Thompson's Blog

So I set out for a long journey today. I intended to go 88 miles. Being very methodical, I intended to take a break every 15 miles and spend no more than 20 minutes at each break. Well that came to an end during my second break when I stepped out in the street to take a picture of the beautiful United Methodist Church in Greensboro, GA. A car stopped and the people inside were curious about my picture-taking.They were members of that church and when they heard I was a UM minister riding a bicycle from Arkansas they suggested we go talk to the editor of the newspaper, The Herald Journal. They interviewed me and took my picture and we had a lovely time! Of course then I had to go have a piece of pie.

All that took a little more than 20 minutes, but worth every minute!

All of this happened because of The United Methodist Church. It has always been a place of hospitality for me, and I’m grateful to be a part of that world-wide community. We have our problems, but we are largely made up good hearted people. I felt totally embraced by Wayne and Carol, and they sent me off with a prayer.

Later, feeling the wind at my back and the terrain getting gentler I discovered an opportunity to get to the Atlantic a day sooner, I changed my route. Instead of going to the state park that was a bit out of my way I decided to head for Augusta, GA., but it was too much. I had gone 97 miles (my longest day yet), but I was 15 miles short of where I needed to be and It was about to get dark. I was considering putting my thumb out at a convenience store, but it was about that time that I saw a sign advertising the local United Methodist church. I decided to make that the destination of my first effort to solicit help. And it worked! I’m too tired to explain the details, but it was certainly serendipitous. Rev. Mike Shearon gave me a ride in his truck to my hotel room. I told him he had certainly saved a soul that day! He also sent me off with a prayer.

The United Methodist Church doesn’t have all the good people in it — but it has it’s share! It’s a family I’m happy to belong to. We are currently tangled up over the issue of human sexuality in an unfortunate manner. I hope we will lay that to rest before too long (by dropping the hurtful language toward non-straight people) so we can get on with what we do best — which is to share the love of Christ so kindly. I’ve had a good helping of that today and it’s beautiful stuff!