The Toughest Part of the AT Hike

This picture was taken of Renee and me in 1979 in the yard of the old home place on Old Post Rd.  We were 23 years old and had been married going on 5 years.  Every time I look at a picture from that era I think of the book title "We Were Soldiers Once... And Young,"  Yep, we were indeed once young.  Isn't that gal gorgeous?  Thirty eight years later she still is the most beautiful woman I have ever met.

Through the years she bore me three healthy, beautiful children, and in our later years we are enjoying our four grandchildren.  Being married to me has forced her to literally move halfway around the world.  It's tough to even count the number of moves we have made.  Each move presented her with a new set of challenges: new neighbors, pursuit of new friends, finding another church family, a new culture, one new language (Swahili), and the list goes on.

At one time or another we have lived in all sorts of dwellings.  Our first year of marriage was spent living in a motel room in Maggie Valley.  Later on we lived in a 35 foot camper for 4 years.  The list includes: mobile homes, apartments, a flea infested house, and houses in Kenya surrounded by Maasai neighbors and lots of both domestic (cows) and wild animals.  Go to the Maasai Mara to see the wildebeest migration?  No need, we use to watch them run by the hundreds right by our house!

Through all the moves and their various challenges, she never ceased to amaze me with her ability to adapt.  She turned each new living situation into a real home.  She learned to cook dishes whose origins hail from at least a dozen different countries.  The list of life long friends she has accumulated via her vivacious spirit and compassionate heart is very long.  Many Maasai friends remember her as the woman whose Southern accent made it tough for them to understand, but they knew she loved them through all the meals and acts of kindness she performed on their behalf.

When one talks with others of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, generally speaking the topics that are quickly mentioned deal with the challenges of the trail itself: steep trails, blisters, animal encounters, ticks, etc.  Sure, those things are realities and have to be accounted for, but they pale in comparison when laid side by side with the thought of being far from Renee for such an extended time.

So why do it?  Because Renee and I both have met so many South Sudanese women who are now widows.  Their husbands were killed in some scenario, and afterwards they were forced to flee their home and all that was familiar to seek refuge in another land.  Along the way some of them lost children.  Some were raped.  All saw and heard things that will leave scars for life; both on them and their children.  The list of daily challenges living as refugees forces upon them is daunting.

Such women and their children need to hear the same Good News of Jesus which has transformed mine and Renee's lives.  They need to know that there is a loving, gracious, sovereign God who can give them a future and a hope.  In short, they need to have access to God's Word so they can enter into a personal relationship with the only One who can wipe away all tears, conquer all fears, and enable them to know the joy associated with the promise of Jesus, "I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Please donate to Hiking to Help Refugees, so that we might have the means to supply more S. Sudanese refugees the opportunity to read or hear God's Word.  That goal is worthy of much sacrifice.  It won't be easy, but then again Jesus never promised us easy.  He just promised to be with us every step of the way.

Remember, you can donate online or by sending a check directly to Calvary Road Ministry.  Just make the check out to "Calvary Road Ministry" and earmark it for "Hiking to Help Refugees."  Mail it to: CRM, 4100 Fulton Road, Corryton, TN  37721.