Author Archives: Sherpa

Is Now the Time to Refinance?

We just took advantage of the cheap cost of debt and refinanced our home.  With the economy in a COVID triggered spiral, the federal reserve has taken unprecedented actions to prop up the financial markets, resulting in the lowest mortgage interest … Continue reading

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The People Used by God

Today, after helping distribute free food in low income areas of Conroe, I asked several people a simple question, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Together, our team led 5 people to the correct answer, … Continue reading

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Hiker Finance 101

This was originally posted last summer, but we decided to take it down at that time to focus the blog on our son Judah who went to be with the Lord. We are reposting it now to start a new financial … Continue reading

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Why Visit Israel?

We met in a bomb shelter to say our goodbyes. Only minutes separated us from a knife wielding terrorist who was gunned down a short distance from us. Security checkpoints are too numerous to count. Armed security is required even … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 9: Jerusalem (part 3)

Summary: Today we visited the courtyard of the former and future Jewish temples, roamed the Jewish quarter of the old city, went to the upper room where Jesus celebratee Passover with his disciples shortly before His crucifixion, and stopped at … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 8: Jerusalem (part 2)

Summary: We started on the mount of olives, walked down to the garden of Gethsemane, narrowly avoided a terrorist attack, toured the pools of Bethesda, walked the Via Dolorosa to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, and then passed through … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 7: Jerusalem (part 1)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 6: The Negev and Foothills

Summary: Today we climbed out of the Jordan Rift Valley, first visiting Beer Sheva in the Negev, next stopping in Lachish, a city that guarded one of the main ascents up to Jerusalem from the West, and Azekah in the … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 5: Masada and the Dead Sea

Summary: Today we spent the morning visiting Masada and had an afternoon to rest and relax at our hotel in the Dead Sea. Masada: Today we took a cable car up from the Dead Sea to a desert fortress called … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 4: Traversing the Jordan Rift

Summary: Today we left the Galilee in the North and headed South thru the Jordan Rift Valley. We went to a traditional baptism spot on the Jordan along the way, stopped at qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 3: Biblical Sites in Northwestern Israel

Today we headed to Caesarea Maratima, Mt Carmel overlooking the Jezreel Valley, ate lunch at a Druze restaurant, and then went to the city of Meggido (think Armageddon from Revelation 16). Caesarea Maratima: We started out by heading West from … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 2: Biblical Sites in Northeastern Israel

Summary: Today we left the Sea of Galilee and headed North for about an hour to get to Hazor, Dan, Caesarea Phillipi, and Mt Bental. The region has two elevations. The lower part is called the Hulah Basin, the valley … Continue reading

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Tour Bus Day 1: The Sea of Galilee

Today we joined a bus tour to see some sites. As opposed to the footpath we just travelled where it was all about experiencing the journey, the rest of our trip will be the shotgun approach to seeing a country, … Continue reading

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Hiking Day 5: (3.3 mi, 5.3km) Arbel to Magdala and The Miracle of Shiloh

This morning, Alon met up with us and gave us a ride to Arbel so that we could finish the section of the hike that we missed due to rain. Such a kind host, he did not have to do … Continue reading

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Hiking Day 4 (10.2 mi, 16.4km) Tabgha to Capernaum

Today we joined the company of Abraham (Gen 19:27), Moses (Ex 34:4), David (Psalm 5:3), and Jesus (Mark 1:35) by waking early enough to spend time with the Lord early in the morning. We started with a sunrise over the … Continue reading

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Hiking Day 3: (6.3mi, 10.2km) Magdala to Tabgha

It rained all of last night, forcing closure of the descent down the Arbel cliffs. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the guest house and then rode the taxi along with our bags down to Magdala where we picked the … Continue reading

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Hiking Day 2: (11.2mi, 18 km) Ilaniya to Arbel

We woke up with the sun at 6:30 AM but didn’t crawl out of bed until almost 8Am. Surprisingly, legs were a bit soar even though we only walked 10 miles. Thankfully, like yesterday, today is mostly downhill as we … Continue reading

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Hiking Day 1: (10.6 mi, 17 km) Nazareth to Ilaniya

Today is “Tu B’Shevat “ in Israel, literally the “new year of the trees.” In religious society, it was the date used for calculating the beginning of the agricultural cycle for the purpose of tithes. In secular Israel, it has … Continue reading

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Continent Hopping with a Toddler

The hitched hikers have set out again to wander the earth. This time, instead of traveling to the ends of the earth, we are headed for the center of it, and we are bringing our toddler, “Cheerio”, with. Our travels … Continue reading

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And he shall be Called Wonderful

Our son, Judah Chase Kerr, was born at 3:26PM on August 12th, 2019 weighing 2 lbs 5 oz. He is a beautiful boy, wonderfully made, knit together lovingly by the Father above. Judah never breathed his first breath. He went … Continue reading

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For unto us a child is born…

Rob and I are expecting! Praise God! We are looking forward to welcoming a second baby Kerr into the world this September.  Sadly, our doctors have told us that our child will not live.  Even so, we believe that every child is a … Continue reading

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Costa Rica

Day 6- San Jose to Houston (3 Mar 2019) This morning, we took the hotel shuttle bus to the airport, quickly cleared the airline queue (Thankyou A list on Southwest!), customs, security, and were immediately surrounded by gift shops. We … Continue reading

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Easter Island

Day 6- Santiago rest day (25 Feb 2019): So it may not sound glorious, but after traveling for a month, we are running out of “less dirty” clothes. We headed to the nearest laundry facility today, which happened to be … Continue reading

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Hiking the “O” Circuit in Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile with an 8 Month Old Baby

Day 8 (18 Feb 2019): 18.8 km- Central to Bass de las Torres lookout (i.e. the towers) and back to Puerto Natales 8:48AM Today we complete the O circuit. Baby just wasn’t in the mood for sleep last night, which … Continue reading

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Argentina

Sunday, 2/10/19 – El Chalten to Puerto Natales Glamping! Yup. Indescribable beauty. Check. The wind and rain of the last few days were replaced by beautiful blue skies and crisp air. Wow. El Chalten is beautiful when it is not … Continue reading

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Brazil

Wednesday, 2/7/19 – São Paulo, day of relaxation at the Airport Porter enjoying a cioccolato latte in the Sau Paulo airport…. After a 7 hour red eye from Panama City, we landed in Sau Paulo. Confession, we don’t actually plan … Continue reading

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Panama

Tuesday, 2/5/19- Goodbye Aruba, Hello Panama City! We grabbed another Dutch Pancake from an old world restaurant in Aruba this morning before heading to the airport. One thing that really impressed us during our time on the island was the … Continue reading

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Aruba

Sunday, 2/3/19 – From Miami to Aruba This morning we disembarked our cruise ship, enjoyed a nice breakfast with Sherpa’s parents, said our farewell’s and hopped on a plane to Aruba! Why fly to another island after geting off an … Continue reading

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Cruising (Part 2)

St Kitts (Wednesday, 1/30/19) Today we took a tour of St Kitts that we had arranged ahead of the trip via recommendations from trip advisor. We booked directly with a local operator ensuring our tour dollars made it into the … Continue reading

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8 Months Old Today!

Happy birthday Shiloh Hope! It has been exactly 8 months since you joined us on this grand adventure called life! You are so blessed and you don’t even know it. You have never lacked food. You have always had a … Continue reading

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Cruising (Part 1)

Day at Sea- Sunday 1/27 A sea day doesn’t sound all that exciting at first, but we enjoyed a leisurely day exploring the boat. Here are some helpful tips if you have never taken a cruise: bring towel clips to … Continue reading

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To the ends of the earth!

Today we said goodbye to Texas for some long awaited time off! First stop is a cruise out of Miami with Sherpa’s parents. Since our last blog post, a lot has happened. Most excitingly, we welcomed a little hitch hiker … Continue reading

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Restoration and Reconciliation

What do you do when someone hurts you?  Is your first response anger?  Maybe you try to avoid the person?  Unfortunately, a big part of the human experience is pain caused by people.  And the ones we love are the … Continue reading

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The Next Hike

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,  Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens, Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,  And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance. … Continue reading

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This World is Not My Home

This World is not my home, I’m only passing through.  My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue.  – An Old Gospel Song It is now day 5 of Hurricane Harvey, a catastrophe which started when it made landfall … Continue reading

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