Charted

What is Charted?

Like a master surveyor, Jesus gives us clear directions to find a fulfilling, purpose-filled relationship with Himself - a map to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Charted is a daily devotional written by the junior class at Fountainview Academy (Class of 2019). Based on the book Steps to Christ, this book explores the path to the Originator and Provider of Genuine Joy. We don't have to be confused about the way. The certainty is in the journey: divinely Charted.

In our association as Christians we lose much by lack of sympathy
with one another. – Steps to Christ, pg. 101
Will I make it? My watch ticked ominously forward into the
late hour, yet I still hadn’t arrived at the cabin that I was depending on
for shelter that night. The moonlit sky was blanketed by thousands of
glowing stars, but their warmth lay far away from the vicious, icy winds
that stabbed me through my thin jacket. I reposed from my torment,
surveying the savagely imposing mountain that I still had to ascend.
Tumbling to my knees, I gave up. It was now eleven at night in the
middle of the Canadian wilderness, with three feet of snow on the
ground, and I was carrying a forty-pound pack while towing a sled with
a few iron stovepipes and a pair of skis.
“Nick!” I turned to peer into the eyes of my friend Pedro who
was also shivering under the elemental barrage, yet he still stood with
his hand stretched out to me.
He stayed behind just to encourage me! The thought obliged
me to move on. As I clambered to my numb feet, I was forced to
challenge myself: Would I do the same?
* * *
Sweat stuck to me like hot syrup as I tossed my pack into
the truck that would soon take me to the same trail I had hiked three
months earlier. As I pondered the sure suffering that stood like a toll
booth to extract the price to be paid for hiking this trail, I noticed one
of my partners struggling with the weight of two packs, one of his own,
the other for the group’s shared supplies. Before my selfishness could
hijack my decision, I offered to bear my friend’s pack.
Too often when I should be helping people, I casually trample
on them to avert the inconvenience of assisting them. Humanity needs
someone to point them to Jesus, someone to show them that they
care, someone to show them that they matter, someone to encourage
and strengthen them. I want to be that someone!