Dear hiking friends and readers (at home and abroad) of our website,
On behalf of Hiker Online, Jaco and I wish you all the best and spiritual blessings for 2026. For many of you, hiking and the outdoors will likely occupy a (large) part of your time again this new year. We therefore wish you much hiking and outdoor enjoyment. Perhaps it is an idea to experience an outdoor adventure with us sometime this year?
This year, we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Hiker Online. We have therefore given our logo a nice touch this year. How time has flown! I thought it would be nice to open this 10th year with the announcement of a new LAW (Long-Distance Hiking Trail) that I have had the privilege of developing based on my travels over the past few years.
Since becoming a Christian, Jerusalem has always held a ‘magical’ meaning for me, and it will always remain so. For in the Bible, Jerusalem is called the city of the Great King (Matthew 5:34, 35). And anyone who knows the Bible a little knows that Jesus Christ is the Great King.
JERUSALEM!
The LORD says: “I have chosen Jerusalem as a dwelling place for My Name.(1) All days My eyes and My heart will be there.(2)”
The LORD is great and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, on His holy mountain. Beautiful in location, a joy to the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the north side, the city of the great King.(3)
In the last days it will happen that the mountain of the house of the LORD will stand firm as the first of the mountains, exalted above the hills. And the peoples stream to him, the many nations go on their way and say: “Come, let us go to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; then He will show us His ways and we will walk in His paths. For in Zion springs the Law, and in Jerusalem the word of the LORD.(4)”
On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. On that day living water will flow from Jerusalem. Jerusalem will dwell securely.(5)
With a light on the historical and futuristic role that Jerusalem plays, I have therefore created the Jerusalem Pilgrimage Trail, or JPT for short. The JPT is a long-distance hiking trail currently under development that forms a loop between the heart of Europe and the Israeli capital, Jerusalem.
Blessings and greetings,
Walter
(1) See 2 Chron. 6:6
(2) 1 Kings 9:3b
(3) Psalm 48:1-2
(4) Micah 4:1-2
(5) See Zechariah 14:4,8,11
