One of my mountain climbing heroes is a man by the name of Bill Burke. Bill is a two-time Everest Summiter. He has also summited the tallest mountain on every continent! Bill has so much respect in the mountaineering community that he had an unclimbed mountain named after him in the country of Nepal - “Burke Khang”. The mountain has since been summited — Bill organized an expedition, and during that expedition some of the climbing team was able to tag the summit. You can read more about his record-setting adventures at his excellent website eightsummits.com.
At this stage in Bill‘s life, he has more or less retired from serious mountaineering up into death zones, and instead has taken on other equally challenging adventures, such as floating in a canoe down the 2,300 miles of the Mississippi river back in 2019. He is currently floating the Missouri river, again over 2000 miles. He did have to take a brief hiatus from that, as his house in California suffered extensive water damage from the rains and floods they had a few weeks ago. I think, however, the greatest compliment I could give Bill is that not only is he an excellent mountaineer, but he’s a man who loves God!
The reason I am bringing up Bill Burke is that Bill was my inspiration for walking the Camino de Santiago. A little over a year ago, Bill was doing exactly what I am doing now! As I read his blogs and saw his pictures, something resonated within me.
I commented to my wife, “Honey, the church has been offering me a sabbatical for quite a few years now, and it just hasn’t been the right season. But I think the time is now! The church is in the middle of a good growth spurt and we have some strong leaders. But instead of going to Branson and spending every day for 6 weeks at Silver Dollar City (those of you who know me will realize that is something so far from what I might do 😆), I would like to do something that will stretch me physically, mentally, and spiritually, such as the Camino de Santiago.”
So I began my research! A few weeks into this idea, I had one of those thoughts that I didn’t figure would go anywhere. But I went to Bill Burke’s website and got his email address. I thought, “I’m going to write Bill and ask him some personal questions about his experience on the Camino.” I didn’t figure he would respond back — he’s big time; I’m a nobody. If I did get a response, I figured it would be an automated reply like, “Thanks for contacting us, but all of your questions can be answered at our website.” You know how things work today!
But I drafted my letter. I told him who I was and what I did, and that I’d had a little bit of mountaineering experience, even though it was nothing like his. I asked for some information about his trip. I pressed send, again, not expecting a reply. But would you believe within just a few hours, Bill personally wrote me an email. Thus began an email and texting relationship that continues until now — he texted me some encouraging words yesterday!
In that first exchange, I said, “Bill, you see my adventure resumé; based on that, do you think I might be able to actually walk the Camino Santiago?”
His answer was, “Absolutely you can!” He also said, “I’ve still got my guidebook that I used on the Camino, and I’ll just send you my book because I won’t need it anymore.” He printed out his equipment and clothing list and itinerary and sent that along with the book.
The reason I bring that up is I want to make it clear that Bill, even though he didn’t know me, and I didn’t know him, was my inspiration for this trip. (Bill, by the way, is also following my blog and gave me permission to use his name.) Without Bill Burke, I’m not sure I would be walking the Camino right now.
That got me to thinking about the power of inspiration. Whereas Bill was the inspiration for my walking the Camino, my dad was my inspiration to go into the ministry. As I saw my dad live his life with so much joy and integrity, I wanted to walk in his footsteps.
A man by the name of Lyle Parker was the inspiration for my playing the trumpet. I was just a little boy and this Parker guy sounded like the angel Gabriel — I mean, if I could sound half that good I would be so happy. He took me under his wing and taught me how to hold a trumpet and gave me a few lessons — it sounded rough to begin with (in fact it still does) but he was my inspiration. He is also following this blog, cheering me on as recently as a text this morning.
I think of a 95-year-old lady in our church named Luella. She inspires me to stay young! I want to be like her when I grow up. From what I understand she is following this blog with great interest. I love that lady — she is such an inspiration to me! Again, don’t ever underestimate the power of inspiration!
On the other hand, there can be the power of negative inspiration. How many people have we heard say, “Well, I got to hanging with the wrong crowd and as a result, I picked up some bad habits, or addictions, or some patterns that I wish I could get rid of.” That was the power of inspiration, but it was negative inspiration.
So my prayer on the Camino today was, “God, help me to inspire some people today to do some things beyond themselves.”
The question we should all ask each other is, “What kind of inspiration are we?” Are we inspiring people to be good and honest and have integrity and high character? Or are we inspiring people to criticize, gossip and complain? Don’t forget that more than likely you will be the inspiration for someone today. Just make sure it is the right type of inspiration!
Let me briefly talk about the trail today. Today was pretty much the story of the last 3 days: a trail that went beside a road and took us through agricultural areas where a few crops were still on the fields. I saw several high-speed trains that went zooming by, much faster and more comfortable than my mode of travel today.
But there was one event that I absolutely have to mention! This event made my day. In fact, it perhaps made my entire trip. Let me set the stage with the following timeline. I was between 2 to 2.5 hours into my day. I had stopped once to devour a granola bar and enjoy a perfect cup of café con leche. I had talked with some pilgrims from France and Korea. I had taken some pictures of a church steeple with several huge bird nests, and had stopped to take some other pictures as well. Understand that there were several timing variables in my walk up to this point.
Note the bird nests
So here is what happened. In the moments when the darkness was starting to be penetrated by the rising sun, I came across another one of the dozens (if not hundreds) of crosses I have seen on the Camino. This is a religious pilgrimage in a Catholic country — of course you will see crosses! And actually it is refreshing — rather than seeing signs for political candidates, I’ll take a cross any day!
But this cross was nothing really picture-worthy — that is until I turned around. I was walking west and turned around and faced east. The sight froze me in my tracks! Five hours later as I write this, I still get chills, and the tears are trying to leak out of my eyes! My poor vocabulary is unable to describe the stunning view that was in front of me. I quickly tried to take some pictures, but my ability in photography is amateur level at best. I wish my friend Dale from the church would’ve been here to capture this moment — he’s the best I’ve seen at this! I snapped a few pics that I will include, but as you look at the pics, understand they do not fully convey what I saw!
God’s perfect timing
What I saw wasn’t just the splendor of nature - it was so much more than that! Because what froze me in my tracks was the incredible scene that was symbolic of our hope for eternity! What I saw was the cross I mentioned (that in itself was less than impressive), still somewhat shrouded in darkness. But behind the cross, in stunning color, was the sun that represented the Son who rose from the dead! And yes, that was another one of those God moments!
l couldn’t help but think about our God, who is a Master Planner, who orchestrated every step with me this morning! Two minutes earlier or two minutes later, the scene would have been nice, but it wouldn’t have been perfect! With all those timing variables, God orchestrated the approximately 6 to 8 miles I walked that morning to schedule my arrival at that exact location at that exact moment to capture this scene beyond description!
So, pilgrim, if God did this for me, just know that God, the Master Planner, is scheduling your steps according to His will! Just keep walking your Camino and God will show up!
I love nighttime scenes in villages
Uh oh. Now what do I do?
A place for pilgrims to fill our water bottles
My home for the night. 15 roomies!
Approximate total miles: 560
Approximate miles walked today: 17
Approximate miles remaining: 278 (To Finisterre)