Date: 2015-06-09
To: THE COMMISSIONING
Miles today: 0.0

On Sunday, June 7th, I traveled to Lake Junaluska, NC, to be commissioned as Trail Chaplain on Tuesday, June 9th at the Annual Conference of the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church. I rode over with Bob Hayes and Anna Gaultney, who are both members of the board for the Appalachian Trail Outreach Ministry. There we met Alan Ashworth and David/SHORT STOP Smith and set up a booth/tent to distribute information on the AT Trail Chaplain program.My primary function was to man the booth and talk with people about the program. Allen had obtained about twenty cases of 32 ounce bottles of Gatorade, which we handed out to ¢thirsty souls.¢ It is hard work to give free (warm) Gatorade to folks who have just purchased a super-sized Bojangles sweet ice tea from another nearby tent! While I did this the other members of the Appalachian Trail Outreach Ministry (ATOM) attended the Annual Conference.I had never been to the Annual Conference before, but I did go to Lake Junaluska in July, 1993, to hear Bill Irwin speak. Bill Irwin was the first blind person to hike the Appalachian Trail. Bill did his hike in 1990 with his Seeing Eye dog, Orient. My wife and I had been invited to attend this event by her father, John Lundy, who was very active in the Methodist Church, and who knew of my interest in hiking the AT. Both Bill and John are now deceased.On Tuesday morning I was manning the booth alone¢passing out occasional bottles of Gatorade. I noticed a man standing across the walkway from me near the Bojangles stand, mostly because he had a Golden Retriever. My wife and I have a Golden Retriever who keeps her company while I am backpacking. The man and his dog started walking down the sidewalk toward the auditorium. As they passed our tent the dog suddenly veered to the right and led the man to the empty chair in our booth. The blind man reached down, felt the empty chair, and sat down, unaware that I was sitting near him. I greeted him and he asked if it was okay if he sat there. I told him that it was and introduced myself. The man told me that his name was Kent¢like the cigarettes, he said¢and that his dog¢s name was Rusty.I told Kent that I had a Golden Retriever at home and had been to Junaluska once before to meet Bill Irwin and his Seeing Eye dog Orient. Kent proceeded to tell me about the selection process for Seeing Eye dogs, and matching the dogs and owners. He told me that he lived in the area and walked around the lake daily. Then he basically told me his life story and how he came to lose his eyesight. Kent said that he had tried to stop a man who was stealing a tractor from a neighbor, and the man had beaten him severely and shot him in the head and left him to die. He told me how God had helped him to get from there to where he was today. When he got up to leave, he asked if it would be all right if he prayed for me. I was a little surprised, but we stood under the tent together with his hand on my shoulder and we prayed. After he left and continued his walk, I was thinking Wow! What just happened? Maybe that was my ¢commissioning¢! Did Bill Irwin or John Lundy cause this to happen, or maybe it was just God! What are the chances of a blind man and his dog stopping to pray for you at the same spot you came twenty-two years earlier to meet another blind man and his dog and hear about their hiking the Appalachian Trail? Was the man that I had just met really an angel? I am now convinced that I made the right decision this year, and that this thru hike was meant to be!Later in the afternoon, my wife, Becky, and Becky¢s brothers, Tom and Mark, and their wives, Cindy and Sheila, joined us for the official commissioning service. Jeff Wadley did an outstanding job of presenting the Appalachian Trail Outreach Mission project, and introducing me to the Conference. Alan Ashworth stood beside me with Jeff as Bishop Taylor laid hands on me and the entire Conference prayed for us. It was an awesome ceremony, and had me struggling to fight back the tears!Now all that I have to do is walk 2,189.2 miles south on the AT and practice the Golden Rule!