I want Jesus to be the way for me every day, wherever I am. To this end I invite Him into my day up front.
Early during this Camino walk, I developed a Camino prayer. As different experiences have occurred, additional petitions have been added to my prayer. A further addition occurred on Sunday.
For some reason I experienced a disturbed sleep on Saturday night at the comfortable accommodation I had at Tabara. Just after 4 on Sunday morning I was rudely and fully awake. Lying in bed with the window blind partly raised I saw that the moon was full. It was giving excellent light. I decided to get up, and get going. I was on the way before 5am.
I had noticed the Camino path out of town the night before so I was good to start. The light of the moon was wonderful, but I felt to take full precaution. My Camino prayer has always invited Jesus to walk with me. This time I added "and show me the way."
I did so very well throughout the moonlight and well into the dawn. Then disaster struck. Have you guessed? I encountered more of those wretched roadworks. In moments I was lost. The lovely way was gone, to be replaced by construction access roads and paths totally devoid of signage. I was close to a road heading north. As this Camino is directed totally north I decided to take the road. I have an app. On my iPad which told me, rightly or wrongly, that I was close to where I should be. After some distance I stopped for a further check. This time the app told me I was far, far away from where I ought to be. But is the app accurate? And where was Jesus? What about my prayer? And, it's Sunday. He can't possibly take today off!
My credencial (the pilgrim passport that gets stamped) has squares allocated for each stamp but, in addition, each square nominates the place where the stamp is to be fixed. Fearing I'd now missed a critical town, I got out my credencial to check. To my surprise, the relevant square had two towns listed. Apparently there are alternate paths at this juncture, and I was spot on for the alternative direction. Well, thank You, Jesus.
A difficulty was that my guide did not cover this particular alternative. The only information I had came from the credencial, and it was meagre. My best option was to stay on the road and be guided by the road signs as they occurred.
So, I walked, and I walked. As I walked I talked with Jesus. We did a great deal of talking that day. I felt good and the kilometres just passed by. Around lunchtime I found a little village just off the road where I took a longer break to rest my feet. The church in this little place had a most fascinating "bell tower".
Then I walked some more, passing ever changing scenery.
The guiding signage kept telling me I was heading to Mombuey. As this was on my eventual route I just accepted it, hoping - and praying - that my feet would take the distance.
By late afternoon I was installed in accommodation in Mombuey. I had covered (unintentionally, albeit) two days walking in one long day. Again, I felt a sense of achievement at the end. Altogether that day I clocked up 44 Km, something I would not have believed of myself.
When I look to Jesus to be the way, I need to be ready for such surprises, and for the most amazing results.
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