On Mar 25, 2015, at 8:22 AM This story deserves to be told standing alone, so impactful was it for my new friend and for me. I hope that you will share this story with others who pray. For me, it was a “Pilgrims Progress” experience. I met a man on the side of Camp Creek Bald, resting against the mountainside and leaning on a long hand-whittled walking stick. As I climbed up the slope, he called out a greeting, then added “You can’t be too proud on this mountain!” I will long remember that greeting, sage words that sparked…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 – #4
On Mar 26, 2015, at 6:48 AM Thank you all for your heart-warming and inspirational responses to “The Story of Einstein” in yesterday’s log. Please continue to pray for my new friend and that new believer. This trail log is for Tuesday, March 24th. I rose before the others in the Jerry Cabin shelter, disturbed as we had been by “Good Knight’s” noisy arrival just a few hours earlier. He was gracious, though, and rose at 6 with the rest of us. It’s very hard to eat and pack noiselessly in the dark. I said goodbye to my new trail…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 #5 – The Story of the Fence
On Mar 26, 2015, at 7:30 AM Last night, half of me slept in Tennessee and the other half snoozed in North Carolina. A silver marker, delineating the state line, protruded from the ground at the head of my tent. The border ran down the middle of my body, and I think I can say that I definitely slept better on my North Carolina side than on my Tennessee side. The marker is part of a ridge top boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina that I have followed for over thirty miles during the past three days. Winding along the…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 #6
On Mar 26, 2015, at 1:37 PM This log is for yesterday Wednesday, March 25th. Cellular service is spotty and I send these updates when I can! I rose later than usual, very tired from yesterday and the fast 19 miles (plus some unknown wandering miles in the woods when I got turned around). It was probably more than 20 miles overall. The camp spot on a ridge next to the spring was beautiful… but a strong east wind howled all night, and the forest was a symphony of creaking and groaning trees. The wind blew so hard all morning…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 #7
On Mar 27, 2015, at 9:00 AM This trail log is for Thursday, March 26th. My day began in the silent rhododendron glade of Spivey Gap. The night brought rain and the morning brought clear skies. As I packed my camp, “Dow” and “K2” came walking through headed for Erwin, TN, and Uncle Johnnie’s Hiker Hostel and Outfitter. The world seemed to be converging on that place. I had the same plans. I smelled bad and needed a bath something awful. The morning began with a brief hard climb, always a tough thing to do on a full stomach and…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 #8 – The Story of Uncle Johnnie
On Mar 27, 2015, at 9:32 AM When my family emerged from the woods at Erwin, TN 40 years ago, after 8 days on the trail in need of food, lodging and a good bath, they encountered a town hostile to hikers. They were denied rooms at a local motel despite the flashing “Vacancy” sign, and mostly ignored by motorists when in obvious need of a ride into town. To this day, Erwin, TN has been known in the Boyd family as the one place that represents the antithesis of hospitality. If there was one place in the world you…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log 2015 #9
On Mar 28, 2015, at 1:10 AM Friends, Late this afternoon I learned that my wife’s brother, Bob, has been tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. I have, through God’s grace, been helped out of the wilderness and will meet my sister-in-law in NC to handle arrangements in a few hours. There are important trail stories left to tell but for now I need to be there for Tina and for all of my wife’s family. Please be in prayer for Bob’s wife, Tina Murphy, driving all night from Georgia to join me in Robbinsville, NC, near the Smoky Mountains;…
Austin’s Appalachian Trail Log #10: Creator or Coincidence?
On Mar 30, 2015, at 4:08 PM Dear friends I returned from NC last night with Tina Murphy, my sister-in-law, after a 12-hour convoy from the mountains to bring her husband’s body and his wrecked motorcycle home. This will be my last “email blast” post. ___________________ Friday dawned cold and wet at Uncle Johnnie’s Hiker Hostel. It rained all night and the temperature plummeted that morning, shooing many of my new friends back into their sleeping bags. I was determined to hike, despite the wet and cold. I had packed for both. I set out into the backside of the…
Just Because We Can . . . Should We?
It is theoretically possible, using modern genetic processes, to create a mouse that carries the gene for human testes or ovaries. While possible in theory, some say possible in practice, the question is, does it make sense? It is theoretically possible, with two mice, each carrying the genetic code of a human being in their modified reproductive organs, to suction the gametes from each mouse and create a “test tube” human being, just as we bring ova and sperm together today through in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Therefore, it’s not a far stretch to propose that mice with these modified…
You Can’t Undo A Harm
“Exploitation of women.” The word conjures up many images, none of them good. Cashing in on women, unfair treatment, abuse or oppression. When I write about women selling their bodies, most readers immediately jump to conclusions about prostitution, or the sex slave trade of young girls trafficked out of central Europe and Asia. Yet few people consider the other trafficking, the exploitation that takes place on college campuses and in third world countries every day. Women selling their eggs for cash, lured by promises of “generous compensation,” a greedy wolf wrapped in the “sheep’s clothing” of altruism. Egg donation. It’s…