LightGrams
September 10, 2026
Volume 30, Number 32
Last month, Dale Sanders completed hiking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. The AT is 2,193 miles long, so that accomplishment is impressive. One website states that about 1 in every 4 who attempt to hike the entire trail in one year meet their goal; in 2025, those who finished their hike from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine numbered 1,198.
So why take note of Dale Sanders, one of several thousand who have met the criteria for being a “through-hiker” of the AT? Sanders, whose trail name is Grey Beard, reclaimed his old record of being the oldest person to reach the summit. Sanders is now 91 years old; he first set the record when he was 82.
What impresses me most about Sanders’ recent record is that along the way he fell 71 times. Six of those he described as hard falls; one of them led to a brief hospitalization, and the last occurred just 200 yards from the finish line. Each time, Grey Beard got back up and kept walking. After finishing, he commented in the Associated Press story, “I had to thank God, and I had to thank my support team and everybody that got me here.”
The Bible frequently uses the image of walking to describe a lifestyle. One noteworthy greybeard was Enoch. Genesis 5:24 states, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him,” implying that Enoch is one of only two humans who did not experience physical death (Elijah is the other). Enoch’s righteous life was emphasized two verses earlier when there it also said that “Enoch walked with God.” His age at the time of his death was 365 years – truly a greybeard!
Did Enoch fall along his long trek through life? The Bible doesn’t say, but it’s safe to assume that he, like all of us, stumbled at times. The important thing to learn is that even if Enoch took a hard fall, he obviously arose and got back on the trail. That’s why God “took him”.
Falling is a human experience. Learning to walk is a challenge for all young children and it involves in every case a fair amount of falling. That doesn’t change as we grow older, though our method of falling may. Ecclesiastes 4:9,10 gives advice for those who fall: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”
The best “support team” for people who fall is the church our Lord established. Hebrews 3:13 points to this truth: “But exhort one another every day … that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” My spiritual family will come to my side when I fall and help me get back on my feet. They are committed to walking with me all the way until I complete my trek.
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2026, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “Tim@GraceMine.org” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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