Author: Dave Dishman (Page 320 of 459)

While walking the Camino de Santiago it’s common to exchange the greeting, buen camino, or good walk, with other pilgrims. It’s used so often that after finishing the Camino I find myself greeting people with it for the next few weeks.

Like us, most pilgrims finish their final leg of the Camino de Santiago at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. But a select few continue on to the sea, another four days of trekking.

These pilgrims walk to Finisterre (the “end of the earth”), a spot which for years was thought to be the western-most point in Europe. After arriving, pilgrims often burned their clothes to symbolize both the end of their pilgrimage and the putting on of a new life (I’m not sure what they wore home).

We finished in Santiago and later took a bus tour to Finisterre (we didn’t burn any clothes, although one dude was burning some pants). The cross in the photo above symbolizes much I love about the Camino. At the end of the walking and struggles and pains and challenges, Jesus waits. He’s with us the whole time, but he’s especially present at the end.

Which makes the walking worthwhile.

Buen Camino.

Camino de Santiago 2021

As my wife and myself and several friends journey to Compostela (along with lots and lots of new or soon to be friends), we pray for ourselves and our fellow travelers. The following is an old, old prayer for pilgrims:

God, you called your servant Abraham from Ur in Chaldea, watching over him in all his wanderings, and guided the Hebrew people as they crossed the desert.

Guard these your children who, for the love of your Name, make a pilgrimage to Compostela.

Be their companion on the way, their guide at the crossroads, their strength in weariness, their defense in dangers, their shelter on the path, their shade in the heat, their light in darkness, their comfort in discouragement, and the firmness of their intentions, that through your guidance they may arrive safely at the end of their journey and, enriched with grace and virtue, may return to their homes filled with salutary and lasting joy.

I think we’d all be happy with salutary (health-giving) and lasting joy.

Camino de Santiago 2021

Photo of a Roman-era bridge on the Camino de Santiago

Since 861, people in search of God have walked the Camino de Santiago (the Way of Saint James). As the years passed, one particular psalm became known as the Pilgrim’s Psalm:

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber or sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

psalm 121

You can see why these verses might sink into the heart of a pilgrim, a person walking mile after mile towards an unknown place.

This week my wife and I and a group of friends embark on the Camino de Santiago. Although we established our walking route long ago, none of us know quite where the Lord might take us during our journey.

And that’s the way of the pilgrim.

Camino de Santiago 2021

Photo by Beth, a friend and past pilgrim

Several years ago, after each of my sons graduated from college, I gave them a sword that I bought in Toledo, Spain (a city famous for its swords) with this verse inscribed on it:

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love (1 Corinthians 16:13).

This week I’m back in Spain, and I read this verse as part of my morning devotions, which actually happened this afternoon due to a jet-lag hangover. The Lord brought this passage to my bible reading schedule while visiting the country where I purchased gifts for my sons years ago. Nice timing.

(In case you’re concerned, I also gave a sword to my daughter upon her college graduation, but I had a different verse inscribed on hers).

Paul’s advice to the Corinthians still wears well—keep your eyes open, stand strong, act like men (we’re often afraid to say that these days), do the right thing, don’t back down to evil. Finally, do it all in love.

Good advice for young men, and for an old man gallivanting across Spain.

I Corinthians 16 in week thirty-seven of reading the Bible cover to cover