FIRST GLIMPSE

Three-Quarters

“I think we’re going the wrong way.”

“You think?”

My sarcastic reply faded into a wry chuckle, and I glanced up just in time to see my wife roll her eyes dramatically.

The clearly marked path had long since faded into dense underbrush of palmetto, knee-high grass, scrubby live oaks, and briars. The Florida sun seared down, leaving us sweat soaked as we brushed aside spider webs and fought through overhanging vines on our quest to find “the highest waterfall in Florida.”

The travel brochure made it sound so good. “A brief three-quarter-mile hike will bring you to a picturesque overlook where a bubbling cascade plunges more than 100 feet before disappearing into a natural sinkhole cavern.”

The advertisement made no mention of missing trail markers, nor did it mention snakes. A large sign near the trailhead informed us that we might encounter up to six species of venomous snakes on our trek. Funny, the warning hardly registered until the trail disappeared.

Just when I was ready to declare the expedition a hopeless loss, the undergrowth cleared, and we found ourselves standing on the edge of a precipice, looking down at the waterfall. It was not the bubbling cascade we expected—more of a muddy trickle scraping defiantly over the edge—but it was a waterfall.

On that humid day in Florida, my family learned an important lesson the hard way. Moving in the right direction is essential!

Quotable baseball player and manager Yogi Berra once quipped, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might just end up somewhere else.”

Moving in the right direction is vitally important for the denomination as well. Each year, the October-November issue of ONE Magazine gives Free Will Baptist leaders an opportunity to cast vision and define the direction of the Free Will Baptist movement.

As you read this issue, take a deeper look at the vision for Free Will Baptist Home Missions in Who We Are by Director Larry Powell. Celebrate the growth of Free Will Baptists in Mexico with Thomas Marberry (Blessing in Mexico). Explore new methods in world evangelism with International Missions Director James Forlines (Church Planting by Evangelism). And hear the passion for family-based discipleship expressed by Ron Hunter, director of Randall House Publications (Dialogue With the Director).


By the way, we found the missing trail marker. It was exactly three-quarters of a mile from the falls, right behind a sign telling hikers what to do if they encountered an alligator in the wild. No wonder we missed it. We were looking for gators.

About the Writer: Eric Thomsen is managing editor of ONE Magazine. Send comments and observations about ONE to editor@nafwb.org.