catch up with them.

  After the first very steep slope of 200 m, I took the wrong trail. I followed a sign-strip left by a previous hiker without paying attention to the written sign. But I did not realize that for sure until I was forced to stay in the valley. Since the ranger had told me that I wouldn’t get lost on the trail of Yuan-Tsue Mountain, the only thing I was trying to do was to hike faster and faster, even though my muscles got spasm. The wrong trail I was hiking on was bad and dangerous, especially after I became exhausted.

  As the sky was getting dark, I could hardly see the sign-strip. At that point, I knew I was lost and it was safer for me to stay there until sunrise than to continue on into worse conditions and get hurt.

  I cried out when I felt forced to stay. I did not have enough food, just a small bag of crushed tomatoes and 300 cc of water. Also, I did not have a raincoat or heavy coat. I didn’t know where I was and how long I would have to stay in the mountains until I found the way out. The condition of the trail was so bad that it kept me from going back the same way. It was hard to feel sure that I would survive. How about my dear wife Shuman and Alice? I didn’t know where they were. Had they gotten lost, too? Maybe I would die this time. Maybe they would. Maybe all of us would.

  All of a sudden, I was scared and worried, even more so when I heard noises in the woods but couldn’t see in the dark. All I had to protect myself from a beast’s attack was a hiking pole. I was trying to stay awake and do exercises to keep warm. After I had accepted the fact that I couldn’t change anything, I prayed to my dear Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord of the way, truth and life. I knew that my dying or surviving this time was up to Him. The Holy Spirit calmed down my heart; my fear and worry were gone. Instead, peace and joy filled my heart. I felt so close to God, and God was so real to me. A miserable night changed into a wonderful night.

  Although I was freezing cold and I shivered, God protected me from rain, coldness, and beasts. At dawn, I found the sign-strip again and descended out of the mountains one hour later. From that experience, I know firmly that God walks with me all the time and all the way.