Some people turn to the trail at times of radical change in their life...graduation, disillusionment, working through grief, burnout or job loss. It is mystical, but true, a narrow path strewn with rocks can chart a new direction in life. Several of the end-to-end hikers that Stephanie and I met fell into one of these categories. To them, the AT extended an invitation they could not refuse. It offered refuge from pain, anonymity and the prospect of finding nature’s healing powers. Others approach the trail for the physical and mental challenge, the adventure of it all. They want to see if they can attain a goal that demands dedication, stamina and a clear focus. On the trail attitude is everything. Whiners and those easily discouraged don’t last very long. The infamous Granny Gatewood, a spunky grandmother who thru-hiked the AT at age sixty-seven, once said, “Head is more important that heel.”

 

          Some families are out for a day hike. Some people like me are out for a section hike. Although the purposes vary, the thing about the AT that is so amazing is this: you might hike with a person most of the day and all you know about that person is that his trail name is Easy Money. He is dressed similar to you, his gear looks like yours, maybe a different brand name. At the end of the day you camp together around the shelter area. You sit at a picnic table and cook your noodles together or sit around the fire and talk. You learn that Easy Money is actually the president of a bank in a large city. Or maybe he is a doctor, or even a lawyer, but the bottom line is all the artificial lines that we create in life really don’t matter on the trail. It doesn’t matter whether you are white or black, male or female, considered a white collar professional or a blue-collar worker. It doesn’t matter what bracket best describes your economical status. It doesn’t matter what type of vehicle is waiting on you at the end of the walk. All that really matters is that you are both on a quest. You both may be questing something different, but you are just hikers. By definition, you are a person who simply lifts one boot, planting it squarely in front of the other, and then bite off another three-foot section of trail. It defines who you are and the community that you are an accepted part. 

 

          It is a community that loves, accepts, trusts, and shares food and supplies with one another because you’re not against anybody. You are just a pilgrim on a quest. That’s one thing I love about the Appalachian Trail, because it is a community of people that you can relate to almost instantly. The one thing you have in common is that you have a big pack on your back and you’re walking on a trail covering the same miles and facing the same challenges. When Rebekah and I were hiking we met a young father and his eight-year-old daughter. Her hair was drenching wet, her face was flush but she was having the time of her life out there with her dad. They looked at Rebekah and I and asked how long we had been backpacking together perhaps using us as a possible image for their future. We sat on the side of the trail together and enjoyed a simple meal. All I knew about the pair was their names. During the conversation I discovered that he had been a Christian for a long time, but he hadn’t been a committed Christian but a short period of time. He had some questionable habits in his life, habits that I didn’t ask him about. I didn’t pry into his personal life. He freely shared what God was doing in his family. He told me how God had transformed his marriage when his wife became a Christian. He asked me some questions about parenting, questions that I always make me feel uncomfortable, but somehow, sitting on the side of a trail eating a bagel with peanut butter and drinking a bottle of water, we felt connected. 

 

          Unnatural barriers, walls, lines that exist in the real world somehow vanish for hikers on a quest. In the real world, it might have taken years for us to get to the point where someone would ask, “I see you’re out hiking with a college age daughter. How did that come about? What works for you?” Oh, how I long for a sense of community, where people can relate to one another without superficial walls!

 

          I learned some things along the way. I learned about simplicity, lessons about the pace and terrain of life, and lessons about community.   

          I want to conclude by making an application from a favorite Bible passage of mine found in Isaiah 40. The British statesman Oliver Cromwell observed that Isaiah chapter 40 is the greatest chapter in the entire Bible. It is a chapter about the greatness of God. Cromwell says when the prophet wrote this chapter, he dipped his pen in golden glory and wrote for God Himself. It was this very passage that inspired Handle to write The Messiah. It was also this very chapter in God’s Word that impacted the reformer Martin Luther. He posted on the church door at Wittenberg Ninety-five Theses that set forth his position and objections to certain practices and doctrines of the church. As a result, he was summoned before the Diet of Worms to defend his position. Standing before the counsel he was given the opportunity to recant or face the consequences. Inspired by this very chapter, Luther took a stand and the Reformation was the result.  

 

          There are some valuable lessons from this passage that instructs us in how to carry a load and be faithful in our journey along the way. The prophet declares, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength.” In some translations it says, “They shall exchange their strength.” That is what I want you to understand today. The good news is, regardless of whether you’re weary in life because you are climbing a lot of mountains, packing too much stuff, underestimating the incline of the hills, or maybe you’ve just been at it so long that you’re weary, there can be an exchange of strength.

 

          I’m glad at this season of my life that I’ve fallen in love with walking. Isaiah says that even young people grow weary. In the month of March in the year 1513, a young explored left his home country of Spain. His name was Ponce de Leon. He was searching for the infamous fountain of youth because the Indians had told him there existed an Artesian water source that flowed from the very Garden of Eden. If a person found this water supply and partook of its magical contents, they would be renewed in body. In fact, they would live forever. He was searching for immortality. Ponce de Leon didn’t find that spring. He found Florida instead.   Ever since that time, people have been looking for that special drug, that special fountain, that special spring, that special formula that can cause their body to be rejuvenated. We want to be able to run and not be weary, fly in the currents and not crash, walk and not faint.