Monday, June 26, 2017





Regress Not Progress                                                



    So today, June 24, Brandi and Stacey dropped me off at the same spot where she had met me the afternoon before. My goal for the day was around 20 miles to the 3rd shelter. The first one, Black Mtn, was only 2.8 miles from the drop point. An easy down hill descent.
    I stopped there to sign my name in the book since I spent the previous night off the AT. Rangers do check the shelter logs and keep up with hikers so I know I need to log in from time to time. Nephew always did that for us before.
    When I left the shelter I mistakenly walked right back up the hill I had just descended. When I got to my starting pt and realized my mistake, I was of course mad at myself. I walked 5.6 miles for nothing! So today I ended up only hiking 12 trail miles.
    As I retraced my steps, the Lord spoke to my heart. He reminded me that REGRESS is what a

refugee' s life is dominated by because they have left and possibly lost back home all they had worked for and accumulated. The pastoralist has lost his livestock. The farmer's tilled land is now growing up weeds and may soon return to the shape it was in before he put so much back breaking labor into clearing it. Regression.
    No one likes having to retrace their steps or redo work once done well. Yet this is what awaits every refugee who returns home once peace is restored.               
    Today I lost some time and energy, but in the big scheme of things it was a small thing. 
    Thanks Lord Jesus for granting me experiences which enable me to put things in perspective; even when they are painful.
    Please join us in this Hiking to Help Refugees venture so we can together provide God's Word to S. Sudanese refugees. Only God can restore what war and the forces of evil have destroyed in these people's lives.

Uncle

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