(Murias de Rechivaldo to Foncebadon’: 20.8 km, 7 hours, with 1 hour & 50 minutes breaks; 29,800 steps, plus 2435 later)

Ephesians 2:11-22
v. 12b-13 …without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

We don’t ask everyone we meet why they are walking the Camino; I’ve started to perceive that people’s motivations are somewhat private. But almost none of the people we’ve asked have been able to elucidate a clear reason. They have an amorphous call, or they have issues to think through; they seem to be looking for something. The pilgrim graffiti in various places bears this out. There is a yearning, a search for meaning, a desire for something more. I’ve heard very little talk of God, which seems a bit odd on a Christian pilgrimage route. No one but us (that we’ve noticed) prays before dinner. My guess is that few of the pilgrims are committed to the Christian faith. They are, as Paul writes, “without hope and without God in the world”–as we all once were. I don’t think I say enough to offer the answer they are looking for, that “now in Christ Jesus [we all] who once were far away” and searching for our heart’s desire can be “brought near by the blood of Christ.” Dear Lord, please touch the heart of every person making this pilgrimage. Draw each one closer to the gospel of hope and salvation in Jesus.

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We got up and ready for the day by flashlight and the light of the bathroom and were outside in the dark by 7:10, but that was only because we had no breakfast. No breakfast is never a good thing but Maurice had a plan. Last night he had asked at Las Aguedas, another albergue, if we could come for breakfast and the hospitalero agreed. So we paid our 7 euros and ate in their cozy little wood-paneled dining room. There were cartons of juice to pour yourself, and tubs of margarine and jars of marmelade so you could pile as much as you wanted onto your hard toast–so much better than the teaspoon-sized pre-packaged condiments of a bar breakfast. Keep reading

Pilgrims

(Santibanez de Valdeiglesia to Murias de Rechivaldo: 16.7 km, 6 3/4 hours with 3 hrs stopping; 25,990 steps, plus 1940 later)

2Corinthians 4:1-18
v. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Jars of clay. Earthen vessels. Cracked pots. We are fragile beings, not made to long survive in this world. Yet God has given us precious treasure. Paul is referring to the gospel of salvation given to mankind, but there are other treasures too that we cherish in our jars of clay: love for family and friends, beauty we have beheld, wisdom hard acquired, dreams for the future. How could such riches disappear when our bodies return to dust? They don’t have to. The same all-surpassing power of God who gives the gifts is able to preserve them for eternity if only we grasp the best treasure, the salvation Jesus won for us on the cross. Our jars of clay will crumble but by Jesus’ sacrifice his own gifts to us will display his grace forever. Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful gifts you give us to enjoy even in our jars of clay.

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The mattresses were thin but once I fell asleep I stayed asleep until morning. Not so with Maurice. He was awakened by a commotion when the mother of the twins jumped up and dashed outside with her sleeping bag. “Bedbugs!” thought Maurice. Fortunately for us all, no, but not so fortunate for them, for one of the boys was sick. Keep reading