February 5, 2017: Day +78

One of my colleagues asked me the other day why I continue to write the blog.  Others have asked me similar questions.  I can say I don't have an easy answer to this question. The answer is rather complex.

Several years ago, I learned of the Caminio de Santiago de Compostella, a 500 mile walking pilgrimage across northern Spain.  The minute I heard of it I knew I wanted to do it.  I had for many, many years wanted to go on pilgrimage.  Sadly though, Doug could not go with me, because he could not walk that far because of having multiple sclerosis.   And so I decided to walk it, praying for his healing and for the healing of my son-in-law who has lupus and all my friends suffering from auto-immune diseases. Prior to walking the Camino, I read over 15 books written by others who had walked the Caminio.  Reading their books I saw them reflecting on the journey and so I decided to blog the experience to document my own spiritual journey and to share with others who were interested in the pilgrimage or just interest in walking the Camino.

Then last year I decided to go on pilgrimage to Italy, Rome is another ancient pilgrimage,  and once again I prayed for healing for Doug.  On this pilgrimage it was important to me to to walk through the "Holy Doors" at St. Peters to ask for mercy, for Doug, that he might be healed from M.S. Every 25 years or so the pope opens the "Holy Doors" to offer special acts of forgiveness or mercy.

After making plans to go to Rome with my friend Scotti,  Doug told me that he had always wanted to go Rome.  I did not know this.  With Doug's disability progressing I knew that we needed to make this trip soon, before he would no longer be able to travel.  While attending a clergy retreat, I received an email about a cruise that began in Rome and traveled the Mediterranean, with a stop in Istanbul and Athens. More places I knew Doug wanted to go.  And so I booked the trip.  Again I blogged the experience and we traveled praying in holy sites for Doug to be restored to health.  And then the night before returning home, my son-in-law Tom sent information that had just been published on stem cell transplants with outstanding results.  This research is the closest thing to a cure for M.S. that we have found.

After a lot more  research we decided with the great odds of 80% or better of stopping the progression of Doug's M.S., this was treatment worth getting.  We began making plans for this Grand Camino of seeking wholeness and healing  by traveling to Puebla, Mexico.

And so why do I continue to write?  This pilgrimage is not over.  We continue to pray for healing and wholeness, with faith and expectation.  We have not yet reached the destination.  When a person is on pilgrimage it is a commitment to follow God.  When we left for Puebla we did not go just to receive treatment from an internationally renown clinic. We went, following a call to healing.

"Pilgrimage calls us to be attentive to the divine at work in our lives through deep listening, patience, opening ourselves to the gifts that arise in the midst of discomfort, and going out of our inner wild edges to explore new frontiers". ( A quote from The Soul of a Pilgrim, by Christine Balters Painter.

With this in mind, the reason I write each day, is to take the time to reflect on the journey, to look for the divine in our midst and to discern our next steps.  We travel this journey in expectation, in trust and in wonder. I sense that when we reach the end of this journey, we will find healing in unexpected places and wholeness will be redefined for us.

We pray,

God, who navigates us through life,  we thank you for your gentle, but persistent call.  We thank you for being with us at all times, through each twist and each turn.  We thank you for making your self known to all who seek you.  Today we thank you for the friends who share the journey and open themselves up, to reveal their own stories along the way.  As we continue this journey, help us to trust in your guidance and in your presence.  Help us to delight when progress is slow and when progress is fast.  And we give you thanks for the movement Doug has regained this day in his left arm, for sitting in his wheelchair and on the edge of the bed.  We are filled with awe and delight.  Amen, Amen.