ARE YOU FAMOUS?

Have you ever been identified as someone famous? Has anyone every mistaken you for a movie star, a politician, or another public figure? It is an interesting experience. Early in our hike we stopped for water at a trail side spring. A young solo hiker whom we later came to know as Chico passed by. We were friendly as was he and when he went by he looked back at me and said, “Are you famous?”
I said I was not, at least not in Georgia since there are probably not 5 people in the whole state who know me. He looked at me intently once again and then hiked on his way.
It was a couple of days, maybe a week before we saw him again. We were camped above a hiker shelter and I needed to go down by the shelter for water. When I got there, he was sitting on a log reading a book. I got our water and sat down for a minute on the opposite side of the small fire he had going just to talk a minute. We talked about the book he was reading and then he said to me, “are you sure you are not famous?”
I laughed. I forgot that he asked me that question when we first met. I assured him I was not famous. Over the next week or so we met him a few times. On one occasion he said to me, “You have to be someone famous.”
“Who do I look like to you?” I responded.
“Well,” Chico said, “I am not much of a sports fan but you sure look like a famous baseball coach.” Jen and I said in unison. “Joe Torre.”
“Who is that?” Chico asked. We told him the coach for the Yankees and he looked at me intently again and said, “Is that who you are?”
“Uh, it is baseball season in a few days, what would I be doing here on the AT if I was a baseball coach.” We laughed and then he was gone. He hiked much faster than we did and we didn’t see him again until Hot Springs where his wife had met him for the weekend. He introduced us to his wife as the baseball coach for the Yankees. She looked pretty hard at me and then shook her head. She didn’t believe it.
I have been mistaken for Joe before. One time at an outdoor concert a I saw a young man on the back row of the choir looking at me persistently. Usually you can’t tell who a person in a choir is looking at, but this kid was definitely looking at me. When they finished their set, he jumped off the back of the risers and made a bee line straight towards me. I figured he must be someone I had known in the past. He came right up to me and said, “Do you know how much you look like Joe Torre?”
I am honored, being as how I am a Yankee fan. I was wearing a Yankee hat at the concert, but I was wearing a Salt Lake Stingers hat on the trail. I would like to have Joe’s contract and his dollars, but I wouldn’t want his headaches for anything. The most expensive team in baseball and they have lost 5 of the last 7 and are not even winning half their games this year.
I think if there is any career that compares to being a pastor it must be coaching. You never know what you will be blamed for, you never know how those in your charge will perform, and you never know when you will be ready to move on to another team. At the same time, though there are the agonies of defeat, there are also the joys of victory. It is great to be the coach of a team and watch as that team performs well, either from the dugout, the bench, the sideline, or the pulpit.
What do you think? Do I look like Joe Torre to you?

A Tale of Two Churches

Last I told you about trail angels and trail magic. Thru hikers are men and women in need of a cold drink. When someone offers that drink, they are seen as angels. There are some other things hikers are in need of. Many times they just need a place out of the rain to dry off. At times they need a ride, either to town, to the trail, or to a store. They almost always need a shower, and usually need a laundry. All along the trail there are those that help with those needs.

One hot day on the trail we exited the woods at this road crossing. Directly across the street was this church. You cannot see the sign, but it is a Baptist Church, not unusual seeing as how we were in Tennessee. As you can see it is a well maintained church, had a nice sign of identification, a neat lawn, and a good parking lot. I was totally not impressed. While all of those things are good, what I needed was a cold drink.

I told Jen, “I think if I was the pastor of this church I would make sure that not a single hiker could pass this way without being offered at least a cold drink of water, if I had to move my office out here and do it myself.” We talked about the ministry opportunity lost. Some 2 to 3 thousand people begin a thru hike each year, and those that make it to Tennessee have to pass right by this church.


A couple of weeks later we came to the town of Troutdale, Virginia. The story was quite different. Troutdale Baptist Church is 2 ½ miles off of the trail but that doesn’t stop them from ministry to hikers. They offer every hiker a dry place to sleep, a shower with towel, and a cold drink of water. They used to offer free laundry facilities until the county closed down the laundry because they didn’t have proper permits. We knew about this church before we arrived because they are mentioned in the Thru-hikers handbook. The pastor’s phone number is in the handbook in case a hiker has an emergency and needs help. They charge nothing for their kindness and hikers very much appreciate them.

We stayed in their hostel on a Saturday night and on Sunday morning the Pastor came by and invited us to church. We were planning to attend even before the invitation and we enjoyed the service. After the service the Pastor and his wife invited us to their home for lunch after which he drove us back to the trail to continue our hike.

As we hiked out of Troutdale I thought back to the church right on the trail in Tennessee.
What a contrast. I am sure both churches had great ministries for their own members, Senior Adult ministries, Youth Ministries, Children’s ministries, and preschool ministry as well. But one church was reaching out to a community of people with no thought of gain, except a heavenly reward. Hikers are not prospects for their church, but they do represent a people with an identifiable need who could be prospects for the good news.

I know that I am making some assumptions about the Tennessee church I know very little about. They may hand out cold water on every day but the day I passed for all I know. To me they represent the large section of Christianity concerned with themselves while neglecting ministry to the culture around them. The other church represents those who go out of their way and are willing to be inconvenienced in order to reach people.

“Lord help our churches see the opportunities around us.”

We Met An Angel

Our journey was stopped short. We were looking for 2174 miles, we only made 548. While we are disappointed we didn’t get to finish, we feel blessed by what we were allowed to do. In addition to the simple joy of hiking and our trail education, Jennifer and I learned some things about ourselves, our world, and our faith that were unexpected.

One of the most encouraging aspects of the trail was angels. We met angels along the way. Angel is a hiker term for good hearted people who go out of their way to make the hike more enjoyable. Most of them are former hikers who want to repay the angels they met on their hike by passing along the gifts they received to the next generation of hikers.

Imagine being out on the trail for two, three, or maybe four days. All you have had to eat is what you have carried and all you have had to drink is water. As you walk, your mind plays video of burgers and fries, pizza, or maybe steak and potatoes. You dream of a tall glass of ice tea or, in my case, a cold Dr Pepper. But you are still miles, perhaps days from town.

Coming to a road crossing, you notice a measure of human activity that is out of place for the trail. You realize, you are about to experience trail magic. Magic is the term for the food and drink the angels give away. They give it to hikers for free. Their payment is just to see the joy and gratitude on the faces of the hikers they have blessed.

The first angels we met on the trail were in North Carolina. Three single people, in their mid 30’s, from Jacksonville, Florida had driven to North Carolina for no other reason than to give out free food and drink to hikers. They were planning to be there for the whole weekend. Jennifer was not feeling well, she had a bug of some kind, so she drank an orange soda and lay down on a tarp and took a long nap. I had a ham and cheese sandwich, some potato chips, a couple of Dr. Peppers, a moon pie, another sandwich, and had a real chair to set in while Jen slept.

Some angels had a simple set up, some more complex. Later in NC we came across a camp of angels. These were mostly middle aged men from Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia who all hiked the trail last year. They had a grill going and were fixing burgers and hot dogs, they had fruit, candy, chips, etc. and chairs to sit in. We rested and ate for a couple of hours there. One of the angels was a young man who grew up in and whose parents still live in Murray, not too far from our home.

One angel was a young man we met in the Smokey Mountains just before the weather got cold. He was hiking southbound with a box of Crispy Crème donuts and some homemade brownies. “Eat as many as you want,” he told us.

On the Tennessee-North Carolina border we met some angels who were pretty serious about it. Their hike had come about 7 years ago. They were so impressed with the trail and the people on the trail they purchased a home about 300 yards from the trail. Every day during the hiking season they opened their home with an invitation to hikers to come for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In addition to the great food, we had waffles, stew, and apple pie, they offered counsel and prayer to each hiker. Their real purpose was akin to the purpose of Biblical angels, to share the really good news about Jesus Christ.

Jennifer and I have talked about our angel experience. We would like to go and give out trail magic. We had talked about it for next spring, but now we are thinking we will probably hike again for 3 or 4 weeks. Before we left Virginia we went by Wal Mart and purchased 4 boxes of Caprisun Lemonade and Cherryade along with Little Debbies and Honey Buns and took them to the trail where we left them for hikers. It was our small gift for all the kindness we had received.

The other effect it has had on us is our determination to live each day with more of a servant attitude. We experienced grace from these trail angels, we would like to give grace in return. It is much like our Christian experience. The forgiveness of sin and promise of heaven we have received for free from Jesus Christ, we would like to share with others so that they might have the same experience.