When I decided to start seminary, I had a sense that God was
calling me to leadership in the church but I still wasn’t sure what that meant –
it excited and terrified me. In that
time of transition, I sought the wilderness of Big Bend National Park and set
out for a few days of solo-backpacking through the Chisos Basin and across the
South Rim. The journey became a
spiritual one without my intending it to be; with each step I experienced a
sense of communion with God that I still struggle to articulate. Five years later, I find myself at another precipice
- standing just beyond graduation and looking toward my first call as
Pastor. I began to look for regular work
to support my family during this interim time, but doorways of opportunity kept
closing in front of me. In the back of my mind I was trying to
generate ideas to use this gap in a meaningful way – to see it as an opportunity
instead of a source of anxiety. I hit
one last closing door. You know, some
people have a bad Tuesday and go out for a glass (or three) of wine… I bought a
plane ticket to Spain.
For years I’ve dreamt of reuniting with the country where I
studied abroad (almost 10 years ago now), where I was humbled in every way, and
where I gained a love for transformative travel. But I’m not going back for vacation exactly, I’ve
decided to take on the sacred practice of pilgrimage. I’ll be walking the Camino de Santiago de
Compostela across Spain – 27 days, 434 miles, solo. While not as remote as the wilderness of
those desert mountains in Texas, the process of pilgrimage carves out similar space
in the soul for the divine. My prayer is
that this time is one of abiding in God as I continue to discern my call in
ministry. It’s a sort of spiritual “clearing the airwaves” so that I might be
better attuned to God’s continued presence and guidance in the days to come. I am excited and terrified. I ask for your
prayers in this journey as I will pray for you with each step.
Here are the details:
- I leave mid-August, return mid-September.
- Following the Via de la Plata – from Sevilla to Santiago
(1000km).
- Adjusting for time, I’ll bus through 300km in the middle.
- Total – 27 days on the trail, 698.6km (434 mi), roughly
the distance from Houston to Oklahoma City
