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

Leaving Leon at dawn

(Leon to Villar de Mazarife: 21.8 km, 5 1/2 hours, with 1 hr in breaks; 29,500 steps, plus 2520 later)

Romans 8:18, 31-39
v. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

This Camino is hard, and it hurts, but this is a journey of our choosing, a gentle yet persistent call freely accepted. In the big picture our misery is trifling. In the Leon museums I was confronted with depictions of faithful martyrs for the gospel dying gruesome deaths. Even their suffering, writes Paul, “is not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” It’s another hint of the inexpressibly wonderful kingdom God has prepared for his children. Thank you, Lord, for your grace to endure suffering and for your promises for the future.

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The workers in the streets labored all night setting up for festivities to begin anew the following night; we heard them whenever they hammered or shouted loud enough to wake us up. When we we left the hotel at 7:50 am, carrying our packs again, it wasn’t as cold as we had expected, probably only in the low fifties. The streets were dark and empty. As we walked traffic was sparse and some streets had none at all–at a time it would be rush hour in any city in the US. We decided the upcoming evening’s fest was to be such a big event that everyone was resting up for it. Keep reading

Tympanum at San Isidoro:  Abraham and Isaac and the ram caught in the bush

(Leon, Spain: 3721 walking-around steps)

Romans 8:5-13
v. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Subject to death, indeed. Death by thousands of steps each day, soon adding to millions, and the trauma they inflict on the body. Toes, arches, bunions, heels, all the rest of the feet, calves, shins, knees, thighs, hips, glutes, back, shoulders–it all hurts, just hopefully not all at the same time. Does the body ever get used to this? It is easier than it was the first week but we still ache at the end of the day. It’s probably harder on those of us at the far end of the age spectrum; we’ve had more decades to operate all our parts and start to wear them out. Yet the Spirit of Christ Jesus, perfect in righteousness and rich in love toward all he has created, continues to give us life by his grace. He renews us day by day and will do so until the moment he enlivens our dying flesh with immortality. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your life-giving Spirit at work even now, and forever, in those who trust in you.

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When we finally got up we had pastry and orange juice in our room before going for pastry and hot drinks at the chocolateria. In front of the cathedral we wandered around a vegetable market bursting with huge red peppers and fat onions.

At our little San Isidoro plaza a stage was being set up and decorative banners have been strung across the street we walk down. Keep reading

We had a couple of hard days but we are still walking.  Yesterday we crossed the mountains into green and beautiful Galicia (Ga-LEE-thee-ah).  All this Irish-looking green–you know what that means.  Even as I type, our laundry is tumbling in the overpriced secador. Keep reading

(Leon, Spain: 8250 walking-around steps)

Acts 9:1-19a
v. 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

Today I went in the cathedral, wrapped in stained glass and bathed in rich afternoon light. An adjacent museum contained treasure after ecclesiastical treasure–paintings, statues carved from wood and stone, manuscripts, gold and silver items, stone from the cathedral, jewelry, a piece of fabric from the seventh century, a delicately written and decorated thousand-year-old enigmatic hymnbook full of notes without a key signature. Common themes in all the art, of course, were the birth and death of Jesus. I passed a display of crucifixes–Jesus’ death again and again. Betrayed in the altarpieces, tortured in the paintings, crucified in the statues, over and over, here in Leon and all around the world–there must be enough representations for every person who ever believed, and every trespass we have all committed. On the cross he felt the sting of every sin as he suffered the righteous wrath of God on our behalf. Thank you, Jesus, for the cross!
….See all your sins on Jesus laid: The Lamb of God was slain,
….His soul was once an offering made for every soul of man. (Charles Wesley)

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Enough of the albergue culture–the enforced bedtime business and getting kicked out the door in the dark of the morning. Keep reading

View of Leon as we came down from the hills

(Reliegos to Leon: 24.3 km, 7 hours [not counting festivities] with 1 hr & 40 min breaks; 33,786 steps, plus 1500 later)

Luke 24:13-33

v. 15-16 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

Does Jesus walk along with us? I hoped he would. I ask him to. Sometimes I imagine him right next to me but when I look I only see the blue sky. Lord Jesus, open our eyes so we might see you better, in whatever way you appear to us.

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No breakfast was available, as the bar that ran the albergue didn’t open this early. A sign on our door warned against eating in the room (as well as informed us we needed to practice good hygiene) so we took our juice boxes, yogurt and bananas out into the dark morning chill of the patio. A bowl of figs sat on the table for hungry pilgrims, so I rinsed some off and packed them for later. Keep reading

(Sahagun to Reliegos: 30.8 km, 8 hours with 1 hr & 55 min breaks; 40,530 steps, plus 2240 later)

Luke 15:11-31
v. 20b “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

Shortly into our walk today we discovered we had miscalculated the milage. Instead of 23.9 kilometers to our planned stop it was closer to 31, a distance we never intended to walk in one day. And it wasn’t like we could stop sooner because we’d already sent our packs ahead to the selected town. Whoops. This would be a long walk, and on still-blistered feet. “We can do this,” we said to each other confidently. “We can do this.” Like prodigals returning from a far country we set off, praying that the Father would see us from “a long way off” and with compassion strengthen us all the way in. And he did.  With his gifts of grapes, potato chips, a perfect picnic spot, a ripe peach, we walked through all those kilometers and were home before we knew it. Thank you, Lord, for your great compassion for your wandering children. Thank you for meeting us right where we need it.

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We ate breakfast in our room, yogurt and juice boxes from the grocery store and delicious pastries I bought yesterday made by the bakery lady’s sister–pastry squares with the sides folded in to contain the custard and fruit. At 8:10 we posed by yet another sign saying it was the center of the Camino.

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Morning in Calzadilla

(Calzadilla de la Cueza to Sahagun: 22.5 km, 6 3/4 hours with 1.7 hours breaks; 32,179 steps, plus 5260 later)

Luke 10:1-12
v. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

Jesus had a mission for his disciples and instructions for how to go about it. Two things he said were: Travel light. Don’t get distracted by other offers along the way. These are good rules for us too. Everything you put in your pack weighs something and you have to carry it. Are you sure you need it? Even now we have a few more things we might send to Chris. And the artistic treasures along the way are a distraction to me. If we just stayed until this opens again, if we walked another kilometer or two over that way…. Maurice wisely tells me that if we look at everything we will never get to Santiago. Maybe that’s one reason Jesus sent his disciples two by two (v. 1): When one was tempted to go off track, the other could bring him back. This is wisdom for the rest of life too. Lord, show us what it means to travel light in life. Keep us from distractions that would compromise our mission.

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We were up by six, ate the tiny breakfast we had bought at a grocery store and left town by eight, last except for the South Korean men, one of whose poles were missing. I was back to wearing my old left shoe again; it’s a little tighter on the toes but the heel seems to be a better fit. The shoes are so dusty it is not immediately apparent they don’t match. The German guy from last night who didn’t approve of pack transport was just ahead of us; he had stayed in a private room above the restaurant. Pack transport, private room–we all have our own rules (and we’ll take some of each from time to time). It was 46 degrees but we were cozy in our gloves and new fleece pullovers. My knees were cold, though, taking me back to junior high days of miniskirts and knee-highs when we worried that extra insulation would develop around our exposed joints and we would have fat knees. We were on a nice path through a little gap; the surrounding horizon of purple, pink and yellow faded by the minute. Keep reading

(Carrion de los Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza: 17.3 km, 3 1/2 hours with one short break; 25,400 steps for the day)

Mark 1:35-39
v. 38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

I had thought about not even going to the pilgrim mass and blessing last night in Carrion de los Condes because I would be late but my heel and I hoofed it through the streets to the pretty little square and into Santa Maria. On my way to communion I noticed Tom the German composer. I was kind of surprised because the previous night he had told me he was having nothing more to do with the church. Yet he came forward for the prayer for the pilgrims and stood in line to receive a personal blessing from the sister. I spoke to him afterward and expressed my surprise. “You told me about the church and I came to try it out,” he responded. Now I was really surprised. “I felt real love here,” he said. Our brief conversation then gave me the chance to say a few things I hadn’t said in the previous village. Nothing changed his mind but he listened carefully; I suspected he might consider our conversation further. Preaching from village to village–that’s what Jesus said he had come to do. Even with my meager witness, is that some little part of why I have come here too? Lord, help me be faithful to proclaim your word in many ways, in any situation.

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It was just me and Maurice for breakfast in the basement dining room–no juice but a bowl of fruit, so we took some along for the road. We wrapped up our blisters, left our packs for pickup and, after putzing around looking for bread, left town at 8:45.

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(Boadilla del Camino to Carrion de los Condes: 25.1 km, 6.25 hours with 1.5 hours breaks; 34,457 steps, plus about 2200 later)

Mark 1:1-13
v. 12-13 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Maurice’s harp wakened us gently at six and we were the first ones up. I gathered my supplies in the dark and headed to the unisex bathroom. There was a bug on my towel. Well, it’s not like there are any screens around. I squashed it with a piece of tp and it was red. I will not panic, I will not panic. I showed it to Maurice. Our early start devolved into dragging all our belongings out into the sitting area, where there was a dim light and we could use the flashlight more easily, and carefully inspecting everything. Almost right away I found another bug crawling on my waist pouch, which had been hanging with my towel at the head of the bunk against the wall. Our French-Canadian roommate Tom was methodically packing up on a nearby chair and looked quizzically at our controlled frenzy. “Bedbugs,” I mouthed. He did not seem alarmed and walked back to the bunks, where Maurice had just spotted another bug on the wall. Tom, apparently expert in many things, did not think it was a bedbug. Indeed, these bugs were bigger than I thought the abominable creatures are. We did not find any more, nor had there been signs of their presence in the bunk room. My bunk was by the window and Maurice wondered if whatever these were had entered that way, crawling right down onto my hanging things. Not exactly wild animals in the wilderness but close enough for me, an unholy trinity of pestilence and gore. Lord God, thank you for moving the bugs right where we could see them and for your attending angels to alert us to the issue. Thank you for your peace.

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We were up at six, the first ones, quietly getting ready until The Incident, which caused enough delay that we were (no surprise) the last ones out at 8:30. Because of the blisters we decided to send the packs again, and I returned my old shoe to my left foot. After a quick breakfast in the cafe we soon were cheered by our lovely path along a canal with yellow morning sunlight peeking in and out of dark clouds. Keep reading