Date: 2016-08-24
From: VT, US4, 1700.8

To: VT, Vt. 12, 1724.5
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: clear sky

We checked out of our hotel in Rutland, VT this morning. This is the city that made national news a few months ago for wanting to have a vote on whether to host Syrian refugees. At the time, the mainstream media defended the town, characterizing the local attitudes as primarily being disgusted that some in their community wouldn't want to help. The local papers today continued that theme, mentioning efforts to help collect cold weather gear in case they come. It will certainly be a shock for the refugees if they are given the green light. And not just the weather. We took our chariot in to have the brakes looked at and Porter chatted with a local who was sincerely worried about the refugees blowing up the local home depot. To make matters worse, he shared that the community has a large contingent of Hasidic Jews. As if to prove his point, a Jewish family walked in with the edges of their hair uncut, wearing robes, and speaking Hebrew to each other. The guy at the auto shop went on to discuss the problems the refugees have caused in other places they have settled, citing crimes ranging from petty theft, to rapes, to suicide bombings. All that on top of a city already plagued by a heroin epidemic that he also complained about. Sounds pretty scary if you take it at face value. The main stream media of course is seeking to marginalize these voices in the public dialogue using their familiar tactic of adding "-phobia" to a certain word, in this case Islam, with the assumption that anyone labeled as such is ignorant and their opinion shouldn't matter. And despite the media's attempts to quiet fears, there are a range of less than welcoming views that persist throughout the Western world which we won't go into.   Clearly, not everyone feels this way though! Should we just throw these people away? Could 100 refugees from a war torn country in a town of over 10,000 possibly cause that much harm? Aside from a new Mediterranean restaurant, hookah lounge, and maybe a Mosque, what is the worst thing that could come of this small experiment in multiculturalism?   Perhaps it is a little ironic that a town addicted to Heroin helps with the refugee problem, after all, the heroin trade is believed to be one of ISIS's primary sources of funding... For Christians, though, what should our response be? Just a thought to consider- maybe it is God, not Obama, that is bringing them here, so they can hear about Jesus! Proverbs 21:1 says "The king¢s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will." God certainly directs the hearts of rulers. Furthermore, Acts 17:26-27 says that God determines the allotments and boundaries of people so that they can seek him. Couldn't the Lord be behind this dispersion?   America will send her troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, but her churches are reluctant to send their troops, the missionaries so desperately needed to bring hope. But these precious Syrians, after they receive the gospel, will march back to the Arab world carrying the cross on their backs that we have not carried there.Think this is madness? Iran, by some estimates, is home to the fastest growing Christian church in the world! Sherpa has personally attended a fellowship of Iranian Christians. Many have come to the US for various reasons, such as work in the oil industry. What this group had in common was that they had all met the Lord here. And they are busy about sharing Christs love amidst persecution back home. Syrians in the same way need to come to the West to be saved so that they can return with the gospel and bring spiritual water to their dry land! Christians, welcome them! Sign up to be language partners. Help them move furniture. Give them rides. Love them. And tell them about Jesus's love for them. Some will listen.   What is at stake isn't diversity, safety, or preservation of an American identity- our citizenship is in heaven after all- or even the local Home Depot. What's really at stake are lost souls. Yes there may be crime, yes they might even blow up a beloved Home Depot, but in the process some will come to know the Lord. And some of those that do will bring that hope back with them into Syria. Hopelessly sidetracked! In trail lingo, we just took a blue blaze! Getting back on topic, the Appalachian Trail took a big right turn today, splitting off from the Long trail which continues North. The Appalachian Trail, instead, heads East over to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and on into Maine.   The trail continues to get more remote, which makes for very peaceful hiking. Blackberry bushes have plenty of unpicked fruit here, which Sherpa is happy to help himself to. Unfortunately, fewer road crossings also means fewer breaks for Sherpa with Porter. One of our planned road crossings today was hopelessly impassable. This meant that instead of walking 4 miles to his next break, Sherpa walked almost 15. The blackberries sustained him! The trail finished in a pasture today full of cows munching on grass. In addition to hiking a small portion of the AT, and meeting lots of interesting people, these happy cows also get to eat apples falling from wild trees near their pasture. Driving away, we saw a porcupine making his way over to the field with the happy cows. And while we are on the topic of cows, to end our day, we sat down for dinner in the breakfast room of our hotel, and immediately were "mooved" to laughter when we saw the view out the window. A truck had pulled in with 13 large white unpainted fiberglass cows en route to a nearby amusement park. The driver told us the park was planning to install mechanical devices so guests could milk the molded monstrosities. It sounded like "udder" nonsense to us...