15. Jun 2025

Airport - Inverness

Photo 1: "Boots on the ground"... Four months of planning now become reality. With this first step I entered a different world, that of a walker, a pilgrim, a world of simplicity. Many questions and emotions rush through the thought process: Will I make it? How will the weather and walking conditions be? Will I be safe, get hurt, get sick? What might be God's purposes in this trip? Time Will tell, one day after the other...

Photo 2: "The Caledonia Canal"
I will be walking this week along the Great Glen Way which follows a series of locks and lakes to create a waterway through Scotland from Fort Williams in the southwest to Inverness in the northeast. Most people walk from Fort Williams to Inverness, because the more challenging hikes are at the end. I will be going the opposite direction.

Photo 3: "The Key"
I needed to get this key. I will be staying at two wild camping places that supposedly have a WC and water/shower facilities, but one must rent this key. My internet research said that I needed to get to the canal office by 6.00 pm, but the information was not real clear. I made it from the airport to the office at 5.15 pm. A lady had just locked the door, turned on the alarm, and was about to leave. She explained that the canal lock closses at 6.00 pm, but the office at 4.30 pm. She "just happened to be working longer that day." I told her that I needed the key. She was willing to open the office again for me to get the key and said: "I guess it was just meant to be." I said that I had prayed to God that he would help me to get the key today." She said: "I am not a God person... I am a bad person." Her name had Hebrew roots, she said though it was from the Koran. I told her that Jesus came to this world for people like her who needed God's grace and asked whether I could pray for her. I felt God's compassion come into my heart as I said these words: "Just as you were willing to open the office door so I could get the key, so Jesus was willing to come into this world so that your heart could connected to God's heart." I do not know what God did in that moment, but it was a knock from heaven on the door to her heart.

Photo 4: "The City of Inverness"
In the background you can see the Castle of Inverness. Not far from there was the hostel where I would stay the night. There I spoke with a young girl from Canada who said she was an athiest. After our talk she progressed to being an agnostic, not just sure if there was this God. A week earlier she said that she met a young man at another hostel who talked to her about God. "What a coincidence!", she said. I answered: "I think the Creator is wanting to get your attention so that you know that he is there and he wants to tell you, 'Je t'aime beaucoup!'" She spoke fluent French. The radiating smile on her face was priceless.

Photo 5: View from the Inverness Castle