Final Dispatch from the Camino
We entered Santiago de Compostela at 2:11 p.m. On foot. We’d been hiking since sunup. Our pace was slow. Our clothes, threadbare. I was muttering the 23rd Psalm—a kind of private meditation on the trail.
Christianity
We Made It!!
Sean and his Bride have completed their epic trek. Stay tuned for more commentary after his legs get a rest.
Average Joe
Are our thoughts, words, and deeds acceptable in God’s eyes? Or do we speak one way in public and another way in private?
Dispatches Del Camino (#32)
Some of the most powerful lessons we pilgrims have learned on this proverbial Chisholm Trail have not been about life, or the nature of the universe. Our lessons have been in relation to each other.
Dispatches Del Camino (#31)
Here are a few random things I have written in my journal throughout my time walking the Camino de Santiago.
UPDATED!! WATCH: Dispatches From El Camino (#30)
Sean is back on the Camino! Here is a short video from him. Please pray for him and his wife.
Dispatches Del Camino (#29)
I am standing at a bus stop in the unrelenting rain. Although to call this a “bus stop” is being generous. It’s just a highway guardrail. I am alone on this empty highway, waiting to catch a ride out of O Cebreiro.
Dispatches Del Camino (#28)
Somewhere in the distant mountains, my wife is hiking the Camino. I should be with her, but I am here with shin-splinted legs and swollen calves.
Dispatches Del Camino (#27)
My taxi arrived at Ponferrada after a long, twisty, pleasant ride through the mountains. And by “pleasant” I mean that only one of three taxi passengers actually vomited. I paid our driver, then found a nearby bush where I could double over.
We are not going to make it without God and a spiritual awakening of America
For centuries, America has been the shining city on the hill, the land of opportunity, a unique Republic with liberty and justice for all. These have been displaced by immorality in our entertainment, dishonesty of our media and elected officials, intensive censorship in social media and the public square, the suppression of dissent, and, yes, even public safety, secure borders, and honest elections.
Gospel, or Prosperity Gospel?
Prosperity theology tells us that if we have faith (and donate to Christian ministries), we will receive financial blessings. Stop! That’s a dangerous belief!
Dispatches Del Camino (#26)
My wife and I parted in the lobby of the albergue. She was crying. It was a little-girl cry. The kind of crying you do when you don’t care who is watching you. She has never been self-conscious about her own emotions. Thank God nobody ever told this beautiful woman that it’s not dignified to cry in public.
Shock and Awe
The notification came that the world had a new pontiff. The white smoke had bellowed from the Sistine Chapel signaling such. First reports said an American was elected.
The Next Pope and the Battle for the Soul of the Church
On May 7, 133 cardinals filed into the Sistine Chapel and sealed themselves from the world in a centuries-old ritual. The white smoke will rise when the next pope is chosen, but Catholics shouldn’t be watching for continuity this time. They should pray for correction.
Dispatches Del Camino (#25)
My eyes first caught the sight of a rosary, lying on my nightstand. The rosary was given to me by a nun, a few villages back. The rosary bears a hieroglyphic-like symbol on it. I have no idea what this symbol means.
Dispatches Del Camino (# 24)
We limped into Rabanal Del Camino on three legs. I was holding Jamie for support as we ascended the inclined street into an isolated Spanish village with a population of 60 residents.
The View From The Pew
If there was one phrase to summarize the pontificate of Pope Francis it occurred early on in his tenure when he told a group of young people in Paraguay, “Go out and make a mess.” The Church descended into exactly that.
Dispatches Del Camino (#23)
Dear God, thank you for letting me happen upon this small church, so I might rest my anguished feet. This little church, alongside the Camino, somewhere in the far flung regions of rural Spain. A place where I can kneel and pray in solitude.
Another Confederate History Month Passed
With or without Confederate History months, the South as a regional sub-culture remains. Like every other culture in the history of the world, the South is evolving.
Dispatches Del Camino (#22)
Leòn Cathedral is among the greatest of human works in Gothic style. The church features one of the world’s largest collections of medieval stained glass windows.