Reasons to Walk the Camino
1. You meet the whole world
It’s been 5 years since I went on the World Race (L squad 2012 yay!), and I miss traveling the world. By hiking on the Camino, it feels like the world is coming to me!
Everyday, I am meeting people from so many countries, Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Malaysia, France, Venezuela, China, Taiwan, etc. I became quite fond of two new Denmark friends Lasse (20) and Nicolai (21) who are so open to talk about spiritual things while we hike. 19 miles yesterday and a super tough 21 miler today but the magnificent mountaintop views combined with beautiful and tender hearts make it all worth it.
Thanks Dylan for being my hiking partner today under the hot hot sun and hiking and picking cherries from the trees along the path with me.
2. You meet the broken-hearted
“My wife died one year ago, I’m walking the Camino to think, and to remember her by.” The team and I met Jorgen from Holland on Day 1 of our walk from Leon to Villar de Marzarife and got to listen to his story and hug him, Ashley sang a beautiful song during the Pilgrims Meal over him. On one of our last days, I met a 42 year old woman from Madrid, who has never hiked the Camino till now, she had no reason to do so. But 11 days prior, her beloved husband passed on from a rough fight with cancer. She is on it to grieve and to reflect. I was able to listen to her story and to give her a big big hug and write her a note of encouragement on the San Francisco postcards I brought with me. By the same token, I spoke to many many others people from all over the world, those carrying hurts, pain and burdens. I loved each opportunity to meet, pray, listen and love on the broken-hearted.
3. Challenge yourself physically
When I thought about joining this alumni trip, I was super intimidated. I mean, I just turned 40 this year! Big deal, right?! Okay, so I thank God for my youthful looks but can I actually keep up with the 20-somethings while walking 15-20 miles a day for two weeks? I called up AIM, and TT the trip leader answered:
Me: “Tell me this, am I too old for this trip? I’m forty.”
TT: “You are not, I’m 40 too.”
Me: “Okay.. how fit do you have to be for this trip?”
TT: “How much do you work out a week?”
Me: “Twice.”
TT: “You should be more than fine, just don’t get a pedicure till then so your feet can build some calluses!”
Seriously, that’s how our first convo went. After that, I checked with God, and heard Him say “Why not Jackie?! Do it now.” Simple, right?
But now after walking for 12 days with only one day of rest in between, I feel humbled at how much I’ve been able to walk the allotted mileage every day without fail. How cool is my God?! Our bodies can do amazing things if we challenged ourselves and put it all in prayer. I have not had one serious blister and have been able to overcome the challenges of walking uphill, down hill, in the rain and under the scorching sun. Thank you Jesus! 45 more km to go till Santiago!
4. Figure out the “why”
Theresa (TT), our leader asked us to do a listening prayer session and ask God what He wants to show each of us while on the Camino. His answer for me came fast and easy. ” I want to take you on a scavenger hunt.” And a scavenger hunt is exactly what He took me on, every few days, I got a clue while traveling in different towns. Most are visual signs, name of a restaurant, wall art from a cafe, even the tattoo from a fellow German peregrino (pilgrim)… He is fun and creative. Now I know He wanted to make this Camino trip as personal to me as possible, and I had fun receiving these clues and know that My God is a great and good God who is always for me. My why is clear now, the consistent message He wanted to tell me is: to have Hope, and Hope has a name: that is Jesus, that it’s never too late. I must hang on to this message brought by many clues, even long after the camino is over.
5. Verbalize your faith
I live in San Francisco, and work in high tech doing marketing. I can’t say I get to share about my faith on a regular basis in my work environment, especially verbally. While on the Camino, I was challenged to share about Jesus daily, while walking with other pilgrims. I found myself a little fearful and nervous at times, but other times, I felt excited and even passionate as I started sharing my story. To be honest, some of the pilgrims weren’t all that interested in Jesus, but I found the more I cared about what I was saying the more they liked to hear it. It’s almost like I no longer cared how they’d received it, I got caught up with my own stories and how good God is in showing Himself to me in different times of my life. At the end of the day, I don’t know how many people were truly affected by my stories or if anyone made a point to follow Jesus because of me, but I learned to verbalize my faith and boldly share despite of how it’s received. I hope to take this lesson back to my world in San Francisco.
*The above reasons are taken from excerpts in my personal journal while on the Camino with 6 other World Race alumnus. It’s been truly a life-changing experience, if you are considering it remotely, you should go! The world is waiting for you there.
