Date: 2003-05-27
From: A. Rufus Morgan Shelter

To: Sassafras Gap Shelter
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: scattered clouds

One more mile down (my legs were sore from the descent yesterday) and breakfast out! Lucky for John, they were only serving the buffet today. Not the greatest selection for vegetarians, but I loaded up on carbs and fresh fruit.Next I checked my e-mail and guest book (love those entries!) and called the fam. Got some exciting news via e-mail. I've been working on arranging to go overseas next year to do some mission work. Before I left it looked like Norway would be the place, but the details hadn't been worked out. Normally these student missions positions run from August to May, roughly, but I'd been praying to find one to go to in January. I got an e-mail today from the lady there in Norway saying that's when this position started! Seemed to me like another clear indicator that's where God wants me. And now I know what my next step will be.At the moment I'm still hanging at the NOC. Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) is in Wesser, NC on the Nantahala River. It's a big rafting area, with cabins, restaurants, and an outfitters store. Maybe I'm just procrastinating the beast of a climb out of this valley, but I splurged on a shower and load of laundry. ($3.50!) I found myself thinking, "Well, my clothes are pretty clean really, it's only been since Saturday..." Had to remind myself that at home I'd wash them after each use and take a shower every day. I may browse around the store a little more. It also just feels nice to sit in the sun.I talked to the store's "best" shoe expert about the discomfort in my right arch. She didn't seem to know a whole lot, but guessed it was because of the sandals. Rats. I really enjoy them overall. I guess I'll have to surrender soon to boot-hood. That means no fun strappy tan lines and smelly (-er) -- but cleaner -- feet.I lingered at the NOC making a few more phone calls, procrastinating the climb out. Rafting was awfully tempting but I finally dragged myself away from civilization about 2:45 pm. I could feel it pulling me back. I kind of didn't want to leave. It could have been because it's such a delightful spot, or maybe just its familiarity. I've been by there several times in the past, making it feel almost like it's close to home, even though a good 2 1/2 hour drive at least from Chattanooga. Almost without my noticing, the desire faded, along with the sounds of civilization, and I was once again alone with myself. (And the beginning of the climb wasn't so bad. I stopped after awhile and cooked my lunch/supper.)Two challenges, two regrets. Last week John and Nichole related their encounters with a man they'd leap frogged with their first couple of days on the trail, passing and being passed by him several times. Carrying little or no food or water and only a blue tarp, his one question for them was, "Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?" John answered yes and the man passed on. Eventually they figured they were far enough ahead of him they wouldn't see him again.,I saw a man come into the NOC today that looked like a "drifter". As I was returning to the trail after my lunch stop, he came up the trail -- startled me actually. "Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?" he asked. "I sure have," I said. "I have, too," and he walked on. So I'd met him after all, John and Nichole's proselytizer! I tried not to judge the man. I tried not to be uneasy.Two songs came to mind. DC Talk's "A man in the desert with knaps in his head, the sand that he walked was also his bed. They thought he was strange for the locusts he ate. Words that he spoke made the people assume, there wasn't too much left in the upper room..."Nichole Nordeman sings, "Not so long ago a man from Galilee fed thousands with His bread, and His theology soon became the joke of every . . . Pharisee like me." Also Matthew 24:40, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" was running through my mind.Well, as the afternoon wore on I began to "leap frog" with the man. I came upon him on the side of the trail under his blue tarp, as I would learn is his custom. I'll admit I began to hike a little faster, push a little harder, hope that I caught up to Patty and Stan who I knew were ahead.Soon, despite my best efforts, I saw him through the trees not far behind again. Here's where my mental battle began. My conditioning told me to keep going, but I was just reaching a water source and was low, so I stopped to fill up. I'd been doing my best anyway and he still caught up! My heart rate sped a little, but as Miss Bonnie taught us in Family Counseling I looked right at him and spoke confidently, asking where he was headed for the night. "What brings you out here?" I asked next."Just trying to follow Jesus wherever He leads me,¢ he said. "Sometimes it's up into the mountains. What about you?""Well, pretty much the same reason," I responded, and he went on as I finished getting my water.A few minutes later I came upon him reading on the side of the trail. Again, despite my desire to ignore his somewhat disconcerting presence, I paused and asked him what he was reading. Studies in the book of Timothy, it was, looked like an old book. He said it was about disciplining yourself and also about learning to discern who was really a Christian and who was not.Ironic, I thought, as I was at that moment torn between my society's influence and my Christian upbringing. "Sounds good," I said, and moved on. By this time I had deemed him not a threat, though still not 100% at ease. I kept close tabs on Matt's knife at my side, but when I came to a beautiful vista that would have been a great reading spot up the trail I called back and told him about it.I kept climbing, agonizing over the crumby world we live in where we feel like we can't trust each other. My spiritual challenge.My physical challenge: Just when you think the trail couldn't possibly climb any higher to Swim Bald, it does. Endlessly. Sure enough, I was climbing this afternoon for well over three hours, the last hour nearly as steep as Albert Mountain in spots. I pictured myself, age 12, in front of the TV after school. Age 16, doing puzzles in my dorm room. Age 22, sitting alone at my home in Oklahoma. Age 26, rolling over in bed at 6:30 am when I was supposed to have met Matt at the track to run at 6 am. And each time my lazy self was predominant, knowing I could have been doing something active and the only reason I wasn't was because I was being lazy.I force my quads to carry me one step further on and up and raise my arms in victory when I reach the top. Another reason I know I'm out here -- to conquer that lazy side.In decent time I summited Swim Bald (which isn't bald at all anymore) and come upon Stan and Patty and a new girl, Barbara, camped near the junction to Sassafras Gap Shelter. I joined them, and soon the Blue Tarp Man, as Barbara had named him, came up as well. He went on down to the shelter and Barbara shared her experiences with him.As I write, we're tented here on the ridge and he is down below in the shelter in the gap. Oh Blue Tarp Man, in a perfect world I wouldn't view you with suspicion just because of your radical ways. May you and I both have minds clear enough to discern God's will and hearts full of compassion for His children. It's cold here on this ridge. I¢m sure glad for my new 15 degree sleeping bag. I had considered just bringing my summer fleece bag, but last night was the only night I've slept without my fleece jacket on, and one of only a few I've left my fleece hat off. Guess I'm a cold sleeper. Some nights I've even slept in my jacket with the hood on. I will tonight, too.Oh -- my two regrets. One is that I didn't go rafting today. A combination of the "If I'd had someone to go with" mindset I want to get away from and the Depression-era hoarding habits that have trickled down the generations of my family provided me with easy excuses why not to. As well as the "I have to get there" mindset. I'm also out here to escape!The other? In Franklin Joy's 10-year-old son BJ wanted to come and camp with me overnight on Sunday night and Joy would get him. I wish I would have brought him. It would have been fun to have that company! But again, I didn't know him or his family well enough to be quite comfortable taking on that big of a responsibility. Well, before this adventure is over I hope I'll learn to take advantage of each opportunity that I'm presented with, because as Stephen Grellet puts it, "I'll not pass this way again."