Huge step backward. One week plus of back pain led to no exercise, choice to break fast both days this week, lethargy and skipping several days of daily Spanish lessons app. Threw back out loading salt into water softener. At least that's the only thing I can think of that involved any weight or twisting.
OK so one step back, time for next steps forward. Tomorrow is another day to begin anew. Heard tonight that one of church youth group studying Spanish in school has instructor who has walked El Camino twice! Intend to try to contact instructor next week to see if she'll meet and even be interested in some Spanish tutoring. The Lord provides!
Vaya Con Dios!
Friday, April 18, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Eureka! I have a new sleep apnea mask and have actually been able to sleep a REM sleep for 2 count'em two straight days. Change in energy levels amazing! Able to engage world and training with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. Don't get me started as to why it took soooo long to get a simple thing like a mask, especially when everyone involved wanted to get it to me, but at least its here now. Now what could be the lessons learned?
Vaya con Dios!
Vaya con Dios!
Monday, April 7, 2014
Gifts for the journey:
- Have discovered church members who know Spanish and youth members taking Spanish now who'd be willing to help me learn language and culture
- Colleague letting me borrow Spanish Bible to help me learn to read Spanish
- Referral to new Indy walking group led by instructor who conditions folks for Indy Mini Marathon; is also proficient in nutrition issues
- Referral to clergy couple who are walking El Camino this May; husband is prof at UI taking a group of students to do the walk next year
- More leads on shoe stores with deals
- Referral to new Indy group who have already walked El Camino and who are planning local walks and fellowship
- Linda wants to go to Barcelona Tapas for her birthday celebration; another exposure to Spanish cuisine
- Have linked with Chicago based group of folks who have walked El Camino for fellowship and advice
- Expanding group of church members offering prayer support and encouragement
- Have scalloped shell to use for back pack; just need leather strap to attach with
Vaya con Dios!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Bad week with sleep apnea and poor to no REM sleep. Irritiability, apathy, lack of energy, impatience and frustration hallmarks of each day. Good news though: weekly weight loss goal met, God moments at church during broken water line mess, colleague is letting me borrow a Spanish laguage Bible to use learning the language, discovered members of youth group taking Spanish who I can practice with and discovered newly forming group of Indy residents who have walked the El Camino or are about to.
Vaya Con Dios!
Vaya Con Dios!
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
The Pilgrim Prayer
Guardian of my soul, guide me on my way this day. Keep me safe from harm, Deepen my relationship with you, your Earth, and your family. Strengthen you love within me that I may be a presence of your peace in our world. Amen.
------TomPfeffer & Joyce Rupp
Really tough night last night fighting sleep apnea. Breathing mask for machine that keeps air flow going to keep my throat from closing up, leaking and it'll be a week or so before new one arrives. Long story of how that happens. In the meantime, I spend the night yo yoing between states of sleep none of which are REM. That's the stage where you get restful sleep and can wake up refreshed and renewed. In it's absence over time one is left with being in a fog, not liable to make wise decisions and not motivated or energized to do much of anything. Certainly not train. So I covet your prayers that I can nap during the day and get caught up a bit and that until the new mask arrives I can get to enought REM level sleep that I'm functional.
Vaya con Dios!
Guardian of my soul, guide me on my way this day. Keep me safe from harm, Deepen my relationship with you, your Earth, and your family. Strengthen you love within me that I may be a presence of your peace in our world. Amen.
------TomPfeffer & Joyce Rupp
Really tough night last night fighting sleep apnea. Breathing mask for machine that keeps air flow going to keep my throat from closing up, leaking and it'll be a week or so before new one arrives. Long story of how that happens. In the meantime, I spend the night yo yoing between states of sleep none of which are REM. That's the stage where you get restful sleep and can wake up refreshed and renewed. In it's absence over time one is left with being in a fog, not liable to make wise decisions and not motivated or energized to do much of anything. Certainly not train. So I covet your prayers that I can nap during the day and get caught up a bit and that until the new mask arrives I can get to enought REM level sleep that I'm functional.
Vaya con Dios!
Sunday, March 30, 2014
The Pilgrim Prayer
Guardian of my soul, guide me on my way this day. Keep me safe from harm. Deepen my relationship with you, your Earth, and all your family. Strengthen your love within me that I may be a presence of your peace in our world. Amen. -------Tom Pfeffer & Joyce Rupp
Next Sunday we will baptize the grandson of one of our members. As is our custom now, we charge the parents to retell the story of their child's baptism annually on its anniversary. We give them letters from church members, a candle, a certificate, and a baby blanket woven by ladies in the church. I've done this for many years throughout my ministry. I don't know till this day if any parents ever actually follow through with the re-telling.
Yet in this simple act the seeds of faith are sown. Never will the child be able to undo the vows his parents and now church family make on his behalf. He may disown them, neglect them, forget them, or never be told about them, but that will never undo them. We as a community of faith and family of faith set out intentionally to nurture him within a community of love and Godly grace. Some days we do a better job than others. Whether those sown seeds fall on fertile ground or among thickets and thorns isn't our question. Our faithfulness is to offer our hand as he now finds his way in life as a fellow pilgrim.
"Each of us has a camino, a road of life. This road allows us access to the spiritual richness of those who traveled before us and those who travel with us now." (p.32) With each step toward our destinations, we partake of the richness, legacy, inspiration, triumph and tragedy of those who have gone before. With each step we take we can sense the sacred if we are open and attentive. After all God created the Earth we walk upon and last time I checked God pronounced it good! Walking upon it has much to teach us if we open our eyes, our hearts and souls. And it's not just the Earth that teaches us.
The communty of the pilgram nurtures and molds us. The community of fellow pilgrims, whether to Santiago, Spain or among the Epworth UMC members or the church Universal or the neighborhood pub teaches us life lessons of grace or judgmentalism, love or indifference, compassion or cynicism. What kind of learners are we? At the end of each day, what have learned? What has changed our minds, our hearts, our beliefs about God's action and human nature? Do we have a new understanding of the obstacles between ourselves and God, ourselves and others, or even ourselves with ourselves? Or is our pilgrimage one where these obstacles are being overcome and our relationships with God, others and self are being deepened and boradened? At the of the day, do we personify love in all its forms more and more or do we draw back because the risk of loving and trusting is too great? Are we more vulnerable and trusting with God, others and self or do we still hold up barriers because of an over riding beielf that once burnt twice shy? Each of us has to answer for ourselves.
Our pilgrimage isn't about something that is right or wrong or good or bad. Our pilgrimage is about what is instilled within us to share with others as we summit the moutaintops, traverse the valleys, soar with eagles or dwell in the abyss. Our pilgrimage is a journey not so much of self-discovery as it is an ever growing awareness of our ecology with the Divine and one another. On this good day, may we each walk in a relaxed manner and partake of the lessons readily offered!
Vaya con Dios!
Guardian of my soul, guide me on my way this day. Keep me safe from harm. Deepen my relationship with you, your Earth, and all your family. Strengthen your love within me that I may be a presence of your peace in our world. Amen. -------Tom Pfeffer & Joyce Rupp
Next Sunday we will baptize the grandson of one of our members. As is our custom now, we charge the parents to retell the story of their child's baptism annually on its anniversary. We give them letters from church members, a candle, a certificate, and a baby blanket woven by ladies in the church. I've done this for many years throughout my ministry. I don't know till this day if any parents ever actually follow through with the re-telling.
Yet in this simple act the seeds of faith are sown. Never will the child be able to undo the vows his parents and now church family make on his behalf. He may disown them, neglect them, forget them, or never be told about them, but that will never undo them. We as a community of faith and family of faith set out intentionally to nurture him within a community of love and Godly grace. Some days we do a better job than others. Whether those sown seeds fall on fertile ground or among thickets and thorns isn't our question. Our faithfulness is to offer our hand as he now finds his way in life as a fellow pilgrim.
"Each of us has a camino, a road of life. This road allows us access to the spiritual richness of those who traveled before us and those who travel with us now." (p.32) With each step toward our destinations, we partake of the richness, legacy, inspiration, triumph and tragedy of those who have gone before. With each step we take we can sense the sacred if we are open and attentive. After all God created the Earth we walk upon and last time I checked God pronounced it good! Walking upon it has much to teach us if we open our eyes, our hearts and souls. And it's not just the Earth that teaches us.
The communty of the pilgram nurtures and molds us. The community of fellow pilgrims, whether to Santiago, Spain or among the Epworth UMC members or the church Universal or the neighborhood pub teaches us life lessons of grace or judgmentalism, love or indifference, compassion or cynicism. What kind of learners are we? At the end of each day, what have learned? What has changed our minds, our hearts, our beliefs about God's action and human nature? Do we have a new understanding of the obstacles between ourselves and God, ourselves and others, or even ourselves with ourselves? Or is our pilgrimage one where these obstacles are being overcome and our relationships with God, others and self are being deepened and boradened? At the of the day, do we personify love in all its forms more and more or do we draw back because the risk of loving and trusting is too great? Are we more vulnerable and trusting with God, others and self or do we still hold up barriers because of an over riding beielf that once burnt twice shy? Each of us has to answer for ourselves.
Our pilgrimage isn't about something that is right or wrong or good or bad. Our pilgrimage is about what is instilled within us to share with others as we summit the moutaintops, traverse the valleys, soar with eagles or dwell in the abyss. Our pilgrimage is a journey not so much of self-discovery as it is an ever growing awareness of our ecology with the Divine and one another. On this good day, may we each walk in a relaxed manner and partake of the lessons readily offered!
Vaya con Dios!
Friday, March 28, 2014
Backyard Pilgrimage by Rev. Tom Richards
No long journey, I take my
pilgrimage in the backyard.
It's not that I believe it
to be holier ground then
vacant lot across the street,
but that, for me, it's where I
was hijacked by a miracle.
One chilly fall evening,
I took my melot on the
veranda and sat relaxed.
On the top stone of the pond,
a prairie wolf sat smiling
while a chipmunk and squirrel
played without fear at its feet.
A plump dove settled on its
white mangy head undisturbed
and the surrounding world seemed
caught in a gigantic gawk.
Later, it came to me, that I
had stumbled into the presence
of the peacable Kingdom.
March 2014
This poem was a gift from one of my clergy colleagues among a group of local pastors we call "Da Group" for lack of anything better. We are made up of Lutherans, Roman Catholic, Disciples of Christ, Quakers and Methodist faith traditions. We meet monthly to share community, tell stories of ministry and support one another in countless ways. Unique personalities each, we have in common Christian faith and an intentional life of living that faith in response to God's love and grace.
Tom said his poem was inspired by my decision to commit to the pilgrimage to Santiago. It speakes well of the reality that each of us has all we need to experience the "peacable Kingdom" right where we are. So why go all the way across the sea, spend a relative fortune, learn a new language and culture, walk 500+ miles to say nothing of the miles walked in training. and risk failure?
The easy answer is I don't know. The deeper answer is that when God calls us to pilgrimage it always involves something beyond ourselves and our present abilities. It requires total reliance upon and trust in God. At the same time, it requires full personal engagement in the journey with all that that entails. For it is not the destiantion that is important. Whether I arrive at Santiago, Spain or Glendale shopping center, the pilgrimage, the journey itself is where the life lessons come from. Maybe I'm drawn to Santiago because St James is the patron saint of knights and soldiers and my DNA was nurtured within a military life in the early years. Maybe I'm drawn to the El Camino because of the parallel pilgrimage my church is on, i.e. becoming a new church for the 21st century, with new vision, new life together, new ministries, new understandings of who we are as People of God. Both pilgrimages require reliance upon God, full engagement in the journey, adventure, courage and risk. Both have the naysayer and the Barnabas'. At the end of the day, perhaps all we can do is answer God's call with "here am I" and hold on tight for the experience of dead bones being made alive, lives molded and shaped in The potter's hands, and even resurrection itself.
No long journey, I take my
pilgrimage in the backyard.
It's not that I believe it
to be holier ground then
vacant lot across the street,
but that, for me, it's where I
was hijacked by a miracle.
One chilly fall evening,
I took my melot on the
veranda and sat relaxed.
On the top stone of the pond,
a prairie wolf sat smiling
while a chipmunk and squirrel
played without fear at its feet.
A plump dove settled on its
white mangy head undisturbed
and the surrounding world seemed
caught in a gigantic gawk.
Later, it came to me, that I
had stumbled into the presence
of the peacable Kingdom.
March 2014
This poem was a gift from one of my clergy colleagues among a group of local pastors we call "Da Group" for lack of anything better. We are made up of Lutherans, Roman Catholic, Disciples of Christ, Quakers and Methodist faith traditions. We meet monthly to share community, tell stories of ministry and support one another in countless ways. Unique personalities each, we have in common Christian faith and an intentional life of living that faith in response to God's love and grace.
Tom said his poem was inspired by my decision to commit to the pilgrimage to Santiago. It speakes well of the reality that each of us has all we need to experience the "peacable Kingdom" right where we are. So why go all the way across the sea, spend a relative fortune, learn a new language and culture, walk 500+ miles to say nothing of the miles walked in training. and risk failure?
The easy answer is I don't know. The deeper answer is that when God calls us to pilgrimage it always involves something beyond ourselves and our present abilities. It requires total reliance upon and trust in God. At the same time, it requires full personal engagement in the journey with all that that entails. For it is not the destiantion that is important. Whether I arrive at Santiago, Spain or Glendale shopping center, the pilgrimage, the journey itself is where the life lessons come from. Maybe I'm drawn to Santiago because St James is the patron saint of knights and soldiers and my DNA was nurtured within a military life in the early years. Maybe I'm drawn to the El Camino because of the parallel pilgrimage my church is on, i.e. becoming a new church for the 21st century, with new vision, new life together, new ministries, new understandings of who we are as People of God. Both pilgrimages require reliance upon God, full engagement in the journey, adventure, courage and risk. Both have the naysayer and the Barnabas'. At the end of the day, perhaps all we can do is answer God's call with "here am I" and hold on tight for the experience of dead bones being made alive, lives molded and shaped in The potter's hands, and even resurrection itself.
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