Date: 2014-07-13
From: Franklin TN

To: Franklin, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I looked up Franklin, NC churches on the internet. The First Presbyterian Church has a 9:00 informal service and an 11:00 traditional service. Since my only clothes are my hiking clothes I thought I should go with the 9:00 informal one. As it turns out, as with many websites - including mine at school - it is hard to keep them up to date. The actual schedule is 9:00 Sunday School and 10:00 church. They asked if I was there for Sunday school, and I said,"I guess so." We watched a video about the crusades, according to the video, one of the churches darkest hours. The Crusaders went through Eastern Europe on the way to Jerusalem wiping out entire villages of Jews. As they got closer to Jerusalem, they even slaughtered orthodox Christians. Then they spent years killing Moslems. (Gee, I wonder why so many Moslems hate us?) The scary part was acting "in the name of Jesus" but doing things that were quite contrary to his teaching and their endeavors were based on economics and politics - usually somebody else's economic and political decisions. It was a thought provoking lesson. I think we need to be careful today to not let economics and politics drive our faith or our actions.The service was amazing. It was one of the friendliest congregations I have experienced. The choir would not have advanced very far in "America's Git Talent" but if the show were changed to "America's Got Enthusiasm and Sincerity" they would steal the show. And when the congregation sang, it was inspirational - which I guess church is supposed to be. During the last hymn, "I Love to Tell the Story," the accompanist stopped playing for the last verse and the congregation sang a capella. It was amazing - the kind of thing that sends shivers up your spine - in a good way - not like when you think you smell a bear on the trail or when you spot a rattle snake. Afterward the visiting minister in his closing said, "I don't know if you all realize it but you have something special here. I can tell you are a caring community."I lost track of how many people came up to me and thanked me for coming and asked about my hike. It made me think of how many times visitors stand around for a few minutes after a church service and then slip out almost unnoticed. This was not that church. A man came up to me and asked if I had lunch plans. I said I planned to eat in any restaurant open on Sunday that was within walking distance. He said they would love for me to join them for lunch. I said that sounded great, so I went to lunch with Griff and Cecilia. As it turned out Cecilia was a retired math teacher and Griff recently retired from working with the National Forests. We had great conversation all through lunch - about almost everything. I was telling them about my working with someone from North Carolina Department of Instruction on the National Assessment Governing Board and the testing we oversee and Cecilia said you mean NAEP. I was surprised because most people, even teachers, have never heard of NAEP. When I ask, "Have you heard of the Nation's Report Card?" either their eyes light up in recognition or they politely fake it and say, "I think I have heard of that." Griff had some interesting stories about working for National Forests. He talked about working with one forest administrator who sat down with environmental groups and asked them what their goals for the forest were and then they worked together to accomplish those goals and meet the needs of the government agencies. I'm sure it was not easy, but what a worthwhile effort! Griff also had a great explanation to my question about selective cutting versus clear cutting of forests.After lunch they drove me passed the grocery store for two apples and two Snickers bars, then back to my hotel. I even got to take a Sunday afternoon nap. I would hate to say that a zero mile day was the best day of my hike, but hiking 28.3 miles on Saturday to get into town for Sunday was one of the best decisions I had made recently. I lined up a shuttle back to the trail for 8:30 in the morning and went to sleep in a real bed.