The Hike of a Lifetime

Hiking Through: 

One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom 

on the Appalachian Trail  

by Paul Stutzman

Ever hike the AT--the Appalachian Trail?  Heck no!  I am luck to hike through our local park and find my way back home.  So, I have walked the AT with Paul Stutzman who set out following his wife's death from cancer to "get outside himself and the loss."  He is not walking away from her death.  His journey walks into the heart of it so he can literally see it in a new way.  Take a look at the picture above. What a view!  And yet the view, the new vision he sees is of his own life set against this background.

Ever hike the Emmaus Road?  Located outside Jerusalem, it was known for nothing, less than a crossroads where people lived.  Following the death of Jesus, some disciples just wanted out--to get out of town, to go to a place of no identity.  That's when they bumped into Jesus.

The hike is always the metaphor for the spiritual journey, the way we traverse inside ourselves.  You can't even walk the public park without making that connection.  The spiritual journey is about moving from where we are to the place where God calls us--just in time to move on again.