Early for some, late for others, 8:00 AM was zero-hour. Sponsored by Harvest Church (OPC) in Wyoming, MI, ten young adults and chaperones from across the Presbytery of Michigan & Ontario gathered for a weekend hike of colorful proportions. After meeting and praying at the new building of Harvest OPC, we headed out. We stopped to play Monopoly at McDonalds, filled up our tanks, took a few wrong turns (you guessed it, the girls!), but we all made it through the Manistee National Forest to Twin Oaks Campground safely!

The colors were calling, and so was Pastor Ken Smith – so we got our backpacks ready (along with chocolate and firewood), piled into Ken’s van and drove to the top of the trail to start our hike! It was a perfect day. The weather was great, mostly sunny and around 55 degrees. And the colors were gorgeous! We hiked along the Manistee River and the views were breathtaking – so breathtaking that the first 1.5 miles took about 2 hours –pictures, exploring, laughing, and talking. During this time we discovered that North is actually up – thanks to Dana and her compass-equipped carabiners (Editor’s note: A carabiner is an oblong metal ring with a spring clip, used in mountaineering.)

About 5 miles into the hike we stopped for lunch. “Lightning Rod Boy” Colin had carried the roasting sticks for the hotdogs (thus the nickname) so we made a fire and had lunch on a cliff viewing the river. Here Ken challenged us to ponder this question: What are emotions and what is your theology of emotions?

We headed out again on the last 4 miles of the hike, taking in gorgeous vistas. It seems we all got a little tired along the way, taking a few more breaks than before! Thankfully we finished right before dark. We arrived back at the campsite eager for a campfire and some coffee, since it got really cold after the sun set. We had supper around the fire and Ken Smith picked up the question of "Emotions: What are they? Where do they come from? Can you always trust them? And can we come up with a theology?” It turned into a great discussion which lasted long after Ken Smith went to bed! Finally we went to bed – some in cabins and the brave ones in tents!

Sunday morning we made breakfast at the fire, got out our Bibles and Ken Smith gave a message on Romans 7. He discussed the conflict of two natures and how to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh, after which we sang a few songs together. Coming to the close of our trip, we played a campfire game, had lunch, packed up and headed home!

It was a great weekend with lots of fun and fellowship. It was so good to get to know everyone better and be around likeminded people. A big “thank you” to Ken Smith for taking the time to come along and blessing us with his wisdom and great discussions! Thank you to Dana Samul as well for organizing much of the trip and to Hailey Pasma for writing much of this report and helping Dana. We’d also like to thank the OPC Presbytery’s Youth Committee for encouraging this trip and helping underwrite some of its expenses.

Those who went on the hike were: Dana Samul, Colin Samul, Priscilla Vos, Paul DeVos, Mike Weurding, Hailey Pasma, Holly VanLaan, Bethany Veurink, Ken Smith, Francis VanDelden.

The author, Hailey Pasma, is a member of Harvest Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Wyoming, MI.