A Deer Sighting & Solitude

   In 1980 I entered the Shenandoah National Park on the Appalachian Trail. Ah, what a beautiful place! The climb up was fairly steep, but the park is mostly on a long ridge. That means not much hiking up and down! I was able to make some really good progress as far as miles hiked. It was fairly easy.
   One night I camped by the trail in a grassy area. In the wee hours of the morning I woke to see a deer just a few feet away. It was an incredible sight to see that beautiful animal in the middle of his natural habitat. He was unaware of me for a while and I watched quietly. Eventually he noticed me and went "on the alert". He bounded off into the woods to safety and solitude.
   Solitude. I had lots of that on the Appalachian Trail. Sure, I saw a lot of other hikers and enjoyed seeing lots of people in trail towns. But I had long stretches of time to walk and to think and to pray. There is something healing about spending time in solitude. We don't really get much of it in our hectic lives. It gives you perspective on life. It also gives you time to wrestle with thoughts and plans and ideas. Life doesn't have to be complicated. That deer had a very simple life. We can live simply too, and enjoy the journey!
   Here in 2011 I continue trying to lose weight. This morning I weighed in at 179.0 pounds. That's a little more than yesterday, but there is a reason. Last night I ran in the "Midnight Run for Missions" 5K race. My time was 32:12 which was 19 seconds longer than my time last Saturday in the other 5K. They had a massage therapist onsite and I had my calf muscles massaged. They are somewhat sore today, but not too bad. I'm probably retaining fluid because of my sore muscles, in the long run I ought to be back down in weight. Tomorrow is my last day as Pastor of Southern Crescent Baptist Church. We will have a covered dish meal and I'm sure that I will eat too much. But next week I am going to redouble me efforts to get rid of some of this weight! I'm already wearing pants that I haven't been able to fit in for a couple of years! I'm still enjoying the journey and hope to have a little bit of solitude today!