The Camino is by far the hardest thing I have ever done; and I only did a portion of it. In fact, before I embarked on this crazy adventure I couldn’t imagine why any sane person would choose to walk ump-teen miles a day for weeks at a time over mountains and through what felt like deserts carrying all of your belongings on your back. Luckily the Lord knows me and has bigger and better plans than I could ever come up with.
This experience has been harder than anything else I have experienced because it quite literally brought me to the end of myself. I had no choice but to rely on Him and my teammates to get me through it. Unfortunately, they couldn’t walk those miles for me; all they could do was encourage and convince me that I could do it, not an easy task. My hardest day, day three, was when it really hit the fan. I was walking and walking and walking and all I wanted to do was cry, but I didn’t have the energy. Have you ever been to a place where you don’t have the energy to cry? That’s the place the Lord showed himself to me in brand new ways.
He knows I have an adventurous spirit, so he took me through a vineyard in Spain under the stars! Put a wine fountain in my path. Brought me to the top of a mountain overlooking the Spanish countryside! I love an adventure but I would have never imagined the adventures He had in store for me.
He showed up through my team who let me sleep and made me dinner when my body was done. Who encouraged me by not complaining themselves. Who talked and talked when all I could do was listen. Who suffered with me.
If even for a second I thought “what the heck am I dong here?” he showed me beautiful sunflower fields that reminded me of home.
He put a little free library on the side of the road for me!
He gave us beautiful places to stay. The hosts at these Donativos were the most hospitable people I have ever met. They greeted us with lemonade, watermelon, and a hug even though we smelled. They doctored our nasty feet and refused to let us carry our too heavy packs. They forced us to sleep in and made us breakfast. They showed us true hospitality. Now that I have experienced it I cannot want to pour it out on others.
After day three when I didn’t think I could keep going, but somehow did, I learned a magical trick… you can pay to send your bag ahead to your destination!!! Most “real” pilgrims would consider this cheating, but as my sweet friend Agetha pointed out “we didn’t choose the Camino, the Camino chose us” so I was 100% on board for “cheating”. Now I could get really deep here with a metaphor about laying down your burdens and the fact that Jesus payed for us to do that. Trust me, my team spent a whole day in awe of this tangible example of that, but that is a whole other blog.
Maybe its a coincidence that once I lost the pack I was able to focus on the people around me. Maybe, it was the Lord bringing me to a place where I physically could not “do it” anymore, choosing to lay it down and see how that affected the relationships around me. Either way, this was my favorite part. The nations come together before my eyes. We celebrated birthdays together and talked for hours even with language barriers. When you have nothing to do but talk and walk, things get real, fast. I had conversations with these people after 5 minutes that I have never had with friends I have known for years. One evening we were able to come together for a beautiful dinner with *I think* 8 nations represented around the table. This. Is. My. Heart. Why is it so hard to bring people from different cultures together at home? I want my table to look like this for the rest of my life. Starting right now sharing life with my team over the next few months learning about them over the table and inviting people in to share that with us.
This was the Lords greatest gift to me on the Camino. People. They are worth the miles. They make the views sweeter. They encourage you. They make you want to keep going so you can continue to hear their story. They help you reach your water bottle. Seeing my team love people was such a treat. You learn so much about a person by seeing how they love others.
Maybe after all of this I might just consider coming back to the Camino…. for the people and relationships. After I have time to recover and forget about day three, of course.
