T-minus 48 hours

Tomorrow we leave for Georgia!!! My grandparents will be taking us down there in their tour bus sized RV, and we will be hitting the trail on Monday. This past week has flown by! We've moved out of our first apartment, packed all our belongings for six months of storage, payed final bills, shuffled around savings, and generally enjoyed each other's company. Lately (since the new year), I've come to view my wife as more of my partner. She's always been my best-friend, but our relationship is growing into a stage of partnership. Yes, I will always be her husband and she my wife, but it has become something so much greater :)

We are so appreciative of all the well wishes we have received. Monday night we had a goodbye party for my brother-in-law who is now a Marine and going onto another training school. Thursday night we got to have dinner with Ryan and Mindy Redfeairen--truly an extraordinary couple full of love and zeal for the Lord. Then tonight, we had dinner with my whole family. Tomorrow we'll have a nice farewell breakfast with the family and be on the road by 7 A.M. Our packs are packed and everything is set to go. My pack weighs in at 29lbs fully stocked with 4 days of food and my water bottle filled. I'd like it to be closer to 26lbs, but I think I'll manage. Dawn's pack tips the scales around 27lbs fully packed and with 34 ounces of waters as well.

God has been so good in providing for all aspects of this trip. At this point it's time to put our hands to the plow and not look back. I find myself lately focusing on the simplicity of Jesus ministry, and I can't help but gravitate to that in a world that makes life so complicated, life as a Christian, when cut down to its simplest form, is all about loving one another with the love God shows us and being doers of the will of God. You might say, "Jeremy, there's no way I can know the will of God!" But we absolutely can. Don't over complicate it. Jesus said it best in Matthew 22:39, to "Love God and to love your neighbor." If you have no other starting point at discerning the will of God for your life start with loving Him, and being a conduit to others of the same love he showed us.  

If anybody has any questions about our trip that we can answer please feel free to leave them in the comment section and we'll do our best to answer them. Or send me or Dawn an email to: jerqin@gmail.com or dkuehn0517@gmail.com

No Fear Here!!

This past weekend Dawn and I took our first multi-night backpacking trip.  We backpacked for 4-days and 37-miles over mostly ice and snow covered Ozark Mountains on the Buffalo River.  I must say that it went great!  We recently changed up most of our gear, and it netted us a combined pack weight reduction of almost 7 pounds.  This trip Dawn felt much more comfortable in her new Osprey pack (last time her old pack gave her bruises on both shoulders).  My new Granite Gear pack was awesome, and I've even managed to grow my fullest beard to date in my 23.9 years of being.

This trip for me was a jog down memory lane.  I've trekked the trail we did a good half-dozen times in years gone by.  It was even the sight of my first backpacking trip when my Dad first took me.  During this trip I kept singing a song I heard in the movie O' Brother Where Art Thou.  It goes "In the highways, and in the hedges I'll be working for my Lord."  I find myself praying a lot while I hike, just spending some quality time with The Lord.  Jesus wasn't lying when he said he would not leave us as orphans but that he would send us peace, and the Holy Spirit as a comforter.  On our car ride home Dawn and I were talking about our experience and we both remarked how vulnerable it feels when we go to sleep.  Everything from wild boars, black bears, bobcats, and coyotes run around at night.  I know that most of them are very skittish, but none the less going to sleep in the dark with only a thin peace of polyurethane between us and the outside isn't the most secure feeling.  That was when I found myself praying the most.  Am I afraid of the dark?  Not in the least, but the mind always tries to play tricks.  Do not be paralyzed by fear, take hold of the promise of peace in Gods' Word and do not let go.  God is faithful to watch over his children, and He is most definitely faithful to perform what he spoke in his word.

All that to say this.  I've come to the conclusion that no matter what we are doing, if it's worth doing there will be challenges.  Fear will come at you and anxiety will try and have its' way with your mind, but God did not give us these feelings.

I'm so excited to go hike the A.T. with my beautiful wife.  She has become the best camping partner, and has been very diligent to learn everything she can.  She was also very forgiving of how I smelled after 4 days of hiking and no shower; it is something she will have to get used to on the A.T.  Here are a couple pics from this weeks hiking adventure.

Awesome fire on the last night

Our very cozy Nemo tent

Ice covered steps

At the very end of our trip.