Today I went to the mountains with Zach. He's an outdoor guy. Zach climbs mountains all over the world, and used to work at one of the local outfitters here. He goes to Oxford now, the one in England, and while he was home on a visit he wanted to get together and hike to a place he'd not been to before. So I immediately thought of Charlie's Bunion on the AT. The thing about a hike with a friend is that it calls for the "windshield time" driving to the mountains and that's where good conversation took place. I haven't seen Zach in a year and it gave us time to catch up, even ease into talking about things that matter about living life. We hiked the 4 miles in an hour and a half, talking about life here and in grad school at Oxford and stopped to have lunch and take in the Bunion. It's a beautiful place, one of the first hikes I ever made 10 years ago when I started and one I love introducing people to. It's good to have a place like that, where the beauty is so great you just want to share it. Of course most things of value require a price and for me right now, with my aches, sore muscles are the price. There's time too though. You have to make the space in your day for beauty. We climbed out on the outcropping a little way to eat while some ladies threatened to call our mothers and tell on us for being crazy. It really wasn't that dangerous or crazy, but I can see how it might appear that way. I think there's a lesson there for the way to live everyday too. If you're trying to live in a way that isn't just about self, isn't just about playing it safe, I guess there will always be folks that think you're peculiar.
As we hiked down we passed the ladies again and one remarked that she didn't know how people could deny the Lord at work when you could see what we'd just seen. I agree.
