California Road Trip--Life Lessons Along the Way pt 2 Donner Pass: Decisions Have Consequences

 

One of my favorite subjects in school was history. I remember from the time of late elementary school on, when I was taught U.S. history, the westward expansion was almost always covered. It was the call to “Go west,” and the theme of “Manifest Destiny.” America was destined to stretch from “sea to shining sea.” The migration west was about a desire for something new, different, and a promise for more. In the 1830s, travelers who had gone west to California were talking about its wonders and opportunities. Beginning in 1841, emigrants began to enter California in large numbers. People made decisions to leave all they had come to know behind, and just go.

So, how good are you at making decisions? For me, fairly good, but it just takes me a long time to make them. How do we go about making big decisions? We usually make lists of pros and cons, consult advice, research, pray, compare, and “get a peace about it.” At least that’s what we should do, right?

This post is about decision making, and offers some faith lessons to apply. Journey with me just north of Lake Tahoe to Truckee, where we find Donner Lake, Donner State Park and Donner Pass. You can’t visit Donner Pass, Donner Lake or the area of Truckee without hearing or thinking about the famous story of the Donner Party and what happened in the late fall and winter of 1846.

In Springfield, Illinois, farmers George and Jacob Donner and cabinet maker James Reed packed up six ox-drawn wagons, and in April 1846, headed west with their families. Others were part of the journey as well. The wagon train stopped at Ft Bridger, Wyoming, where a decision was made (a life-changing one).

There was already an established route that emigrants were taking to California, but there was another purported way. It was at this juncture that final decisions were made. The emigrants split into two groups. The Donner family, along with five other families chose the alternative route instead of the traditional one. What prompted that decision? A book. The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California, a book written in 1845 by Ohio attorney Lansford Hastings, spoke of a “shortcut” that could save 300 miles.

The Donner group went for it. The group of wagons made their way down a narrow and dangerous canyon in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, only to be forced to make their way across the Great Salt Lake Desert. They had to clear 36 miles of path across the dry terrain that cost them 3 weeks and forced them to abandon many vital supplies and livestock along the way. In late October, the Donner group arrived in Truckee Meadows, near today’s Reno, Nevada. Here they were told by a man who had just returned from Sutter’s Fort that the way to their destination would be extremely difficult.

They chose to rest and gather strength. It was a six-day delay that would prove to be fatal. When the Donner party got to the lake, there was snow on the ground. Members of the group tried three times to cross the path, with no success. The snowbound group settled in for the winter, building makeshift cabins and tents of logs and hides. Attempts to hunt and fish were not successful. The October storms had brought more than six feet of snow, and the November storms added nine more. Only forty-nine survived through the winter. Forty-two died from starvation and exposure. As a side note: All those who traveled the old route ended their journey safely.

There is a monument at Donner Lake State Park dedicated to all the pioneers who came overland to California. Its base stands 22’ high—the height of the snow that fateful winter.

It all started with the best of intentions. It was the promise of a faster way or route; a shortcut. Another side note: not all shortcuts are wrong, evil, dangerous or sinful. But when choosing a path and making a decision on which way to go, what do we do? When choosing a path, hopefully we seek wisdom.

In this tragic story there are some spiritual lessons for us regarding our faith and life that are reinforced in Scripture. Proverbs 14:12, says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Also, “The way of the fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice,” Proverbs 12:15. The word “seems” is key. Also, the “fool” leaves something out—it’s the listening part. Wise people tend to listen, or be able to take advice. There is more of a, “let’s think this through” attitude, and glance down the road into the future.

Proverbs 15:22, reminds us that, “Plans fail for lack of council, but with many advisers they succeed.” There are ways that “seem” right, and at the moment they do “seem” right. But if you follow it all the way to the end, it may have a different outcome.

Is it possible to get bad advice? Yes. I’ve taken bad advice, and I’ve been taken advantage of, and my guess is, you have been too. I’ve been lied to and misled. Hopefully we have learned from those situations. All decisions, good or bad, have consequences.

Who are you listening to? How trustworthy are those sources? Lansford Hastings, That author of that Book, The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California, had never gone that way (the shortcut) himself!

When I first visited the Truckee, Donner Pass area back in 2009, the whole story stuck with me. It made a huge spiritual impact.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” That “wide” way looks and seems like the right way—even a shortcut. You could say, “Why not?” And, “It appears to be an easier way.”

Matthew writes about Jesus’ journey: “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Jesus said, “I must go to Jerusalem.” How did Jesus decide on the path to take? Because the way had been laid out by His Father, and it led to life. Not because it “seemed” right, or felt right. It was His Father’s will, and because of that, he trusted, and obediently stepped out.

Jesus says to us, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus said he is the way to “rest.” When we Sabbath, we hear how he has taken upon himself our sin, our punishment, and offered us forgiveness and peace with God. He offers us a way back to Eden. But it is not the easy way, or the way chosen by most.

Jesus made the way to the true Promised Land possible and open for us. He went first. Hastings had never taken the road, the trail, the way he was encouraging others to go in his guide book. Every day it seems like we are at that junction at Ft Bridger, Wyoming. The guide book of the world offers a shortcut. The Book, the Bible, shows a way. God maps out a path—a way that leads to life. Jesus blazed the trail and opened the way for us.

There is an inner longing within all of us for something new, greater and more. So we set off on a journey. Do you know where yours ends?  

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Join me next week, as together we travel to beautiful Lake Tahoe, and learn some more lessons along the way.

“California Road Trip” was originally a sermon series I wrote and delivered over the course of two summers. Those messages have been edited for this series of posts.

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