Tag: camino

Stones of remembrance

” What do these stones mean ?” Joshua 4:6

I have not long returned with some friends from nine days on the French Camino. I can only say what a fabulous time in so many ways and would encourage you, if possible, to walk it.

There have been many surveys done to determine the reasons people travel the Camino. The French Camino, a pilgrim trail, is one thousand years old but not everybody walks it for religious or spiritual reasons. Some look at the challenge of just walking 491 miles, some to maintain fitness and my friends’ comments when asked fitted into a number of categories.

Personally, I knew for me it was the continuing road to the healing of a broken heart. Jude has been in Paradise for nearly four earth time years but I still continue to miss my darl !. Yes, things are different now even the text books tell you that but grief is in the end still lived outside a book. 

Jude would have loved the Camino but I was reminded of three things while walking and I would like to encourage you if you grieve a spouse in Christ.

  1. Our lives are enlarged by the life of those that have gone before, we carry those precious memories.
  2. There is a spiritual communion. Jesus has Jude and Jesus has me. There is a very fine liminal line between earth & paradise……think upon that…. it’s beautiful and one day at the resurrection of the saints we will be re-united, the veil will disappear.
  3. No marriage is perfect but forgetting those things before we only carry forward the good.

I had collected some flat stones from Glendalough and had an idea what I would do with them so I wrote on seven of them along with a final round stone for leaving along the journey. There was no shortage of stone mounds so in my own away, often away from my friends I took a moment each day stopped and reflected on Jude, thanking God for her life, knowing she was safe outside of an ever increasing chaotic & hostile world……. Maranatha…Come LORD Jesus come!

The final stone ended up in a beautiful flowerbed, central Logrono!

Since my return I have had a desire to return solo and God willing I will return to Logrono on the 5th August and complete the remaining 381 miles!!

Buen Camino

The Stone of Departure

A group of us are preparing to walk part of the Camino de Santiago in late May and we have been busy preparing here in Northern Ireland with some wonderful walks and building relationships with each other.

Yesterday we walked up the side of Slieve Croob, County Down as a circular route, the weather patchy but probably nothing compared to the Pyrenees!

The views on a clear day are breath taking, (but not today). You can normally see Scotland, The Isle of Man, Lough Neagh etc etc. It’s an area I have personally come to love over many years and with Jude we used to have picnics at the top & fall asleep under the summer sun.

I have written about the Stone of Departure in the past but I can’t seem to find my original notes. I felt yesterday for a few moments to take the lads to a rather large granite stone just slightly over from the summit and share a few words.

Earlier in the week I had been reminded of the Stone of Ezel in 1 Samuel 20:19. David was waiting to hear from Jonathan about whether or not it was safe for David to return to King Saul. King Saul was very jealous of David & he was plagued by an evil spirit sent by God. He was on the war path to eliminate David, who was destined to become Israel’s next king.

David was hiding by the Stone Ezel to await the outcome. Jonathan on his return from his father would get a young boy to collect some arrows he had shot in the direction of the stone. The boy didn’t know David was there but the landing of the arrows gave David the sign whether he was welcome back or not. The arrows went ahead of the stone which meant Saul was looking to have David’s head if he caught him. David had to depart, leave the area and go on the run.

Nothing is wasted in the scriptures. The Stone Ezel means Departure or Showing the Way, and for a few moments I shared some practical aspects of this word and how we can find ourselves sometimes in a tight spot looking for Direction. These times can come while under severe pressure but because of the Providence of God we can trust Him in guiding our footsteps if we simply acknowledge Him in all our ways. Prov 3:5-6

It takes courage to step out even if it seems we are on the run like David……BUT what a Destiny awaits !!