San Martín del Camino to Astorga

Something that I have referred to several times is the stress around finding lodging. As I did my pre-Camino research, all sources said pilgrim peak season was June, July, and August. The number of pilgrims then tapered off in September. But after I’ve gotten here, the talk from the Pilgrims is that September is the new peak season! This seems to be certainly reflected in the struggle to find hostels.

Before I left Missouri, I had booked my first night in the French town of Saint Jean Pied de Port. I was assured that I could then book rooms from there on out. But when I arrived there in that little quaint town, I began trying to book the next night and came up against a brick wall. I did everything I could to find something, with zero success. Thankfully, after a very stressful evening, I was able to find a room 3 miles further than the typical place where pilgrims stay. After crossing the Pyrenees mountains that day, another 3 miles was not something I wanted to do, but I had no choice. And, honestly, for that next week to week-and-a-half, I was so stressed, at times almost panicked, because of the shortage of rooms. Now, God always provided, as I was always able to go to another village and somehow got a room every night, but it wasn’t easy.

There are several ways a person can reserve a room. There are online resources, but I learned that the most common is through the app, ‎”WhatsApp.” In the guide books, as well as the apps that we have on our phones, they generally have a fairly comprehensive list of hostels that you can contact by messaging through WhatsApp, email, or a phone call.

The first week on the Camino, there were two major responses I received. The first was, “Sorry, we’re full. No beds, no rooms.” But what brought more frustration to me was the second response: “It’s first come first served. We have 100 beds available,” (or 50, or whatever they had), “and you just need to come early and get in the queue. When we open, if you’re one of the lucky ones, you get a bed. If not, I’m sorry!”

Well, after the first 10 days or so, I began to get into the rhythm and understand the system, and to learn how much my body could take each day, so I began reserving 2 to 3 nights ahead. But I’ll admit, the first week was filled with stress, just not knowing if I was going to have a place to stay.

All of that led me to think about Joseph and Mary 2,000 years ago. When they were trying to secure a hostel, can you imagine the stress they felt when hostel after hostel said, “I’m sorry, no beds. We’re booked full; there’s no room in the inn!”

I’m sure Joseph had to be panicking! He knew his wife Mary was carrying a full-term baby. That baby was going to be born whether it was in a room, on the street, or in an alley. Can you imagine the panicky feeling Joseph had as he thought and prayed, “God, where can I go for my wife to have the baby?”

Then I was just letting my imagination run a little bit. When Joseph came to the last hostel in town, again the innkeeper said, “Sorry, no room in the inn.”

I can imagine that he, in desperation, said, “Sir, please, could you do something for us? My wife’s going to have the baby — maybe even here in your reception area if you don’t find a place for us!” And, again reading between the lines of scripture, maybe the innkeeper thought for a moment, and said, “I’m sorry to even offer this, but perhaps I could find a little private place for you out there in the stable. Let me go see if I can push the animals to one side, and then maybe I can put up some bales of hay to keep them away from you, and you can at least have a place away from the public.”

You know the account well: the Son of God was born and laid in a manger. And, of course, Joseph didn’t know it at that time, but that was God‘s plan! His plan was for his Son, Jesus, to be born in a place that would signal that He was a God for everyone — not just for the rich, but also for the poor. Not just for the powerful, but also for the weak. Jesus was born in a stable to show that His plan of salvation is for all who believe! Totally amazing!

Church camp should have prepared me for this

Just another note on my lodging - the last 100 km or 60+ miles is considered a very special section of the Camino. Many people who don’t have six weeks to walk the entire Camino come and just do the last 100 km. So the talk among the pilgrims has been that all lodging is already practically booked up. Last evening I felt I should jump on this now, because even though I’m not at the home stretch yet, I’m not too many days away.

So, last evening after finishing my blog and washing my clothes, I spent 2 to 3 hours trying to secure lodging. And God favored me! As of right now, I have the last 11 stages booked to the end of the Camino in Santiago de Compostela. Now, understand that those bookings don’t guarantee anything; some of them just ask for your name, and if a large party comes in, you can be bumped at any time. But at least I have a little peace of mind that I hopefully have lodging until I reach the end of the Camino.

That also, of course, puts me under pressure and I just have to pray that my body doesn’t need a rest day, or worse yet, that I should suffer an injury or sickness. But I will leave that in my Father’s hands. I will deal with lodging later should I end up going on to Finisterre (“end of earth”, where the road ends at the Atlantic Ocean).

That was long, so I’ll try to make this next part short. But I have to tell you about my time on the Camino today! It was awesome! The trail and terrain were the same ole same ole — noise from the highway, far from the peaceful and quiet trail that I prefer, but this might be the new normal, as I get nearer to the end of the pilgrimage.

But the reason my time on the Camino was so incredible this morning is that the moment I stepped out of my hostel into the dark street, God favored me with His incredible presence. I listened to praise and worship music, and there was just something alive within my spirit today — it was good to have Jesus walking the trail with me!

In fact, after about an hour and a half, I came to the first place that offered coffee, and for a first, I really didn’t want to go in there. I didn’t want to interrupt the time that I was having with the Lord! But I felt that my body probably needed a little break, and a cup of coffee never hurts anyway! I guzzled it down as fast as I could without burning my throat, and headed back out to continue my walk with Jesus. And I have to tell you that something extraordinary took place this morning!

You already know that I’ve had a front-row seat to some incredible sunrises. I’m sure you are probably tired of sunrise pictures, but as long as God favors me with a beautiful sunrise, I’m going to take pictures and make you look at them!

But today, something extraordinary took place! When I walked out of my room, there was a big ball in the sky - not the sun, but rather the moon. I don’t know if it was a full moon or not — it was really close if it wasn’t — but it was so bright! Now, I know that the moon itself doesn’t have any qualities that would make it emit light — it’s just a reflection from the sun — but oh, it was so bright. I took pictures of it, and the rays that came from it almost made it look like the sun! It was so phenomenal as I walked toward it, and I loved watching it slowly drop down towards the western horizon.

The moon setting ahead of me in the west

But I have to tell you something else. I turned around! Yeah, you guessed it. The moon was setting on the western horizon, but also at that exact moment the sun was rising on the eastern horizon! I was nearly beside myself! I would snap some pictures of the moon setting and then turn around and snap some pictures of the sun rising. I thought, “God, how can you multitask with such excellence? How can you make the moon set with such elegance, and at the same exact moment cause the sun to rise with such brilliance?!” But, of course, we know that’s what God does! He created the heavens and the Earth, He flung the stars into space, He gives breath to every living being, He causes the tides to swell and fall. God is the ultimate multitasker!

And in those very few moments, when simultaneously the moon was setting and sun was rising, I rejoiced that I was serving such a big God.

Yeah, that was a long post - I’ve got to stop. But today was awesome! Thanks for walking with me!

I like the color of this backpack — I’m just not sure it’s big enough!

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 15

Approximate miles remaining: 237

León to San Martin del Camino

I ended yesterday’s post with some very incriminating information! The hostess at the Hostel León, in the city of León, a city of 130,000 residents, had done a good job of making sure her hostel had every bed filled. The room I was in was no exception — we had six beds, and they were all full. But the incriminating information that I gave you was that she, whether inadvertently or on purpose, had put five women in there with me. Or maybe she actually put me in there with five women!

Four of the women were from South Africa; one was from Hong Kong. They were very kind and friendly. But for a little bit, I thought I was seeing prophecy fulfilled in my life. Because in the Bible, in Isaiah 4:1 it says this: “In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, ‘We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!’” And I thought, here it is — God is using me to fulfill prophecy! But then, I gratefully realized that was not the case!

And before any viral rumors surface, no, the ladies did not take hold of me. But did you wonder what our conversation might have been like last night? Well, even if you did not wonder, let me just tell you. 😂 Our conversation was very interesting. It began with the typical trivial information that we have talked about with pilgrims hundreds of times over the last three weeks. Questions such as: “What’s your name? Where are you from? Where did you walk from today? Where are you going tomorrow?”

All five ladies were actually taking a rest day today, which is fairly common in the city of León. I was the only one who was going to leave in the morning. I hated that, because even though I would try to do so quietly, unavoidably my stirring would awaken them on their rest day. But they were gracious and said that they were pilgrims, and at this point could actually sleep through anything. And I think they did!

After the pleasantries were exchanged, the conversation really got serious. We started talking about the matter of blisters! These poor ladies had experienced firsthand what it was like to have blisters on their feet. One of the ladies even ended up having to go to the clinic.

I have learned a little bit about blister care here over the past three weeks, as information is plastered on the walls of different hostels. I’m not sure that this treatment would be accepted by our medical professionals in our part of the world, but it is here. If a blister has reached a point where it is fluid-filled, they say take a needle and thread, and somehow sanitize it as best as you can - maybe with hand sanitizer. Then put the needle and thread right through that blister. Once the thread is sticking out on both sides of the blister, take the needle off and leave the thread sticking out both sides - up to a day or two - as long as it is necessary. That will allow the blister to drain and will facilitate the healing process. Now again, I don’t know if that would be recommended by your doctor, but it seems to work here.

That’s what the lady was saying the doctor had done at the clinic. But these ladies, without my asking, were excited to show me pictures of their blisters — if you don’t have a strong stomach, you would have probably been down on the floor. It was ugly!

I asked if I could take their pictures, because I was blogging my experience. They got super excited and said, “Are we going to be famous?”

I said, “Don’t hold your breath on that one!”

My South African roommates

I slipped out early this morning and they barely stirred.

Let me tell you about my walk on the Camino today. While I was studying the route last evening, as I always do, I noticed that the official route of the Camino went way north through the city. It was far from a direct route. I understand that pilgrims are a major part of the economy in this area, so they run the trail by hostels and eating establishments and major scenic areas — that makes a lot of financial sense. But when I’m leaving first thing in the morning and know I have a lot of city walking to do, I want the most direct route.

As I studied the city last evening, I came upon a plan that would be perhaps my most aggressive and risk-filled plan yet for a short cut! I have been open with you that some of my shortcuts haven’t always worked out as planned. This particular shortcut would actually take me in the opposite direction of the Camino, because the Camino initially went east before it went north and then west and south, which I thought was ridiculous! The shortcut I envisioned would eventually meet up with the Camino at the western edge of the city of Leon. So I had my plan!

[Editor’s note: This is our artist’s conception of Joe’s shortcut plan.]

Well, when I left the hostel, I had only gone half a block, when some ladies who I would later learn were from South Korea came up to me. With a very heavy accent they said, “Camino?” They were trying to figure out where the Camino was.

I said in Spanish, “Well, the actual Camino is the other direction, but I’m going to go this way and meet up with it later.” But I could see the language barrier completely blocked any form of understanding. They had that blank look on their faces! So I said, “English?” And they lit up and said, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

I began to explain to them how the trail went way around the city and I had a plan to cut off not just two or three blocks, but a whole lot of unnecessary walking. They looked at each other, and I could tell they were a little bit dubious. I just said, “This is what I’m going to do — you do what you want.” And they finally said, “Shortcut?” And I said, “Yes, I hope so.”

So I started walking, and I saw them following me. My pace was a little faster than theirs, so I slowed down because, even though I have felt safe on the Camino, there have been a couple of places in the cities that took me by areas that I felt were a little bit sketchy. On this attempt at a shortcut, I didn’t know what part of the city we would go through and didn’t want them to feel alone in the dark. Every once in a while, I would just stop and let them catch up, and I would show them where we were on my app, and assure them we were headed in the right direction. Well, my idea for the shortcut actually worked this time, and we finally came up to the Camino! I stopped and I showed them on my app; I said, “We’re on the Camino now!” They smiled a huge smile and said, “Thank you, thank you!”

I then went off at my normal pace.

This caused me to think during the rest of my walking today.

By the way, the walk today was not fun! The last several days have been near asphalt roads, but today was the very worst. It was right by a major highway, and truck noise was so loud I finally had to turn off my AirPods because I couldn’t even hear my music. The last two hours, because there were no trees to break the sun, the heat was just brutal.

Noisy Camino

But during the rest of the walk, I kept thinking that those ladies who have never met me trusted me and followed me. Thankfully, I didn’t lead them astray. But that made me realize that all of us in some way have people who follow us. By virtue of my being a pastor, some people trust me enough to follow me. Others of you, because you are a business owner, people trust you and follow you. And it’s funny, but sometimes people have a following because of their good looks. Some people have people follow them because they are the life of the party.

Regardless of who we are or what we do, people follow us.

On this day, on the Camino, when it seemed God gave me an extra measure of joy (perhaps because I felt I had finally turned the corner on this viral respiratory infection and could actually breathe a little bit), I just prayed, “God, don’t let me lead anybody astray!” I hope you will pray the same thing. Remember, there are little eyes that are watching you. There are little ears that are listening to you. But it is not just the little ones. There are adults who will in some way follow us. Let’s make sure we live a life worth following!

Thanks for following me on my walk today!

Oh, by the way - a lady just walked in on me in the bathroom! And I was in the right one this time! (Don’t worry, I was just walking out of the stall.) She was so embarrassed (I understood that!) and said, “Oh, I even just took a shower in here!”😂 So I’m not the only one who struggles with the signage!

¡Buen Camino!

This was the Camino getting out of the city today.

Finally off the asphalt and another glorious sunrise!

Storks love church steeples

Home for tonight

ADDENDUM FOR TODAY FROM FAITH:

As usual, Joe and our girls and I texted throughout the morning today (his evening). He had finished hand washing his dirty clothes and had hung them out to dry. (I think I’m going to have him do our laundry when he gets back!) Then he shared another cool little blessing.

He had just gotten settled in a room with 8 beds when a man arrived who needed an outlet for his CPAP machine. They asked Joe if he would mind switching rooms, because the outlet by the bed they had given Joe was the only one that would work for the machine. Then they upgraded him to this room with 3 beds, and said they would not have anybody else come into this room. So it's basically a private room for the same money. Yay, God! My very light-sleeping husband will hopefully have a good night of rest! (It doesn’t have an outlet, but he had his phone fully charged before bedtime so should be fine.) God loves to favor His kids, even the “old” ones!

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 15

Approximate miles remaining: 252

Mansilla de las Mulas to León

One thing I have to hand to the Spanish people is that they are incredibly creative when it comes to their bathroom signage! Since I know I can trust you with my secrets and I’m confident that you won’t tell a soul, I will admit that at times I have had to study the little pictures and try to figure out which best represents my gender. But then sometimes still not knowing for sure, I will confidently march in through one of the doors; I sure don’t want to act like I don’t know what I am. And of course the chances are pretty good of choosing the right WC — which is what they are called here — you have a 50-50 chance of getting it right!

Well, a couple of days ago, (yeah, some of you are already anticipating the next part of this story), I studied the little pictures and I made my educated guess. But when I went in, the stall was locked and obviously some guy was in there. I waited and waited. Well, finally I could hear things were being wrapped up in there and soon the guy started to come out. But, you guessed it, it wasn’t a guy! My 50-50 chance had landed on the wrong side!

She looked at me, I looked at her. We kindly greeted each other. I should have said Buen Camino, but I was too rattled to think of anything really intelligent to say. But then the dilemma for me was, “What do I do now?”

Well as that old Gospel song says, “I’ve gone too far to turn back now”, I marched right on in! But again, I know you will keep this all in confidence!

It’s bad when I’m losing the race to a snail

The past three days have been fairly heavy; I have averaged a little over 16 miles per day. When I looked at today’s stage and saw it was only a little over 11 miles, I smiled and thought to myself, “Great timing!” — especially since I had to walk into the city of Leon, a city of 130,000 people, which, again, means that including today, coming into the city, and tomorrow as I leave, I will have around three hours walking in the city. That adds extra wear and tear on the ankles, shins, and knees. But I was grateful for a little bit of a shorter day today.

Leon

The city of Leon (means Lion) is a very historic city. Most people take a rest day or two here to explore, but I got here by 10:30 this morning and will do my exploring this afternoon and evening. One of the main attractions is the cathedral of Leon. In fact out of the dozens if not hundreds of cathedrals on the Camino de Santiago, this cathedral is ranked as one of the three most important cathedrals! I have to say that it is impressive! There is no way to completely capture the architectural elegance with pictures.

That causes me to bring up something that has been troubling me throughout this trip, and that is the matter of the decline of the church. Let me try to explain. As I have walked through dozens and dozens of villages and towns on the Camino, the common denominator is that every town has at least one church, and sometimes multiple churches. When I say church, I’m referring to Catholic churches.

Now what I’m about to say is not an indictment against the Catholic Church. I have some Catholic friends who are reading this blog, and want to make it clear that we Protestants are not faring any better. It is said that around 4,500 Protestant churches close their doors every year in the US. But it is concerning that many of the churches that I’ve gone by while walking the Camino are closed. There are others that have their doors open, but only if you pay a fee to get in — it has become more like a museum. We know that at one time the church was a vital part of the community. Even as a person who would not identify as a Catholic, it does sadden me to see the decline of the church. It saddens me to see these historic structures with the doors locked shut.

It also saddens me to see our Protestant churches closed. Once the church ceases to be a life-giving part of the community, then who and what will help set the conscience for that community? As a pastor, it has caused me to pray — and I would ask you to join me in this prayer — “Lord, help our church to stay relevant and alive and make our community a better place!”

Okay, that was heavy! As I began this blog on the lighter side, let me end on the lighter side. There are only 6 beds in my room tonight, which means only 5 roomies! Yay. But here is the kicker! All 5 roomies are women! Yikes. I asked if there was another room available and they said they are totally booked. How do I get myself in such jams? Y’all pray for me! 😂

Buen Camino!

Storks love to nest on steeples. Notice the top of a stork’s head in this photo.

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 11

Approximate remaining miles: 267

Bercianos del Real Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas

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)

Terradillos de los Templarios to Bercianos del Real Camino

Today, I experienced a first on the Camino de Santiago.

I experienced my very first average cup of coffee.

Now, it wasn’t horrible — I’ve made much worse at home — but for the high standards that the Camino baristas have, the coffee was very average. But after walking 8-9 miles, I still enjoyed it, and drank every drop! I graciously thanked the barista and left. Well, wouldn’t you know that no more than a block away, in that same town, beckoning me with a loud voice, was another coffee shop!

You know, sometimes you hear a voice inside your head, and it might mean you need to go in for 96 hours of lockdown. But other times that voice needs to be listened to. And I did listen when the voice said, “Joe, go get another cup of coffee — and do it now!” I never want to ignore voices that might be the voice of the Lord! 😏

I marched in and ordered a café con leche. I thought, “After that average cup of coffee, I deserve to treat myself.” I surveyed all the goodies behind the glass counter. I pointed to the type of goodie I wanted and the barista chose a piece that was big enough to serve half a dozen people! But then to further prove that this stop was of God, the barista grabbed another pastry and put it on the plate as well - that was his treat! Now, ladies and gentleman, that was an excellent stop, with excellent coffee and excellent pastries. It was good to be a pilgrim on the Camino del Santiago!

The bonus coffee, with the bonus-sized pastry, AND the bonus pastry!

Putting that aside, today was a fairly significant day on the Camino. It was not necessarily significant because of the terrain — again the terrain was fairly unremarkable. I did see some fields of corn, whereas over the past couple of weeks I have mainly seen crops of sunflowers.

Most of the trail took me by an asphalt road, which meant traffic and noise. So the trail was okay, but not great. What made the day significant was the town of Sahagún. Now as you pronounce this town in your mind, don’t forget that the “h” is silent, but that is probably a detail that is rather irrelevant for you. This town has some historical relevance — in the 4th century, it found itself in the middle of battles between Muslims and Christians. It changed hands, I believe, five different times.

What makes Sahagún significant for pilgrims today is that this is considered to be the halfway point on the Camino de Santiago. Provided you began your journey in the French town of Saint Jean Pied de Port and you go to Santiago de Compostela, Sahagún is roughly halfway. If you have the extra energy to venture up a hill 200 to 300 yards, there is a church that will give you a certificate indicating that you’re halfway. Frankly, I don’t know why they put the location of something like that so far off the trail — I mean, on a day like today where I am walking 15 miles, it is not super appealing to walk up a hill 200-300 yards, and then walk down the hill 200-300 yards just for someone to give you a piece of paper saying you have reached the halfway point.

Long walk up the hill for a certificate

The pre-Camino rush-rush Joe would not have done it. But as I’m trying to slow down and enjoy the small things, I did take that scenic tour. As I went into the church, the first thing the lady asked for was my credential, or my Pilgrim Passport. She surveyed it to make sure that I had started at the right place and had completed all the correct stages. She then began to fill out my certificate and handed it to me. It was a nice enough certificate!

Officially halfway to Santiago

There was a young German lady there, and I asked her to take my picture showing it off, which she did. Then I returned the favor for her.

Typically certificates don’t mean much to me. The certificates I have received down through life for the few accomplishments I’ve achieved are not on my walls. They are stuffed in a closet or were thrown in the trash long ago. But for today I was proud of this certificate! It represents a tough day of climbing over the Pyrenees mountains. It also represents every muscle in my body angry at me for putting them through the rigor of this pilgrimage. It represents the tough days of dealing with the respiratory infection and fever that has weakened my body. I was pleased!

Now again, this is not the halfway point to Finisterre (the Atlantic Ocean, or “end of the earth”) — if I do indeed continue there, I will need another three days or so to reach that halfway point. But for right now, this was a good accomplishment.

When I started out, my goal was not just to reach the halfway point. My goal was to finish. We’ll see if God gives me strength. I certainly don’t take things for granted. I could still get blisters, I could still twist an ankle, I could still blow out a knee — there are many things that could derail the second half of this pilgrimage. But I still have my eyes on the finish line! If God gives me strength and health, I want to finish!

But on a much deeper and more important level, when it comes to the Camino of life, I also want to finish well! There have been too many people who have started well, but along the way have gotten off track. As I approach what could be the last few stages of my life, I don’t want to get off track - I want to finish well!

In life, I recognize I haven’t done everything right. I’ve had plenty of mess-ups. My dad had a saying that he would quote. When he would mess up, or when someone else would mess up, he would say, “That was goof number 14!” But the problem with me is that goof number 14 took place decades ago. I can’t even count high enough to put a number on my goof-ups now.

But just as I want to finish the Camino de Santiago well, I also want to finish the Camino of life well! The halfway or even 2/3 or 3/4 certificate on my Camino of life that I’m eligible for right now, doesn’t mean a thing! The apostle Paul talked about finishing the course! So as God today challenged me to finish my life well, I pass that challenge on to you. Some of you are in the early stages of your camino of life. Others of you are maybe halfway. Still others of you may be reaching that last stage or two. Stay the course! Keep the faith. Finish well! That is what will give you the crown of righteousness. Thanks for joining me on the Camino today!

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 15

Approximate miles remaining: 295 (to Finisterre- “end of the earth”, the Atlantic Ocean )

Carrión de los Condes to Terradillo de los Templares

As I indicated yesterday, God surprised me with a private room last night! As the lady showed me to my room, there were two single beds, and I was confused and said, “Now will there be somebody else in the other bed?”

She said, “No, this is all yours!”

I thought, “Oh my word - this is absolutely incredible.” It had a private bath as well. I was just stunned at God‘s goodness to me. Now mind you, this was not a Holiday Inn. It wasn’t even on the level of a Super 8 or a Motel 6. But after where I had been staying, this was the Marriott! I felt so pampered! I was the only one in my room which meant I could go to the bathroom whenever I wanted! What a blessing. Thank you, God!

While I’m on the subject of my room, let me try to give you a brief description of the typical hostel. More commonly, it is referred to an Albergue here in Spain, but we know them as hostels. As I arrive in the city or village, the first thing I do is walk up to the door to see what check-in time is. The earliest will be 12:00, but more typically it is 1:00 or 2:00 pm, with one of my hostels actually having a 4:00 pm check-in time. Since I’m an early riser and an early starter, I normally end up having to wait an hour or two before I can even check in. So when I see the check-in time, I get my backpack in the queue.

When the Albergue finally opens, you go in the order of the line of backpacks. The first thing is to present your country passport. They take all the information off your passport, and then you present your Pilgrim Passport. Some of the hostels won’t even let you stay there unless you have that. I got my Pilgrim Passport a couple of months before I left the US. They stamp that just to indicate that you have been there.

Then, they will take you to your shared room, which typically will have anywhere from 8 up to 28 beds in the room. Most of the time they are bunk beds. The upper bunk generally is not tall enough from the lower bunk so that you can sit up straight in the lower bunk — you have to slouch down and be careful when you get out of bed, or you will crack your head open! The bunks are also typically very close together, frequently too close to set your bag between them.

The bunks have a mattress and a pillow, but no sheets and typically no blankets. Sometimes they will give you disposable sheets if there has been a problem with bed bugs, but the first time you turn over in bed, those disposable sheets tear or come off — they are pretty much worthless.

Then, they take you and show you the bathroom. Typically you’ll have 2 to 3 toilets for 18 to 24 pilgrims and about the same amount of showers. In the bathrooms there is toilet paper, but no paper towels or soap. Of course, you provide your own towel, and a wash cloth if you choose. There’s a little bit of privacy with curtains, because it generally is for mixed company, but if you are super modest, you will still freak out! I’ll admit, the first night or two in the hostels, I was a bit in shock — I’m just not used to those types of living quarters. But you get used to it and deal with it. After walking 15 to 17 miles each day, it really doesn’t matter now! As long as you’ve got a bed and a warm shower, it’s all good!

Anyway, back to my private room. This sounds totally crazy, but would you believe, there in the privacy of my room that I was enjoying so much last night, I began to feel guilty! I felt guilty that I was enjoying myself in a private room, while the pilgrims I’ve gotten to know (because we’ve pretty much walked the same stages each day) were in a shared room. And this is totally nuts, but I began missing them! Can you believe that? Yes, I was grateful for this private room, and it allowed me to get the best night of rest I’ve had in the two and a half weeks I’ve been here, but I was missing my fellow pilgrims! These pilgrims, who snore and make all kinds of other noises and smells, were all the family I had on the Camino!

Well, I was trying to sort through that, and it just occurred to me that God created us with a need for community. We were not built to be lone rangers. God created us so that we would need each other. A few days ago on the trail I walked by some anthills. We’ve all seen hundreds of them throughout our lives. The old Joe would have just simply walked right past them. And I did initially, but then I came back to them, and I looked at them and took some pictures. I was thinking, “The ant is an amazing creature.”

In fact, the book of Proverbs says to consider the ant! The context is from the standpoint of their work ethic. God is saying the ant has a work ethic that people need to imitate. And, of course, it’s directed to those who are lazy and don’t want to work. But I think ants should also be considered because of the community they build. If they don’t work together, they can’t build their home or their hill. We need that community too! I know our lives are stressful. Some of us deal with people all day in our jobs — sometimes annoying people who are not fun to be around. And the natural tendency is to withdraw and try to get away from people. But God created us to need each other.

I think that’s why last night, in my welcomed private room, I was missing my pilgrim friends! Because again, on the Camino, these Croatians, these Brazilians, these Australians, these Koreans, and many other people from far-away places — they are my family! They’re all I have here!

Well, briefly, let me talk about my journey today. Part of the trail took me over a Roman road that had been built 2,000 years ago. It had had some gravel placed on it, but it was built by the Romans.

On a road built by the Romans 2,000 years ago

Yesterday I told my family that I was a little bit concerned about today. Since I had developed a fever and the respiratory infection a few days ago, I felt I had lost 5 to 6 miles of fitness per day. Today’s walk was nearly 17 miles. I didn’t know how my body would handle the distance. So I left a little earlier than normal. But I have to say that God was so amazing! The moment I stepped out into the dark street, it was as if God just flooded me with His energy and presence. I walked the trail, singing worship songs and lifting my praises to Him. It was an incredible morning.

Now, I had read in the trail book the night before that today’s walk on the Camino was brutal. This is mainly because for a 17-kilometer stretch, or a little over 10 miles, there was no village nor place to fill your water bottle. So, it said to stock up on water and food, because you’re on your own for that long stretch. But about the halfway point of that stretch, an hour and a half into my walk, I saw something up ahead of me that made my heart skip a beat. Dawn was just beginning to break. But would you believe there was a coffee/snack shop out in the middle of nowhere? Not only had God provided me a private room last night, but He provided a coffee shop just for me 😁 to break up that 10 mile stretch.

I marched up to the counter and said, “I’ll take a café con leche.” There was also a piece of coffee cake that had my name on it, and the lady was so kind that she threw in a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice! I faced the sunrise and enjoyed my coffee and just thanked God for that little — no, actually huge — blessing that He had provided there along the Camino.

As I got up and continued my journey, my heart just rejoiced over God‘s goodness. That 17-km area that the book and app said was so desolate wasn’t actually desolate — it not only had a coffee shop along the way, but God was also walking with me!

But then to top things off, I got to walk with a Brazilian man the last segment of my walk today. We talked about a lot of things, but I then asked him where he was in his spiritual journey? He told me that on the Camino, God had really been stirring within him. And he was taking steps towards Him. I encouraged him to keep on seeking God. It was a good time of sharing with him.

About that time, I came to my hostel and he was continuing on the trail a bit further, so we stopped to say our goodbyes. He hesitated a bit and called me by name. He said, “José, do you mind if I give you a hug?” I hadn’t been hugged since that nun hugged me a few days ago, so I was all in — we embraced! Again, he was part of my Camino family! What an excellent Lord’s day on the Camino de Santiago!

Thanks for taking time to walk it with me!

Look how tall I’ve gotten on the Camino!

Peaceful trail

Approximate total mileage: 560

(To Finisterre - “end of the earth”)

Approximate miles walked today: 17

Approximate miles remaining: 310

Frómista to Carrión de los Condes

Every day on the Camino de Santiago is exciting, right? Wrong. This was one of those days that I would call humdrum or ho-hum or even flat out boring. For almost the entire 12 miles today, the trail was beside a highway, so there was traffic and noise. Not to mention that the terrain was fairly unremarkable. It was a flat agricultural area, with a few fields that still had some sunflowers past their colorful prime, but most of the fields had been harvested!

Sunflowers past their prime

So there was no color variation - pretty much just brown all around. There was no hospital for pilgrims, as I encountered yesterday to inject a little bit of life into the morning. There was no sweet, saintly nun who would pronounce a blessing upon me. There was no incredible “God moment” to share with you, even though I did have plenty of “moments with God”. And even though the sun did rise, the conditions didn’t make for any outstanding photography. To top it all off, there were no coffee shops open for the entire 12 miles today! So it was just one of those days - nothing to really write home about.

We have those kinds of days a lot, don’t we? Days that seem long where we go to work, and then in the evening chase kids around to different activities, and then try to do a bit of yard work or house work only to fall in bed exhausted. And really, that’s the majority of life. It’s only on occasion that you get to celebrate a Super Bowl victory, or go on a cruise, or head out on vacation to an exotic place, or even make that getaway to Branson. Most of our days are just ho-hum, and humdrum, and flat out boring.

So what do we do on those boring days? We just keep doing what we have to do! That is what I did today on this very unremarkable day. I continued to put one foot in front of the other. Even though I am not at my strongest these days, with God’s strength I was still able to cover the approximately 12 miles in a little over 3 1/2 hours. I arrived at my hostel ready to rest my body so I could experience what God has for me tomorrow on the Camino de Santiago.

I really don’t want to focus on this, but I know some of you have been praying for me. After 2 1/2 days of fever, at yesterday’s village, I did find a little clinic. It was interesting that they only saw patients from 9:00-10:00 in the morning and 6:00-8:00 in the evening. So I lined up before 6:00 pm and waited. I did note that other pilgrims were coming in with more serious conditions and injuries. When they opened the doors, the first thing they did was give me a Covid test. Just as Covid is making its rounds again in the US, so is it here in Europe. The test came back negative, so the doctor did an assessment on me. And when she was finished, she basically said that the good news was that it was not terminal, but the bad news was that it was not treatable. 😆 Actually the news was pretty good; she determined that I had a viral respiratory infection (flu!). The bad news was that there would be no antibiotic that would speed up the healing process as there would be if it were a bacterial infection. She said, “You’re going to have to be patient and know that you won’t be at your best on the Camino for a few days.”

I definitely did not feel strong today, but I do think that perhaps I am starting to turn the corner. Hopefully in the next few days, I will be back to full strength again. Thanks for your prayers.

Coming into home for the night

Waiting for a restaurant to open so I can get my meal for today - nothing opens until 7:00 pm! But the view is nice.

Oh, just a little perk - for some reason they gave me a private room at the hostel today. I didn’t argue! The Lord was so gracious to arrange this without my knowledge. (There are actually sheets on the bed and towels in the bathroom!) I’ll sleep better when I am needing rest the most. Thank you, God, for this little unexpected blessing today!

Buen Camino!

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 12

Approximate miles remaining: 327

Castrojeriz to Frómista

One feature of some of the hostels is that they offer what they call a “communal meal.” You have to sign up for this meal whenever you check in, but it is to simulate a meal that you might have with your family back home. Also, it is an opportunity to get to know the people who are staying in the hostel with you. I sometimes sign up, but not always, because a lot of times they don’t serve the meal until 7:30 or 8:00, and I don’t like to try to sleep on a full stomach. But the meal last night was at 6:30, so I signed up for it.

The food generally is good at these meals - last night it was a pasta salad with chicken and chocolate mousse for dessert. To me, the best part of the meal is not so much the food, but the company. There were two tables in the dining room, but at our table was a very interesting mix of nationalities. To my left were two men from Brazil. They didn’t know each other until they met on the Camino, and now they are friends traveling together. Across the table to my left was a lady from Texas. I haven’t met too many Americans on the Camino, but she was taking a six-month leave of absence from her work with one of her goals being to walk the Camino. I did feel sorry for her, as she was really struggling with blisters on her feet. Directly across the table from me was a lady from Denmark. She also had problems with blisters, in fact, she had to take three rest days to give her feet a chance to heal. But now that she was walking again, her ankle was bothering her. So she was really frustrated.

And then to my right across the table was a young lady from Ukraine. Knowing the war that was going on in her country, I had a list of questions I wanted to ask her, but no doubt she was trying to take a few weeks to just forget the heartache that was taking place among her people. This young lady was actually one of the strongest walkers I have met so far on the Camino. Yesterday she walked 25 miles. Plus, when she got to the village, there were the ruins of a castle on top of a hill and she decided to make that climb and explore that. Then today, even though I left before she did, she came by and just blew my doors off! She is fast and strong.

The young lady from Ukraine who can outdo everyone!

Perhaps the life of the party at the table last evening was at my right, what I would’ve considered to be the head of the table. This man was from Australia. I don’t know if you have you seen the movie Crocodile Dundee? This “mate” could’ve been Dundee’s brother. I don’t know how to describe this man, except that he was the description of cool! He was friendly, sensitive, kind, hilarious - truly a fun person to have at the table! An interesting fact this Aussie admitted, and it was actually quite humbling for him - he and his wife both started walking the Camino together a few weeks ago. But she was a stronger walker and ended up walking off and leaving him in the dust. I think she’s two stages ahead of where he is right now! He was kind of chuckling about it; they have a city where they’re going to meet up again.

That conversation last night with these people from different countries just made me think of what it’s going to be like in heaven. The Bible says people from all tribes and languages and nations will gather at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And what a great communal meal it will be!

One of the things that has been so refreshing to me has been the simplicity of life on the Camino. Yes, the lodging has been a little stressful at times, and I’ll probably do a post on that in the coming days. But besides that, there is a simplicity that resonates with me. When I go to prepare my pack in the evening, it’s easy! I make sure I have one granola bar, a package of crackers, and some trail mix. That’s it for the food! Okay, I lied - I make sure that there’s a tiny package of M&Ms in there as well! But besides my rain gear and my water, that’s it! It’s simple - it takes me about two minutes to ready my pack in the evenings.

When I’m trying to decide what to wear, it’s easy. I brought three pair of pants and four shirts. I cycle through them and when they’re dirty, I do laundry. My wife would be a little bit embarrassed, but I don’t even try to match things. Whatever’s clean, I throw them on. When it comes to shoes, I don’t have to look at 5 or 10 pairs of shoes to figure out what matches my mismatched outfit! I brought ONE pair of hiking shoes! Now I do also have a pair of very lightweight lounge shoes; they give my other shoes a chance to air out and dry out after a day of rain like yesterday. But it’s easy - I know what I’m going to wear!

In that simplicity, I have found that small things make a big impact on me. Back home, it takes a lot to impress and impact us. We have to have an outstanding athletic performance or a great display of technology, or some type of amazing production. There is nothing wrong with that, but I’m finding out the simplicity of the Camino has allowed me to be impacted and awed by small things.

For example, this morning, after about an hour and a half of walking, in the middle of nowhere, I came to a large block building. I’ve seen many of them in this country and you have too if you look at the pictures. But this one was kind of intriguing to me, because as I got closer to the building, I saw a sign that said “Hospital para Peregrinos.” That means “Hospital for Pilgrims.” That piqued my interest. I thought, “This is perfect timing!”

Hospital for Pilgrims

I’ve been fighting this crazy fever for 2 1/2 days now and haven’t gotten any better. And on a day like today where I have to walk 15 1/2 miles, even though God gives me the strength to push through, it’s not pleasant - it’s a real slog. At home I would have probably called in sick today. So I thought, in a location like this there probably won’t be a doctor, but maybe there will be a nurse who can see me and prescribe some antibiotics and get me on the road to healing again. So I was kind of excited as I stepped through the door.

But as soon as I stepped into the building, I realized oh, this is not that type of hospital! And I really wasn’t disappointed, because this was much better. This was a place of rest for weary pilgrims!

Weary pilgrims at the hospital

I identified two or three people who seemed to be running it. One man was from Italy, and if you know somebody who has ADHD, you could just multiply his ADHD to the hundredth power. This Italian man was wired and was one of the most hyperactive people I’ve ever seen in my life! But he was amazing! There at the entrance they had a pot of coffee for pilgrims and some milk that they had heated. There were cookies you could help yourself to. They had a little place for donations if you wanted to help support the cause. I did, but it was just a great little break for a weary pilgrim! Then I looked around and I saw 2 sets of bunks for pilgrims who maybe were so weary that they couldn’t continue to the next town 10 miles away. Those three people were there to serve. And serve they did! I didn’t stay too long there - maybe 5 or 10 minutes - but that short break made my day. It was way better than visiting a medical facility!

As I continued my several next hours of walking, I began thinking, Lord, you are really doing something special in my life. You’re helping me to experience awe in the simplicity of the small things. I began praying, “Lord, how can I go back to my home and bring into my life and my family and maybe even the church a more simplistic approach to life?”

I know we can’t go back to the days of Mayberry, and that was not the perfect utopia anyway. But what can I personally do to develop a more simplistic life? A life where I could be awed and impressed by even little things - such as just a short stop at a hospital for pilgrims, or my stop yesterday where that sweet saintly nun placed a blessing on me, or a simple cross along the way, or an incredible sunrise like I saw again today.

Sunrise: before

Sunrise: after

I want to be in a frame of mind where God can get my attention through small things. And frankly this post is not really for you today. I’m glad you’re reading it, but this is for me. Life on the Camino has challenged me to enjoy those moments God provides along the way! Today, I asked the question, “How I can simplify my life?”

Since you’re reading this, maybe that would be a good question for you to ask as well. What can we all do, what SHOULD we all do on the Camino of Life to be in a place where we can be awed by the simple things God places in our pathway?

Thanks for listening in on God’s lessons for this pilgrim today!

Note the stork’s nest on top of the tower in the third photo.

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 15

Approximate miles remaining: 339

Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz

For those of you who are thinking it would be so much fun to walk the Camino de Santiago, just so you know, there was nothing fun about today! I say that with a smile on my face, but also with total seriousness. It was brutal! It began during the night as I came to the realization that I had a fever. I thought, “Man, what poor timing!” I lay there there in bed trying to figure out what to do. Now, I know what my wife would say. She would say, “Joe, take a zero day. You’ve been on the trail two weeks now without a rest day, and it’s time!” Well, that sounds like great advice. But for several reasons it’s not as simple as that. One is that the hostels have signs plastered all around: “Pilgrims must check out by 8:00 AM!” The hostels have to reboot and get ready for the next group of pilgrims who come in that afternoon. So it’s reasonable - we need to get out of there. I might be able to get a medical exemption, but who wants a guy with fever hanging around anyway? So more than likely, my rest day would be hanging out on the street, with no place to really rest. The other factor complicating this is that I have three nights of lodging reserved ahead of me. As difficult as it is to find lodging, three nights of knowing I have a bed is quite an accomplishment. I have figured out that if I can reserve 3 to 4 nights ahead, I’m more likely to find a place to sleep. So if I take a rest day and spend the night here and cancel all those reservations, I will be in a pickle and may not be able to find an empty bed. So it is not as simple as it sounds.

I lay there debating what to do, but really I knew there was no alternative than to proceed as planned. So I rolled out of bed and went through my pre-walk routine. Contributing to my day not being fun was the weather. The wind was supposed to be blowing really hard, and it was to be a cold wind. As I stepped out into the streets, I verified that. Half a block from my hostel, I stopped and pulled out my last remaining layer and put it on. The wind just bit and almost hurt! But I could deal with the wind - what was really concerning me was the forecast of rain! That had been the talk among the pilgrims - the rain was supposed to hit at 8:00 AM. But I thought, “You know, if I get an early start and maybe they miss the rain forecast by a couple of hours, I might make it to the village where I have my bed reserved without getting soaked.” Yeah right! I think the weather forecasters in Spain are better than they are in the States. At 8:07, it began to rain - and it rained and rained! It was a cold, driving rain. Even though I had my rain gear on, the wind somehow caused the rain to find its way through and around my rain gear and completely soak me. I now understand the saying of being soaked to the bone! Nothing about this day was fun!

But you don’t need to feel sorry for me - I don’t feel sorry for myself. Something incredible happened! With my body not feeling great, with the bitter wind blowing and gusting in my face and the cold rain soaking me almost to the point of feeling numb, God did something wild and crazy. He sent me joy! Seriously! It was unexpected! But I had so much joy, I couldn’t believe it. Maybe it was that I was still living under the blessing of that sweet saintly nun yesterday - I really don’t know. But during this day that was not fun, I don’t know when I have encountered so much joy - it was unreal! That prayer and blessing that that nun prayed over me was answered! She had prayed for peace - despite the circumstances, I had peace. She had prayed for protection - the trails were slick and muddy and treacherous, but I was protected from any fall. And she prayed for strength, and I certainly had that as I arrived in good time with plenty energy to spare. It was a good day!

That is the way life is. Many days, we wake up with a fever - maybe not literally, but we wake up and don’t feel great about things in our lives. Then at times that bad day is made worse by a cold wind that blows and bites us. When it seems it can’t get any worse, the driving rain comes and soaks us to the bone. Those are not fun days! But even though those days may not be fun, they can still be good days. As long as we have peace and protection and strength - that’s a good day! And the cherry on top of it is when God gives us joy!

So, if you would ask me, “Was today a fun day?” My answer would be, “No, a thousand times no!” But if you would ask me, “Joe, was today a good day?” My answer would be “Yes, absolutely yes - it was an amazing day.” I had peace, I had protection, I had strength, and God decided to make it extra special by giving me joy!

Buen camino!

Leaving on my adventure

Ruins of a 14th-century convent

Home for tonight - a welcome sight for a soaked pilgrim.  

My bedroom for tonight. Living in luxury— no bunk beds!

Drying my only pair of shoes

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 12

Approximate miles remaining: 354

Burgos to Hornillos del Camino

When I tried to get lodging for Burgos, the city where I spent last night, as usual, it was a struggle. Finally, I was able to secure lodging at a hostel, but they only had a private room available. I was desperate enough that I was willing to pay the extra. As I arrived in my room, I didn’t know how to react. After sharing a room with 16 to 26 people every night, to be the only one in my room just seemed really weird. Plus, I had a bathroom all to myself! At the hostels where I had been staying, there would be two toilets and generally two showers for all 16 to 26 people. You just learn to adapt. I’ve learned when the non-peak times are and tried to adjust. I have found that you just get less and less stressed about it.

But last night, I had a bathroom all to myself! When I turned on the water in the shower, I let it run and run and run and run - it was awesome! Then there was nobody to snore in the room, except for me! It was a good night, except for the fact that I was awakened at 4:00 AM with someone desperately pounding on a door down the hallway. For some reason, I felt that was probably not a good situation, especially after the knocking stopped and all I could hear was loud sobbing. My nature is to see if I can help in those situations, so I headed to the door, but was checked that maybe instead I should just pray for them, which I did.

The room was great, except for the location - it was on the east side of the city. This meant that I would have to walk through the majority of the city today. So even though officially the miles walked today was 13, the true miles walked for me today was about 16.

City walking: not my favorite

As I went out into the street early in the morning, I headed west. After just a few blocks, I had my first temptation of the day! I came to the staging area where taxis parked and waited for passengers to come. As I walked by every taxi, it was as if they were saying, “Hey, pilgrim, for 10 bucks, I can save you an hour and a half of walking time.” What a temptation! I came to another taxi. Same song, second verse: “I can save you a lot of time and energy!” My old self would’ve succumbed. My mode was rush, rush, so $10 to save an hour and a half of walking would have been a no-brainer. In fact I would’ve given $20 or $30. Not that there was anything morally wrong with that, but I’m trying to readjust my mind right now.

A pilgrim with a heavy load

This leads me to something they talk about on the Camino. They say the first two weeks, or roughly the first 1/3 of the journey, is to toughen or tone your body. And boy, does it ever do that! After the first two days, every muscle screamed within my body, “Take me home, take me home!” Two days in and my body was begging for not just one rest day, but a rest month! But after two weeks, things are better. I’m not going to lie and say that after an 18-mile day my muscles don’t hurt a little bit, but it’s tolerable. So the first third they say to tone your body.

But the second part of the journey is to tone your mind. Our minds tend to play tricks on us. In fact, the Bible talks a lot about our mind. What we think can affect so much of what we do. So for the next two weeks, pilgrims are encouraged to tone their minds and make sure they are thinking right thoughts - that their minds are going in the right direction. So when I said no to those taxis, I think my mind was being toned right there.

It was not easy, because the walk out of the city was tough. It took about an hour and 40 minutes for me to reach the last building and have the city of Burgos behind me.

Today’s walk seemed that it was just a little bit more of a slog than usual. Maybe it was the fact that over the last two days I walked a lot on asphalt and concrete, but I just seemed to be dragging a little bit more than normal. Even my coffee stop didn’t seem to perk me up that much.

With about an hour and a half left of walking time, I came to what I thought was a little village. I then realized it wasn’t a village, because there were only three or four buildings. One of the buildings was a cute little church. So I pulled out my camera and snapped several pictures. I was ready to move on - that was the old Joe talking to me. But the new Joe, the one who is trying to slow down a little bit, decided to take a moment and go into the church. Out of respect, I pulled off my hat. I put down my trekking poles and took off my backpack. I walked into this little church that was just surreal.

In the church were two ladies; they were nuns. One I would guess as being maybe middle-aged. The other I would guess as being the age of a great-grandmother, but, with her calling, undoubtedly, she was not a grandmother. I was just looking around, and the older lady came walking over to me and we began talking a little bit in Spanish. She asked my name; I told her it was José. And something immediately occurred to me so strongly! What occurred to me was that this lady was a saint - a true saint. The Bible says that we can bear witness with those who are like-minded, or are of a kindred spirit. I just kept thinking of her that she was of a kindred spirit.

She motioned for me to follow her. She took me over to the side of the little church. And she did something that would rate as one of the top two or three moments so far on the Camino. Some of you may chuckle or frown, but you wouldn’t have if you would have been there. She took hold of my arm and began to say a blessing over me. It was a blessing in Spanish, worded so beautifully and so powerfully! She was asking God to bless me on the Camino de Santiago with protection and strength and health. But then she expanded her blessing. She asked a blessing upon me on the Camino of life. Again, she essentially prayed strength, protection, and peace on my life. And yes, this softie began to have water come out of his eyes! It was a very emotional moment. Then she backed up a little bit, and it was like this grandmotherly figure just knew something! She seemed to know that this pilgrim was a bit weary, a little bit smelly, and had been away from his family for a couple of weeks. I think she knew that this sniffling guy needed a hug! That little diminutive woman grabbed me and embraced me, and I embraced her back. More tears flowed. All I could say was “Gracias, gracias, gracias!”

Then I did the dumbest thing ever! It seems I have the ability to take a beautiful moment and say something dumb! But I did the American thing and I asked if I could have a picture with her! She smiled and said, “Of course.” Someone took our picture.

The nun who blessed me. She gave me the necklace which will always remind me of this amazing experience!

I gathered up my belongings and headed out, still struggling to keep my emotions in check. Typically, I would have started listening to music again, but who needs music when you have just been blessed by a saint? For the next hour and a half I couldn’t quit thinking about it. I had been on the receiving end of a blessing!

There is so much power in a blessing! My question to all of us is this: who are we going to bless today? Our blessing may not be a verbal blessing as I received, but maybe it needs to be a practical act of kindness. Maybe, just as a blessing came to me from an unexpected source today that really changed my day, blessing someone else unexpectedly could also change their day!

Thanks for joining me on the Camino today.

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 13

Approximate miles remaining: 366

Agés to Burgos

When I went to bed last night, I made the decision to leave the hostel later than I have been leaving. With the relatively short 14-mile walk, I decided to be “normal” and start later like most pilgrims. Plus, I was tired of getting to the hostel and having to wait 1-2 hours before they even open their doors to check me in. But as hard as I tried, I just couldn’t lay in bed any longer! I thought, this is nuts! I can either lay here and listen to people snore and be frustrated, or I can get up and enjoy the early morning silence on the trail. I chose the latter. As I stepped outside, I realized, “Oh, it is cool and crisp this morning!” In fact, for the first time, I took my only long-sleeved shirt and layered it over my other t-shirt to try to break the chill of the 48-degree morning. But to me, that’s the perfect temperature to walk.

The first hour and a half of the walk this morning was glorious. It was a clear sky, so I could see the sparkling stars that God had flung into space so long ago! After about an hour into the walk, I began a fairly steep ascent up to what would take me over a mountain ridge. The 30-minute ascent made my heart beat fast, but it actually felt good! As I got close to the top of the ridge, there was enough light from the daybreak that allowed me to see clouds swirling at the top - these were not storm clouds, just the morning fog that would soon dissipate. I was so fascinated watching the fog swirl. But then, as I got closer to that summit ridge, something caught my attention. And even now, as I recount it several hours later, it still is so vividly etched in my mind. On top of the ridge was a cross! Now, for some reason, whenever I see a cross in an isolated area such as this, with daybreak in its beginning stages, it does something for me. I’m a softie and I get emotional! The cross means so much to me! I took a lot of pictures - I’ll post a couple for you.

But there was something else that caught my attention. It was something rather unusual. As I faced the cross, on the crossbar at the far right, there was a pair of shoes hanging! That brought a smile to me as I wondered, “How did someone get those shoes up there?” The cross was too tall for anyone to just reach up there, so I assume that somebody had shimmied up the main beam and then eased out on the cross bar and tied the shoes up there.

However it happened, it was quite a feat. (Or maybe feet! Yeah, that was really bad.) But I spent some time at the cross, just so grateful for its significance in my life.

As I walked away from the cross, it was all downhill from there - in two ways. The trail was all downhill as it took me down the mountain to the city that I would call home for tonight. But more significantly, it was all downhill because I went from a trail that was quiet and serene to having to share a trail with noisy cars - not fun! There was no shoulder, which meant there was little room between the cars and me. Most drivers paid attention and were careful to give plenty of space, but one distracted driver evidently didn’t see me until he was nearly on me, and he had to swerve sharply at the last second to avoid a way-too-close encounter with me. The last 2 hours were walked on asphalt or concrete, which made the rather short 14 mile day seem way longer than it really was.

But that took me into Burgos, a city with a population of slightly less than 200,000. Again, for those of us in southwest Missouri, the closest comparison would be Springfield with a population of 170,000. I have found my least favorite part of the trail has been the streets of cities like this. Each city of this size takes close to 3 hours to walk through. I did learn some unpublished information that some of the pilgrims do get to the edge of the city and flag a taxi to take them to the other side of the city. I’ll admit it is tempting, but today I walked to my hostel which was about 1/3 of the way through the city. Not looking forward to tomorrow’s walk to get through the other 2/3 of the city.

Burgos is a very significant city for pilgrims walking the Camino. One of the must-see places is the Burgos Cathedral of Saint Mary. Construction on this Cathedral began in 1221 and was completed in 1567. It has been declared a World Heritage Site - its size is truly impressive!

There are other very interesting historical facts about this beautiful city that you can easily research on your own. But when it comes to the common pilgrim who walks into Burgos, perhaps the most significant detail is that if you are walking the Camino from the French town of Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela, your arrival in Burgos means that you have now completed a THIRD of the Camino de Santiago. Many people will take a well-deserved zero day and rest and explore this city.

For those of you in the fast class who are keeping up with the mileage that I put at the end of the post every day, you will notice that that the mileage walked doesn’t add up to a third of the total miles. The reason is that I am still considering the possibility of continuing past the end of the Camino and walking to the Atlantic Ocean. I’ll see how I am doing on time and how I feel, but I have such intrigue with a little town there called Finisterre, which means “End of the earth.” When the Apostle James, and perhaps the Apostle Paul, came to minister in Spain, they thought this was the end of the earth. They took literally the commission to spread Christ to the “end of the earth.” So the discrepancy in my mileage lies in that detail. If I decide not to continue the additional distance to the Atlantic Ocean, then I’m approximately a third of the way there. Otherwise I will need a couple more days under my belt to be able to say I’m a third there.

Regardless of where my journey ends, it has been amazing! God has kept me healthy, blister-free and feeling good! That is a tribute to God and your prayers!

My friend from Texas

Five minutes ago I just met a man from Texas who developed 15 horrible blisters walking the first few stages of the Camino and ended up in the hospital - so I don’t take my health for granted! Thanks again to all of you who are reaching out to encourage me! I love the fact that you are joining me on the Camino!

Buen Camino!

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 14

Approximate miles remaining: 379

Belorado to Agés

My departure was a little bit earlier than normal. As I did my typical research last night to make sure I knew as much about the route as possible, I learned that in order to get to my bed I had reserved in the town of Agés, I would need to cover 18 miles! As I looked at the topographical map of the terrain in my guidebook, I noticed that the first 10 miles or so were uphill. It was nothing steep, but just never ending. So I slipped out of my hostel earlier than usual. I closed the door behind me and all of a sudden I was hit with a blast of wind that bit through my quick-dry T-shirt and pants. I’ve been here in Spain for the last two weeks, and I have noticed that the temperatures are gradually decreasing. That wind was an indication that the summer temps are on their way out!

To make it worse, the wind was coming straight towards me, which meant that not only would my walk be uphill, but it would be against a strong, bitter headwind. Then, about 30 minutes into the hike, there in the light of my headlamp, I began to see what I initially thought were a bunch of tiny bugs coming toward my light. But soon I realized they weren't bugs because I began to feel the fine mist on my arms and face. I was hoping it would remain a mist, but it didn’t - the raindrops started falling. I barely got my rain gear on in time before it started to truly rain. Thankfully the rain stopped after a little while; the wind, however, didn’t stop - it blasted me all day. Mid-morning, the sun began popping its head in and out of the clouds enough to warm things a bit.

The terrain was a little different today. For the last several days, I have been largely in agricultural areas. The fields were full of sunflowers, even though they were past their beauty. But today’s walk took me back up into the mountains - not the Pyrenees, but mountains similar to the Ozarks. The trails took me through beautiful woods, punctuated with flowers. I loved the walk today! The mountains just have a way of calling my name. There were very few villages on the route today, but it was okay, because I enjoyed the natural beauty God wanted to display to me!

Today on the trail, as I see most every day, there was a little cross by the side of the trail. I have learned that these are a memorial to people who have died along the trail. Sometimes I stop and read the little paragraph about them, sometimes I just keep walking; but I always wonder about them - the little paragraph never gives the cause of death. I figure with just the vast numbers of pilgrims, the law of averages catches up. Maybe some were dealing with medical issues that were exacerbated by the strenuous walking that they were not used to. But what they all had in common was that they died on the Camino.

As I thought about this, it occurred to me - I want to die on the Camino! Hopefully not on the Camino de Santiago. Rather, I want to die on another Camino that Scripture talks about. Remember the verse found in John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Something really cool about that verse is that the word "way" from "I am the way," in the Spanish Bible, is the word Camino! Jesus is saying that HE is the Camino! Not just any Camino, but he is THE Camino! And I want to die on that Camino! I want to die in Christ! So stay the course, pilgrim - stay on THE CAMINO!

Addendum:

The miles seemed to fly by today! Yes, I was glad to arrive at my hostel, but God gave me so much strength that if I would have had a room reserved a few more miles down the trail, I would have probably kept going! All glory be to God!

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 18

Approximate remaining miles: 393

Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado

As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I stayed at a hostel called Casa de los Santos or “The House of the Saints” or “House of the Holy.” Honestly, I don’t feel like I probably qualified to have stayed there.

Now I can think of some other people who would have easily qualified! I think of our dear Bonnie Witt, who we lost a few years ago - she would’ve certainly been qualified to stay there. If she were alive, she would be cheering me on the Camino and texting me, “God is good!”

I also think of our dear Betty Bledsoe— we just lost her a few months ago. I believe she would definitely have qualified to stay at this house of the saints.

I think of my dad and my mom. It hurts me to say that they’re both gone now, but I have no doubt that both of them would certainly have qualified to stay there.

I think of Faith’s dad, who we just lost a little less than a year ago. He was such a good man - he pastored many many years, but chose to pastor a small church, therefore had to supplement his income by working a full-time job. He would have had the credentials to stay at this house of saints.

For those of you who attend our church, you know Silas McGehee. I love that man! He can’t hear much, so when it comes up to you, he’s talking loudly enough to hear it in the next county. He will grab me in a bear hug and yell, “You are one of my favorite people,” or as he has said to me countless times, “You are my favorite pastor!” I’m actually kind of relieved whenever he relaxes the bear hug so I can take a breath. 😁 That man certainly would deserve to stay in the House of the Saints.

But Joe Trussell? I don’t think so. Hopefully someday, but probably not right now. Thankfully when they were checking me in last night, their vetting process was not very comprehensive. They didn’t check into my deep and dark past, so they let me check in and sleep there.

I was thinking of people we consider to be our spiritual heroes. The sad aspect is that many times we wait until they are gone to really think how their lives impacted us. At the grave, we have regrets that we didn’t thank them for their influence on our lives. I think of my dad, who I lost just a few months ago - even though I tried to see him every day, and tell him I loved him every time I saw him, he deserved more than just a quick “I love you.” He deserved me telling him what a great spiritual hero he was to my life. So maybe our assignment this week would be to thank those people in our lives who have made a difference in us! Don’t have those regrets when they are gone! Send them that text, make that phone call, write them an email and let them know what they mean to you!

I’m glad they did let me in the hostel - it was one of my better nights of sleep. When I left the hostel, I felt good physically, spiritually and emotionally. In fact, sometimes when I leave for my long walk, I feel a bit blah and I have some dread because of the pain I will go through. But not today. There seemed to be an extra measure of joy within me!

About 30 minutes into my walk, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I knew it was late back home and I thought, who in the world is texting me at this hour? I was pleasantly surprised - it was my dear wife! She had been in South Carolina with her work colleagues, and had a late flight and had just gotten home. She said, “Joe, I see you walking!”

The “Find My” app on her iPhone was showing a dot, and she said, “Joe you are walking in the middle of nowhere!” I agreed, as there were no houses or towns close by. She said, “It is so incredible that the moving dot is you!”

I answered back and said, “Well, that dot will stop briefly, because I have a rock in my shoe and need to sit down to get it out.”

And she said, “It did stop!” Then she said, “It’s moving again!” Then, “Joe, are you zigzagging?”

I said, “Actually I am - there are rocks in the trail, and I am trying to find the best route.” It was awesome as I texted my amazingly supportive wife for over 30 minutes on the trail. But I finally said, “It’s late there. You need to get some sleep.” We said our goodbyes and I trudged on.

After about an hour and 30 minutes of walking, I approached a nice-sized village where I could get my coffee. It was actually a little earlier than I like to have my coffee stop. I like to have it after 2 to 2 1/2 hours into the walk, because it breaks the walk up better. So as I approached this village, I had one of those “hmmm” moments. As I looked at my app, I could see that if I hung to the south edge of the village and veered west, I could miss most of the village. The trail didn’t just go straight through the village; it went north and then west and then south, adding quite a few extra steps. My plan would be brilliant! I felt so above average when I connected with the main trail after having saved a lot of steps around the town.

As I walked down the hill from that town, I thought, “Joe Trussell, you are so smart! You are head and shoulders in intelligence above the other poor pilgrims who walked the unnecessary steps winding around the town.” Well, I have found that when I feel pretty smart, it’s not long before something happens to prove that I’m not very smart. That is exactly what happened today. As I walked the next 30-45 minutes towards a village I saw on my app, I was getting excited about coffee. So as I got to that next village and began looking for a coffee shop, I looked left and right and straight ahead. Before I knew it, I was through the town. No coffee shop! I thought, what kind of town would not have a coffee establishment? This is tragic! I wanted to knock on a door and ask them to make me a cup of coffee, but I did have a little bit of pride left. Well no worries, I knew there was another village coming up in 30 minutes or so. They would certainly have one. But they didn’t!

Earlier I had thought, “Poor pilgrims!” By this time I was thinking, “Poor Joe!” And rightly so. My needle on the coffee meter in my body was starting to go nuts and the alarm was screaming - “Coffee, coffee, coffee!” The sad realization hit me - I was 9 miles into my 14-mile walk today, and I hadn’t had anything to eat. So even though I still felt okay, I knew that I probably should get some nutrients in me. Today, my daily granola bar would have to be consumed with water instead of coffee! I was so smart - yeah, right! Well, God is merciful to people like me who are not very smart. About mile 12, God provided me with a wonderful coffee shop!

Now I know this post is not very rich with deep truths from God’s Word; hopefully you got some of those out of church today. But let me leave you with a few thoughts.

1. The time to express our appreciation to our spiritual heroes is now! Don’t wait and have regrets.

2. The shortest and easiest way is not always the best way! Sometimes God has things for you that will be missed if you take the shortest route.

3. Sometimes our “smart ideas” are really dumb! Enough said!

4. The best advice is - get your coffee when you have a chance!

Have a good week!

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 14

Approximate total miles remaining: 411

Nájera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada

I have tried to not bring up the snoring matter for a few days, but it is still a sore subject! I deal with this night after night after night. So be gentle with me if I mention it again, but last night was another snoring nightmare! My bunkmate (I was on the bottom and he was on the top) was a very talented snorer. He initially came across as a chainsaw snorer, as he had great volume and could stretch it out for a long period of time. But what made his talent unique is that he added some style points on the end of his snore - they were sounds I can’t even describe. It was fascinating - for about 30 seconds. After the thirty seconds I wanted to say, “Buddy, put a sock in it - in fact let me just put one of my smelly socks in it!” But I didn’t do that - didn’t figure that would be Christ-like.

But then add to that snoring the fact that another one of my roomies talked in his sleep! He didn’t just say a word or two in his sleep; he yelled out several sentences. And then he would taper off and just mumble and mutter for awhile. Again, fascinating, but tough to sleep through! I tried to figure out which language it was, but it was foreign to me.

But then, what probably was the worst part of my night took place outside the room. In Spain, and I am assuming that is just while the weather is good, they have outdoor bars. They will set up tables and chairs outside in the streets. Unbeknownst to me, there were two of those bars behind our hostel, which would have been just right outside my window. The noise went on all night. Literally, all night! There was yelling, laughing, singing (a choir of drunk people slurring their songs), arguing loudly - you name it. All night long they disturbed my peace. Initially, I thought that it would shut down at 1:00 or 2:00 AM. But I guess there are no such laws in this country. This took place all night long - did I say that it was all night long? I was never so glad to see 5:30 AM roll around. Now, I had made the decision to leave a little bit later this morning. Even though I like walking in the dark, my problem is that I get to my lodging before noon, and most places won’t check you in until 1:00 or 2:00. That means I have to stand around waiting an hour or two. So I thought I’d leave a little bit later this morning. But with the events of my night, I was ready to get out of this house of horror.

So I stepped out into the streets, looked at my app, and figured out which way the Camino went. I was to go left half a block and then make another left. And as I did so, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Camino went right through that area where these people had partied all night. Here early in the morning, there were still probably 100 people outside the building, standing around drinking and just doing what they had done all night.

The outdoor bar

Now, so far I have walked about 135 miles on the Camino. I have walked many hours in the dark where I didn’t see a soul for two hours. I have walked in big cities, and as a whole, I have felt relatively safe. At times I felt a little apprehensive when I wasn’t sure if I was on the trail. But this moment made me very uneasy. I was going to have to go right through a crowd of a hundred mainly intoxicated people. I knew they probably wouldn’t hurt me, but you get that many people together under the influence, and they do silly things. So I paused, kind of mapped out my route, lowered my head so as not to make eye contact with anyone, and headed into the crowd. I know Jesus probably wouldn’t have done what I did, but I was in no mood to try to witness to a hundred intoxicated people at the moment. It probably only took me about 10 seconds to get through the crowd, but it seemed like an eternity. I was so glad when they were behind me, and even more happy when they were out of sight.

Once I got out of town, I relaxed and turned on praise and worship music. It seemed that my legs were a bit heavy today. They didn’t hurt, they just didn’t seem to have a lot of pop in them. Maybe it was due to the sleepless night, or maybe it was due to the fact that yesterday had been an extra long mileage day, or maybe even the fact that I haven’t taken a zero-mile day yet. But with my dead legs I resigned myself to the fact that today might just be a little bit of a slog. And it was, but you know what? I was still on the right path. Every time I checked my app or looked at the signs on the sidewalk, I was still on the correct trail.

Since the trail just seemed a bit more boring and mundane than usual, I began asking God, “God, what do I need to learn today? What do you want to teach me?” I felt that God really did speak to me. He brought up my day yesterday that I talked about in my blog - a day where I had that incredible “God moment.” I was still basking in the glow of that amazing day!

But I felt that God told me, “Joe you don’t need another God moment today - rather what you need today are some moments with God.” I actually had to think about that for a little bit. Why didn’t I need another God moment? I mean I love God moments. But as I thought about it and reflected on Scripture, I realized that God moments are not everyday occurrences. They are necessary, but nowhere do you see God moments happening every day.

Moses had a God moment on Mount Sinai. But it didn’t happen every day. Jonah had a God moment in the belly of the whale. The Apostle Paul had a God moment on the road to Damascus. I had a God moment yesterday on the Camino de Santiago. But God moments don’t take place every day.

However, today I felt God was telling me that moments with God do need to happen every day. Moments with God are those times we spend with God every day. They are moments we spend with God during the valleys, during the storms, during those times when our legs are tired. But remember, just because our day is a slog doesn’t mean we are off track. Just because you don’t have a God moment every day doesn’t mean that you have gone astray. Just check The App and The Book and keep putting one foot in front of the other. That’s what I did today.

Sure enough, actually in really good time, I arrived at my home for the night at the Casa del Santo (House of the Holy or the Saint) in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. I didn’t have a God moment today, but I had nearly 5 hours of moments with God, and it was incredible.

So as you go about your day, don’t necessarily seek a God moment today - rather seek some moments with God! I think God will see fit to give you a God moment at exactly the right time!

My next car!

A creative way to transport your stuff

I actually took time to pet this cat! What’s gotten into me??

Home for the night is in sight!

The albergues don’t want our smelly shoes in the bunk rooms - we have to put them on shelves. Same with the trekking poles.

View from the 3rd-story room of my Albergue

Buen Camino!

The red arrow shows where I am now in my progress on the Camino

Approximate total miles: 560

Approximate miles walked today: 13

Approximate miles remaining: 425

Logroño to Nájera

I dreaded today! As I researched the route yesterday, depending on the book or app you looked at, the minimum was a 17.8 mile walk. And then factor in that my lodging was in Logroño, a city roughly the size of Springfield, MO. I had stayed on the east side, which meant I had the majority of the city to walk through as I headed west. Imagine walking through the majority of Springfield.

I knew my day was going to involve walking 18-19 miles. That thought was heavy on me during the night as I tried to sleep. I decided to leave a bit earlier than normal. I lathered down my feet with anti-blister cream. I put on my backpack and grabbed my trekking poles. I headed out into the streets. I’ll admit that I was taken aback a little bit. The streets were littered with all shapes and sizes of alcohol containers. The streets were totally clean the evening before. I hadn’t gone very far and I came across some people who obviously were very intoxicated. I walked by them; but not sure Jesus would have. I just didn’t know how to engage intoxicated people in conversation at 6:00 in the morning, so I kept on walking.

It was a long walk out of town. It took close to an hour of navigating streets and sidewalks and trash trucks before the lights of the city were behind me. Now I could turn on praise music and actually hear it. It was still dark, but in the distance I could tell that it was overcast - no sunrise pictures today (some of you say yay!). There were a few pilgrims on the trail - I passed some and some passed me.

After another hour of walking, I came up beside a chain link fence. It was about 6-7 feet tall. It separated the Camino from a road below. I immediately remembered reading about it, even though I didn’t realize it was on the trail today. This fence spans close to a mile. On the fence, people had attached crosses, most of them made from branches but I saw others made of other material, one even of plastic spoons.

I thought, “This is cool,” and snapped some pictures, but kept on walking. But then, as I talked about yesterday, I had one of those “hmmm” moments. I decided to stop and try to make a cross to put on the fence. We protestants aren’t into symbols that much. And that’s probably mostly good, because sometimes symbols can become a replacement for the real thing. But I think our Catholic friends better understand some kinds of symbols, and they realize they are reminders.

Throughout the Bible, God has given us reminders. He gave us the rainbow as a reminder that He would never send a flood to the entire earth again. He also told His people at different times to raise a pile of rocks as a reminder of the victory He had given His people in battle. Reminders like that certainly have their place.

I decided to make a cross as a reminder. Those of you who know me well know that I am a zero when it comes to a craft project. When my girls were growing up and had a craft project for school, they never came to dad and said, “Dad, would you help us?” They knew I just didn’t have it! Thankfully, their mom excelled in that area.

I went to a vine that was dead. I found a couple of branches and broke them off. I tried to trim them to the dimensions that might be good. I began trying to put them on that chain-link fence. I backed off and didn’t like it so I adjusted it a little bit. I still didn’t like it, and thought I need to make something prettier. I had done basically what everybody else had done.

But about that time, it occurred to me that the cross that Jesus was nailed to was probably not pretty. It was probably just branches from an old tree. Today we have made the cross into something beautiful. We have sanded it, we have stained it, we have painted it, we have even shined it. I don’t think the real cross of Jesus was that way. I think it was two rough pieces of wood, probably tied together at the main beam.

I decided to leave the cross as it was. I took a couple of pictures. But before I left that spot, I decided to pray, just as I had done many years ago in 1966 as a first grader, at a Christian school in Fort Scott, Kansas, during a chapel service, where I gave my heart to Jesus for the very first time. Here, many years later, at the age of nearly 64, I re-consecrated and re-surrendered my heart to Jesus Christ. We talk loosely about having a God moment. I’ve had a few God moments in my life - not nearly enough, but a few. This was one of those true God moments.

As I began to pray, the tears started to flow. I just told God I wanted Him to have everything that was me. I didn’t want less of me and more of Him, I wanted none of me and all of Him! I told Him I once was young, but now I’m old, but still love what I’m doing! I love pastoring a church, I love being part of our World Missions Department. l even love the responsibilities God has given me in our community. I told Him if He could still use me in those areas, I was all in! But I also told him that if more could be accomplished by having someone else in there, then I would be glad to move over to the sidelines, become a cheerleader, and cheer them on to higher heights and greater victories. That God moment lasted for the next few hours as God came down and walked with me!

I thought I would never get to a coffee shop - the first one I came to was about 8 miles into the walk. I ordered my cafe con leche and and then another. I even splurged with a pastry. Then I was off on the trail again, as the rain started to fall. Now for those of you who follow this blog for the adventure aspect, sorry, but there wasn’t much adventure today. The only adventure was to keep putting one foot in front of the other, mile after mile after mile.

I say this cautiously - I don’t want to speak too early - but just as sailors talk about getting their “sea legs” under them, I think I may be starting to get my “Camino legs” under me. My pace was faster today, not on purpose, but it just seemed I had more energy and my legs hurt less. So, adventure junkies, that’s all I have for you today.

Oh by the way, I did make it to my hostel. I’ll admit I was so glad to get off my feet. But if you were to ask me, “Joe, how was your 18 mile day?“ My answer would be - it was awesome! In fact, it was my best day on the Camino so far! I mean, getting to walk 18 miles with Jesus: it doesn’t get better than that!

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I love your company!

Approximate total miles - 560 miles

Approximate miles walked today - 18

Approximate miles remaining - 438

Torres del Río to Logroño

I was locked in! I couldn’t believe it, but I was locked in my hostel. I had gone through my pre-walk routine, which takes a bit of time because of the effort I am putting into foot care. As I researched the common issues on the Camino de Santiago prior to beginning, probably the top issue encountered by pilgrims is blisters. In fact, already, I have come across several people that are suffering with painful blisters, and are hobbling along. So I went to my good friend Kevin at Evans pharmacy and asked him what he recommended. He gave me some salve to apply to pressure points, as well as areas that might develop hotspots. Part of my pre-walk routine is to lather those areas with the salve and so far, thank the Lord, I’m blister free. But I’m not out of the woods yet - other pilgrims say that they can develop even 2 to 3 weeks into the trail.

I was ready to go - I had my backpack strapped on, I had my trekking poles in my hands, my headlamp on my forehead, and was headed towards the main door of the hostel. But when I got there, it was locked. I thought, “How dare you? How dare you lock in the pilgrims that like to leave early!”

I kept thinking surely I must have just been missing it. There had to be a way to unlock the door. I would back off and then go and study it again. Honestly, I just wanted to kick the door down. But it was one of those medieval style doors that was about 20 feet tall and made of solid wood about 10 inches thick, reinforced with iron. (See yesterday’s post for a photo of the albergue’s gates before they were closed for the night.) Samson might even have had trouble pulling these doors off the hinges. Well, the longer I stewed on this, the more upset I became. I’m sure my blood pressure was rising and my heart was pumping faster. And of course, no one was in the office to help. One of the frustrating things here is that I am learning the businesses don’t open until mid-morning. Coffee shops don’t even open until 7:30 or 8:00. No employee was around to ask what to do.

I got the idea to call the hostel phone, hoping it would transfer to someone’s cell phone. But when I dialed the number, I just heard it ring over and over in the office. Ring, Ring, Ring. It was about that time that I think the Lord spoke to me. I’m very careful when I say that the Lord spoke to me, because sometimes I think we use that phrase rather flippantly. But whether it was just a moment of clarity or the Lord, a truth was vividly spoken to me.

When the Lord speaks to me, most of the time I love it. I love it when He gives me some new insight into a scripture, or He wraps His arm around me and says, “Joe, you did all right, I’m proud of you, stay the course!” But there are also those times when the Lord speaks to me and it’s more of a, “Joe, we need to talk”. It’s very similar to those times when my wife says “Joe, sit down; we need to talk.” Generally, those aren’t fun conversations. And this moment wasn’t fun either. Basically what came to me, again, whether it was the Lord speaking to me or just a moment of realization, was “Joe, you’ve been on the Camino a week now. Before you left, you opened up to your congregation and told them that one of the things you hoped to accomplish in Spain was to break the horrible addiction of busy, busy, rush, rush. It’s obvious you are in the slow class right now, because after a week, you haven’t learned a thing.” Ouch. I’ve always hated getting a low grade in a class!

It was true. Here I was, back to my normal ways of hurrying. I wish I could say that immediately I went into chill mode and smiled and was at peace, but it wasn’t quite that dramatic. But my spirit did calm.

I decided to explore the hostel. I went up the stairs to the second floor— actually I thought I might find someone who would know about the door. When I got up there, I happened to look to my right and there was a door, and over the door it said “Salida” (exit). I recognized it as an emergency exit.

You know those times when all of a sudden you get an idea and go, “Hmmm.” That was one of those moments for me. I thought, “Hmmm.” I walked over to the door, knowing it would also be locked or at least have some kind of alarm that would scream as soon as it was opened - an alarm that would awaken the pilgrims and they would all rush me and spear me with their trekking poles for disturbing their sleep. Remember that this was the second floor, and more than likely this door just led to a little 2x4 deck with no access down to the ground. But I got to the door and slowly put my hand on the handle and quietly pushed it down. To my surprise it seemed not to be locked. Well, another “Hmmm” came to mind, so I took the next step to gently pull the door in. It opened! And much to my surprise, there was the street, level with the door. I hadn’t taken into account the fact that this town was built on a mountain. The street that ran by that side of the building ran uphill and was level with the second floor. I was elated and hurried out the door, just in case an alarm would sound! To be truthful with you, I don’t remember closing the door. 😂 I just knew I had to get out of there and slither away into the darkness, just in case the alarm pierced the quietness of the pre-dawn morning.

The village after I left it this morning

So began September 14th as I started my walk to Logroño, a city of 155,000 people. For the full 12 miles, I tried to apply the lesson I learned from my time of being a prisoner in the hostel. I slowed down. I took pictures of stuff that I really didn’t need pictures of. I took more pictures of the incredible sunrise. (How many pictures do you need of sunrises? I don’t know. I’ve still got 30 days left - ask me in a month and I’ll count them for you.) I even took a picture of a paper towel dispenser in a bathroom - yep, most bathrooms don’t have paper towels, you just dry them on your pants. But this one did and it looked like ours at our church.

Again, my favorite part of the morning was the stop for my coffee. Now, this coffee shop took me by surprise. I was on the trail in the middle of nowhere. But all of a sudden, there was a little makeshift coffee shop - and my first thought was, where do they get electricity? I did some snooping and found they had a gas generator over the hill so that it wouldn’t be heard and they ran a long extension cord to their little makeshift coffee shop. It was a great place! They had freshly squeezed orange juice - I said, “I will take one, please.” But then I also said, “I need my café con leche.” (coffee with milk). I sat and enjoyed sipping them both.

The “coffee shop” for today

Then, of course, I had to order the second round of café con leche. The whole time I just sat calmly, watching a little bird on the ground looking for a crumb. I watched the owner’s ugly but sweet dog that was dressed for the occasion. It was a good morning as I slowed down to better enjoy the Camino.

Maybe the advice God had for me today is the advice you need for your day. Maybe you need to slow down a bit. Now, I don’t necessarily expect you to listen to this old man that finds himself in the slow class way too often, but it would be wise to listen to the words of Jesus. He does tell you to BE STILL. He says WAIT ON THE LORD. The old hymn also says TAKE TIME TO BE HOLY, THE WORLD RUSHES BY! As you walk your camino today, slow down and listen and learn!

Buen Camino!

Approximate total miles - 560

Approximate miles walked today - 12

Approximate miles remaining - 456

Villamayor de Monjardín to Torres del Río

Let me talk to you about something very important - the matter of coffee!  More specifically let me talk to you about coffee in Spain on the Camino de Santiago.   They get it!  They know how to make a cup of coffee. It’s bold, and if you get it with steamed milk, it’s even beautiful!  It’s everything coffee should be.  But there is one major “fail” about the coffee on the Camino. They dispense coffee into cups the size of communion cups.  They haven’t learned that a biblical cup of coffee should be at least a half a cubit or ephah or seah - actually I don’t think any of those measurements apply, 😆, but you know what I mean. Coffee needs to be dispensed in a mug big enough to taste. At my morning stop today, I ordered a cup of “café con leche” - coffee with milk, or we call it a latte.  It was so good, but the small sample cup left me wanting more - way more!

So back to the Bodegas Irache wine fountain.  If you haven’t read yesterday’s blog, this won’t make sense.  But there I was on the historic Camino de Santiago being offered free wine at the wine fountain.  And by now the crowd around the fountain had cleared.  I was all alone!  And as I looked around there were no “wine cams” to catch me in the act.   All I had to do was turn the handle of the faucet.  I could drink to my heart’s content - in fact since no one was watching, I could even fill up my water bottle with red wine.  Not to mention the sign above the fountain said that if you want to arrive at the last city on the Camino with strength and vitality, then you needed to have some wine.  And so I stepped up to fountain, I reached for the left faucet that dispensed the wine, I turned the handle and what do you think happened?  Well, true story, it came out with such force that it got all over my pants!  I shut it off as fast as I could.  Yesterday I had mud on my pants.  Today it is red wine!  Goes well with my gray pants!  

The wine reminded me of Jesus’ first miracle.  Can you imagine how impressive that miracle must have been?  And can you imagine how impressive that miracle would be today?   I love Jesus miracles because his miracles were out-of-the ordinary.  So knowing that he loves out-of-the-box miracles, something occurred to me.  What if I/you would start praying for him to - not turn water into wine - but turn water into COFFEE here on the Camino.  In fact if someone would like to call a prayer meeting at the church and ask Jesus to turn water into coffee where I am each day, I will personally see that you get a free specialty coffee from the church coffee shop!   

So back to the wine fountain.  I had wine running down my pants, but I lifted my hand once again to the faucet handle.  This time I slowly and gradually turned the handle.  I stopped it when it was a slow stream.  I put my hand under the stream of wine.  And then what do you think I then did?  You want to know?  Did I take a drink?   No. (I don’t drink!)  But I’ll tell you a secret.  I didn’t drink it… instead, I licked it! Yep I did!  I licked it off of my finger!  😝  Hopefully that will be enough to give me strength and vitality to finish the Camino.  And now you know the rest of the story!

About today’s walk:  Another early start gave me two hours on the trail without seeing one pilgrim.  In fact in the 4.5 hour walk today, I think I only saw 5 total pilgrims.  That’s not necessarily my goal - I like the first hour or two alone to listen to praise and worship music, listen to Scripture and pray, but then I am willing to be used to encourage other pilgrims as He sees fit.  But there were very few that were on my particular part of the Camino.  

Today, even though I spent time praying for my family, I felt the need to pray for myself.  My dad’s journals were full of prayers for God to reveal any sin in him.  I prayed that God would do the same for me.  I want to be free of sinful attitudes and actions.  I don’t want anything questionable in my life.  It was a great time of prayer as God gently and lovingly showed me some things as He came and walked with me.  I confessed and asked Him to help me overcome.   

The trail today wasn’t super long and it was mainly flat, but for some reason my legs feel it more when there isn’t some up-and-down terrain to use different muscles.  The trail today took me through more agricultural areas than the past week.  While I was walking, it occurred to me that I hadn’t see any wildlife in the entire week I have been here.  In Missouri, in terrain like this, we always see deer or other types of wildlife.  Well, would you believe that shortly after thinking that, at about a distance of 300 yards, there was a doe and 2 fawns.  They didn’t linger long, as they must not be as used to people as they are in Missouri.

Another incredible sunrise, steepled churches, and cloud formations caused me to stop many, many times to document the beauty.  Maybe that should be your homework for today! Take some time, stop, drop what you are doing, and enjoy God’s creation right where you are!  Thanks for joining me on the Camino!  

Buen Camino.

Approximate total miles - 560

Approximate miles walked today - 12

Approximate miles remaining - 468

Lorca to Villamayor de Monjardín

Just a note before I begin my thoughts for today. A shout-out to those who are helping me with the behind the scenes details of the blog. Here is the process: As I begin walking early morning, I ask God for inspiration of what I should write. OK, maybe the snoring segment of yesterday’s blog didn’t come from the Lord. 😏 Once I finish my walk for the day, and get checked in at the Albergue (hostel), and get a shower, I begin typing on my phone or speak texting if no one is around. Once I finish, I then send it to three editors, my wife, Faith, and my daughters, Erica, and Becca. They have permission to correct typos, grammar, and anything that is just flat out dumb. After they are finished with it, Faith sends it to Pastor Jim, who also has a green light to edit as he pleases. And then he puts it into a format for the website. So please find time to thank these people for what they are doing.

When I began planning this trip 6 to 8 months ago, I made a decision that I was going to go as a pilgrim, and not as a pampered American. We as Americans like to be pampered. But I wanted to experience the Camino as other pilgrims do, which meant staying in common “Albergues” that sometimes will have several dozen people in a room. I did this for at least a couple of reasons. One is because when the apostle James ministered here in Spain, he didn’t pamper himself. He didn’t even have what we would consider the basics. But secondly, I have chosen to do this because I wanted to be available should God give me an assignment to help someone on the Camino. So about the only pampering I have allowed myself is my daily cup of coffee (actually today I made it two cups) after walking 5-6 miles in the morning. I drink that and eat a granola bar and that will generally do me for about 15 miles. But yesterday at the Albergue, I allowed myself to be pampered in another way. After walking a good part of the day in the rain, I was a filthy mess. My shoes and pants were muddy, and I hadn’t done laundry yet on this trip. I had brought along three pairs of hiking pants, and was on my last pair of half-way clean ones. My inner clothes were also needing to be washed. So the way you typically do laundry here is, they will give you a wash tub, and you go to the faucet and scrub and rinse and wring out your clothes. That is not fun after walking a good part of the day. But there was a lady that worked at the Albergue that was willing to do this for pilgrims - so, for 2 euros I was pampered and let her do my laundry! Now I did have to hang my own clothes on the lines, but I didn’t mind that. So I began the day today with clean clothes. What a good feeling!

Something else about last night’s lodging - when they took me to my room, it was a room with only four beds. Compared to the 24-28-bed rooms where I had been staying, it seemed like a private room. And it even got better when only one other pilgrim showed up for the night. He was from France - really nice guy. We struggled a little bit in our communication; I speak zero French and he didn’t speak much English or Spanish. But when you really need to communicate, you can get by. But perhaps the best thing I can say about my roommate is that he did not snore! Yippee! So last night was the best night of sleep I have had since I arrived. But as we were chatting in our very elementary way of communicating, one of the questions I asked him last night was, “What time are you leaving in the morning?”

He said, “I’ll probably leave around 7:30 or 8:00.” He was really hurting from walking and needed extra time in bed. I replied that I would probably leave a little earlier than that. I told him I like to walk early morning. And his response was really interesting. He said, “Well, the vibrations are better when you walk early morning.” I didn’t know for sure what that meant, but if having better vibrations helps you walk, I’m all for it! 😆

The walk today was a short walk of 11 miles. Right now with lodging so difficult to find, you basically plan your day according to where you can find lodging. I made reservations at a little community, as I would learn today, that overlooks a beautiful valley. It sits at the base of a castle that had its beginnings in the 11th century. Really incredible views all around.

Home for tonight

My body seems to be acclimating fairly well these days. For the last two days, I have lamented that I hadn’t been able to find lodging another 3-5 miles farther down the trail. They do say that the further you go on the Camino, the more pilgrims bail, and lodging isn’t as difficult to find. So even though I have lodging reserved for the next two nights (again, a bit closer than I wanted), I hope it will soon work out to find lodging at around 15 miles for each day. Finding lodging still continues to be the greatest stress point.

The trail was rather uneventful today. I did get my early start so I could get in on the good vibrations 😂, but the one feature about today’s trail is that it took us by one of the favorite places for most pilgrims. That is the famous wine fountain. It is sponsored by the Bodega (wine shop) of Irache. One faucet dispenses water and then the other dispenses wine. That’s right - real wine!!! Pilgrims love this spot! In fact, as I was walking up to this area, I saw a large group of people hanging out there. I wondered why, until I got there. As I read the signs, I realized the explanation. The signs do ask you to be considerate of the other pilgrims because they limit the daily flow of wine to about 25 gallons per day. But if you get there early like I did, the faucet still had a strong flow of wine! Ok, I am reading your mind right now - you are wondering - did I drink some wine? In fact some of you are wondering did I fill my water bottle with wine? None of your business! What goes on in Spain, stays in Spain! Haha!

The famous Wine Fountain

Ok, I’ll tell you! But not today. I will leave you in suspense until my blog tomorrow! You may be a bit surprised at the way this story ends. My family doesn’t even know! Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story! Have a good day!

Ruined castle on top of the mountain

The view I share with my eleven roommates

Utegra to Lorca

Here is something else I am learning on the Camino de Santiago: Snoring is an art! There are many different ways to snore. So far with my roomies I have identified the following types of snoring:

• The chainsaw snorer. His goal is volume! He doesn’t really care about anything beyond that. Style points don’t matter to him. His goal is for it to be loud and long!

• The squeaker. How do you snore out a squeak? I don’t know. But some people have mastered the the squeaky snore - probably some dainty lady from Paris.

• The puff snorer. They let out a puff and that’s it. I keep waiting for the rest of the snore, but all that follows is another puff! Puff. Silence. Puff. Silence. Kind of fascinating actually!

• The “growl, pssst.” Last night I was also intrigued with a very creative type of snore. In fact, I spent some waking hours analyzing this snore, and trying to figure out how to describe it to you. The first part is easy to describe. It sounds like a growl. So imagine a large dog with a vicious growl for about two seconds. But then the last part of the snore is the sound that I couldn’t figure out how to describe to you. And then it finally occurred to me that maybe it sounds like compressed air that is in a WD-40 can, or hairspray. When you push the button to make the hairspray or whatever, come out, there’s a little noise that sounds like pssst. Do you know what I’m talking about? So this snore started with a growl and then it ended with a little pssst. Growl, pssst. Growl, pssst. And since I had 23 roomies last night, I couldn’t exactly identify the source, but I think it was coming from a female. Growl, pssst.

• The “Is he dying?” This is the snorer who goes after it, and then doesn’t breathe again for about 45 seconds. Just when you are ready to do mouth-to-mouth on them, they make up for lost time and belt out another snore that is impressive and causes you to say, “Whew, thank the Lord!” But then you get back in your bunk and there is a long silence. You run back to them just in time to have them belt out another one. This type of snoring is most annoying - you stay awake the first part of the night worrying that they might die on you. And then the next part of the night you spend timing them to see what is the longest they hold their breath. And then the last part of the night you just spend praying that they would go see Jesus. I think they call that sleep apnea. I just call it annoying.

• The choking snore. This is the one I enjoy the most. They snore, choke and cough. All night long, snore, choke and cough. Snore, choke, cough. If I had some cough medicine I would pour it down their throat - I’m sure that would take care of the cough.

One final observation. I may not have earned the right to make this judgment yet, but I feel like I’m getting close. But I believe as a whole, men would probably have the advantage when it comes to snoring. But I don’t believe the ladies have to hang their heads in defeat, because some of them are very talented and aren’t far behind the men! And now you know all about the snoring that takes place with my roommates on the Camino de Santiago! 😆

Now let me talk about the trail today. As usual it was a pre-dawn start for me. The Albergue where I stayed actually included a breakfast with the 14-euro charge for the bed. But they didn’t begin serving until 7 o’clock— by that time I’m ready for lunch. So I left the hostel and went out into the darkness alone to begin my walk. Immediately I noticed a beautiful fireworks/lightning show that God had provided for me on the horizon. The lightning was impressive! But I’ll admit that it did worry me just a little bit. I hoped that it would stay in the distance. But the farther I walked, the thunder got louder, and the lightning got closer. Then the rain began to fall. Now mind you, in my research about the Camino, I had read that you must go prepared for rain on the Camino. That’s part of life on the trail. But so far I had had such amazing weather. When it began raining, it definitely not only dampened me, but it dampened my spirits. I put on my Sea to Summit poncho that covers not only me, but also covers the pack that I am wearing. As I kept walking, it was a little bit unnerving, because the lightning was pretty close. One jagged streak of lightning lit up everything around me, and there was the immediate clap of thunder. But what could I do? There was nowhere to escape the storm, so I kept on trudging. To open my heart, I just have to say that I was a little discouraged. Even though I knew this was part of life on the Camino, it wasn’t pleasant. But as I was walking along in that storm, still in darkness, except when the lightening would briefly show the terrain, all of a sudden up ahead, I saw a profile of something. As I got closer, I realized it was a cross. I tried to take a picture of it in the dark.

But I begin to think about the cross. In itself, the cross really has no power, though some people have made the cross into an idol. The significance behind the cross is what really matters. The cross represents the biggest storm that has ever come to earth. It was a storm Jesus had to walk through. And just as I was walking through my storm alone, on a much more significant and eternal level, Jesus was walking through that storm alone. His disciples had abandoned Him. His Heavenly Father had also turned His back on Him, essentially saying, “Son, you’re going to have to go through this one alone.” And Jesus did go through it alone! It was a horrible storm. It was a dark storm. It lasted for three days. But something happened on that third day! The storm subsided. And the “Son” came out - the Son of God came out of the tomb. And that gave hope to all of us walking in a storm.

I processed all of this as I walked alone through the rain and the lightning and the thunder. I began to pray for some of you who are in a storm. I prayed God would give you peace. And I promise you that someday the sun will shine again in your life. Today for me, the sun began to shine about 5 hours after the first rain drops started falling. Your storm may be way bigger than mine and may take longer to get through. But just as that cross alongside the trail gave me hope in my little storm on the Camino de Santiago, the cross also gives you hope in your storm on your camino. Today was one of those days where God came and walked with me - I said I was alone, but I really wasn’t. He came to me in the storm and walked with me. When I got to my hostel, I was covered with mud, but what an incredible day of walking with the One who calms our storms! I went from tears to praises and back to tears and back to praises. If you are in a storm, let the cross remind you that the sun/Son will shine again!

Bridge of the Queen

That’s my trail!

My upper room for tonight. I was definitely due for a laundry day after the rain and mud! I don’t think there’s any way my shoes will dry by morning. 🥴

Approximate total miles - 560

Approximate miles walked today - 13

Approximate miles remaining - 491

Pamplona to Utegra

Last night, since my schedule was fairly open, while other pilgrims were at bars getting lit, I decided to go to the huge Cathedral of Saint Mary that was built in the 14th and 15th centuries.  It has much history behind it.  I’m not Catholic but I think we could and should learn some things from our Catholic friends.  Well I was trying to decide whether or not to partake of communion.  I finally decided that I would - my communion was with God, not a church.  So at about the time I figured the elements would handed out, a lady with a basket began circulating around with what I thought was the bread.  When she came to me,  I reached in to take a piece of bread - the only problem was that it wasn’t bread!  It was the offering.  I jerked my hand out, not knowing how to even cover up my mistake.  Well then the realization of my embarrassing move hit my funny bone and I started shaking, I was laughing so hard!  To make it worse I had sat close to the front. I tried hard to not make a scene, but I’m afraid my mistake was discussed and laughed about later on.  But when it finally came time to take communion, I was out of the mood.  Silly pastor!

Many of you use the “find my” app on your phone.  It allows you to track family members (or anybody that you give access to) to see your location based on your phone.  I set my family up with this, just so I could prove that I was truly going to Spain and not Vegas. 😏 Well last evening I was walking the streets of Pamplona, and I got a text from my daughter Erica and she said Dad, are you at such and such a bar?  I tried to convince her that I was just walking by it, but not sure if she believed me.  😂  But I truly was just passing by - I know YOU will believe me!

Today was supposed to be my “zero miles” day so my body could rest and recuperate some, but a lodging issue complicated that idea and it was easiest to move on to my next stop.  But as I indicated yesterday, for this rest day I planned a shorter 11 mile day to not overdo it.  Surprisingly, this was my first day on the Camino that I didn’t want to stop and lamented that I hadn’t booked a hostal a few miles further.  But these days, finding a room is difficult and so I wasn’t going to take a chance on the room availability down the trail.  This was the best I have felt on the Camino so far.  I say this very guardedly, but I hope this means that my body is starting to accept the fact that this the new normal for the foreseeable future.  It was interesting that a notification popped up on my phone during the night that said something like this:  Your steps have dramatically increased over the past week!  I wanted to respond back, “Thanks for noticing!”   

For those of you who have been praying for the metatarsal bone that I broke in my left foot 2 and 1/2 weeks ago, thank you.  It still hurts, it still swells, but it is no worse than the 100 other places I hurt. 😆 But thanks for praying - so far I am able to push through the discomfort.

I loved my two stops today.  One was for coffee.  Another one was at a food bus.  It was so cool.  Check out the pics below.  

Always need a coffee stop mid-morning.

Not just a food truck - a food BUS with dining tables inside!

I didn’t follow my own advice that I gave in a previous blog.  I told about the need to keep your eyes peeled for the Camino signs indicating you are still on the right trail.  This morning when I left the privacy of my room with 27 roommates (haha), I was walking the 90 or so minutes to get out of Pamplona, a city larger than Springfield, I noticed a young lady close by.  She said, “I’m really not trying to follow you; our pace just happens to be the same right now.”  

We went through the typical progression in our conversation of asking the questions that we have already asked dozens of times such as, “Where are you from?  What brought you to the Camino?  What do you do for a living?”  

In the course of the conversation, it came out that I was a pastor and she said, “My dad is a pastor as well.” 

So we were just chit-chatting when all of a sudden, I realized I hadn’t seen a Camino sign for a while. The discussion around ministry and backgrounds had distracted us from the path. So I took out my phone with the app that gives my location in relation to the trail, and would you believe we were already off the trail by several blocks?  It ended up being no big deal, just an extra 15 minutes of walking, but I got to thinking about life. How many times do we get distracted from The Path by good things? Sometimes the distraction comes from our job, sometimes it is the busyness of running kids to all of their activities. Sometimes it comes with just the different stress points of life. But if we are not careful, one day we can wake up to the fact that we are off track. So as you begin your week, my question is, have you gotten off track? 

The trail I walked today is called the “trail of forgiveness”, but we all know that the trail of forgiveness goes by the cross and through the blood of Jesus.  So if you need to adjust your course, go to His App and access his forgiveness and get back on the right track!

Goodbye to Pamplona

Perhaps one of my favorite sunrises of all time!

My 85-year-old friend from Japan - 10th time to walk the entire Camino.

My friend from Australia. Don’t be jealous of my hat!

Bikers come to this area to train for the Tour de France and other races.

My home for the night. Only 23 roommates this time!