Pilgrimage. This word came to my mind today with new significance as I thought about the journey I’m about to embark on. A quick google search defines a pilgrimage as “a journey, often a long one, of spiritual significance.” However, I much prefer how Michael Yankoski describes this idea in his book, A Sacred Year, “Pilgrimaging means living as though the journey itself is worthwhile, including the ups as well as the downs, the highs and lows, too, and everything in between. Pilgrimaging means living as though there are not only experiences to be had but lessons to be learned, people to meet, and great goodness to embrace along the way.” I’m thinking this World Race thing fits quite nicely in the Pilgrimage category.
There is something very human about pilgrimage. Just look around you, there are pilgrimages to The Holy Land, Santiago de Compestela, Rome, Mecca. This idea of a pilgrimage is not new. There is something inside of us that longs for something more. We long for purpose and a place to belong. We want to feel as if we’ve “arrived” somewhere, and like we know where we are going.
I’ve always been fascinated by St. Francis. Maybe it was the beautiful paintings I saw in Spain depicting him feeding poor and caring for the animals that caused me to investigate further. As it turns out, a pilgrimage changed the life of St. Francis of Assisi. He had a luxurious life before he went on a pilgrimage to Rome where he encountered God in a real way through serving and interacting with the poor. He was changed forever. As a result of his pilgrimage, He dedicated his entire life to simplicity and to serving the poor and serving God. I always knew I liked that guy.
I get really excited when I think about this idea of pilgrimaging around Central and South America. Tomorrow my team and I begin our journey in El Salvador! We have a special assignment for the month of January called Unsung Heroes. We will be traveling around the country, listening to the Lord, and meeting missionaries and pastors. We will seek out places where the Kingdom is being lived out with the hope of being able to support their ministry and possibly send WR teams there in the future.
Please pray for…
– UNITY. My team has the chance to tangibly live out being the hands and feet of Jesus, please pray that we would be united and not distracted by division of any kind.
– PEOPLE OF PEACE. There is this cool concept that comes from Luke 10 called people of peace. These are people who are open to the things of the Lord and well connected in their communities. Please pray that Jesus would show us who those people are in the places that we visit.
– PROTECTION. Please pray for protection against discouragement! And please pray for safety as we will be traveling frequently this month. Trusting in Lord’s provision!
It blows my mind to think about the beautiful reality of the pilgrimage this year holds. People aren’t the same after a pilgrimage. I look forward to the process of daily walking this out. And as our buddy Donald Miller writes, “Only the good stories have characters different at the end than they were at the beginning” (Through Painted Deserts). Here’s to a different Daniela, tomorrow and then the next day, and the next…by His grace.
