Hello dear readers. For those of you who follow my other blog [pastorkslifelook.blogspot.com] welcome to my next journey. For those joining me for the first time welcome, I hope that this ride is as fulfilling as I expect it to be.
The first thing that I need to say is that the title, and the very idea, of this blog came from my lovely wife Mary.
So, why another blog you may ask? Well, its fairly simple, every post on this blog will have a unifying subject, while my other blog is a rather random collection of musings. Here the subject is the Way, or the Camino, or the Way of Saint James, or el Camino de Santiago. It is a pilgrimage that I one day hope to take. It is a 500 mile walk. It is a dream and a destination, a hope and a prayer.
As of three years ago I had never heard of the Camino, let alone had any desire whatsoever to walk 500 miles to anywhere, especially to a Cathedral in Spain. But then I encountered a movie that lit a spark in my heart, my mind, and ultimately my soul. The movie was The Way, written and directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his dad Martin Sheen, alongside Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, and Yorick van Wadeningen.
The synopsis of the film goes like this: Tom (Sheen) is a California eye doctor whose son has left on a trip to see the world. His son dies on his first day walking El Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage through France and Spain to the resting place of Saint James. Tom goes to France in order to pick up his son and decides to walk the camino. Along the way he encounters three pilgrims (Unger, Nesbitt and Wageningen) who become companions along the way. Walking the pilgrimage Tom begins to move from a closed man into becoming a more open one.
The Way is a tale of life flowing from death, a tale of grace and redemption. It has become one of my favorite movies of all time. And like I said, it started a spark in me, a base need to go for a really long walk. While I am not sure when I will be taking this walk, I guarantee that unless I die first I will go on this pilgrimage. To that end Mary suggested that I could read books about the pilgrimage and I could blog about them. This seemed like a good idea to me, I already own several books about the Camino and there are many others about it, hence this blog.
Over the coming weeks, months, years I will be reading these books and writing on them. I will share my thoughts on the journeys of others and my hopes for my own journey.
The book I decided to start with is about pilgrimage in general, rather than about the Camino specifically. It is The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster. It is the final book in The Ancient Practices Series, a set of 8 books about spiritual disciplines. I am only on the second chapter and I have already come up with around 10 possible thoughts to blog on, so my next installment should be coming within a few days.
Thanks for showing up, I hope you continue on my journey to my journey.
Buen Camino, my fellow pilgrims,
Pastor K
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