Date: 2010-10-12
To: My Motivation
Miles today: 0.0

I¢ve been asked time and time again since I¢ve been done what kept me motivated throughout my journey. Whether its future thru hikers or people who can¢t even imagine themselves getting off of the couch everyone wants to know how you continue to hike day in and day out for six months. In fact, I would say that was one of my biggest question marks before I started. My motivation was simple.¢For nothing is impossible with God.¢ Luke 1:37. That was my theme the entire way. If you look at my pictures of me holding up my sign at Katahdin you can see it on the top. WAAAAAAAIT! COME BACK. Here¢s where I lose a lot of people who read my blog. ¢Oh geez, another Bible thumper. I don¢t relate to that.¢ I can hear some of you say it and its been said to me before. Nope, I don¢t do that. I decided early on when I noticed that so many hikers just didn¢t care about God that I was not going to be like so many other preaching types. I would watch Christian hikers try and ¢save¢ some other hiker without trying to get to know them¢¦without even finding out if they believed in God or not (I was the victim of a few of these every once in a while). It was almost like they were getting some kind of commission on how many people they saved. Within the first ten minutes of meeting someone these people would be talking about salvation and all of that. That¢s great but as many of you know it turns more people away then actually brings them to Christianity. So, I decided early on, that instead of becoming Preachy McPreacherson, I would simply show by example. In other words, Walk the Walk. Don¢t get me wrong though, I was always willing to talk about my faith and I had many many many awesome conversations with people about God. I just felt it was more important, especially while hiking, to show by example and I really believe that people picked up on that. You have to keep in mind that most hikers, as in society, are set in their ways so if you preach to them then they will naturally be defensive no matter what the topic is. If you show them by example, especially showing that you can have tons of fun in a safe and moral way, then people are more apt to want to know more.That¢s great, One Life, but what does that have to do with your motivation day in and day out on the trail? Basically, it was simple. I wanted the end result more than anything else in the world. I wanted to stand by that Katahdin sign and raise my hands up in the air and just yell out ¢I DID IT!!¢ So, all those times I thought I couldn¢t make it (and there were a lot of them) I just had to rely on God to get me through. But heres where I think a lot of people get lost. Lets take the day I almost quit when I was in NY. I could not take the pain anymore and I was done. I started to try and look for a way to get picked up so that I would not have to hike anymore. However, before I could officially quit I said a simple prayer. I had nothing left in the tank so to speak. I had no motivation. Even though I could not see the big picture, all I could see was my immediate surroundings, I relied on God to get me through the rough times. Was I magically transformed into a hiking machine?? Absolutely not. Did I magically start feeling better? Nope. Well, then what happened? I put my trust in God. I put that faith in Him that I would feel better and that I would finish even when I was laying in my tent pondering how to get back to a road so that I could quit. Did it happen over night? Nope. But guess what? I learned to overcome obstacles and to fight through the pain. Maybe God was setting me up for a bigger lesson in life and my experience on the AT will be what gets me through the rest of my life. By going through what I did, I came out with a bigger sense of pride and a much stronger sense of inner strength. How would I have ever become a stronger person without going through the toughest struggles on the AT? So guess what? I made it! I trusted that God would see me through those times I wanted to quit. And those times were not just fleeting thoughts but I would constantly think about quitting for a while. I just put my faith in God and he gave me the sight to see the bigger picture¢¦even when I thought it was impossible. So when I raised my hands at Katahdin it meant more to me than I could have ever imagined. All of those times I thought about pain, struggling, and that I was not going to make made my Katahdin moment that much better!!! God gave me that reward but gave me things I can carry for the rest of my life. Nothing is impossible with God¢¦nothing. Just make sure you trust in Him that he sees things you can not so the pain you go through now is something you will learn from.¢Boy, One Life, you talked about God a lot in this entry. I¢m scared. You must be in a cult.¢ I can hear those of you that don¢t know me say. No, no, no boys and girls..I¢m just telling you what guided me through my trip and what leads me through my life. I¢m a normal person who has a strong faith in God. Don¢t worry, I will not be ringing your doorbell, pushing my way to your living room, and telling you you¢re going to hell. But, I will continue trying to be the example as I urge you to do as well. As I said before, sometimes things don¢t work out the way I want them to but there¢s always something God is teaching me. Why did the University of KY lose this weekend on a last second field goal to Auburn? I guess I¢ll never know but I¢d like to think its because God is setting us up for our national championship run next year!Trust in the Lord with all of your heart