"Do You Know Where You're Going to?" (Do you like the things that life is showing you?) by Diana Ross was the graduation theme of my Springfield High School class of '78 (Holland, Ohio).

It reminds me of those sayings like "If you don't know where you're going, you don't need a map to get there" and "Man cannot discover new worlds until he's ready to lose sight of the shore" - or something like that. I have the quotes around here somewhere.

I really like "Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it" - especially when you're off hitch-hiking thru Europe or South Africa or launching some new expedition of sorts.

It's late and I'm tired but I wanted to start this new blog - Life is a Trek - since I woke up from a dream this morning thinking about this idea. When I was running through my inheritance by travel and adventure (never regretting a moment of it since it affords me priceless memories and subjects to share as a writer), I used to send "colorful" letters and cards to family and friends which now serve me as a jumpy journal, just like looking through old stuff.

Most of what I'll use to post here were sent to my friend Steve Gwinn in Toledo, Ohio who is now dead, but he saved all my letters and cards which I found in his closet. Reading them was bittersweet.

The last time I saw Steve was when he and another friend dropped me off at the Detroit International Airport to leave again for Israel in 1995. I gave him a hug and kiss goodbye, without a clue it would be the last. But life is a trek, and all treks must come to an end...or at least a pause.

David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.