As the saying goes “No Pain- No Rain -No Maine”. Last night there was talk of rain and this time, the forecasters were spot on. It started raining around dinner time as everyone was out talking about the day, the plans for tomorrow and life on the trail. I headed to my tent and it proceeded to rain all night and pretty much all day!

Spring in Georgia

So I’m starting to get a sense of what this trail is gonna be. The fact is it’s Springtime in Georgia. The East Coast has weather like no other. In California, where I reside, we get a sprinkle of winter and spring in a few weeks, but nothing like this!

The fact is, I’ve had a couple of marvelously sunny days where I was thinking, hmmm this ain’t so bad. But today, arg, it was cold, wet, and soggy. I was once again, the first one out on the trail this morning. No one was in a hurry to get wet and cold.

Tiptoeing Through Puddles

I hit the trail around 7:30am and passed by a few hikers who were still bundled up in their tents. My new friend Emily, now named “Sunshine” was the first to pass me. She was flying down the trail like a Ninja, all in black and walking right through the puddles.

I, on the other hand, was tip toeing around, wanting to make sure I didn’t submerge my non-waterproof trail runners in a pool of muck! But that failed miserably and I gave in to the soaking of my feet and toes. Instead of Gortex, I typically go for plastic bags over my socks and then place my feet in my shoes. It wards off the trench foot for a short period of time. Then I just pray that the sun will shine again and the puddles will disappear. Oh such nativity I have.

My friends “The Ravens” are Triple Crowners. They have hiked all three long distant hikes in the US with their two kids. As I was preparing for this journey, I talked with them and they shared such insight. One thing that stuck was that the year they hiked the AT, 44% of their days on the trail were rain! I’m thinking like a drizzle, a quick moving shower but they informed me, no it rained all day. Dang, that’s a lot of rainy days! So far I’m batting 25% which is tolerable as long as it’s not two or three days in a row, please.

Solitude & God

Needless to say, today was a solitude day. No one was stopping for lunch. In fact I only saw “Sunshine” for a quick moment, one guy who was contemplating if he really wanted to continue hiking, and three day hikers heading southbound. I was in my thoughts, in my head, and trying to tap into what God is trying to teach me right now?

When you have all this time, and if you truly want to dive deeper in your relationship with the Lord, it takes being quiet. I can fill my mind with meaningless thoughts. What will I eat when I get to town? Where will I stay? I need a shower and my clothes stink already! But God wants me just to be with him. He needs my undivided attention, my mind, body and spirit to be tapped into what he wants to show me.

Today as I was walking, there were these small creatures, snails, slugs, worms that were exposed with all the rain. There were birds jumping from branch to branch and squirrels darting across the trail in front of me. Not one of God’s creations seemed phased by the torrential downpour that occurred earlier or the continuous rain that was overhead. They were still doing what needed to be done.

As I was hiking today, I knew that God wanted me to keep walking. He has plans for us and right now, he is just starting to weed my mind clear of clutter. All he wants is for me to trust the process, no matter how damp or wet it gets, how muddy I become, it is all part of preparing me for what’s ahead. So like the creatures of this world, truly all I need to do right now, is listen to his counsel.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with my eye on you. Psalm 32:8