Camino Frances - Introduction

I think walking the Camino de Santiago has always been an irrational act...

Why is it irrational?

• It takes a long time, 30 to 45 days on the most popular route (Camino Frances).
• This pilgrimage is a walk, 500 miles through the mountains, plains, highways and by-ways of Spain.
• There is a good chance you will be injured on the walk.
• There is a good chance the outcome will not be what you expected.

It's irrational from my perspective; that of a middle-aged, middle-class, American male. Most of us can't take a month and half off of work, or away from family and responsibilities. Spain is a beautiful place to see but there are many more efficient modes of transport than walking. And why use that kind of vacation time to develop chronic shin splints, infected blisters the size of golf balls, muscle aches, joint pain, and probably a few bed bug bites along the way? Then there's the chance that you arrive in Santiago de Compostela AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED with you save a few callouses, rock-hard calves and a new found love for chilled red wine.

A pilgrimage walk on the Camino de Santiago is an irrational act.

And that's why you should do it.

We need more people willing to step out of the rat race-mundane-status quo just for the chance to do something irrational. Maybe the first step to victory is to recognize there is more to life than the rat race-mundane-status quo that others have convinced you is the key to successful living...

Browns Lake, the First Installment

July 20, 2014 - flying by the seat of your pants...

The adventurous tale of our ascent to Browns Lake (elevation 11,260') begins at 650' above sea level and 880 miles from the idyllic alpine lake...

My personal belief is that a proper road trip/adventure should proceed with as little planning as possible; this is contingent, of course, on the consent of one's travel companions. Dan and I were in full agreement, our spouses bound by the "for better or worse" vow, and Caleb and Rachel ready to go anywhere.

Our carefully considered Transportation Plan A of traveling in one 7 passenger SUV was quickly derailed when we were able to get a good look at the 7 passengers and the accompanying luggage. Plan B - two cars, the SUV and a sporty Subaru.

Dan and I road in the Subaru for the first leg (San Antonio to Snyder) of the trip; discussing politics, religion, weather, cars and motorcycles the entire way.

Note to self - develop thoughts on "Dominionism".

Brenda, Hannah, and the kids traveled behind with good conversation and a soundtrack of good, progressive bluegrass!

Snyder to Lubbock was uneventful and as we rolled north out of Lubbock on the "eternal highway" towards Amarillo, we decided it was time to book a couple of affordable and clean rooms in Amarillo. Plan A - La Quinta West to rack up a few hotel points and a good launch into Colorado tomorrow morning.

Note - when traveling by the seat of your pants, you mustn't panic when there are glitches.

La Quinta West, totally booked. No problem, La Quinta East will suffice, Plan B.

La Quinta East, totally booked. We were approaching Canyon and didn't have a place to lay our heads. Still no panic on our part, though the occupants of the other vehicle were getting a little nervous.

Plan C, search hotels.com and every other website looking for a couple of clean rooms (the exacting standards of our wives) for under $30 a night (the tight wallets of Dan and I). The best we could come up with was a Holiday Inn Express just west of downtown Amarillo, significantly higher than our $30 budget.

Two rooms booked...and then we received the confirmation e-mail on the south side of Amarillo:

"We are so excited that you have chosen to stay at Holiday Inn Express. We hope you enjoy your time in Amarillo, Texas. See you on August 3, 2014. Check-in time 3:00pm"

No Country for Old Men, a great story of west Texas travels

Plan D, back to the web, expanding our search parameters to Borger, Dumas, Dalhart, Hartley, Texline, or anywhere north of Amarillo. We found a couple of suitable rooms that looked like something out of "No Country for Old Men," these suitable rooms quickly nixed by the wives...

After scouring the northern plains of Texas, we settled on the Holiday Inn Express in beautiful Dumas, Texas. Not the most desirable spot to spend the first night of vacation and about $100 more a night than we wanted but such is life when you travel by the seat of your pants...

Conclusion: The Christmas Truce of 1914 and the Presence of God

The question at the end of Part 1:

If God can reveal himself in this, one of the most hellish inventions of man, can he reveal himself in any situation?

I think, based on the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 and many similar stories, the answer is yes...and maybe the more darkness, the more despair, the more likely it is that God will hear the cry of those seeking love and peace.

And the questions at the end of Part 2:

How will He make His presence known? A miracle, a divinely ordained leader, a wild-eyed prophet?

How does He make His presence known?


Sometimes through the miraculous, and sometimes by a divinely ordained leader(s), and sometimes by a wild-eyed prophet. But ultimately in Christ, and after the resurrection/ascension...the body of Christ.


You, and me.

Part 2 - The Christmas Truce of 1914, a Crowder Song, and the Presence of God

After hearing the stories of the atrocities and destruction and death of World War I and then hearing of the beautiful story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, I have concluded that God can make his presence known in the most hellish of situations.
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For a few years I have been very interested in the plight of the unaccompanied immigrant children leaving their homes in Central America and making the perilous journey to the United States. I have been blessed and changed by my involvement in this plight. I have also been frustrated because it seems like we could be doing so much more to help, especially in the suburban church world.

In May of this year, it was as if the media discovered this plight and it became an everyday part of the news. Estimates of 70,000 kids making the perilous journey this year alone, shelters on the border are overflowing, the conditions are horrible, women and small children are becoming part of the story, and on and on...

In June of this year I was in large worship gathering at an affluent mega-church in San Antonio. The worship band played the awesome David Crowder song, "I Am":

"There's no space that his love can't reach

There's no place that we can't find peace

There's no end to amazing grace

Take me in with your arms spread wide

Take me in like an orphan child

Never let go, never leave my side."

My mind is prone to wander during a worship service, it's like it has a mind of its own...as I tried to sing this song and engage in praise with 1000 members or so of my family, I couldn't help but think of the first verse of this song and the thousands of people in the shelters on the border and the countless number of people hiding in the south Texas Brush Country and the countless number of people staging on the Mexican side of the border and the countless number of people riding atop the "Train of Death" through Mexico.

It was easy to feel the love and peace of God in this beautiful gathering, but I wondered:

• Can His love reach into the shelters? Can those in the shelters find His peace?

• Can His love reach into the hot and thorny south Texas brush? Can one find peace in that place?

• Can His love reach across the border into the land controlled by the Cartel and Coyote? Can the anxious alien know peace in that place?

• Can God ride atop La Bestia? Can the travelers find peace among the fear and violence on top of the rail cars?

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I think, based on the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 and many similar stories, the answer is yes...and maybe the more darkness, the more despair, the more likely it is that God will hear the cry of those seeking love and peace.

How will He make His presence known? A miracle, an divinely ordained leader, a wild-eyed prophet...

How does He make His presence known?

Part 1 - The Christmas Truce of 1914, a Crowder Song and the Presence of God

Part One
The Christmas Truce of 1914

If you love history like I love history, I highly recommend this resource:

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

Last week I had the pleasure of listening to 13+ hours of the "Blueprint for Armageddon" series. The first four parts of the series cover the circumstances that led to World War I and its opening battles. Here are descriptions from the four parts:

*a Pandora's Box of violence engulfs the planet *millions of men in dozens of armies vie in the most deadly and complex opening moves of any conflict in world history *trench warfare begins, and with it, all the murderous efforts on both sides to overcome the static defenses *machine guns, barbed wire and millions of artillery shells create industrialized meat grinders at Verdun and the Somme

I have not invested much time studying the World Wars and was shocked at the destruction that we, civilized people in civilized countries, were willing to do to each other for some real estate or an ideology. The conditions that the soldier on the front endured are unimaginable for me. Harold Parry, a Brit Poet/Trench Soldier wrote:

"If these dignitaries could only be sat in the trenches for a wee short space, and made to carry heavy coils of wire for long distances up long communication trenches - blasted by the incessant force of the guns, I could guarantee that their war would not last longer than the time to fix up provisional peace terms."

Over the course of the war there were 37,000,000 casualties. That is roughly 37 times the population of San Antonio. 20,000,000 wounded and 17,000,000 killed. Among the dead, 7,000,000 civilians. Death and injury by cannons, automatic rifle fire, poison gas, malnutrition, and disease. Welcome to the civilized 20th century...or rather, welcome to hell on earth.

Towards the end of the first calendar year of the War there was a series of events that stood in stark contrast to the death and destruction of the first war in this new era of human history. In the early part of December 1914, Pope Benedict the XV begged for a truce between the fighting powers, asking, "that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang." He was referring to the announcement of the angels to the shepherds on the hillsides 1900 years or so earlier:

"Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

And the angels were singing in response to the good news of the infant born in Bethlehem, a Savior, the Messiah, the Lord.

This attempt by Pope Benedict XV was rejected by the Generals and War Mongers. Little did the Generals and War Mongers know that they were not the final authority. On Christmas Eve of 1914, the German soldiers decorated their trenches with candles and Christmas trees. The decorating was followed by the singing of Christmas Carols, most prominently "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht," or known to us as "Silent Night."

"Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant, so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night

Son of God, love's pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at thy birth

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

Silent night, holy night

Shepherds quake at the sight

Glories stream from heaven above

Heavenly hosts sing hallelujah

Christ the Savior is born

Christ the Savior is born."

And the next thing you know, peace breaks out all up and down the front as the Germans leave their trenches and the Allied forces leave their trenches and they all gather in the space between called "No Man's Land." No Man's Land becomes Every Man's Land. Christmas Carols were sung, gifts exchanged, soccer played, and the dead buried. This became known as the Christmas Truce of 1914.

Peace erupts in the middle of war, in the season that we celebrate "the Word" becoming flesh and dwelling among us. I would say that God revealed himself during this hellish scenario.

Which leads me to this question:

If God can reveal himself in this, one of the most hellish inventions of man, can he reveal himself in any situation?

And if so, how?

Reconciliation over Ritual

Reconciliation
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Ritual

Matthew 5.23, 24
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift."

The Gospel of Matthew (one perspective of the life of Jesus) was written primarily to religious people with very precise rituals. The words offering, gift, and altar would have caught their attention.

But Jesus reveals that restoring a damaged relationship is more important than the ritual. This would have been very refreshing to the average Joe Citizen but very awkward for those involved in the Temple system.

So here's the question for the day - if we practiced this on Sunday morning, how empty would your church be?
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Reconciled in this sense means to change the mind of someone, renew friendship, a mutual concession, or people in conflict coming together through mutual change.

Additionally, I don't think that Jesus was condemning ritual/religion but trying to restore it to its purpose of helping people love God and love neighbor.

Follow the ways of Jesus!

La Plata 7

The Takeaways, or Lessons Learned...

If you can imagine driving across  a plowed field perpendicular to the plowed furrows, then you know what it's like to drive on Chaffee County 390 Road. It takes longer to drive the 12 miles of this dirt road than to drive the 30 plus miles through Buena Vista and into Salida...but it's a pretty drive!

Wildflowers in the meadow

Malcolm Muggeridge, English journalist, said, "Every happening, whether great or small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message." On the quiet ride to Salida with Nic asleep in the passenger seat, I pondered the lessons of the day. At least 3 of these, and possibly all 5 apply to any endeavor in life:

1. Prepare Well - Since we don't use technology while navigating it is vital that we are thorough in our research before the trip, and then we must commit our research to memory. I will confess that our prep work was about 95% thorough. Most of our effort was spent researching the basin and the headwall climb to the Southwest Ridge. We neglected the little detail about the "curious fork in the road that meanders to the right." Had we paid attention to this fork in the road, we would have never followed the Fishermen/False Leaders...
2. Carefully Chose Who You Follow - they may not be going to the same place as you. I jokingly referred to these unknown guys as the Fishermen/False Leaders, my guess is they are good guys. The blame for this falls directly on our shoulders, since we were 5% lazy on our prep work, we made assumptions that were incorrect and followed them. Oops.
3. The Mountain Will Be There Tomorrow - La Plata Peak has existed longer than we can imagine and will be around for a while I think. As such, no need to make rash decisions today, we will get to the top on some other day.
4. Images Are Only Two Dimensional - I personally spent hours reading reports of this trail and hours poring over images, memorizing tree lines, landmarks and shapes of ridges. You can spend time learning about something but that knowledge is superficial and incomplete. The completion of that knowledge comes from experiencing the real thing. This has huge implications in the religious world. If you would like more info, I will be happy to discuss.
5. We Should Be Willing to Redefine Success and Failure - I write this down nervously because there are at least 12 of my Facebook friends that would call me crazy or a loser for even stating this. I think we have a skewed definition AND an unhealthy infatuation with success in our culture today. In the past, attaining the summit of a mountain is what defined success for me. If we didn't make it, the days following would be agonizing - filled with thoughts of what went wrong, how could we have been so inept, or I must go back out and conquer! I can say with all sincerity that today was one of my most favorite days in the mountains, ever! We didn't make the summit but it was rich in experience.

That wraps up my mountain adventure for 2013. We (a specially assembled team) are anticipating the 2014 adventure to Brown's Lake and our assault on Tabeguache Peak, we will stay at Base Camp until we stand on the elusive summit! (did I just say that immediately after writing #5?)

Flowers and drainage from the Correct Basin