The Reason to Be

"To Be or Not to Be"   

Why are You Out On the Trail? 

The hiker stopped in the middle of the trail and wondered if he could even go on.  "Why am I even out her at all," he wondered to himself, "I hiked over 500 miles on the Appalachian Trail and I can't take another step unless I figure out why I am here."  That's Bill Bryson, legendary story teller from his A Walk in the Woods, his trip with mad-cap friend Katz who could have been cast as any of the Three Stooges.  I wondered in the book just what Bryson found as his reason.  Write another book? I couldn't find it.  

Now contrast that with Paul Stutzman's Hiking-Through: One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail.  He never questions why he is out there because he walks for his wife who has died from cancer.  He believes that God has told him that he will meet him on the Trail.  Without Bryson's polished story telling, Stutzman succeeds in demonstrating what it means to stick at it and walk the Trail (of life)--a sense of calling, knowing your place and a goal beyond yourself.  You don't have to buy Stutzman's literal belief system -- you can appreciate how his faith connects with his feet and carries him through.  

What Carries Your Feet along the Trail?

The question is not how to fill somebody's shoes.  That's the wrong question.  The point is how to fill your OWN shoes!  What gives you purpose to carry you along the trail of life?