Santiago patiently waiting for us to get going in Villar de Mazarife

(Villar de Mazarife to Santibanez de Valdeiglesia: 19.5 km, 5 3/4 hours, with 1 hr & 30 min breaks; 27,271 steps, plus some more later)

1Corinthians 10:1-13
v. 13 No temptation or testing has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Today’s passage is talking about suffering again. But God always comes to the rescue, stepping in just when we think we can’t bear any more. He does this in little ways too: a bar with a loo when I’m about to burst, real beds without a lot of searching, Maurice’s phone with our music for the hard walks, fuentes flowing with cool water. These are little things mostly, things pilgrims a thousand years ago wouldn’t have needed but we 21st-century American weaklings do. In his tenderness God stoops to meet us where we are. Thank you, Lord, for all the ways you step in to meet us on this pilgrimage and in all of life.

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It was cold during the night in our sea green room in the Albergue de Jesus and we were thankful for the new-looking horse blankets at the foot of our beds. In the tiny bar we ate toasted crusts for breakfast. Keep reading