FEBRUARY / MARCH  2006 IN THIS ISSUE... From The Editor........................Page 2 Along the Trail of Truth.............Page 3 Trail Tales.................................Page 4 Encouraging God's Children.....Page 5 Previous Newsletters    (Archives)   Home Page  (Trailheads) Hiking the Trail of Truth, PO Box 1443, Crestline, CA, 92325-1443 Mark's Trail Phone # 707-477-2460, or e-mail   hikemark@hotmail.com Page 2 From The Editor... Hello, and Welcome to the February / March Newsletter!  Our cover picture was taken recently by the editor on the trail of the Pinnacles of San Bernadino National Forest, in southern California. It was indeed an exhilarating hike!  I sincerely hope this day you have allowed the Spirit of God to be active within your heart, and that you are perhaps able to get out for a hike and consider many of the wonders He has made. I hope also that you will do the best you can to share that unique inspiration with others along the daily trails of your life. Knowing God is first seeing Him through the things He has made. Hiking the Trail of Truth is here to help you along in your journey of discovery and sharing. If you have been or are presently unable to get out this season for a physical hike, just visit our website's feature trail for this month; The Desert Trail. Your mental trek there can take you where you may be unable to journey physically. The education, inspiration and lasting encouragement which you can find along the 7 hikes of the Desert Trail will be well worth your time... Just click on the Desert Trail link on the bottom of this newsletter, or click on that trailmarker on the left side of the website's Home page, or you can locate the marker on the website's Hiking Maps and Trailheads page as well.— I sincerely hope that you will hike all of our devotional and educational trails at the website in this new year. This would indeed be the wisest of New Year's resolutions that you could make... Again, we are here to help you in any way we can and, as always, look forward to hearing from you. WEBSITE NEWS: Our newest trail edition to the website is the Wilderness Trail. Wilderness wanderings are the times in our life when God brings about circumstances or events to discipline and train us for better things, namely, to accomplish His earthly purpose for us according to His will. These wanderings are always the difficult times of our lives, which may or may not come about by our own choice; the wilderness of failure, the wilderness of doubt, the wilderness of affliction, the wilderness of fear, the wilderness of despair, the wilderness of loneliness, and the wilderness of anxiety. I hope you will take the time to visit the Wilderness Trail, and that you will write to us regarding your discoveries. Be sure to visit the Discovery Trail, also new to the website. Along this trail, you can immediately add to your knowledge of truth through some most profound discoveries... An eye-opening place for you to begin the adventure of exploring Hiking the Trail of Truth, a most informative and unique website. I have learned that the most important way to begin your day is with a short reading from the Bible. Today is indeed a good time to begin that resolve. For this purpose, the Mountain and Valley Trail was built. There you will find daily Bible readings for the entire year, created especially for you. To locate this picture/Scripture calendar, simply click on the Mountain and Valley Trail. You will find a compass there that will lead you to the calendar of months, and you can then choose a month to begin your day-by-day readings. Your daily journey through life is sure to begin in the right direction!  After all, we live only one day at a time, right?— Why don't you then take opportunity this new year and begin a one-year hike along the Mountain and Valley Trail. You will not be disappointed, in fact, your journey will be full of enlightening, life-changing insights! Don't forget that HTTOT offers FREE COUNSELING to anyone who wants it (Lord knows we all need it). Your varied questions are also important, and are given the utmost consideration in answering them. For you to be aware of the truth, in a world where falsehood abounds, is very important to us. Your spiritual struggles are of our utmost concern—we can help!  So just write, e-mail, or phone any time. Contact information is listed at the bottom of the cover page of this Newsletter, or you can visit Questions and Answers Trail Camp at the website, where a ''submit a question" link is provided... Feb/Mar Letter From the Editor:  BY the BOOK The most important understanding that one might have in this life is to understand that what you say and what you do during your physical life on this earth will be judged entirely by God's word... Revelation 20:12;  I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated upon it. Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to what was written in the books, by the way they had lived. It obviously does not matter who you are, or what you personally believe while you are in the world. In the final analysis the Word of God will be your judge. Though there are millions of other books in the world, none of what is written in them can save you. Nothing they can teach you in regard to world philosophy is important, unless it points you directly to God's Word. Whether you are a college graduate or a bum on the street, your judge will be the Word of God—only!  God's Word is the one and only complete and accurate truth throughout the entire universe today, and will be until the end. Anything else that you hope in or believe in, you will discover, if you haven't already, is completely in vain. Our current world is full of various religions and philosophies. Men and women have exalted themselves to the point of ignorance. Some have even resulted to murder and terror in defense of a religion. Others haven't gone quite that far, but it doesn't matter. To God, even the wisest of world philosophies, religions or ideas is foolishness. The reasonings and conclusions of men are useless (1st Corinthians 3:19, 20). I see every day men and women who, by their attitudes, reject all hope of eternal life. And those who claim eternal life are, for the most part, involved in world religions and philosophies that are exceedingly deceptive and false. Only the love of the truth can save anyone (2nd Thessalonians 2:10). Again, eternal life is "by the book". Religious opinions, practices, as well as any other world philosophies of any origin matter not at all. Only the followers of Jesus the Christ can learn to believe and know the truth (John 8:31, 32). Any other world teaching or philosophy is false, no matter how sincere its followers may be. There is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus (John 14:6). Only if you believe and are water baptized into Christ, will you survive the upcoming judgment (Mark 16:16).— One's initial or first positive union with Christ is sometimes called the New Birth. To learn the truth regarding this teaching, I hope you will visit and hike the New Birth Trail at this website. Here you can learn "by the book", and be assured through faith, which only comes through hearing the truth of God's word (Romans 10:17), that your salvation has begun. Your faith will become complete when you obey the truth (James 2:26), and you will be credited by God as doing the right thing (James 2:23).— That is "doing it by the book", and that's the only "way" you can trust in!  Take the time today to give it your utmost attention. In the next HTTOT Newsletter, we will take a profound look at yet another Letter from the Editor. Until then, I thank you for and am honored by your time.  Next letter from the editor; Our Daily Failure Dilemma ¤ Feb/March INSIGHTS, from friend's of HIKING THE TRAIL OF TRUTH: "NONE OF US" “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”  (Matthew 5:48 King James Version) We know that there was only one Person who was perfect on this earth, and that was Jesus. All of us sin every day in one way or the other. Sometimes we do and say things that we shouldn’t. Other times, we should do and say things that we don’t. We are to love one another as Christ Loves us. We are to allow the Love of Jesus to flow out of our hearts and yet we fail every day. Mothers, if Jesus would grade you every day on the way you clean your house, would you get an A or an F? Fathers, if Jesus would grade you on the way you lead your family in Devotions, what grade would you receive? Yet, we expect our children to get excellent grades every day in school. Sometimes we are hurting physically and emotionally and are unable to clean house and lead our family like we desire. It is the same with our children. If they have heard their parents argue, or if they don’t feel well, then they will not be able to get an A every day either. We need to encourage our children to make good grades in school, but at the same time we need to create an atmosphere of love and acceptance no matter what grades they receive on their report cards. It is the same with our brothers and sisters in Christ. You and I fail Jesus every day, yet we expect them to be perfect. May God forgive us for our critical attitudes! Let’s start encouraging one another to do better instead of criticizing each other. This issue's Insights were provided by Joanne Lowe. You may contact Joanne at:  joannelowe8@cox.net — We here at HTTOT enjoy Joanne's writings. She has yet much to learn about the road to salvation, but we're hoping she learns to get it right... her insights are certainly on the right track. Back to top Page 3 Along The Trail of Truth Along the Trail of Truth is HTTOT's newest addition to the Newsletter and replaces the former Friends Along the Trail segment. Along the Trail of Truth is a no-nonsense look at the world's latest ideas and/or publications, and 'sets the record straight' concerning them. God's word teaches us that the wisdom of the world is indeed foolishness with God, and that He has also chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the so-called wise (1st Corinthians 1:19-31). Relative to this profound reality, Along the Trail of Truth takes a look at natural mankind's perception of things and respectfully passes onto you the truth of the matter... Real Science? Recently there have been some issues which have come up in the news where folks are trying to get the idea of intelligent design taught in the public school system, alongside the theory of evolution. Some have spoken out against the idea, stating that intelligent design is not a science, but a religious philosophy, and does not have its place in "true" science.  "It (intelligent design) is not really real science", some contend. Here is an outstanding example of the so-called wise being totally ignorant. These contenders have obviously never read or understood the truth taught by the Apostle Paul in the first century. Paul labels anything other than God's truth to be false science (1st Timothy 6:20). The scientific theories of Darwin and his predecessors, which have been adopted by modern science, are merely science falsely so-called. These theories have developed through a misunderstanding of the true age of the earth and the universe which surrounds it. Because of this misunderstanding also we find the sciences of biology, geology, and other "ologies" to be full of error. In spite of this we have allowed these teachings to dominate our system of education to the degree where men and women have actually increased their so-called intelligence to the point of ignorance, thus fulfilling the Scriptures. There's nothing worse than standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and listening to some misinformed guide tell a group of folks that this great expanse was formed millions of years ago. Even an amateur can count the watermarks along the descending walls of the canyon and see just about how many days it took for water to pass through the area and form the canyon. Yet, thousands of books written by supposedly educated people teach the "millions of years" theory to eager, young minds. Other contributors to these false sciences are the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel and many others. Our minds and our children's minds have been being polluted for years.— Those few who advocate teaching the intelligent design story are the minority who have the only right idea in our world today. They are the truly intelligent among our society. Space Dust? Once again our earthly scientists are going to try and discover something from the space dust an orbiter ship has recently returned with. They did this once already, but would not admit to the truth of their discoveries... Remember the "Moon Dust Theory" of the 1960's?   This theory was highly publicized throughout the "scientific" world. Many articles appeared in science journals which claimed that the true age of the earth could be determined by examining the dust on the surface of the moon. Scientists claimed that since there was no atmosphere on the moon that produced wind, rain or other moving conditions, a study of the depth of accumulated dust on the lunar surface would allow an accurate calculation for the age of the moon. Since dust does collect at a very precise rate, even in a vacuum, their theory would indeed work... They estimated that there would be about 62 feet of dust on the moon, which equaled their estimated age of the earth and the moon; about 2 billion years. Unfortunately (or fortunately) when the first astronauts landed on the moon they found only two inches of dust on the surface, a long way from the predicted depth of 62 feet. A recalculation determined that the moon was only 6 to 10 thousand years old!  Many "scientists" would not accept this and abandoned their "moon dust" theory. For those who have read the Bible, this discovery was infallible proof as to the true age of the earth and the moon in their present form, since they were both created at approximately the same time.— I am anxious to learn what they are going to claim or disclaim this time. Don't they realize that whatever they find, the truth about it can only be discovered through an understanding of God's written word? ¤ Thanks for hiking "Along the Trail of Truth" for February and March. See you again next time. Back to top Page 4 Trail  Tales Previous Episodes of Trail Tales can be found in Newsletter Archives ! The patient in spirit are better off than the proud in spirit...  (Ecclesiastes 7:8) Oasis of Patience We're near 'bout a mile from the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the Anza Borrego desert of southern California. We're going to take a little break here while on this desert hike... A tiny lizard has just perched himself on the flat, gray rock beside me. He's actually doing "push-ups", a favorite pastime of these desert lizards... We've reached a high outcropping of sandstone rock on our trek, amidst hundreds of various outcrops, some distance above the desert floor... It's indeed a great place to take a break! We can see nearly 100 miles toward the horizon on this most beautiful and clear day, a typical southwestern desert day. Among the abundance of protruding rocks where I am perched are a variety of desert plants in bloom; multicolored barrel cactus blooms, blade cactus with pink and red blooms, and scattered desert brush displaying an assorted array of tiny yellow and blue flowers. Twisting choya cactus are also growing about, their prickly pears soaking up the present sunlight. This place is indeed a spectacle of God's artistic talent. It is of course obvious that the heavenly paintbrush was employed here, stroked so precisely by all-knowing hands into this finely arrayed rock garden. We can also see a few hikers here and there, just below my perch. A couple, another couple with children, and down there's an older couple with what appears to be their grandchildren. Perhaps about eight people in all, scattered about out here in the silence. The wind is speaking lightly, boasting of its ride down and around the rocks and boulders to the winding sand washes below us. In the distance there are several monuments (mountains); high, jutting buttes, bold and majestic in appearance. Grand sentinels they are, guarding this vast, colorful expanse of rolling desert. There is an oasis out their, between us and those peaks, and that's where we're headed today. I call the oasis, Patience. When the winds stir up the dust in this region of beauty, so much that you can't really tell which way you are going, then the oasis becomes an accessible place of refuge, a good place to rest and wait out the storm. As we hike down from the outcrops toward the oasis, we just passed by a man who was carrying a small child on his back. The child was seated quite comfortably in a backpack, facing the direction his father was hiking. I noted that the childs' arms were around his fathers' neck and his head was lying against the back of the father's right shoulder. The boy appeared to be peacefully asleep as his father trudged onward against rugged terrain. I marveled at this... I know that God has carried me in this same manner, many times. Tired and weary in life, I have climbed onto His back and He has shouldered me through countless difficulties. Impatience in life has always worn me out. Patience is always and has always been a struggle to obtain. Every human being that has ever lived has struggled for it. A lack of patience is usually the reason we do in fact have to struggle for anything. When we learn how to slow down and let God have His way with us, we can then rest peacefully, like that young child on his father's shoulder. We will no longer have to pursue patience, so to speak, for we will be riding on its back, at rest, even perhaps asleep as that young child was. The Lord Himself is our patience, our oasis. He is the only true patience there is. (Romans 15:5) A key focus here in maintaining Godly patience; Try not to get impatient within your heart thinking that God is always angry with you because of your flaws. You will always be flawed... there's no escaping it. The wondrous thing is that God is always patient with you. He knows you are but dust. He will help you in your daily struggles if you trust in Him and not in yourself, for only He can grant you patience. — Try putting this teaching into practice; When you wake up in the morning remember that God has graciously given you a new day. A fresh start. His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). Thank Him as you rise. As you hike through the morning in your mind, proceed slowly. Honor the sunrise. Listen to the wind. Touch the rain or the falling snow. Take notice of all things which God Himself has formed around you. There is patience and comfort in all of nature. This will, first of all, help you to focus on God and not on your normal daily trials or particular dilemma... Secondly, focus on spiritual values; Endeavor to smile at everyone you greet. Have an active compassion for the poor, the lame, or the sick. Be patient (long suffering) with anyone around you, no matter what the circumstances. Let your eyes reflect kindness and strength. Be courteous even to your enemies. Thank God often as your day progresses onward. Even in trials thank Him for the "education" that all trials can bring. Walk outside in the evening and look up at the wonders in the sky and take comfort, giving thanks for all things. Pray for everyone in your life. Pray for the entire world as well. Go on to your bed in hope, thanking God for His continued mercy, and for His choosing to train you, in this fashion, for eternal life... This is patient living. Grab onto it!  Be filled with it!  Enjoy it!  You will in time learn to experience Gods' peace, which is above and beyond human understanding (Philippians 4:7). Let us take our rest then within this oasis of patience. God is there and He is our refuge. It is there, within Him, that our faith can take firm root, that we might learn to depend on Him. He is the only one who can help us to understand and to do what is good and right in this present world in which we live. Let us rest upon His shoulders, where our patience has a chance to grow... So, let it grow, for when your patience is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything (James 1:3). May the God of patience and comfort help you to be like-minded toward one another (Romans 15:5). Our journey today comes form The Desert Trail at this website. Thanks for hiking with me today. I hope you will join me again next time for another Trail Tales adventure. Until then, may God be with you along your journey in life. Sincerely, MS Taylor HTTOT Back to top Page 5 Encouraging Gods' Children Here is this months' list of those who need encouragement through your prayers and letters. I hope you will take the time to encourage them... Some of their problems are personal and we will respect their privacy; leaving it up to those individuals to share at their discretion. Please pray for them and write to them (I can provide addresses for you. Please call, E-mail or write to me for that information). Encouragement is a noble thing and a profound way to honor God through lifting up His children... Please inform me if you would like to add anyone to our prayer list. Also, please check Newsletter Archives for folks previously on the prayer list. Let us this month encourage and pray for... Timothy P. Murray...from Sierra Vista, Arizona...Tim is a retired police lieutenant from Arcadia, California. He has been fighting cancer for over three years now. He has had thirteen tumors; six in his torso and seven in his brain. Therapy, surgery, radiation treatments and cancer drugs have taken quite a toll on his physical life. His spiritual strength however has allowed him to accept this great difficulty and to fight on. Please think of him daily in your prayers; that God will comfort him in his struggle, and strengthen him, allowing also that, Lord willing, Tim might have a little more time on this earth with his wife and family. Those in the US disaster areas...Folks from Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and Indiana still need your prayers. This is a great time to both pray for and help those displaced by the great storms. God will hear your prayers, and He will notice your gift, no matter how small. There are several countries throughout the world experiencing disasters as well, both human and natural. Pray that our Lord will continue to watch over and strengthen His children during these times, and perhaps bring those who are not His children into His family. The Lord is our refuge and strength in any type of disaster. Please remember our US Troops...who are on foreign soil defending our freedom and the freedom of others less fortunate. We have many sons and daughters engaged in this effort. Let us pray for their ability to endure, and for their safe and victorious return. Update on Carli, Feb 6th... (More information on Carli can be found in the Oct/Nov 2005 Newsletter)...  Hi Mark, I am calling on you and your site for prayers for Carli, again. She goes back to Baltimore on Feb 27, and will have surgery to correct the turning out of her leg from the knee down on Feb.28. Seems that the doctor overcorrected her last year, and now she will have this surgery to correct that. She is a walking, running, talking ball of energy. The prayers for her last year, were a great help, and I hope they bring her the same results this time around. I will let you know how the surgery goes, just wanted to get her name out there for the prayers. Thank you so much for all that you and your site do, Mark. Love, Cheryl  (A very grateful Grandma)... Update on Carli, March 1st... She came through the just over three hour surgery like a trooper. Dr. Paley has a new procedure that he used on her, that will make her ankle much better and more normal looking than what he did last year. He learns, as well as teaches; he is a great man. Anyway, she hasn't really come out of the anesthesia totally, but has opened her eyes and goes back to sleep. She was awake for about forty five minutes and said, "Brace Off", and then just went on like nothing happened. She has the epidural still, and nothing for pain other than Tylenol so far. With the new procedure she will only need to wear the fixator (Jill and Brian call it a brace when they talk about it to Carli) for 6-8 weeks instead of the 3-4 months like before, which is great news!  I hope you keep her and all of the children in the world in your prayers. Prayer works great miracles. Thank you from the bottom of my heart...Love, Cheryl. Update on Suzi Schnippert of Florida, January 23rd... (More information on Suzi can be found in the Oct/Nov 2005 Newsletter)...  SUZI: Ah, the patience and help of the Lord is a great help to those who call on it. We too have been the small child riding on our Father’s back this month… your newsletter for the month seems to have been written by looking over our shoulder. After our last update, we went to see the Dr. who AGAIN asked us if we had heard from the transplant team! I made a few phone calls and discovered that- after 9 months of being told we were waiting for the transplant center to contact us we find out that- the ‘insurance specialist’ at the Dr’s. office had not made the single phone call that would have started the process to get Suzi on the list for a double lung transplant. Well, we got that fixed real quick and were told by the transplant center that they agree she is a candidate for the transplant… BUT she was tentatively turned down due to her weight. They will monitor her progress and after she loses to a certain point, start up the more detailed testing procedures. Well, we were under that point 9 months ago and could have probably had the transplant by now but… we have to move on now. We have started a diet and are well on our way to losing the weight- 4 pounds in 4 days to start! Keep us in your prayers, Suzi’s numbers are still worsening [up to 6 lpm] and we pray that they will get better as she loses weight and at least maintain as we march toward the goal. Awesome newsletter this month… Please remember all of the homeless and the poor of the world again this month. Try to locate a homeless person and help them in any way that you can... Continue to pray for all of those in need of daily bread, and please pray earnestly for all the people of the world in which we live, in every country, that men and women will desire to find wisdom, that they will turn and seek God's face in this world full of spiritual blindness, rebellion and increasing depravity. The Lord's coming will not be delayed much longer. Endeavor to encourage others to seek Him, in truth, while there is still time. Father, grant us the humility to seek Your face for the well being of others. Help us to reach out to them, with kindness, in word and in deed. We are, each one of us, in need of Your guidance in the use of possessions, our prosperity, our tongues and our talents. Though we are quite unworthy, we ask you to bless our efforts... In the name of your glorious Son, Jesus, we pray. Thank you so much for hiking with us through the February / March issue of the Hiking the Trail of Truth Newsletter. Until April then, may the grace of our Lord Jesus be upon you... Sincerely, Mark S Taylor END Back to top [Home] [Hiking Maps & Trailheads] [Discovery Trail] [Bible Map] [Trail of Time] [New Birth Trail] [Mountain & Valley Trail] [Desert Trail] [Lake Trail] [High Sierra Trail] [Wilderness Trail] [A Hawk's Trail] [False Trail] [Monthly Newsletter] [Newsletter Archives] [Questions & Answers] HIKING THE TRAIL OF TRUTH Mark S. Taylor (707) 477-2460