Author: Dave Dishman (Page 34 of 451)

Along the route of the Camino de Santiago townspeople built fountains to refresh pilgrims on their journey. Some fountains date back hundreds of years. Many still work, the water out of the tap clean, fresh, and maintained by the local municipality. One famous fountain even dispenses free wine, provided by a nearby winery and built to encourage pilgrims on their way.

Walking all day builds a powerful thirst. Instead of wine I carry water and refill my bottle regularly. Preferring the softer drinks, nothing tastes better to me after a long hot walk than an icy cold bottle of Coke.

Just as pilgrims encounter physical thirst, our souls face dehydration of their own. David wrote, As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

My soul yearns for the waters of God. I try other substitutes, but none sustain. His Holy Spirit refreshes and empowers. The Lord is the source, and our souls intuitively search for this relief.

While on his own journey Augustine prayed, You have formed us for yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you. Rest is another word for thirst. You and I thirst until we drink deeply from the fountain of the Lord. Then the waters of God refresh and satisfy—even better than a bubbly fountain of red wine.

Psalm 42:1

Photo: Water fountain along the Camino de Santiago

Long walks are good for my soul.

As I’m here again on the Camino de Santiago I’m reminded how walking, day after day for mile after mile, settles my heart and mind. The sheer physicality helps my body. I enjoy the sun and sky. As I turn off social media, email and newsfeeds, worries fade into the distance. To go to bed tired, after a good meal, makes for a refreshing night’s sleep. How can my soul not benefit?

Ages ago a psalmist wrote of such walks as he praised to the Lord: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

We might rephrase the words as happy are those who walk and think about God. You and I don’t have to travel around the world to enjoy ambling with the Lord. Just out the door his creation waits. If I make the time, back home I can also enjoy the rhythm of tramping along, one foot in front of the other, enjoying nature and letting regular life slide away for an hour or two.

Keep walking—that’s one of my takeaways from the Camino. No matter where I find myself, I can stroll and enjoy a few minutes in the presence of the Lord. As I do so even the briefest meander transforms into a pilgrimage.

Psalm 84:5

Photo by Jon Tyson

I meet a lot of happy people on the Camino. For many it’s a trip they’ve been contemplating for years. Others, more spur of the moment, hear of the walk and join in with enthusiasm. But always a number of people carry burdens along with knapsacks.

We’ve met a few over the years. My wife talked to a grandson walking in honor of his late grandmother. We mourned with a friend who recently lost his brother. Others walk with cancer. Many hike with anxieties and worries and wrestle with the Lord. It’s an honor to learn of someone’s grief and be allowed in. But I wonder how best to pray for each person beyond their immediate need?

I think the words given by God to the children of Israel fit the call. On their pilgrimage from Egypt to the promised land, the Lord spoke to Moses and gave him this blessing for the priests to say over the people:

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Loads of people walk the Camino seeking peace. Personally, I enjoy several days away from the cacophony of life. Others confront God with deep disappointments, regrets and pain. Peace seems impossibly far over the horizon. But something about walking and walking and walking some more moves our soul into a place of receiving. We begin to hear the feedback of our own footsteps, and a peace from the Lord emerges.

Give you peace. We all seek it. Let’s pray this blessing for each other, whether we travel a challenging path or endure a life that seems long and lonely. The Lord is gracious. Turn to him and walk towards peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

Photo: A peaceful section of the Camino de Santiago

The hills of Northern Spain remind me of the Ozarks where I grew up. Perhaps that’s one reason I love walking the Camino de Santiago. The route rises and falls through hills covered in forests and dotted with farms. This countryside is one reason pilgrims adopted Psalm 121 as the Pilgrim’s Psalm:

I will raise my eyes to the hills; From where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who watches over you will not slumber. Behold, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your protector; The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not beat down on you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time and forever.

A thousand years of pilgrims walked to Santiago through the elements, under the sun, with uncertain conditions and among strange peoples. Many persevered for months on their journey. I’m walking for a week, but still under a hot sun or through cool rain as I trudge up and down these Spanish hills.

Like I meander on this trek, I also wander through life. In the midst, the Lord keeps my feet steady. He remains my keeper, my shade, my bodyguard, and the giver of life. I raise my eyes to the hills, knowing that my help comes from the maker of all such heights, from our magnificent God who neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Psalm 121

Misty hills along the Camino. Photo by former pilgrim Matt Jackson