Letters to "The Noturnals"

Friends. It's been too long. I apologize for being absent from this blog for so long, but we haven't had Internet in a while :)

Tonight, I want to share with you a note that I wrote for day shift. (day shift is known as the Noturnals, as opposed to the Nocturnals of night shift. Clever? I think yes.) At the end of each shift, someone writes a note that is then read at the beginning of the next shift. I don't know if the other walks do this, but we've done it fairly consistently since the beginning. They range from deep to fun...Stephanie read this one and told me to put it on my blog. And so I am. Voila:
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Dear Day Shift,

I’m guessing that most, if not all of you have experienced this, but I tend to make lots of comparisons while I’m walking. Comparisons that I don’t think I would “normally” make if I weren’t walking across the country. So bear with me for a minute.

We walk for miles on end, up and down hills. Often times, we don’t see the van while we’re walking, but other times, we see it the entire time. Still other times, it comes and goes in and out of view. We strain forward, battling through the elements, through unkind words and sore feet. Our muscles ache, yet still we walk. And in the end, we reach the van and enjoy a well-deserved rest.

Isn’t this so much like our journey towards Heaven? Our life goes on, and we reach towards God. Sometimes, we see glimpses of Him in our lives; we see Him in other people, and we see His hand at work. But it’s rare that we can see Him for a really long time. Sometimes we see an expression of His love shortly, then we lose it. Or we reach towards Him and He seems just out of reach. And yet, we keep trying, because we know that even when we can’t see Him, He is there. There are people who oppose us, who try to get in the way of our faith journey. We’ll go through a time when it’s just so easy to believe in God, like walking downhill, then next thing we know, we’re questioning everything. It’s hard, but we continue forward, we push onward, we journey towards our everlasting reward. Sometimes we don’t know why we continue on. It’s difficult, this journey.

As we continue on our pilgrimage, both towards DC, but more importantly, towards Heaven, let’s remember that it’s only through the support of others that we will get there. We all say every weekend that “we’re all volunteers, and we rely on the generosity of others to make it across the country”. Well, we’re all sinners, and we rely on the support and prayers of our brothers and sisters in Christ to make it to Heaven.

We’re moving past the halfway point of our walk, and it’s easier to get frustrated with each other now that we know each other better. We’re getting beaten down, both in our battle against the world and in our own personal battles. I think we’ve done a good job of this so far, but let’s make it a point to continue to build each other up. To not be afraid to ask for help and prayers.

I love you all as brothers and sisters, and please know that each and every one of you is in my prayers each time I walk.

In Christ,
Allison and Night Shift
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Please keep us in your prayers. That's what helps us do this!