DESERT JOURNEYS 7
22nd February 2018
Wadi Rum (Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 3.0)
I have had the good fortune to be able to spend a number of occasions on actual desert journeys. I find them incredible places of beauty and there is nothing like the silence of a desert. I want to tell you a little more about a cycle & climbing expedition in the Jordanian desert with my husband.
We flew out on Christmas Day 1997 – a strange time to travel but it was cheap. Over the next week we cycled the King’s Highway to Petra, on to the seaside resort of Aqaba, and then to spend time climbing. Neal had always dreamt of scaling the sandstone mountains of Jebel Rum after reading a book by his hero, Tony Howard. It was dedicated to the Bedouin people of the Wadi Rum area and in particular Sabbah Atieek who showed Tony many routes. So having arrived in Wadi Rum and found somewhere to camp it was a great thrill when Sabbah came to visit us the next day. He made us tea and discussed our plans. We then set off up the 1800m Jebel Rum, and while I have not got room here to describe the next two days in detail, in short we found ourselves still on the mountain as sunset approached.
At the time I was not an active Christian but that night I prayed as we were plunged into the dark of a desert night huddled high on a mountain with a diminishing amount of water and a small fire made from what scrubby gorse wood we could find to keep us warm. As soon as sun rose we continued our journey back down the mountain but soon came across an infamous gully that we knew we had to jump to continue down. This was the most terrifying thing I have ever had to do and it still fills me with fear when I think about it; but the words ‘Trust Me, you can do it’ propelled me to put in the biggest leap I could muster. God looks after us at all times – it is easier to hear in the wildness and remoteness of a desert but He is always there.
When we returned to the village and were sitting having some much needed food, Sabbah came visiting again. He had seen our fire on the mountainside in the night and he just wanted to check we were OK. God also sends us the people we need to look out for us; we don’t always know who they will be but at times we must trust in the kindness of strangers.
God in the arts: a Lent blog 