Date: 2006-09-27
From: brown gap 

To: deerpark mountain shelter
Miles today: 20.1

*(being in the woods all day every day gave lots of opportunity for reflection¢¦.....meditation (for me) generally followed along avenues of thought which usually connected to something i had read before hiking out that morning¢¦.....i carried only One Book¢¦.)======2003====== monday, march 17, day 24read in the gospel of john today a kinda quirky passage about a man born blind whom Jesus healed by applying a ¢poultice¢ of mud made from a handful of dirt mixed with His own ¢spittle¢ (eeeeyew!)¢¦.it ¢worked¢, though¢¦.the man received the gift of sight from Jesus¢ muddy hands, but strangely, the whole incident began with a crazy kind of ¢controversy¢¢¦¢¦the disciples, (though standing in the presence of a Miraculous Healer along with the obvious ¢object¢ of yet one more merciful healing), asked (unbelievably), ¢who sinned, Teacher¢¦..this man ¢¦or his parents?¢¢¦(quel ¢compassion¢,huh!) ¢¦.well¢¦i guess i can¢t be too critical of those poor, ¢unaware¢ disciples¢¦.i am often just as ¢dull¢¢¦.. we humans!....we can rarely get past the nose on our face!....we¢re so small in our thinking¢¦..so narrow¢¦..always thinkin¢ in ¢natural¢ terms¢¦.seldom considering the supernatural¢¦..always focused on ¢self¢, not others¢¦like self-righteous disciples who jockey to have the ¢correctness¢ of their own pitiful theology and principles affirmed!.....we have ¢people eyes¢¢¦.not ¢God eyes¢¢¦¢¦but here is what Jesus said to that hard-hearted bunch¢¦ (i imagine with a bit of a ¢knowing-and-compassionate-chuckle¢under His breath) : ¢it wasn¢t that this man OR his parents sinned¢¦.he was born blind in order that the workings of God should be displayed and illustrated in him!¢¢¦..(He went on to remind them that He Himself was the world¢s LIGHT!)¢¦.hmmmmm¢¦..here¢s that age-old topic rearin¢ it¢s not so pretty head again¢¦.like the disciples, we ALL have occasionally had puzzling ¢collisions¢ with the question of evil in the world and ¢why bad things happen to seemingly good people¢¢¦we seem amazed as if we think we actually deserve a bed of roses and are surprised when things go wrong!...(knowin¢ my own natural tendencies all too well , i¢m amazed that anything ever goes RIGHT!)¢¦..but we have the wrong focus¢¦..there IS Good in this world¢¦.a Light that is meant to squelch the darkness¢¦.a Light that is meant to be seen and known¢¦.He is standing right in front of us ready to open our blinded eyes and to show us Himself¢¦.his ¢workings¢, the ONLY real good, are ready to be made manifest in us!....what if we saw things this way?....what if we recognized every evil as an opportunity for good to be at work?....what if God¢s hand was actively at work in our lives to illustrate His love and compassion?.....the world would be a much ¢brighter¢ place, i think¢¦. my prayer is that we would learn to become more ¢awake¢ to the possibility of God¢s workings to ¢shine¢ out of even the dark places of our world¢¦.that we would learn to look beyond the evil and its cause to the Healer¢¦.that we would learn to actually expect the miraculous, the good, the right, to prevail¢¦¢¦the disciples DID recognize the wrong¢¦.(we can¢t ignore it)¢¦.but Jesus taught them a BETTER way to see¢¦.Lord help US to see!....help us learn to cease from merely fixing the blame for evil on others¢¦help us to overcome evil with good¢¦..and let that always be done, Father, by looking to YOU¢¦¢¦not to ourselves and our own little puny ¢theologies¢¢¦¢¦you spoke clearly to the blind man and told him to ¢go wash¢¢¦¢¦speak to me clearly, too¢¦.show me how to wash away the ¢mud¢ in my life that You yourself have prepared so that i can SEE!.....today was our longest day yet¢¦.19 miles!....traveled to max patch!...AWESOME!...(even though it was foggy), we could still see all around its vast top¢¦.eerie!...almost like being on another planet or something (or at least like walking out onto the beach or maybe a desert)¢¦.i took some pictures but somehow lost my camera¢¦.maybe someone will find it for me¢¦bluff mtn. was HARD! (long, not steep) and the last part of today it rained¢¦..looking back and up at that old mountain, it was really beautiful¢¦.rising high in the fog and mist like a japanese silk screen!......the climb was exhausting¢¦i ¢worked¢ hard to sing as we made our way through the rain into camp (which seemed as if it would NEVER appear)¢¦ ¢lily of the valley¢ made a nice, happy marchin¢ tune to slog down the wet trail until at last! we saw the welcoming flicker of a campfire at the shelter!....our longest day was done!there were some really nice, accommodating men there with their college-age sons who let us share the small shelter (in front of which blazed the home-y fire they had manufactured in the rain)¢¦.one of the sons was a student of the greek language so he confirmed the accuracy of my register greeting : ¢xaipnrn¢ ¢¦..forgot to mention that we met ¢moses on the mount¢* yesterday¢¦.a guy from israel hiking SOUTH!....he HAD to be the last one for the year!...wow!======2006====== tuesday, march 7*, day 24   (17.7 miles from the campsite near tanyard gap to just past camp creek bald)we¢re up here on this VERY cold mountain (which, by the way, was straight up!...very hard to climb at the end of a long day!)¢¦.but we¢ve got our ¢hotties¢ tucked in everywhere (even a couple on my icy derriere!)¢¦..this has been a lovely day, though it started out cold, gray and spitting snow at our ¢private pond¢¢¦after noon , though, the sun came out but it was still cool¢¦..we could see this mountain (after rich mountain) from a good ways off and noticed it was all frosty¢¦¢¦.we KNEW at that point that tonight would be a cold one!.....i think i forgot to mention yesterday that we saw our first serviceberry in bloom (on the mountainside above the french broad river¢¦..and ALSO (this will be unbelievable to all who know me) that i passed right through hot springs without purchasing a hamburger!...yes!...who woulda thought it!....a thru-hiker passin¢ up a town meal!i¢m sure this journaling is soundin¢ just a little ¢dry¢ perhaps, compared to my ¢03 journal¢¦.but writing is just not my focus out here this time¢¦..i¢m tryin¢ to forget about ¢me¢ and about the fun i have puttin¢ words together and all those ¢dreams¢ and stuff and just try my best to ¢listen¢¢¦..i¢d like to hear and feel my Creator¢s words more¢¦(not so much my own)¢¦..i want to see if, indeed, He¢ll do a ¢new thing¢ in and through me¢¦..can¢t say i¢m sure what¢s goin¢ on inside of me¢¦i¢m just tryin¢to stay tuned in to Him and tuned out to ¢me¢¢¦..as soon as the weather gets a little warmer, i hope i can get killeen to let me carry the new testament in my side pocket so i can read it more on breaks and contemplate¢¦..and¢¦.let¢s see¢¦..oh¢¦. not that anybody cares but me, but the ol¢ bladder seems to be in much better shape today¢¦(extra cranberry tablets and acidophilus)¢¦¢¦.was thinkin¢ today how the ¢Lord¢s Prayer¢ is really the perfect ¢sinner¢s prayer¢*¢¦..goodnight¢¦.pray we don¢t freeze to death¢¦..also asking blessings on miss janet and all the other hostel owners who work so hard to make our hikes memorable! *NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS-----*the first paragraph above was added november 7, 2006* ¢moses¢¢¦..this was the famous ¢roni from israel¢(as we later learned)¢¦.no offense, roni¢¦ but to see you that day on the top of that lonely mountain, walkin¢ out of the mist, your beard blowin¢ in the wind and that ¢wild-gotta-get-to-springer-look¢ in your eyes, well, i could think of no other description for my journal than ¢moses¢!.....and as i told you when we caught up to you once again a couple of weeks ago at the ALDHA gathering, it was indeed an honor to meet you on snowbird in ¢03 and to take your picture there¢¦..God bless you,sir, in ALL your ¢sinai summits¢! *march 7¢¦.as you can see, we¢re 10 days earlier than in ¢03, but have surpassed our ¢03 mileage* ¢sinner¢s prayer¢¢¦.a prayer for God¢s mercy, forgiveness and Lordship