If you’ve been following our blog or Facebook page, you know that we felt led this year to do a Prayer Walk 2020 –20 days of focused prayer while hiking.  Our hike began September 2 on Vermont’s Long Trail, a rigorous path, and has since taken us to more moderate trails in various parts of the Green Mountain state.

As we enjoy the beauty of God’s creation, we have a wonderful opportunity to pray and worship our Lord.  Sometimes our prayers are free-flowing and easy; other times jagged and uncertain.  That has nothing to do with the Lord, rather our own frailty.  Thankfully God is always near and sufficiently fills us with His Spirit.

Our prayers during Prayer Walk 2020 have covered many topics–our country, our world, the pandemic, protection from wildfires and hurricanes, healing, forgiveness, the lost and suffering, kindness and love for our neighbors, churches–just to name a few.  We’ve prayed for our military after sharing a hike up Mt. Mansfield with soldiers from the Army’s Mountain Division.  We’ve prayed for businesses after seeing far-too-many “Closed” signs on doors.  We’ve prayed for families as they navigate challenges with schooling, finances, and jobs.  While we offer our requests up to heaven, we also learn that God wants us to experience an increased intimacy with Him.

Our hiking over the past ten days has been on the Long Trail, climbing Vermont’s highest peak of Mt. Mansfield; near the waterfront of Lake Champlain in Burlington; on the Appalachian Trail near Killington; and on local trails in the southern part of the state.  We had the pleasure of meeting up with Walkie Talkie, the trail name of a young woman who is thru-hiking the Long Trail.  We met her in 2015 while all hiking the Appalachian Trail and adopted her as our “Trail Daughter”.  Only recently did we discover all of us were hiking in Vermont.  Walkie spent two nights with us while taking a break to heal her blisters and grab some supplies at REI.  We dropped her back off on the Long Trail and wished her well as she continued her hiking journey.

Since we are traveling in a car, we have had the opportunity to sample the local cuisine–lobster roll; Vermonter pizza with apples, bacon, cheddar, and maple syrup; and maple creemees (soft serve ice cream)!  Both the food and the local folks we’ve met have been wonderful!

What we don’t like is the mouse that got in our car and started eating our hiking food.  Chief has set traps but has only managed at this point to feed the rodent more peanut butter!

All in all, we have learned (once again) to be grateful and are reminded how truly blessed we are!

Psalm 9:1  “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”