Category: Bible (Page 58 of 356)

People who walk the Camino de Santiago learn to recognize several symbols along the way. These include items familiar to anyone who follows Jesus, as well as a couple unique to this pilgrimage. While we may not all undertake the Camino, these symbols represent questions for all of us to consider while on our spiritual journeys.

An Open Backpack

A pilgrim shares with others and receives back. A rucksack symbolizes our openness to giving and receiving. Often accepting help is harder than helping someone else, but we all need good people to walk alongside us during our times of struggle. Look for opportunities to both freely share, and humbly receive, as you journey.

A Scallop Shell

This type of shell has long identified pilgrims. It was worn on the chest or hat, and also served as a spoon or a cup. How do we identify ourselves as followers of The Way, The Truth, and The Life today?

The Pilgrim’s Passport

A completed passport, issued only by the Catholic church, is necessary to receive your Compostela (completion certificate) in Santiago. You need at least 2 stamps per day to prove you walked at least 100 kilometers. Every kiosk or restaurant or hotel along the Camino stamps passports. It’s important to mark our road through life, and remember those who helped us along the way.

A Stone

Many pilgrims carry a small rock as a symbol of their sorrow, burden, pain or loss. After wrestling with these issues before the Lord, we lay the stone down somewhere along the path. What are you carrying that God might be inviting you to drop from your hand?

In Summary

Each one of these symbols developed into a marker pointing pilgrims to the Lord. These remind me of another symbol referred to by Jesus: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:29-30).

Walking 70 miles in a week is challenging, but often spiritual, emotional and mental burdens create more daunting problems. Thankfully the yoke of Jesus, his symbol of care, applies to us all. Settle his harness upon your back, humbly walk before him, and find rest for you soul.

Camino de Santiago 2024

Photo: A shell tattooed on a pilgrim’s arm to remember the Camino experience

As we arrive in Santiago de Compostela, we pray this prayer for our group and for all the fellow pilgrims we will meet along the way. This ancient invocation was written especially for pilgrims:

God, you called your servant Abraham from Ur in Chaldea, watching over him in all his wanderings, and guided the Hebrew people as they crossed the desert. Guard these your children who, for the love of your Name, make a pilgrimage to Compostela.

Be their companion on the way, their guide at the crossroads, their strength in weariness, their defense in dangers, their shelter on the path, their shade in the heat, their light in darkness, their comfort in discouragement, and the firmness of their intentions, that through your guidance they may arrive safely at the end of their journey and, enriched with grace and virtue, may return to their homes filled with salutary and lasting joy.

You and I walk a challenging journey through life. These humble thoughts are too good to keep only for a specific pilgrimage, but make for good praying for all who follow the way of Jesus.

Many blessings as you walk your path today.

Camino de Santiago 2024

Photo: Section of trail along the Camino de Santiago

This week my wife and I, along with a group of soon-to-be friends, embark on the Camino de Santiago. As a group we will hike the final portion of the trail, covering 70 miles in 6 days. Dawn and I then plan to continue on and walk another 75 miles to the sea. We look forward to deepening connections along the way, as long days of unhurried walking create unique bonding experiences.

For twelve hundred years, people in search of God walked this same path. As the years passed, Psalm 121 became known as the Pilgrim’s Psalm:

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber or sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil—he will watch over your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Walking step after step towards an unfamiliar destination, the words of the psalmist begin to sink deep into the heart of a pilgrim.

Of course, you don’t have to walk the Camino de Santiago to appreciate these verses. We all journey as pilgrims through life. As we roam it’s good to remember that shade, stability and security comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

Camino de Santiago 2024

Photo: Pilgrims walk through the mist.

As I read through the Bible over and over, regularly some fresh idea jumps out. I’ve either not noticed it in the past, or I’ve noticed but forgotten (very possible).

Today this line from Proverbs emerged: The name of the righteous is used in blessings, but the name of the wicked will rot.

Strong word—Rot. What does that mean for you and me? Another version of the Bible (The Message) says in this way: A good and honest life is a blessed memorial; a wicked life leaves a rotten stench.

I’ve had the good fortune of knowing numerous people who lived a good and honest life, and I indeed remember them with gratitude. Unfortunately, I know a few who’ve left a rotten stench.

It’s worth reflecting on how the next generation might remember our names when we’re dead and gone. Will they hold their nose, or speak words of respect and appreciation?

Proverbs 10:7 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP