Day 5, Tuesday
April 5, 2005 

Got up and repacked again for the day. Sherri would again ferry the bulk of my stuff for me to help me make the day. We met Dale Foster, the minister at Jersey Village Church of Christ, for breakfast at the IHOP at 6 and 290. I would get a late start today. We still had to drive 5 miles to my starting place and stop to get more supplies to prepare my feet. Our breakfast was a real blessing. He prayed for us and our work, I prayed for him and the work of his congregation. He told me about the man who would be my next host and the work he does at Prairie View. Today’s schedule was only to take me to Hockley but since I was already 10 miles ahead, I set my sights for Prairie View instead - another twenty miles.

After breakfast, Sherri and I drove up to Spring-Cypress Road and stopped at the Kroger for blister treatment stuff. I fixed my feet as best I could and headed for Prairie View. It was late, nearly 8:30 before I started. I would be walking until 4 or 4:30 today. Today is a lonely day: not much traffic, very few people not in vehicles. There is occasional construction machinery with occasional workers that I wave to or speak to. A couple of times I try to get people stopped at stop signs or traffic lights to roll down their windows and talk to me so I can simply verify my present location. Not a single person responded. I was just ignored. Where they afraid of me? Of my dog? Were they afraid I would ask them for money or something else they were unwilling to give? All I needed was to know where I am.

With the road under construction, there were few signs installed yet at intersections. I pulled up my map during a rest break and took a pretty good guess at where I was - a couple of miles east of Hockley. Turned out to be right as at the next intersection one of the two Hispanic road workers understood enough English to confirm the last road was Roberts.

I’m learning a lot out here. I’m beginning to sense when Walker needs a break. He needs more rest than I do. I can drink water from my platypus while I walk, but he has to stop and lap from a container. I’m learning to be more aware and sensitive to his needs and his pace, even though it is slower than mine. Now that we’re out of the city, I have released him from the leash. He is much happier now. He rarely is more than leash-length away from me, but he knows he can if he wants. Mostly, he follows directly behind me, panting in my footsteps. I would rather have him out front where I can see him, but mostly, he prefers to follow. When he is on the leash, he is very “light on the leash.” By that I mean unless I see him, I usually don’t know he is there. He rarely tugs on the leash. This is very pleasing to me. I wish that I could be “light on the leash” for God - moving in step with the spirit (Galatians 5 and Rubel Shelly), same direction, same purpose, same will - fellowship and unity. Maybe this is the direction I’m headed. Maybe being in step with Walker’s needs is just a way of leading in this direction. Do you ever wonder how much of what God places before you to bless you or bless others you miss because you’re to busy with your own life or too fearful that reaching out may cost you more than you are willing to give? Thank you Jesus that you were “light on the leash,” even when the leash must have seemed to weigh a million pounds.

I had had a good breakfast so at Hockley, we refilled Walker’s water bottles and I got two ice cream sandwiches that I shared with him. We skipped lunch, anticipating that Sherri would be in the area by mid-day on her way to College Station. It was about noon and I was about half way to Prairie View. My host for the night, John Brandon, called to check in. I told him I hoped to reach Prairie View about 4 and that I would call him then so he could come and pick me up. We walked and walked. There was no paved shoulder to the 4 lane highway. The white stripe about a foot off the edge of the pavement was our guide: me in front, Walker in the rear. The easement past the pavement was not mowed and pretty tall. The ground sloped away from the highway enough that walking there was awkward for both of us. We elected to stay on the edge of the pavement. There was not much traffic, and most people out here yielded to us. I try to wave at people when the traffic is not too heavy, especially those that deliberately give us safe distance. Many wave back, especially outside the city, and more men than women. Some see my sign and honk. I accept this as encouragement.

Endorphins, ibuprofen, and blister pads are keeping the pain in my feet manageable. I will soon discover that the consequences of the false sense of well-being, or not-so-bad- being can be serious. Three or four of my toes now are blistered, and I am feeling hot spots between the balls of both feet and my second toe. I stop and tend to these as best I can as they develop. If I stop to long, leg muscles and joints in the feet begin to tighten up, and the endorphins fade away. I like to limit my breaks to five minutes or so right now. Starting up again after a long break can be difficult and painful, but eventually the endorphins (or dolphins, as our youth group used to call them) kick in again.

Passed through Waller and really didn’t encounter anyone not in a vehicle. The railroad tracks are still on my near left and there is little development or activity on the south side of the highway. It’s about 2 PM and it looks like I can hit Prairie View by four. Sherri still hasn’t left Houston, so lunch will be really late today. This is just as well because if I had taken a long break today, I might not have been able to get started again. About two miles out of Waller, I can see some flashing lights of an overhead sign in the distance. I am hoping that this is an indication of Prairie View. I guess the lights to be 1-1/2 to 2 miles away - less than an hour. I could be there by 3:30. My feet don’t hurt much but I sense that it is because of the endorphins. I sense that when I stop I will feel the full force of having covered ninety miles in five days. Perhaps it is a blessing that Sherri is late.

The distance was probably more like 2-1/2 to 3 miles. I didn’t arrive until almost 4 PM and Sherri was waiting with lunch. As I was sitting in the car removing my shoes and socks to allow my feet some relief, a man pulled up beside me and said, “Are you Jeff?” “I am,” I said, “and you must be John Brandon.” He explained that they had arranged for me to stay at the Super 8 Motel about five miles up the road in Hempstead and he had been watching for me. He had seen my wife pick me and was eager to get me squared away at the motel so that I could get some rest. Sherri had planned to drop me off and head on up to College Station, returning the next day to pick me up and take me there also for a speaking engagement followed by a day of rest. On the way to the motel, we decided it made more sense for her to stay with me to save the additional travel.

Mr. Brandon is the preacher at the Prairie View Church of Christ and is also the Campus Minister at Prairie View A&M University. He was having a Bible study on campus at 7 PM that night and we made arrangements to return and attend the study. At the motel I got cleaned up and rested a bit, then we headed back to the university. Mr. Brandon’s study series topic was unity in the church and I found his teaching to be accurate, authoritative, and stimulating. After the study, two of the students, Mr. Brandon, and my wife and I were joined by Mr. Brandon’s wife and daughter for dinner at Denny’s. We talked and visited and had a good time of fellowship together. We made plans to meet Mr. Brandon again early the next day for Breakfast.

John Brandon is a few years older than myself and probably has a few more pounds on than he would like. He also has severe arthritis in both knees that makes it very difficult to get around. As I watched him struggle, it changed my perspective on the condition of my feet (which was not as good as I would have liked, but, I would soon discover, was much worse than I thought). My blisters, although painful and very inconvenient in light of the journey, are temporary. Mr. Brandon’s pain and mobility limitations are more or less permanent and unrelenting. His condition is not temporary and will not get better, only worse (unless he has the knee joints replaced). In light of his struggles, I can thank God for blisters - not simply because I am not debilitated by arthritis - but because through my own pain and mobility challenges, even though temporary, I can begin to empathize and sympathize with a brother, help wherever possible to ease his burden, and have greater appreciation for the prevailing good health and mobility that is my usual state of blessing. What is the old saying, “I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.