23. Oct 2025

Pause

Today was a good day. Not because the rain stopped, which did not happen, nor because the hike was especially interesting and very scenic, which was not the case, but because of the God-Talks that happened today. The first one took place on the trail. Hector and Veronica are from South America, but have been living in Australia almost as long as I have lived in Germany. They speak English very well. I first met them briefly about two days ago. Today we had time to talk while we walked. They wanted to know what prompted me to leave my home in Germany and to walk already 3000 kilometers on the way to Santiago de Compostela. I shared briefly my story and that I was celebrating 50 years of living and walking with Jesus by walking with Jesus on the camino. I then asked them why they were doing the camino. Hector responded with one word that was very difficult for him to speak out: "Sadness." I have no idea what they were dealing with. As we continued our walk together I shared about the Good Shepherd from Psalm 23 who goes with us through the dark times of life. David begins this beautiful portrayal of the Lord gramatically using the third person: "The Lord is my shepherd... He leads me..." But it is in the dark valleys where the "he" becomes a "you": "I will fear no evil, because you are with me... Your rod and staff..." It is in the difficult seasons in life that faith becomes real and is lived out. This is where we learn to kmow and trust God in a much deeper and personal way. As we walked and talked our way through Psalm 23, I could sense their hearts being comforted. As I have already stated in this blog, our God can take the pain and injustice of the crucifixion and transform it into a resurrection. We may not like or understand what has happen, but God can transform it with his resurrection grace and allow all things to work together for good. We give God our pieces, and he gives us his peace.

The hike was not as long today, so I got to the hostel earlier than usual. Loren and the young German man I mentioned in a blog a few days ago, where aleady there and preparing something for their next couple of meals. I felt in my heart that I needed to speak to the young German man about Jesus, so I asked him if he understood why Jesus needed to come to earth. He really did not have a clue. We had a long and very good talk about God's grace at work through what Jesus did on the cross so that we could become God's children. It was the first time he ever really heard the gospel message.

Later in the evening I met a young couple, he from Spain and she from Germany. The Spanish man is a believing Catholic and said that his girl friend was just starting to believe. She asked me the same question that the young German man asked me earlier that afternoon: "What can I do to start moving in the direction of faith?" They were not there yet, but were willing to take steps towards the God connection. I suggested that they read the biography about Jesus in the four gospels, to get to know him and read what he said.

Photo 2: I forgot to record today's hike. Here is a screenshot from an app that shows the stretch from Albadín to Vilalba.