If you've never asked it, you've probably had it asked of you.

I did ask it the last time (the only time) I dragged myself out of the Grand Canyon.  Traveling with a sponsor and 2 boys from my husband's youth group, I was sure that we were on the wrong trail.  Descending the previous day,it seemed very logical: down is in and up is out.

But now, it was impossible to go straight up--that I knew; we weren't designed with mountain goat feet.  Hence, the switchbacks and slowed ascent. 

But it was when the switchbacks started going back down that I became suspicious; we would slowly gain altitude, and then, like a cruel prank, be redirected back toward the river.  Though annoyed at first, I became discouraged when it happened again, and let my frustration be made known unto all men (I was the only girl in the group).

It was the right trail--the Bright Angel.  Though, by the time we were at the top, there was no way you would get me back down there, even to retrieve my camera left at one of the rest points when I sprawled in the dust until it was time to move on, or up.

When we ask to follow the Lord's path, we don't know the name of the trail He puts us on.  My daughter wrote me with this perspective, deep within the labyrinth of her first year of university:

"Sometimes the Christian life is like going uphill on a path with lots of switchbacks. You're going uphill, but you can't go straight up because the incline is too steep for you. So you go back and forth up the side of the hill. When the path turns on the switchback, you can say, "I've made a decision to go this direction. It's uphill, and I know it was the way God wanted me to go when I turned onto it at the start of this stretch. So, I'm continuing on, even if the path looks like it's turning back the other direction. You'd better stay on the path."

And, if you stay there--no matter how winding it may seem--when you reach the end and look back, you will see the straight path of the Lord's leading. 

"The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns:  but the way(path) of the righteous is made plain."  Prov. 15:19

"I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.  When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.  But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."  Prov. 4:11,12,18