Dear Friends,

I was pleased to wake up without feeling any soreness from yesterday’s seven-mile march. Today, I knock off ten miles, walking from the southeast side of Des Moines to Pleasant Hill.

This week’s unseasonable heat is problematic. My route is mostly in the hot sun, and the long trek north on SE 14th Street is unpleasant. There’s a sidewalk, but it’s narrow, with very little buffer between it and the street.

I pass only four people on foot or bike along the three-mile stretch. One guy lugs several heavy bags of food and supplies with him. He tells me he’s on his way to the tent he’s pitched down by the river. I later regret that I didn’t offer to help him haul his load.

My overnight stay is with Chuck Hurley. Chuck’s a former lawmaker and a conservative evangelical Christian. We got along well when we served in the legislature, and were occasionally helpful to each other, both in the House and in “real life.”

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Chuck and his wife, Chris, share a modest home with all kinds of family and friends. Every Tuesday, they host a potluck dinner followed by a Bible study.

Over dinner, I reconnect with four people from my past: two who I’d met in 1993 when I joined Firestone strikers on the picket line; one who’d been a guest on my program to discuss building raised garden beds; and a former neighbor who remembers being in my home and admiring our chicken coop.

When it’s my turn to cite a Bible verse I share Matthew 7:16. “You will know them by their fruits.”

I say that, to me, Trump is a deeply immoral man as evidenced by his actions (i.e., fruits). Name calling. Rampant infidelity. Racist and sexist remarks and actions. Policies that seem designed to hurt certain people.

I praise Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, for forgiving the man who murdered her husband. I contrast that with what Trump said next: “I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them.”

Chuck concedes that Trump lacks moral integrity, but believes even an immoral person can be used by God to do good things. Chuck’s most pressing issue is abortion.

We end the conversation with me leading a song: Magic Penny. The lyrics seem to reach across the political divide:

Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away, you end up having more.
It’s just like a magic penny, hold on tight and you won’t have any.
Lend it spend it and you’ll have so many, they’ll roll all over the floor.

Chuck walks the first few miles with me the next day. I’m grateful for his friendship and hospitality. I sense that some of what I shared at last night’s Bible study resonated with a few of those in attendance. Maybe this incremental planting of seeds — where one “side” learns to appreciate the other — is what will move us forward toward the common goal of saving democracy.

— Ed Fallon