Dispatches: Time Along The Way

Jeff and Shelley are on a pilgrimage in Spain for a couple weeks! We’re excited to be able to share updates about their journey, what they experience, and what God shows them on their adventure.

“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:19-20

“Employing adjectives such as furious, passionate, vehement, and aching to describe the longing of God are my mumbling and fumbling to express the Inexpressible. Yet, I plod on.” Brennan Manning

Oh how I long to know the fullness of God’s love. I sit in ancient cathedrals where thousands have sat before me, each one crying out passionately, vehemently, to know God.

And there He is.

He promises that if we seek him, we will find him when we seek him with our whole heart. In fact, he calls to us all through the centuries: “I am yours and you are mine.”

Dear Father, I do not walk alone today, for you are with me. Guide me, protect me, love me along “the Way.” Amen.

Evening Reflections

I realize how much personal choice is involved in my relationship with God. I see it as similar to how I must move forward on this pilgrimage, crossing rivers, choosing where and when to stop and  for how long. I found myself wanting to push on, to get to the next stop. How quickly can I get it done?

Wrong question. I had to change my thinking: Why am I walking? Am I open to an interruption or a pause to reflect and contemplate?

I have so much choice in my knowing God’s love. He never changes, but I must if I am to have all that He desires for me.

We had finished lunch and were getting ready to leave when we saw Kay arrive. We had met her yesterday and heard some of her story, and I asked God to create a “chance” meeting. Here it was…but not on my timeline. I had a choice: receive what God had for me, or move past it.

So we paused, and for 30 God-given minutes, we heard from Kay, a 71-year-old from New Zealand who’s walking the whole Camino. She’s carrying her grief of the loss of her husband Bruce, and anger (as she puts it) because he left and did not take her along. She said she is looking for peace – an internal peace – and maybe forgiveness for Bruce for leaving her alone. Shelley and I had a great time sharing our journey of peace and our love for the Prince of Peace, in a beautiful sanctuary of God that looked a lot like a small stone building next to a dairy farm on a dirt road.

You see, God is everywhere, and He is what makes a place special and holy. The churches are beautiful and I love the art and dedicated care that has been given for God’s glory, but for me, on this day, God’s church was a stone bench along a dirt road. It formed a house of worship just for Kay, the one whom Jesus loves, who is looking for the peace that he is so eager to give. That is my beautiful cathedral.

We say every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God. Let’s not forget we are all messengers of God’s peace if we choose to make time to share it.

-Jeff