This was a whirl wind of a week for me. Our home has been a lodge for two teams of 6 to 8 guests from North Carolina and Alabama and they were there 'back to back'. It has been wonderful hearing the Southern accents again. It is like music! LOL!
This particular morning I started out from the house with the song,... "Lord, I'm amazed by you..."! As I walked along... those little irritants that I call 'traveling painers' went from my ankle up to my knee to my hip and seemed to move over into the other leg and sometimes my shoulder. I know better than to give in to it, by just stopping and giving it too much attention. So I just 'walk it off!' Like the football coach used to say when you felt those little pains during practice. You just pushed through it! Then there was the heat and uncomfortableness of your feet pounding the ground hour after hour, mile after mile. It seems that blisters just want to be a part of everything you do! I can tell you, I pay more close attention to these blisters than I do the other things. Without my feet... 'I ain't goin' no where!' They are probably the most important parts of this whole 'shindig' for me! So physically and spiritually, "Feet" are where it's at! So if feet are the happening thing, then walking is the mode of transition for me in this event. Without my feet it would be really hard to do any walking. So I pay attention to them.
Also the Bible has gotten my attention about 'walking' since that is the basic function of feet! You can use them for other things like kicking people but you don't get very far in life that way! There are phrases that I like to meditate on... like "walk with the Lord"... . These are phrases that older Christians used to employ to ask how you were doing with Jesus or just in life. They would say... "how's your walk...?" And you would respond that you were either 'on the straight and narrow' or 'on the path' or something like that. But there was an understanding that 'feet' and 'walking' and traveling was a proper metaphor for how life was going.
That is one reason why this whole event for me is so intriguing! It deals with real life, like 'on the ground' real life! Like, life that people lived for thousands of years ago, up until the advent of the Automobile and powered flight, which I thoroughly enjoy! I think for "Trey's Trek", I am going to learn a whole bunch of lessons just because I know Jesus and I know that He loves teaching and helping me understand what His world is really all about and how it functions and how it should function as He is the King of Kings and the Lord of all Lords!
So for me to "walk with the Lord" is to interact with Him! "He walks with me and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own... and the joy we share while we tarry there, none other, has ever known..." That old song is right on target with this subject and event!
So this is the day that I reached a target distance of over 15 miles. It was a personal mile stone for me since I pushed past 14 miles the day before yesterday, which I had never done before up until that time... during one walk.
But it was this day, that I got the news that my friend Johnny Cook passed away! In fact a text from the night before had come through but I had not noticed it. I actually got the message about Johnny after sitting down on a pick nick table at Nankin Mills when I reached my destination. I was waiting on Becky to come and pick me up. I had not noticed that my phone's red indication light was blinking when I picked up the phone . Just two hours earlier Johnny has passed while I was making my way up Hines Drive. It was my friend Rick from Opelika who called while he was with Johnny as he was slipping away. It was his voice that delivered the news!
So I immediately called Rick back! It was there at Mid day after Jonny had left this world. It was a couple of hours earlier that I got the news on my Black Berry but missed it. To say the least, I was stunned! It was like being hit in the stomach! It hurt! One of my first thoughts was... who is going to fill the ranks? Who is going to stand in his place and fill in the gap that was left at his passing! Johnny was unique! He was a former Football player at Sanford University in Birmingham, a former Auburn University Wrestler under legendary Coach "Swede" Umbach! He was a former Army Ranger who served in Vietnam! He was a linguist who was trained in Arabic by the US Army and understood the culture like no other white man I knew! He lived in North Africa for several years and literally laid down his life so others could come to life and prosper! He was one of the first coaches that One on One Wrestling here in Dearborn had access to when we began competing back in the mid 1990's! He knew Jesus and my heart cried because we need more people like Johnny among us, who are brave and willing to sacrifice their lives for The Kingdom! Johnny took a back seat to no one but was a servant of all! He will be greatly missed! But my question still remains! Who will fill the gap that he vacated? Who has the guts to stand in his place and make up the ranks?
Rick did say that they turned Johnny up on his side right at the end because Johnny, himself being a wrestler, in general, don't like being on his back... especially at the end of a match!!!
I thought to myself as I sat there and waited on Becky to come as my eyes were stinging from the salt and sweat... 'Johnny's Shadow!' Man was it long! Those that stood in his shadow and took their instruction from him about LIFE was a winner, in life, no matter what they did! This was the day of Johnny's home going! He will be missed! I miss him! He was my brother!
I was tired! Baked by the sun and my heart sad! My feet hurt and my energy was drained! But tomorrow would be another day to push on toward my next goal of walking 20 miles! But for now, I must rest and regain my strength. I will be back and I will push farther! I will win! Jesus is Lord!
With my feet on the Ground!
Simply Trey
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