Our solo time was over. There were three nights and two full days remaining. What was in store would prove to be for me the most challenging and intense portion of the journey. We were told that we were about a hundred miles from the AIM offices and were not going to be given a ride back. The next morning we were to hike up to the road begin hitchhiking to make our way back. We needed to get ourselves to the offices by 12:30 on Friday the 3rd, and no sooner. We were given no food or money and told we could not ask for anything or give anyone a sob story get food or shelter. The purpose was to trust God and experience his provision.
The sound of this sent me back to the place that I was at on that second day of the trip: “I’m done. This is stupid. I’ve been through enough, my feet hurt, my body is tired, I just want to be home and now I am to hitchhike to get out of here? Nope, and I’m not even sorry.” But as before I didn’t leave. I prayed about it, changed my attitude and did my best to embrace the idea. What happened over the next several days I can confidently say will forever change how I live.
Day 1 (July 1st): Brian (my partner for this little) quest felt the Lord telling him that we need head for 85 North. We were in South Carolina at his point and Gainesville is south not north. And 85 in general is out of the way. I felt the Lord saying not take any sort of direct route. So that morning, I looked at a map for a minute, found how to get to 85 and we hit the road.
After walking for about 6 six miles with no rides or anything we came upon a gas station and we decided to rest of a bit. While there, we struck up a conversation with a nice guy name Jerry. After learning more about us and where we were headed, he proceeded to tell us we were not going the right way and he had a better route. We heard him out and it did look good. He even said that it would take us by his house and he had a nice garden that we could help ourselves to. Brain and I thanked him and decided to wait till we hit the intersection before choosing to go one way or another.
About a mile down the road we hit the intersection. There was a convenient store at the corner, we sat on the bench and began to pray. It wasn’t long before God revealed my motives to me. I only wanted to go the way Jerry described for the ease and because it involved food, but it was not the way God had told us to go; Brian felt the same. Not long after this was talked about, the owner of the shop comes out and starts talking with us. Through the course of the conversation we learn that it’s Ricky’s birthday and after wishing him a happy birthday he wants to buy us a drink to celebrate, which we were willing to receive. What started as just a soda quickly became a bottle of Cheerwine, Gatorade, two packages of donuts, and 2 bags of boiled peanuts (my first experience with boiled peanuts, strangely delicious) all on Ricky. We could not believe the blessing!
But God wasn’t done, oh on he wasn’t. As we sat on the bench enjoying the peanuts and Cheerwine, Jerry drives up. Yes Jerry from the other gas station. He holds out a bag out the window of his car. The bag contained three home grown tomatoes, squash (sliced and seasoned), cheese, a can of beef stew, utensils, matches, salt and pepper. He threw together a complete meal for us and thought of everything right down to the salt and pepper! Are you kidding me!!
Here’s the thing: God kind of likes it when we are obedient, even when it doesn’t make much sense to our flesh. And when we obey he honors it. It wasn’t until we decided to stay the course he originally called us to they that the blessings poured in.
Ricky is one of the nicest, most generous people I’ve ever met. As we hung out with him (and some of his friends) we were given more snacks, several packs of gum, $21, and offered just about everything else in the store!
We ended our time there by praying for him and we made our way across the street to visit with a friend of his we had met that wanted to hear more about what our journey. Chris runs a nice fruit and vegetable stand with his wife and two young daughters. Chris and his wife were very excited about what we were doing, especially the upcoming Kingdom Journeys trip to Asia. God gave us such beautiful opportunity to minister to them and strengthen their faith. After Brian prayed for the family and I shared some scripture that God put on my heart, Chris’s wife was telling us, through tears, that we had no idea how much of a blessing it was to have us there. Incredible.
And it’s only about 3 o’clock on day one! I am absolutely blown away and in awe of the Lord at this point. Needless to say, we left Chris’ super stoked and shouting praises!
But wait there’s more! No more than a mile later, without thumbing, a guy stops and picks us up! Finally, a ride! DJ, a guy around our age with a real sense of adventure like us, takes about 10 miles or so down to our next highway. After being paid with a Honey Bun we got from Ricky, he drives away a little envious of our hitchhiking adventures.
We are now 20 miles from reaching our goal of making it to Interstate 85 by the end of the day. We begin walking down highway 11 towards the interstate praying for one last ride. After a couple hours it begins to rain. We cover the packs with a sun visor I had found on the side of the road a couple miles back and keep walking. Eventually the water soaked through my shoes I began to get a little discouraged. The rain finally let up as we saw a sign for a church and decided to see if they had a service (something we had talked about doing throughout the day). We made our way to the church and sure enough there was a service, however it was a youth service that was well under way. We talked with a man at the door who told us about a couple campsites where we could post up for the night. He also invited us to use the water fountain and the bathroom. We were heading outside to pray about where the Lord would have us go, the campsite 3 miles away or the one 15 miles away right on 85, and Dave calls us over to tell us that he would take us to the far one (the one we really wanted to get to that night)!
That night I laid in the tent completely blown about by all that had happened. We experiencing the Lord’s provision when we need it as walked in obedience of him. His provision was there right down to the fact that Ricky and Chris gave us $21 which turned out to be the cost of the campsite for that night.
Day 2 (July 2nd): The next morning Brian and I took our time getting out of the campsite and I got to sleep in a little. It was nice to take advantage of some of the amenities available to us at the campsite. We got warm showers for the first in nearly two weeks! We also utilized the air dryers in the bathroom to dry our shoes and other clothes still wet from yesterday’s down pour. And after I bandaged up my feet (I think I was up to six blisters total at this point) we got back on the road.
It didn’t take long before we found ourselves at the on ramp for Interstate 85. We posted up about 50 yards from the ramp for 85 North (still felt God telling us not to go south) and we waited, and waited and waited…and waited some more. About one o’clock we shared the rest of the squash and a tomato for lunch.
Feeling a little discouraged at this point we gathered up our packs and walked back to the few shops just off the interstate to see if we could serve them in any way. The restaurant, firework shop, and small real estate office all turned down help. It looked rain so we decided to take shelter under an abandoned gas station. The weather never cleared up enough for us to feel good about going back out to look for a ride so the rest of day two was spent at the abandoned gas station. I must admit, we looked a little sketchy, like a couple down and out messy vagrants trying to get out of the rain.
At one point an army guy came over to find shelter from the weather and get far enough away from the firework shop to enjoy a cigarette. Brian and I talked with him for about two hours about everything from family to all of our traveling around the world. And well, that was all for day two. After sharing a can of cold beef stew for dinner (courtesy of Jerry), we pitched the tent in the trees behind the gas station and hunkered down for a rainy night.
Day 3 (July 3rd): Everything was wet the next morning from the nights thunder storms. It was a gloomy morning with rain clouds still in the sky. We packed up our gear and made our way to Interstate 85 on ramp; it was the last day and had to be in Gainesville by 12:30. It didn’t take long for the rain to start up again. Thankfully it never turned into a down pour, but after standing there with our thumbs out for an hour and a half it didn’t matter, we got wet. Despite the attempts by myself and Brain to stay positive I was getting frustrated and a little irritated with the state we found ourselves in. How easily I forget the provision of the Lord and revert to thinking in terms of the flesh.
Eventually God blessed us with a ride. A nice guy on his way to Atlanta for the holiday weekend, drove us about 25 miles down 85 where 85 runs into a highway that will take us straight up to Gainesville. After throwing a couple Cliff bars our way and wishing us the best he drove off and we started walking down the highway sticking out a thumb at each passing car. By this point the rain had let up, we had just gotten a ride and that included a little breakfast so I was feeling pretty good.
It was about 10:30am, giving us two hours to go the final 30 or so miles; we got this I was thinking. Well, I guess that was my first problem, thinking that “I” got this. We walked and walked and walked for two whole hours and still no ride. By 12:30 I was not in a happy place and joy from earlier in the day had worn off. I was tired, my feet hurt, I was hungry, the pack seemed to get heavier with each step, and we still had over 20 miles to go; I was at the end of my rope. I dropped the pack and took a seat on the roadside while Brain stood a few yards away trying to thumb a ride. As I sat there I began to pray another honest prayer of desperation to the Lord (there had been of those over last couple miles).
Not long after crashing on the side of the road, a truck, coming from the opposite direction that we were trying to go, pulls up next to me and asks if we needed a ride. I was so spent that I couldn’t even show my excitement that someone had stopped! As I tried to best explain to guy where we were going, I couldn’t help but notice he was not super thrilled about stopping. (Come to find out later on, that it was his daughter, who couldn’t have been more than 6, who told her dad to pick us up after they had seen us a couple times.) Finally, we hop in the bed and Robert starts driving. After a few miles he has us get in the cab with him and his daughter because it was starting to rain. This gave us the opportunity to tell him more about what we were doing and who we were. We also got learn more about him. The conversation that transpired was just great. Robert got so excited for what we were all about and was really encouraged by everything. Among other topics, we talked about faith, the state of our country, and fatherhood. Robert ended up taking us the rest of the way to the AIM offices (which was well out of his way) and I’m will to bet that he would have taken us even further just to continue the conversation.
Once again God held to his promises and he provided what we needed. But, you know what, he provided more than just a ride. (And I am just now, as I write this, coming to understand what was really going on in that moment.) What he was really providing was an opportunity for ministry. It wasn’t that God didn’t want to give us a ride or had forgotten about us that made it take so long. But there was someone specific that was supposed to pick us up. What if Robert needed us just as much as we needed him? Most of the time I am consumed by my own needs and what I think God must give me, like a ride because I can’t walk another step! But if I remain so consumed with me I could really be missing something very crucial; what if I am to be God’s provision for someone else? And the more I reflect on these three days, the more I realize that was really the case with just about every person Brian and I met on our journey.
This is not how I saw this blog ending when I started it, but that’s it I guess.
