Pilgrim's Progress: Final Post: The Camino Doesn´t End Here

This will be my final posting for this blog. I have other stories to share, some of which are my most meaningful moments on the Camino, but I realize that with my return to the USA tomorrow, November 2, I need to be looking forward. Perhaps some of these stories will come out in my monthly "broadcast reports" that I have been writing for the last eleven years.

Before concluding, I would like to share one story from the Camino that was especially meaningful to me. One day, a friend shared with me that he had met a man from Scotland who had had a big argument with his wife. (Henceforth, I will call this man from Scotland, "Scotty.") Scotty decided to take some time away and, in just three short days, he had gathered his supplies and arrived to walk the last half of the Camino. When I heard this story from my friend, I was really grieved. I could only imagine the turmoil that Scotty and his wife were experiencing. Or perhaps I should say that - while Scotty was walking the Camino - I could only imagine the emotional turmoil that his wife back home was experiencing. I felt compelled to pray for him and hoped that - wherever he was - God would do something special in his life on the Camino.

A couple of days later, I was sitting at an outside cafe having a late lunch and looking through my guide book to decide where to stay in town. I then gathered my backpack and walking sticks and started heading the .7 kilometer to the other side of town to register for the night at the albergue where I had decided to sleep. Just at that moment, I found myself walking next to a younger gentleman and we started to chat. As it turns out, it was Scotty, the man for whom I had felt such a burden two days earlier!

Scotty and I only walked less than a kilometer together, but despite the brevity of our conversation, we really connected. He openly shared a bit about his situation with his wife, and then I openly shared how burdened I had been when I had previously heard his story and how I had even prayed for him. He was touched by my sharing and it just seemed "right" to talk with him more about this. In the end, we stopped walking and stood outside the albergue where I had decided to stay. I challenged him, you know, in my gentle way (smile) to be in touch with his wife. He shared that she had responded to his Facebook page. I shared back that this was her way of reaching out and it was possibly now his responsibility to reach out to her, not on Facebook, but with a more personal email. Perhaps I was a bit bold here, but I reminded him of his marriage vows, asked him if he had children (yes, a girl who is age three), and encouraged him to not give up but to do all in his power to save his relationship with his wife.

When we were preparing to part, he admitted that he had cried out to God a day or so earlier, asking "whoever" is up there to hear him and to speak to him. I smiled and said, "I can assure you, God is reaching out and speaking to you, and I hope you will listen" (smile again!). He then said, "People say that there are moments on the Camino when you have a ´Camino experience´. I think this is mine. I WILL consider what you have said and I probably WILL be in touch with my wife."

This past Saturday night, about 1 1/2 weeks after this conversation, while I was staying at that albergue on Mount Gozo that looks like a WWII concentration camp, I looked up and Scotty was standing in front of me! He came up to me and shared, "I had hoped I would see you! I wanted to tell you how meaningful that moment we shared was for me. I DID contact my wife and we are talking again and are going to make a renewed effort to make things work out. Thank you so much for what you shared." I was, of course, touched. I even had the opportunity to encourage him again, this time, to go home, start seeking God (not religion!) in the Gospel of John, and to examine how his vertical relationship with God could help to restore his horizontal relationship with his wife. He nodded and I really believe he will go home, get a Bible and start reading about the ways that Christ related to people...NOT people relating to religious practices. And I believe that he will go home too and begin the reconciliation process with his wife. Not only was this a Camino moment for Scotty, it was a Camino moment for me too.

Speaking of Camino moments, those of us who have walked this long pilgrimage realize that the Camino is not just a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It is a walk for the rest of one´s life. I heard about two men who were walking and talking and one of them said, "I am going to meet God in Santiago." The other looked up and replied, "If you want to meet God in Santiago, then you need to take Him with you." I see life like that. We will never really "meet God" ahead of us unless we are willing to respond to the Light we have now received and to allow him - as it says in Proverbs - "to direct our paths and to make our paths straight". No, we don´t have little yellow arrows to guide us, but we do have the assurance that God will never leave us or forsake us.

I attended another service at the Cathedral a couple of days ago, and a special choir from Germany was present. Just at the end, as the organ churned out its majestic notes, the choir began to sing the "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel´s Messiah. When I heard those notes trumpeting forth, and as I heard the beautiful voices singing praise to God, I thought to myself, "Lord, THIS is what the Camino is really about...THIS is what life is about...believing in you as we seek to endure to the end and as we seek to carry your truth to the ends of the earth, praising you with jubilant voices, and trusting that you WILL guide us and direct us to complete the life that you have bestowed upon us." I hope YOU my readers will also be inspired to consider this truth in your life, and I hope you also know how much I appreciate your love, care and prayers for me during this special time.