Date: 2006-09-29
From: campsite prior to tanyard gap

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

PAUSE!...TIME OUT!...INTERMISSION!...it¢s Thanksgiving, 2006 and i figured it was time for a little ¢commercial break¢¢¦.(well¢¦there¢s nothin¢ really ¢commercial¢ about this entry at all¢¦.i¢m not interested in sellin¢ tacos, wraps, burgers, cars, clothing, pizza, cereal, beer or pain relief)¢¦.i just wanna take a minute to say ¢thank you¢¢¦¢¦i realized this mornin¢ after indulging in a wonderful day yesterday of time with family, incredible feasting (my mom¢s turkey/dressing and pumpkin pie are absolutely to die for!) and the so-rarely-considered-freedom to celebrate in whatever way i wish, that though i¢m one of those freaks who loves to rattle off the ¢transcendent meanings of turkey day¢, i seldom pause to REALLY give thanks¢¦..do you?....and to whom do we give it anyway?....the ¢giving¢ of thanks¢¦(or GIVING of anything) implies, does it not, that you¢re making some sort of offering to someONE or someTHING ¢¦.(there¢s a song i really love by ¢waters deep¢ that says something like : ¢many men will drink the rain and turn to thank the clouds¢)¢¦.i suppose we could all join hands, close our eyes and whisper our thanks to the clouds¢¦.or to the empty air¢¦.or to the earth¢¦.but i don¢t think we¢d soon be getting any acknowledgement that a particularly deep and totally fulfilling or meaningful connection was made¢¦..anyway¢¦.you get my drift¢¦.we all know the feelin¢ of sincerely showing gratefulness face to face with another relational being (or the feelin¢ of bein¢ on the other end to receive thanks for having benefited another in some way¢¦¢¦thanksgiving, we may not have realized, is an important two-way street and can open some pretty remarkable doors to relationship)¢¦..soooooo¢¦¢¦NOW¢s the time!¢¦..¢¦..i wanna say ¢thank you¢!when we summited katahdin in ¢03, ol¢ maw-ee here thought it would be a sacrilege to attempt those slopes without my good ol¢ 2 12 lb bible¢¦..though we¢d put almost everything else out of our packs to climb that mountain on this last day of our 2100 mile journey, i just couldn¢t reason leavin¢ behind the one item of ¢gear¢ that had helped me most along the way¢¦..if there were any words to be spoken then, any communication i wanted to ¢hear¢ , i knew i wanted it to be from those pages¢¦.any other would have paled in my estimation¢¦.only the ¢wisdom from above¢ could do justice to this sort of ¢kairos¢** moment in my life¢¦¢¦so i hauled that Book in my little 2 lb ghost pack (both of which had been part of ¢me¢ over the previous 5 12 months) up that last big ¢hill¢ ¢cause i knew my Creator would meet me THERE, in those pages, more even than at the foot of an old weathered, sawhorse sign i had walked so far to see¢¦¢¦(of course i¢ll write more later about this day, but for now i¢ll give just this part as it relates to Thanksgiving)¢¦¢¦.as we sat with our friends around the ¢sawhorse altar¢ to which some 400 of us that year had sacrificed the blood-sweat-and-tears it took to get there, i pulled out the Book as i ¢prayed¢ under my breath, ¢Lord, if ever i needed to hear from You , it¢s now¢¦..i don¢t know what to make of all of THIS!¢¢¦¢¦.as i opened the pages expecting to receive some earth-shattering wisdom that would grant me the knowledge of the meaning of life and other such mysteries, my eyes fell on these simple words (which actually HAVE turned out to be GREAT wisdom for my life!) : ¢but as for me, i will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving¢¦..¢ (jonah 2:9)¢¦¢¦as awesome as that moment was there on "the greatest mountain", it wasn¢t enough to dispel every dark and selfish corner that still lingers in my natural life¢¦..corners that unfortunately continue to NEED the occasional simple reminder to be thankful....but our reaching that peak WAS enough to remind me of Someone GREATER than my dark corners, and the important and cleansing liberty of ¢bowing the knee¢!...¢¦i want to be living a more mindful ¢attitude of gratitude¢!¢¦..¢¦..it is in thanksgiving to my Creator, that my ¢self¢ escapes such burdensome weights as manipulation of circumstances, self-validation, apathy, malcontent, greed, envy, blame(the list could go on and on)....the practice of thanksgiving allows "me" to fall by the wayside so i can find the magnificent, liberating path of discovering the lives of OTHERS!¢¦..in acknowledging the Authority and Blessings of Another, i find humility** (an all too rare a gift in my life!)¢¦.so, today, as i think back on those words so fitly ¢spoken¢ to me on katahdin, i want to give thanks again¢¦. and at the risk of sounding like someone who¢s just stepped up to the microphone at the academy awards, i would first like to thank my mom and dad¢¦.they brought me into this world, introduced me to Jesus and allowed me many wonderful hours getting¢ to know and love the woods back of our house and my grandparents¢ house¢¦¢¦..and of course i cannot fail to say how thankful i am to the MANY folks who made our hike possible (it was the blessing of a lifetime, impossible to accomplish had our Lord not given the gift of these wonderful people)¢¦.                              folks like: our friends and mentors, the ristoms                                             our children and grandchildren                                             our church family                                             many other friends like                                                lynn and kelly gilbert                                                nicholas ireland                                                sharon and allen duble                                                jane and henry henegar                                                our pastor, eric youngblood                                                alisa finkle                                                (and many others i¢m certain                                                 i¢m unintentionally forgetting                                                please forgive me)                                             all those beautiful people who                                             helped us with food and shelter,                                             etc. along the way like                                                roger and linda byrd                                                lucy seyler at deerpath farm                                                mary ollis and all the others                                                in that incredibly hospitable                                                town of waynesboro, va                                                joe connally                                                miss janet                                                bob and pat peoples                                                curtis and maria at stndg br                                                lenny and gary at blbry ptch                                                gary and jeff ellers                                                bag-o-tricks                                                phat chap                                                homer and teresa witcher (and kids)                                                jubilee(gene)                                                entire church of the mountain ministry                                                and graymoor ministry                                                upper goose pond caretakers                                                rusty nesbitt hard time hollow                                                eric weisse ride to harpers ferry                                                ishmael and mrs gorp                                                 bruno,(yes bruno!) hiker¢s paradise                                                good folks at whitehouse landing                                                don at the AT lodge Millinocket                                                del schechterly james river                                                a maintenance man at Stratton mtn ski resort                                                stitch the kennebec ferryman and fellow hiker                                                boone logan and ¢family¢                                                amc ¢croos¢                                                bagdad bigfoot and all the                                                 other many ¢trail magicians¢                                                carriage house manchester center                                                dartmouth outing club                                                all the outfitters (esp. dave and jeff)                                                suzanne hiker¢s inn damascus                                                sydney the pie lady monsoon                                                the cookie lady and her husband                                                john rexrode and friends                                                bob and sandy¢s encouragement                                                as well as dan dries and brian hieter                                                also lion cub and pathfinder                                                jim murray the secret hostel                                                ann shirley (surefoot) kent, ct and                                                all our other hitches in and out of town                                                the hikers of ¢03 and ¢06 with whom                                                we rubbed shoulders and who made                                                our hikes so special                                                aimee wilson, the psalters and others                                                whose songs and prayers spurred us on                                                (if your name is not on this list and you have a feelin¢ it should be, please accept my heartfelt apology for inadvertently failing to mention your help) our highest and most sincere thanks-giving, however, is reserved solely for Christ Jesus who as our Saviour made our hiking (as well as the whole of our lives) MEANINGFUL¢¦.to Him be praise and honor and glory forever¢¦.amen¢¦..i am so happy that the giving of thanks, for me, is not some sort of ethereal mumbo jumbo, but that i have a "Face" into which i may look as i ¢sacrifice with the voice¢!.......on this page, the photo above is evidence that two old, inept nobodys can be loved and cared for by a Sovereign Creator who , in His grace, not only provided a way to katahdin, but a Way to eternal life as well!......** ¢kairos¢¢¦¢¦an important greek word we have learned that best describes our relationship with ¢time¢ and how we can actually LEARN from our minutes, hours, and days by taking them as OPPORTUNITIES to observe, reflect and talk about the events that occur in our lives¢¦.(¢kairos¢ is opposed to ¢chronos¢, another greek word which is the root of such english words as ¢chronological¢ , and carries more the idea of just ¢going through the motions¢ rather than finding meaning in our moments)¢¦.we were ¢awakened¢ to this idea of "kairose" by dave worland, an elder in our church, and his teaching from a book by mike breen and walt kallestad about ¢finding your fit¢ in life..... through certain principles symbolized in easy-to-remember ¢life shapes¢, we learned the importance of "kairos", or "opportunity"¢¦¢¦......the book is entitled ¢a passionate life¢ and is one of the best for understanding and enjoying your relationships¢¦¢¦....in this book, ¢chronos¢ time is best imagined as a long, flat, boring, unending line¢¦..whereas, ¢kairos¢ time, or ¢kairos¢ moments are those events where we actually STOP along that ¢line¢, take a ¢detour¢ and ¢CIRCLE¢ through a series of important steps in analyzing those events¢¦..the ¢circle¢ gives us the time and space we need to learn and grow rather than merely repeating old habits or mistakes¢¦. ¢kairos¢ moments can be large or small, good or bad¢¦.but when understood as opportunities, add much desired ¢richness¢ to your life¢¦¢¦..katahdin was a huge ¢kairos¢ moment in our lives!....(as it should be for any thru-hiker)¢¦..it is impossible to do a thru-hike and then just non-chalantly ¢pick up where you left off¢¢¦.sooner or later there are ¢issues¢ that must be dealt with¢¦..a thru-hike intensifies EVERYTHING¢¦¢¦you just can¢t ¢set it on a back burner¢¢¦.though some of us aren¢t as ¢analytical¢ or ¢deep feeling¢ as others, still, i have yet to encounter anyone who wishes their life to be absolutely devoid of meaning¢¦.this is a good book for helping a ¢seeker¢ find meaning, or a ¢believer¢ find clarity or direction¢¦.**humility¢¦....by "humility" i only mean ¢dependence upon Christ¢, not mouse-y shyness or weakness, or ¢door-mat servitude¢, but faith and trust in the One who loved me enough to purchase for me LIFE, through the giving of his own¢¦.this sort of humility allows us freedom from guilt and HOPE for every new day!this is not ¢the end¢¢¦..i just wanted to pause and give thanks¢¦..more entries and pictures follow¢¦..