The Cairns on the Mountain Path

In 2019, a hiker named Marcus set out alone on the Kungsleden trail in northern Sweden, a 270-mile route through Arctic wilderness marked by carefully stacked stone cairns. These ancient piles of rock, some placed centuries ago by Sami reindeer herders, guided travelers across stretches where the path disappeared into fog and snowfield. Marcus, an experienced trekker, grew frustrated with what he considered the trail's conservative route. He spotted what looked like a faster line across a frozen lake and left the cairns behind. Three days later, Swedish Mountain Rescue found him hypothermic in a ravine, eight miles off course, unable to find his way back.

The cairns never moved. They stood exactly where generations of faithful travelers had placed them.

The apostle John warns that anyone who "runs ahead" and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The Greek word John uses, proagon, means to rush forward, to outpace, to leave behind what was established. It is the impulse that mistakes novelty for wisdom and restlessness for spiritual maturity. John is not condemning growth. He is warning against abandoning the path.

The teaching of Christ is not a starting point we graduate beyond. It is the cairn line through every fog. Those who abide in it, John promises, have both the Father and the Son. Those who wander past it find only ravines.