Dispatches Del Camino (#31)
Here are a few random things I have written in my journal throughout my time walking the Camino de Santiago.
Faith
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 (# 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.
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.
The Book of James: A How-to Guide for Christians
The Book of James in the New Testament is a wonderful instruction manual that explains how to implement our Christianity, even in today’s busy world.
Dispatches Del Camino (#19)
He was a blind man, walking the highway toward El Burgo Ranero. If he wasn’t totally blind, the sunglasses meant he was low vision. Cars shot past him as he trudged along, seemingly unaware of the vehicles.
Dispatches del Camino de Santiago (#17)
A bar, somewhere in rural Spain. A rooster is crowing near the open door. Distant goats are bleating. Spanish farmers gather to chew the morning fat.
Dispatches Del Camino (#15)
Every day is the same. You wake up; you walk. Eat, sleep, walk. Repeat. Also, you look for cheesecake. You are always looking for cheesecake. You’ve learned that Spain has the best cheesecake in the known solar system.
I Am the Vine
“I am the vine and you are the branches,” is a familiar scripture. What does it mean to be a part of the vine? And what does it mean to “remain” in the vine?
Dispatches Del Camino (#11)
We all stand outside the small market in Villamayor. There are about twenty-five, maybe thirty of us hapless, fatigued pilgrims. Sweaty and covered in grit. All wearing the same clothes we were wearing two weeks ago.
Dispatches Del Camino De Santiago (#10)
Grañón is a small village dating back to 885. The stone streets are empty this afternoon. Siesta is underway, the Spanish world has shut down to observe their daily food coma. There are seemingly no rooms in all of Spain tonight. There are 40 percent more pilgrims walking the Camino, we are told, than there …
Requiescat in Pace, Pope Francis
My Twitter — I refuse to call it 𝕏 — feed was full of chortling posts claiming that the Vatican denied Vice President J D Vance a meeting with Pope Francis, sending the Vatican’s second-ranking official instead, in what the left loudly proclaimed was a deliberate snub to Mr Vance. That’s not quite what it …
Dispatches From El Camino (#4)
The 83-year-old woman has been opening her home to pilgrims since before I was born. Currently, she is bustling around her house, gathering fresh towels and soaps for us. We are standing in her doorway, drenched, cold, and looking about as content as wet Himalayan cats.
Dispatches from El Camino, (#3)
We leave our inn at daybreak. Our innkeeper is awake and already at the front door, wearing a robe, waiting to say goodbye to us. Like a mom seeing her kids off to school. She gives us a heartfelt and emotional goodbye in French, with double kisses and everything.
Made in the Image of God: Creating Order in a World of Chaos”
Life is chaos. Not metaphorically. Not symbolically. At its core, existence is one long, tangled mess of disorder, uncertainty, and entropy. From the spinning galaxies to the storms on Earth to the mess in your kitchen—chaos is the natural state of things.
The Shroud of Turin: Ancient Hoax or Holy Relic?
For centuries, one mysterious piece of cloth has captivated believers, skeptics, scientists, and historians alike: the Shroud of Turin.
Dear Heaven
Dear God,
It’s me again. Actually, I don’t know what you want me to call you. For all I know, you might prefer to be called something Hebrew, Latin, or maybe you don’t want to be called anything at all.
Buen Camino
Today, my wife and I will become pilgrims. We will walk the breadth of Spain, upwards of 500 miles, over Pyrenees Mountains, on foot, to visit the remains of the apostle James.
Spring Has Sprung!
Worship is the way that we show reverence, respect, and love for our God. And music is one of the wonderful ways that we can worship!
El Camino de Average Joe
People from all over the world are traveling to this sacred place. Farmers and peasants. Lords and ladies. Rich and poor.