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I finished my pilgrimage as scheduled, on the morning on Saturday 12 July, when I hiked the last 7 miles from my campsite in the corner of a large windy field shared with a few sheep. Got to John O’Groats up there in the northeast corner of Scotland before the businesses that sell trinkets and…
read whole postMy Sheep Hear My Voice
Sheep have been one of the constants of this long walk. I have no clue how many I’ve seen, but it must be thousands or even tens of thousands by this point. Which, of course, has me thinking about the Good Shepherd and the sheep of his flock. The New Testament records several sayings of…
read whole postUpdate on this Pilgrim’s Progress
As of today, Monday 9th June, I am in the city of Carlisle, Cumbria, in way northwest England. About 10 miles of walking from here is where I cross the border into Scotland. The bicycle route I’m following has really suited me so far, and I expect that to continue. It’s usually quite easy to…
read whole postThomas à Kempis on Midges
“There is no creature so little and so vile as not to manifest the goodness of God.” (Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, Book 2, ch. 4) Really, Thomas? When I was young, I questioned whether the goodness of God was manifest in gnats flying around me on a summer afternoon. (I was also not…
read whole postSeldom Grow in Sanctity
Thomas à Kempis, in his classic “The Imitation of Christ,” has this interesting line: “Few are improved by sickness; so also they that go much on pilgrimage seldom grow in sanctity.” (Book 1, ch. 23) Those of us who say we are on pilgrimage at the moment have to deal with this. What was Thomas…
read whole postSpiritual Ages and Stages
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God”Hebrews 6:1 (NIV) The central idea here seems to be that there are, if you will, “ages and stages” in the Christian…
read whole postToo Rich and Not Enough Time
I’m sitting in the border village of Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales. It has over twenty bookshops, and is often described as a “town of books.” It is both the National Book Town of Wales and the site of the annual Hay Festival. The population is fewer than 2,000. I spent much of the day wandering from…
read whole postIt had to be yew
The village of K– was my immediate goal. To see an 800 year old yew tree in their churchyard. They’d mentioned it on their web page. That seemed important enough to go a ways off route. As I was leaving the town before K– I checked the map on my phone and everything seemed in…
read whole postMeditation
Colossians 3:2-3: “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” There are times we Christians forget this, both in our pilgrimage life and in our other life. On pilgrimages we can too easily get caught up in a spirit of…
read whole postLEJOG Pilgrimage Church Visits on Wednesday 23 April
There’s a saying, isn’t there, that timing is everything. And God’s timing is the sweetest. Today I walked the lanes from Heligan to about 1.5 miles short of Fowey. I was able to visit 2 churches along the way, see another couple from outside. And walk by some buildings that looked like they may have…
read whole postPrayer of One Who is Living in a Strange Land
Far from my friends and acquaintances, I find myself in a strange land where as yet I know but very few people. But I know Thee, O Jesus, Thou Son of the Highest, as my Immanuel, my Brother, and my best Friend. Therefore I now turn to Thee, and humbly beseech Thee to have mercy…
read whole postStarting with the First Step
My first steps were actually leaving home with Ann on Sunday afternoon as she drove me to Dulles Airport. But today I took the first of my footsteps carrying me the length of the United Kingdom. After eating that modified full English breakfast I walked town a bit waiting for 11:00 bus, which left station…
read whole postProxy Pilgrim with Springer Fever
Among American long distance hikers there’s a thing – a real thing – called “Springer Fever.” It hits this time of year. Hard to avoid. Not that you’d necessarily want to. It’s this deep urge to go hiking again, to be back in Georgia on Springer Mountain (hence the name), starting another Appalachian Trail hike.…
read whole postLEJOG as pilgrimage
Okay, fine, the last posts explain what a LEJOG is, but why do it? A goodly number of the people do this trek to raise funds for a charity. Those are the people who post and boost videos during their trip. LEJOGers who aren’t trying to reach more potential donors don’t have the same need…
read whole posttwo types of pilgrimage
“The pilgrimage idea, the outgoing quest, appears in mystical literature under two rather different aspects. One is the search for ‘the Hidden Treasure which desires to be found.’ Such is the ‘quest of the Grail’ when regarded in its mystic aspect as an allegory of the adventure of the soul. The other is the long,…
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Pathology: the Study of a Path 