The Final Countdown

When I was in high school a rock n roll band named Europe had a song called The Final Countdown. We are in the final countdown window for the Camino de Santiago. No hurry to finish. Haven’t really been in a hurry the whole time.  And here we are.

Here’s a funny thought I just had. We were going up a hill yesterday and Terry said, “don’t look back you’ll turn to salt.” Sorta reminiscent of looking back in longing. Y’all know the Biblical story is Lots wife. I’m not looking back but at that moment I did just to see how far up we had come.

When we reached the top of that hill I asked Terry how much elevation have we gained. He looked at his device and said guess. I guessed 1100 feet. He laughed and said, “No, we are at 1700 feet.” We had started the day out at 187 feet. No wonder we were tired.

For me, the Cathedral at Mondoñedo has been the highlight of the trip. Of course that is a “so far” type of statement. Let me explain.

The town of Mondoñedo is one of the oldest. One guy said it was started 200-300 years after Christ. The Cathedral has tons of history. It was set up both for worship and tour. They handed us a little device with a speaker and numbers. If you pressed the number coinciding with the place an English speaker came on and explained the history of that part of the Cathedral and it’s place in worship. It was awesome. We walked around and prayed in that place for a couple hours.

Then we headed out for the last 11 miles of the day. Drink water, drink water, drink water! And eat and rest and shade it up!

I am part of several Facebook groups about the Camino. I have watched a couple good movies about the Camino and to add to that I watched hours and hours of YouTube videos about the Camino. None of it prepared me for what I have experienced. I daily see questions in the Facebook groups asking should I do this or that. Here is my take on that—

If you feel God calling you to do it -then do it. If you feel like you want to do it -then do it. Just don’t do it because you want to go on a pleasant vacation. The Camino is a physical workout and a Spiritual opportunity.

It is wild how the physical and the spiritual are so often tied together. The physical death on a cross yielding spiritual redemption. All of the “miracles” have some physical aspect.

-Food for thought: What are you going through physically? Where are you with your physical health? What do you desire physically? What are you going through spirituality? Where are you with your spiritual health? What are you desiring spirituality?

Life is a Camino. You start with an idea. Make a few decision. Discover a few choices. Move. Sometimes the movement is forward. All directions seem to come into play. There is the emotion continuum on a daily basis. There is rest and renewable energy. And there is a road. There is always a road. There is always a journey. There is always a WAY.

The tough part is making the choice. Tougher still sticking with it. And as you do you will discover wonderful moments. Like the Cathedral. Like walking in a cloud in the mountains. Like the hot showers.

Wonderful moments.

What are your wonderful moments?

Buen Caminó