Lost Theologian

"Maybe we should just wait here."  My dad and I had just finished our small weekend hike of twenty-something miles on the Appalachian trail between West Virginia and Maryland. What we had expected to be a two day trip through about 26 miles or mountain ridge hiking ended up being a one say trip with some time to spare. So we stayed at our destination to take a break, then later doubled back some 5 miles to find a nice place to set up camp before it got dark, only to return to our destination in the morning. We stood around for some time weighing out the pros and cons of waiting. We had arranged for one of the locals nicknamed "Strings" to take us back to Harper's Ferry for a small fee. But we were way ahead of schedule, and Strings wasn't answering his phone this morning. To be honest, I was against the idea of waiting around and hoping Strings would pick up the phone, but I suppose my Dad has a lot more confidence in people named "Strings".

I've been hooked on this idea for some time now. My folks and friends all say I'm going to wind up dead. When I share it with people they look at me like I'm crazy. And frankly, maybe they're all right, but I don't think I am going to let that stop me this time. What I've been dreaming about doing for the last year or so is to pack my bag, hit the road, and hitchhike out of the southwest suburbs of Chicago and make my way over to Oregon. I'm pretty set on doing this. I spent the last Summer working hard, earning money and buying up some gear that I'll likely need along the way, and probably in May of 2014 I'll make my way over to the on-ramp of some highway and stick out this thumb of mine and wait. It really doesn't matter if I make it to Oregon or not. I love Oregon, in fact I'm infatuated with the idea of having West Coast beaches and  mountains in the same place. I'm in love with the Painted Hills, I want to see Crater Lake,

I've been reading a book lately called "The Me I Want to Be" by John Ortberg. Honestly, I'm not even sure how I came across the book. If I'm not mistaken, someone on Google Plus mentioned free books in the Google Play store, and recommended this book in particular. Free just so happens to be my favorite flavor, so how could I pass up the opportunity? Simply put, I couldn't pass it up. But I digress, in this book, Ortberg recalls a story of when his son was three years old. One particular day his son was consumed with a desire to pour his own glass of milk. Knowing full well that small child + gallon of milk = disaster, Ortberg's wife tells him "no". But the three year old persists, how could a mother deny such determination? Ortberg describes how the child's small hands clench the large gallon carton of milk, and milk comes gushing forth. By some miracle, every last drop falls into the glass. This cup is filled to the brim, but the child had