For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14 (NIV)
It was October, my eighteenth section hike, and I was in the deep south; Tennessee. It had rained most of the night and even though I wiped my tent down, I knew it would be soaked through when I unpacked it later. No worries for now though as I would have the option of sleeping at the Roan High Knob Shelter at the end of my day.
Most of the day was foggy and gloomy, but the Lord opened the spigot as I started up Roan Mountain. He must have gotten pretty busy after that as He never came back to turn it off. The wind about that time must have thought we were having too much fun without it so it decided to join us. Now we all enjoyed a cold, foggy, gusty, wet, muddy day together. I think I was at the bottom of the fun scale though. ☹
Roan High Knob Shelter is the highest on the Appalachian Trail, (AT) at 6,285’. So the higher I got, the colder and windier it got. Three times I fell to the ground to pay homage to the Tennessee rocks and mud. I couldn’t wait to get to the shelter, which by the way, was one of the few all enclosed shelters! This was a perfect day to enjoy that blessing! 😊
It seemed the ascent to the shelter took forever, but in the dark at 7:30 pm I arrived.
When I tried to open the door it seemed to be locked. After struggling with it for a bit I gave up and resigned myself to pitch my soaked tent. I figured the shelter must be closed for repairs or something.
As I was turning to leave the door opened a crack and a headlamp peaked out. The girl said that she and her girlfriend were in the shelter and asked me what I wanted. I stated the obvious and that I would be gone early in the morning if that wouldn’t be a problem. She didn’t say it would be a problem, instead said that I would be tenting outside then. So, rather than educate her on trail ethics, I said, “Yep, I guess so.” The door closed.
It’s really nasty out and I can’t help imagining how nice it must be inside the shelter.
I have a hard time trying to find a good place to pitch my tent. There are enough flat places around, but they are shallow lakes as well.
After considerable searching, I found a decent place on a bit of a grade with only a few shallow davits of water at the bottom.
I soon discover that I have only solved half of my problem though as the wind blows my tent every which way as I do my best to stake it down. I finally set my pack in the middle of it and that gets the job done.
After finally getting the tent up, I climb in and wipe it down before setting my gear out. Now it’s only wet, not soaked.
I climb out shortly thereafter to eat a fast, cold meal as I don’t want to take the time to cook anything in this weather. I must also admit that I didn’t hang my best bear/food bag of the year that night.
Finally, at 9:30 pm, I’m turning my head lamp off. The wind is shaking and rattling my tent as it drives the rain into it like bullets. But for now, all is well.
Granted, we should be able to count on one another, especially in our times of greatest need. And 99 chances out of 100, your fellow AT’ers would give you the shirt off their back if you really needed it. But alas, for one reason or another, some admissible, some not, we sometimes are left to fend for ourselves as best we can.
So how do we handle this and not give into the anger, bitterness, hurt, fear, vengeance, envy, etc., that rises within us? How do we not allow these situations to ruin our day, week or even our hike?
One is to recognize the truth God states in Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV), “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” We can’t stop history from repeating itself. Being let down by others is sadly and simply a fact of life. All we can do is give it only the time it deserves, which is not much.
Another thing we need to do is turn away from negative emotions and temptations in order to keep our eye on the goal. Understandably it is going to be a little more difficult at the moment than it needed to be, but it is still doable.
We have many biblical examples of individuals following this process.
Joseph’s brothers, family, people anyone should be able to count on sold him to slave traders.
- Genesis 37:28 – Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
Daniel’s fellow colleagues even set him up for failure!
- Daniel 6:15–16a – Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.” So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions…
Paul’s fellow believers left him out to dry when he needed their encouragement and testimony at his trial.
- 2 Timothy 4:16 – At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.
Even Jesus’ closest disciples left him when he needed them prior to His trial and crucifixion.
- Matthew 26:56b – …Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.
The common thread that ties all these individuals together is that they all kept their eye on the goal and accomplished it despite the process being more difficult than it needed to be because of others.
It is inevitable that our hiking colleagues, companions, and tramily will let us down from time to time. There are hundreds of reasons why this happens. Not all are malicious or selfish. Some are more acceptable than others, while some are not acceptable at all. Regardless, we need to tell ourselves, “Move on.”
There is one more thing that we would do well to remember, and that’s the many times we have let others down. It’s not just something that happens to us, it’s something that we do to others at times and for various reasons.Maybe if we tried to be a little more proactive in helping others, we would be a little less likely to let them down in times of need. Occasionally we could pay for someone’s snack, meal or even hostel stay. We could offer to fill their water bottle when we need to fill ours. If they are struggling some day we could offer to carry something in their pack for them until camp. There are all kinds of things we could do. The point is, the more we stay on the offence of assisting one another, the less likely we will be on the defense of avoiding one another.
Faith Aids 