The Difference of Seven Years

It's definitely been a long time since I've done any serious hiking.

I figured, it's only been seven years since Scouts, how hard can it be? I was only 14 then, when my troop and I spent two weeks backpacking through the mountains of New Mexico. I'm 21 now. Surely I can handle it.

Let me tell you something. Seven years can make all the difference in the world.

Perhaps I was a bit overzealous in putting weight on my back. I loaded my pack up with a copy of The Iliad and the Oddyssey, a few of my mother's heavy Bible commentaries, towels, clothes, a sleeping bag, water, and so on. I never actually weighed how much I was carrying, but by the time we were walking home from church, a lot of other options of what we should call ourselves flashed across my mind: 8 Tired Feet, 8 Aching Feet, 8 Blistering Feet. 8 Sore Calves. 4 Really Really Thirsty and Tired People.

This is definitely going to be a much larger physcial challenge than I originally anticipated. But I suppose nothing worth having in life ever comes easy, right?

The one thing keeping me going right now is the overwhelming support we've been getting from...everywhere. Not too long ago we were contacted by a couple, Rick and Jane McKinney, from Our Heart ministries in Harrison, Ohio. The McKinneys walked across America last year as part of their ministry. Already they have offered us invaluable advice and support, not the least of which is offering to pray for us each day, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them more as our walk continues. Abby Heft, a Webster PR student, is writing us a press release for the local St. Louis media and for the media in our hometowns. Our school newspaper has caught wind of our project and is running a story on us. A teen theater organization in Springfield is thinking of hosting a fundraiser for us.

But the best part of all is we met with our film professor and it seems like we're going to be able to work everything out with our school credits. He told us that our Film II project has come along very nicely, and we're almost done with it. All that's left is to finish up some sound work.

I guess all that's left for me worry about is money. I know that we're going to need money, and a lot of it. Where it's going to come from, how we're going to get it, is still to be determined. All I know is that if the rate of support we've already gotten continues to grow like I expect it will, we will have nothing to worry about at any step of the way.

I just need to learn to pack lighter, that's all.