Under 60 Days Remaining!

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time passes.  It seems as if it were yesterday that I was gathered with my sisters in Christ on a retreat that has had a profound and lasting impact upon my life.  Now I find myself less than 60 days from departure on the journey that grew out of that women's retreat

This past Monday, Phyllis, Nathan, Bennett, Pastor Ryan and I had the opportunity to speak about the hike on WFYL.  Thank you to Susan for working out the details to make that happen!  Click below to listen to the broadcast.

These past two weekends, I spent some time hiking in the Delaware Water Gap, which is where I will be beginning my 250 mile journey.  Unlike nearly all of the other training hikes I've done, the trail in the Delaware Water Gap is hedged with rhododendron rather than brier bushes and offers several picturesque views (though the pictures and video hardly do them justice).

An Uphill Journey with a House on your Back

On Sunday, I made the trip to Lehigh Gap for a training hike.  One of the pitfalls of beginning these training hikes in the gaps is that quite naturally, every hike begins with an uphill climb.  This climb, while not as steep as the climb in Wind Gap held it's own challenge in that it never seemed to end.  For over a mile I trod over the unfamiliar rocky ground climbing a hill that seemed to continue to grow taller with every stride.  After nearly an hour and a quarter, the trail began to level out somewhat.  I had about half an hour remaining before I needed to turn around and descend the mountain, so after a brief pack break, I continued on, now able to quicken my pace slightly.

One thing about carrying your house on your back is that when you're carrying 30% or more of your body weight, you can't move the same way as you normally would.  Adding an additional 40 pounds significantly alters your center of gravity.  I also came to find that on Saturday evening, I had made a somewhat significant mistake.  I had not balanced my load properly, centering the weight higher up in the pack, which meant that my shoulders bore more weight than they normally should.  True, when I realized half way into my hike that this mistake had been made, I could have stopped and repacked; and were I going to be hiking for more than three hours, I certainly would have done so.  Instead I decided to leave the pack as it was and begin my descent.  A little discomfort surely would not be a major issue for the last 90 minutes of my hike, right?  Well, on Monday morning my shoulders thought differently.  But the important lesson that I've learned will stick with me more because of it.  Biomechanically, I know that an improperly balanced load will lead to injury, and now my body will remember the consequences of carrying the weight too high.  Mild discomfort now is surely better than significant injury later!

Sometimes I find this life to be very similar to an uphill journey with a house on your back.  I often find that mountaintop experiences are far and few between.  Instead it's as if a long hill is set before me and with each step, the hilltop seems more distant.  Yet I continue to climb, slowly but surely winding my way to the top.  The houses on our backs, as we climb to the ever elusive pinnacle, contain the things that we need to reach the top; but sometimes I wonder, how much excess do we load on ourselves?  How much weight do we needlessly carry?

When loading a pack for a long journey, it is important not only to pack the right equipment, but to properly balance it.  The items that weigh the most (food and water) are placed closest to the spine in the middle of the back.  Incidentally, food and water are also the most critical elements for survival.  In the Christian life, our food and water - the item that should be placed in the center of our packs closest to our hearts - is the Word of God.  The scriptures are full of imagery of God's Word as food and water for the soul.

"How sweet are your words to my taste,

      sweeter than honey to my mouth!" Psalm 119:103

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; 

and thy word was unto me the joy

and rejoicing of mine heart..." Jeremiah 15:16

"but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14

"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

Deuteronomy 8:3

Isaiah 55 in it's entirety, discusses the life-giving properties of God's Word.  The Word of God is the central piece that informs and transforms our lives, and enables us to continue on our journeys.  It provides us with the nourishment that we need and satisfies our thirst.  It provides an environment for growth to occur, comforts us when we are discouraged, and spurs us onward and upward in our daily walk.  The Word is the one piece of equipment, essential to the journey ahead.  We cannot survive without it.  Were we to carelessly remove it from our packs, the weight of our burden would become unbearable.  

So we've packed our food and water and centered them in our packs.  To keep our load balanced and to provide for our other needs as we continue on our journey, we add items such as shelter, clothing, and tools.  All of these play important roles.  

Shelter protects us from the elements.  It is quite literally the house that we are carrying on our backs.  It helps to shield us from harsh winds, scorching sun, cold nights, and torrents of rain.  It also helps to prevent pestilential creatures from entering our domain while we slumber.  Where do you find your refuge?  The people who surround us, protect us, fight for us, encourage us - those whom we love - they are likely to be our shelters.  They are the ones who have the greatest ability to influence us as we walk this life.  The next important question to ask is, are we building our shelters on rock or sand?  Are we surrounding ourselves with people who encourage us towards the goal set before us; people who challenge us in love, pick us up when we fall, and walk along beside us as brothers and sisters in Christ, with the Word of God in the center of their packs?  If not, then we may be carrying a lot of dead weight.  For a time, that may be okay, but we should be cautiously aware of how much dead weight we are carrying.   


Clothing is another important item that we load into the houses on our backs.  Clothing protects our fragile skin from insect attacks and the harshness of the sun.  It also helps our bodies to thermoregulate more effectively.  The clothing that we pack into our lives are things like our jobs, homes, cars - the things that help us to reach our goals.  Clothing is a little more hazardous to the overall balance of our packs.  It is extremely easy to overpack clothing.  True, clothing helps to stabilize the load by filling in spaces to keep the important things like shelter,  food, and water from moving around, but too much clothing will increase the weight we carry exponentially. Pack too much clothing and soon we'll be looking for things to unload from the pack... things that we think we can do without.  The danger here is that we may begin to throw away the important things rather than the unimportant.

Tools such as a stove, rope, flashlight, and other gadgets provide us with a means to more effectively take care of our needs.  We are carrying food and water, which in and of themselves will sustain us, but sometimes heating that food and water to make a tastier meal is most welcome.  Tools are the little things in life. When they are used to cultivate and encourage growth, they have the power to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.  The little things in life have a tremendous ability to enrich but also to enslave us. Our packs are already full with food, water, shelter and clothing.  Our tools fill in the remaining spaces.  If we try to pack more tools than the space we have to fit them, we're going to have a problem.  Our packs are likely to be busting at the seams with the gear that we are already carrying, so when we run out of space inside, we begin to latch our tools to the outside of the pack.  When the wind blows, those tools act like a sail and throw us off balance.  When walking through thorny passages, our tools that are latched to the outside of our packs become entangled, and we must, often painfully, untangle them before we can move on.  

From time to time, all of us will carry burdens that we cannot sustain.  We will grow tired and weary; but if we keep the Word of God at the center, we can take comfort and lighten our load substantially.  In Matthew 11, Jesus says, 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  The food and water that the scriptures provide are all that we need to sustain us.  When you are feeling tired and weary, you need only look to the master, take off the house on your back for a moment and readjust the load.  Get rid of the excess baggage that weighs you down, and re-balance your load with the Word of God at the center.  Then, take up the Savior's yoke and burden, and follow after him.  

Rocksylvania

Over the past couple of months I've read in more than one book or article that many thru hikers have nicknamed the Pennsylvania section of the Appalachian trail Rocksylvania.  Having never before been on the trail, I envisioned large boulders in the woods and small to moderate rocks dispersed at random on the trail.  Yesterday I finally was able to get out on the trail for my first training hike.  I packed my pack with most of my gear and weighed it in at about 35 pounds.  My friends Kim and Ricky joined me as they plan to accompany me on a portion of the trek and they too being inexperienced hikers want to train for the summer.  We parked at a trailhead in Wind Gap.  I had planned to hike southward but we were unable to easily locate the trailhead and decided instead to head north towards Fox Gap because the trailhead to go north from where we parked was easily found and accessible (I later consulted the guidebook and maps and determined that we just hadn't gone far enough down the road to pick up the southbound trailhead).

We looked at the northbound trailhead and saw a steep incline of steps.  From the ground it looked to be about a 150ft climb, but we shortly found that the trail zigzagged up the mountain and in fact was a 500ft climb over a distance of about one mile.  For our first experience it was quite difficult... especially with my 35 pound pack weighing me down.  As we climbed I couldn't help but think of a quote from the 2001 film "A Knight's Tale"  in which the character Geoffrey Chaucer says, "To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in life except the impulse to simply soldier on."

Okay, perhaps it wasn't quite that extreme, but the task was daunting and discouraging for three people who were (or so they thought) in decent physical condition.  Kim, Ricky and I made an important realization that hiking and backpacking is a completely different animal from our typical training and running activities.

Once we reached the top, the trail leveled out in terms of elevation, but we quickly learned what the authors of those articles and books I had read meant by Rocksylvania.  The trail, when we looked ahead, seemed to be an endless footpath of jagged, ankle twisting rocks and boulders.  One misplaced step or wearing inadequate footwear and you could be in serious trouble...We continued north for an additional 1.25 miles learning how to follow the white blazes, and occasionally slipping on some ice and snow that had not yet melted from the trail.

Though we had to pay close attention to where we stepped, we were thoroughly enjoying one another's company.  There's something about being outside in the crisp air of the woods that rejuvenates the soul.  Perhaps it's the respite from the busyness of the world and the awareness of the vastness of God's creation that is so appealing.

We reached a dirt service road to a power company, and as it was getting to be late in the afternoon, we decided it would be best to turn around and begin our 2 mile walk back to the car.  We did not want to have to descend the mountain in poor light conditions.  When we began our descent, we each turned to one-another and said, "We climbed up that this afternoon?"  It looked quite different to us from the top!  We carefully descended the mountain and arrived back at the car, thrilled that our first excursion into the woods had gone so well.  We were hardly off the trail before we began talking about our next training hike.  The discouraging climb that began our hike, while not forgotten, had been conquered.  We knew that we could do it and we are confident that the more we train and prepare, the easier it will become to ascend and descend the mountains.

As I've been writing tonight, I've been listening to a recording of the handbell piece that I played this past Sunday, called Appassionata--meaning deeply emotional or impassioned.  As I've allowed the music to carry me like waves carrying a ship on the sea, I'm reminded of the passion that is the driving force behind this hike... the passion that God has given me to reach out on behalf of two beautiful little boys, their family, and the 250 children in the world, who like them, are fighting for their futures. As I train, I am reminded that my passion is not my own but comes from God, who has called me.  When I become discouraged, I need only look to Him for perseverance and strength to carry on.  As the Psalmist says in Psalm 121:

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

100 Days

First, I'd like to wish PRF a happy birthday!  This month marks 15 years of groundbreaking research towards finding a cure for Progeria!  

Today marks 100 days until I embark on the Hike4Hope journey down the Appalachian Trail in honor of Nathan, Bennett and the 250 other children worldwide who have Progeria!!  Over the next 100 days there is much planning to be done in addition to training.  I am very excited for what lies ahead, but being a novice to hiking and backpacking, I'd be lying if I said that there's a part of me that wasn't extremely nervous as well. I've found though, that I have a sense of peace even amid the anxiety, because I know that God, who placed this calling on my heart, has gone before me, walks beside me and guards behind me.  

I've been reading a book for my small group called The Hole in our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision US, and would like to share some of my thoughts from what I've read.  A prayer that I've adapted for this Lenten season from the book is this:

I am often blind to the injustice and sins of omission that I commit.  Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, to see the world as you see it.  Let my heart be broken by the things that break Your heart.  Give me the ability to see through our culture and to lead your people with your vision, instead of with the world's.

"Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God"

What a sobering thought, to have our hearts broken by things that break God's own heart.  As I think about what sorts of things break the heart of God, I'm drawn to the thought of children who will never grow up.  At first my thoughts linger on those children living in extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East who die every day of preventable diseases.  I think about the AIDS orphans that Richard writes about- children who are forced to raise their younger siblings because their parents have died.  But then, I am drawn to think about another group entirely... What about those children like Nathan and Bennett who have Progeria? Would such a disease that claims the lives of children so young not also break the heart of God, the way that it breaks my own?  What if there was a way to bring about a change?  A way to bring hope to the hopeless, to bind up the brokenhearted, to bring justice to the oppressed... to the "least of these" in our world?  On a global scale, it is unlikely that an individual person could ever take on such issues and make a measurable impact.  But what if instead of looking at the problems on a global scale, we could look at just one or two people at a time, see their potential in the midst of their plight and allow ourselves to be used by God to impact their lives?  Imagine the change that could happen on a global scale if we each opened ourselves to the people whom God has called us to serve.  Each of us has been endowed with certain gifts and abilities for the purpose of bringing about God's Kingdom here on earth.  Imagine what would happen if we used those gifts and abilities the way that God wants us to use them: to love "the least of these." We could change the world in very real and practical ways.

The question for me and for all of us is will we?

John Ortberg writes, "they'll never be able to catch our love until we are close enough to catch their hurt." To allow God to use us, often removes us from our comfortable states. It means asking for our hearts to be broken by the things that break God's heart and a willingness to step outside of our comfort zones at the Spirit's call.  It means embracing the hardships of the ones that we walk with and serve. We have the means to be the difference that this world needs all we lack is the will and the way.

In the 100 days ahead may we all pray for our hearts to be broken by the things that break the heart of God, and may we allow ourselves to be used by Him to expand His Kingdom here on earth.

Shoveling: An exercise in mental toughness

With as snowy a winter as we've had, it has been difficult to get out and train the way that I would like to, but one positive that has come from the snow is that it has provided a different type of training environment.  No, I'm not able to climb mountains and descend into valleys, but the snow has provided plenty of challenge.  I have a very large driveway so when it snows, it can be quite a feat to clear the driveway.  Last week's 12" snowfall was particularly challenging because not only was I going to be clearing my driveway, but two others as well.

By the time that I reached my third and final driveway, my muscles were aching from the snow shoveled earlier in the day and I was feeling quite tired.  But I saw this final driveway not only as an opportunity to help out a dear friend, but also as an exercise in mental toughness.  As I began to shovel my way towards the street, I said to myself, "there will be days this summer when I want to quit.  There will be days when the weather is dismal. There will be days when I'm sore and won't want to push myself on-wards towards my goal.  But I've got to find a way to do it.  I've got to persevere."  So I chose to pursue a different outlook on that third and final driveway of the day.  The conditions were worsening -- snow had changed over to rain weighing it down considerably, but I said to myself, "use this as a training ground for perseverance!"  One shovel-full at a time, I thought about my friend and visualized the distance to the end growing shorter.  Somehow the shoveling felt as though it became easier the more that I did this.

I made an important realization in shoveling that day.  Taking my focus off of myself and placing it instead on another provides all the strength and encouragement that I need in order to persevere.  Seeking the benefit of another purely for the purpose of their benefit brings with it a joy that makes anything possible.  It is the joy that Christ speaks of in John 15 when he commands his disciples to love one another.  It is also the joy that Paul speaks of in Philippians 2 where he exhorts believers to  be like-minded, having the same love, and being one in spirit as our Lord. It is the joy of a loving Father towards his beloved child and the joy of the child, who is the object of the Father's love for no other reason than the Father's delight in loving his child.  There is nothing that we can ever do to make the Father love us any more; there is nothing that we have ever done or could ever do that could make him love us any less.  In that, there is great blessing, great strength, and the greatest joy, "Such love has he given us that we should be called children of God" - 1 John 3:1

To live in that joy provides all the strength and perseverance that we could ever need.  It is the truth of that joy that will bring me though those days in life when giving in seems more appealing than soldiering on.

Sam's Philosophy for a Happy Life

Check out this video of Sam Berns from Ted x Mid Atlantic 2013

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours!!  At this time of year, I'm always reminded of the many blessings that I have been given.  When I take the time to think about it, I am in absolute awe of how God has provided and continues to provide.  Amid the hustle and bustle of the season, it's so good to remember how blessed we are and to think about those with whom we may be able to share our blessings.

I know it has been a while since my last post, but believe me when I tell you that things have certainly not been stagnant.  The past few weeks, I've spent quite a bit of time planning for the hike by making and editing equipment lists, looking over maps and talking with a couple of experienced hikers.  I have now nailed down the route that I'll be taking this summer.  I've decided to backpack the entire portion of the trail in Pennsylvania beginning at the Delaware Water Gap, hiking to the Maryland state boarder and doubling-back about 20 miles to the Michaux Forrest or Pine Grove Furnace State Park to the west of Gettysburg in order to complete the 250 mile goal that I have set.  I've also started collecting equipment and supplies that I'm going to need along the journey.  Unfortunately, my schedule and the early snow has forced me to move inside to train for the time being.  I'm hoping to get outside again in the next couple of days since it is going to be a bit warmer.

Thank you for reading!  May God richly bless you this Christmastide and in the coming year!

Training Update: Weeks 2-4

Week two was a little lax.  My schedule made it a bit difficult to get out and complete a lot of physical training, but I busied myself working on equipment lists and working on writing out a training schedule to keep me on top of things.  I've pretty much decided on the route that I'm going to take, I just have to finish calculating total distance.  I've also begun reaching out to my coworkers, talking about Progeria, the promising research being done, and of course Nathan and Bennett.

This week its full speed ahead!  My goals for the next two weeks are to increase my distance on flat ground to 10-12 miles/day and possibly add some weight to begin acclimating my body to carrying the weight of a pack.  I'm going to try to take advantage of the mild weather for as long as I can and hope to get a day hike in before the temperatures turn too cold and wet.  I'll also be increasing the intensity and duration of my strength training and core training programs; adding more transverse plane movements to my lifts and more balance and stability exercises to my core components.  

I'm really looking forward to the next few weeks (and months for that matter)!!  A big Thank You to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and encouragement!  I know there will be many days ahead when I will rely on them to lift my spirits when I'm feeling tired and discouraged.

Training: Week 1

Training has commenced!  I began on Monday morning with a 4 mile walk to begin breaking in my boots.  2 miles in, I developed some minor blisters, so I decided to stop after 4 miles, take care of the blisters and try to get out again after work.  I managed to get 2 miles in while at work, but could't go out afterwards because of darkness.  Today was much better.  I got a couple of miles in while I was searching the grounds for my work issued phone that has mysteriously vanished, and then got 3 more in after work.  I'm not up to that 10-15/day mark yet, but I'm definitely making progress and the boots are not irritating my feet too much anymore.  Tomorrow, I'm going to push it a bit and try to get 8 miles in, in the morning.

HIKE4HOPE: The Beginning of an Exciting Adventure

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog! I'd like to tell you a little bit about HIKE4HOPE and what has led me to start writing this blog.

A little over a week ago, I had the privilege of attending a retreat with a wonderful group of women from the First Presbyterian Church of Ambler. Our theme for the weekend was "Journey Forward in Faith," and over the weekend we learned about the journeys of many women in the Bible. We also learned about each other's faith journeys, and prayed for God to use us in the lives of others as we continue on our journeys. Before leaving on Sunday, Anne stood and stirred all of our spirits as she spoke to us about Phyllis' two little boys, Nathan and Bennett, who have Mandibulolacral Dysplasia Type B, a type of Progeria.

Progeria is a premature aging disorder that results in many of the typical symptoms of aging and ultimately results in a shortened lifespan. Although they are usually born looking healthy, most children with Progeria begin to display many characteristics of Progeria within the first year of life. Nathan and Bennett are extremely small for their age and suffer from a significant lack of subcutaneous fat, wormian bones in their skull, clubbed fingers, acroosteolysis (reabsorption of the finger tips), stiff joints, muscle weakness, hair loss, developmental delays and delayed teeth eruption. As children get older, they suffer from osteoporosis, generalized atherosclerosis, cardiovascular (heart) disease and stroke. For children with classic Progeria, the average lifespan is 13 years. Because Mandibuloacral Dysplasia Type B is so rare, the life expectancy of Nathan and Bennett is unknown. World-wide, there are approximately 250 children who have Progeria, and as Anne reminded and prodded us on that Sunday morning, two of them are part of our church family!

As we returned home eager to allow God to use us, many people contributed financially to the Progeria Research Foundation (PRF).  In addition emails began circulating about other ways that we might be able to support Phyllis, Mark, Libby, Nathan and Bennett.  It was out of this eagerness to serve and be used by God that this idea of HIKE4HOPE was born.

As I thought and prayed over what was said at the retreat, I felt a calling to not only raise funds for PRF but also to DO something that would increase awareness about Progeria and honor those children and families who are affected by it.  We so often take for granted that we can do things such as walk, run, and participate in competitive or leisurely athletic activities for extended periods of time.  Children with Progeria are unable to do such activities for long periods of time.  In response, I have pledged to hike one mile on the Appalachian Trail for every child who has Progeria.  These children may not be able to walk or hike one mile but I can, and I can carry them with me in my thoughts and prayers as I go.

Over the next several months I will be fundraising for PRF with a goal of at least $25,000, and will be engaging in activities to help raise awareness about Progeria. Then from around June 20th through mid to late July, I will complete a 250 mile Hiking/backpacking trek on the Appalachian Trail.

I chose to title the event HIKE4HOPE, based upon Jeremiah 29:11, which says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you;  plans to give you Hope and a future.'"  A cure is out there somewhere... it just hasn't been found yet.  Join me on this adventure and together we'll help Nathan and Bennett to have a future filled with hope!

I want to invite you to join me in this HIKE4HOPE, and there are many ways in which you can do that.

• Visit my fundraising site and donate online to PRF.  Click here: HIKE4HOPE Fundraising Site
• Send a check payable to Progeria Research Foundation, to: HIKE4HOPE, PO Box 641, Flourtown, PA 19031
• Ask your employer about matching contributions.  
• Join me for a leg of the hike
• Join me for the entire hike 
• Help to raise awareness about Progeria in your local community and workplace
• Pray for HIKE4HOPE, for Nathan, Bennett & Family, and for researchers to find a cure for Progeria
• Check this blog periodically to see what's happening
• Visit Nathan & Bennett's website:  Fighting for their Future
• There may be other ways to get involved.  Please share your ideas and stay tuned for more information.