“One  can always travel hopefully if there is a reliable track and good ground  for believing that it leads to the destination. The track on which we walk  is one that disappears from sight before it reaches the destination. We  may have a vision of the peak we are aiming for, but we do not see the  track all the way to it. It goes down into the dark valley of death, and we,  with all our works, go that way. We can go forward with confidence because   Jesus has gone that way before us and has come back from the  deep valley. If he is himself the track, we can go forward confidently  even when the future is hidden.”

From The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, by Lesslie Newbigin.