All those trips up Sentenial Peak sure paid off

But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love. Genesis 39:21

And yesterday was a steadfast love sort of day. Brandon's GPS guide showed us the way, meter by meter, from Nice to Arles, 110 km. We still haven't seen any yellow arrows and all of the church doors are locked, so we have to settle for photos of ourselves lined up in front of the soaring spires and massive wooden portals barred shut, rather than having our pilgrims' passports stamped. 

And really the French countryside is like His steadfast love, rich and deep and nourishing. We rode past ever so many vineyards and olive orchards and cherry trees, kilometer after kilometer, until we almost stopped noticing. Up hill and down, village after village of stone and mortar houses, one after another, the only variation being the color of the window shutters. And it was  only when we hit the bumpy so-very-narrow twisting one way streets that we noticed it again, that quietly steady pulsing light. Follow me.

    

And I wandered around this town founded by the Romans in the first century, and through what was once a blood-drenched coliseum and imagined this pulsing Light reaching into all directions to all of His peoples, "Follow Me."

And Vincent Van Gogh lived in this town and painted sunflowers and outdoor starlit cafés. And he captured light so very well. And I so do not want to be distracted by train schedules and making sleeping arrangements and changing money or even eating food that each bite is more flavour-drenched than the last, that I don't notice the lovingkindness. 

And tomorrow we start El Camino in earnest from Bayonne, although we plan to spend an extra day in San Sebastián.

And when Christian arrived at House Beautiful, “they discoursed together till late at night; and after they had committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they betook themselves to rest: the Pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose window opened towards the sun-rising: the name of the chamber was Peace; where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke and sang--

"Where am I now? Is this the love and care

Of Jesus for the men that pilgrims are?”

And I feel the weight lifting. Not off of the back of my heavy-laden Great Dane bicycle. The packs are quite full. Even though Tracy has prepared two boxes of unnecessaries for mailing to Wilson and Fernanda's apartment in Lisbon.

But my windows are now open to the sun-rising, and name of this chamber is Peace, and I awake and sing, "Where am I?" Even though I darn sure can't pronounce it. Boy, I say "Merci," a lot. And Tracy taught me, "Beaucoup."

And oh my goodness, coming out of the French alps is amazing...with these low dense clouds wrapped around the snowcapped peaks as the train clickity clacks its way north through greenness that feels like hobbitons with welcoming lights glowing in the dusky windows reflecting in the once-again afternoon showers.  And we are going to arrive in Bayonne, in theory, and wind our way along this splashing weaving life-giving river for two miles to arrive at Rivendell, our stay for the night. And the name of the chamber was Peace.

So, a true story. We unloaded from the train into a dark wet windy night. And there was no wifi to set up the GPS. And the toilettes were locked. And after we prayed for a girl from Cuba with MS who was setting out on El Camino, a manager came running out and gave us a map that wasn't exactly right, but we just had to go down to the right for a kilometer, then cross the bridge and go along the river for a while, and then his voice sort of faded. So we turned right, and crossed the bridge and it was dark and wet and windy and we made a bad turn the wrong way down a one way street and this guy on a motorcycle came over to yell at us. But then he looked at our damp map and damp spirits, and he smiled big, and he said, "Follow me." And I had already written those two words twice tonight on the train.

So we did. And there was no way we could have ever found this place, up and around and a couple of bad turns with our assorted blinking bike lights. Nope, not on our own.

And now we are at this great big old mansion sort of place spread out all over great big green lawns and it's time for bed.

And, yes I started every paragraph with a conjunction, which you are really not supposed to do.

Down the freeway and turn right on Ruthrauff Road

My LORD God, I have no idea where I am going

I do not see the road ahead of me

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself.

And the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You.

And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for You are ever with me.

And You will never leave me to face my perils alone. -Thomas Merton

Giant Despair. Then said the Giant, "You have this night trespassed on me, by trampling in and lying on my grounds; and therefore you must go along with me." So they were forced to go, because he was stronger than they. They also had but little to say; for they knew themselves in a fault. The giant, therefore, drove them before him, and put them into his castle, into a very dark dungeon, nasty and stinking to the spirit.

And thus I was bound on every side. And Hope, although he grew weary and thin, spoke up, “Let us be patient, and endure awhile,” and so I endured, although the nights were long and dim.

And the Giant Despair was ruthless, with his grievous crab tree cudgel, and he fell upon me, and beats me fearfully, in such sort, that I was not able to help myself, so I wandered the streets this morning looking for a little coffee and a little internet before I was to start passing out water bottles to thirsty cyclists, but as unlikely as it seems, they were not to be found. Outside of the Presbyterian Church a cadre of suited men with ties welcomed me in, although of course, they looked down politely at the ground because of my tears. One brought me a paper towel to blow my nose and a Styrofoam cup of coffee and yet another offered me a little windmill cookie. 

And then, the LORD God, my shepherd to whom I prayed throughout the dark, reminded me of the key tucked in my bosom, Promise, the promise that He saw my pain and that He was at work even now, and to stand back and I would be amazed.

So I headed up the freeway to Victory, and in the anointing prayer room my Lord Shepherd poured oil over my head, and the chains fell off with ease. And He spoke to me, and said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. I am going to show you, and then I am going to empower you to live it. ” I hear it, I receive it, I begin to walk it out.

And it was a good and true Word preached. Which is how our Jesus answered The Accuser, It is written. Fear is a very real thing, but whom the LORD sets free is free indeed. A breakthrough does not need to be momentary relief, but I can rest in that peace. He leads me beside still waters, present continuing action.

 Condemnation is a stronghold, to have been declared unfit or unworthy. This can shackle us and keep us from joy. Satan is the master of condemnation, the accuser of the brethren day and night. 

What is true is that I am free from my past. Thus I must not spend my life lugging around the old self. The devil wants me to rehearse in my mind who I was, not who I am. Condemnation is a liar.

Nor may I pass judgment. Do not. Stop it. I do not know my own heart, much less that of my brother. The LORD God is the One who knows the heart. We need to pray for people, not judge them. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and do not notice the log in your own eye. Love covers a multitude of sins. The sons of Noah walked backwards in order to not reveal his nakedness.

What is true: It is written: there is now no condemnation for him who is in Christ Jesus. I want you living free now, in the Land of the Living. For the power of the Spirit of Life in Christ and sets me free from the power of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2

I am now in newness of life. It is not a heart problem; it is a head problem, our thinking. I beseech you therefore brethren, do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  I keep picking up the old thinking, like that pretty big kid that got tossed across the preacher’s shoulders and gave him a twisted crick. What is true is that I am loved, I am redeemed, I am beloved. I need to crush the serpent under my feet because I am in Christ Jesus. He will never leave me or forsake me.

And at the end of it all, after the last prayer was said, the pulsing song that led us out into the daylight chorused There is power in the name of Jesus; break every chain, break every chain.

He is such a lover of poor pilgrims

Buscaré la perdida, haré volver la descarriada, vendaré la perniquebrada y fortaleceré la enferma; pero destruiré la engordada y la fuerte. Las apacentaré con justicia. Ezequiel 34:16

I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. Ezekiel 34:16

This is the promise of The Lord God Almighty.

And I am surrounded by beauty and goodness just now, at the House Beautiful in my pilgrimage, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. And yesterday we climbed up North Table Mountain and it was perfectly clear where the name came from, golden billowing wheat tossed about by a full- of-promises-of-rain breeze.

Thus they discoursed together till late at night; and after they had committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they betook themselves to rest. The pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose window opened towards the sun-rising. The name of the chamber was Peace, where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke and sang,

"Where am I now? Is this the love and care
Of Jesus, for the men that pilgrims are.

   . . . Then I saw in my dream, that on the morrow he got up to go forward, but they desired him to stay till the next day also; and then, said they, we will, if the day be clear, show you the Delectable Mountains; which, they said, would yet farther add to his comfort, because they were nearer the desired haven than the place where at present he was; so he consented and stayed. When the morning was up, they had him to the top of the house, and bid him look south. So he did, and behold, at a great distance, he saw a most pleasant mountainous country, beautified with woods, vineyards, fruits of all sorts, flowers also, with springs and fountains, very delectable to behold. Then he asked the name of the country. They said it was Immanuel's land; and it is as common, said they, as this hill is, to and for all the pilgrims.

And Christian spent three days there at House Beautiful, where he was strengthened and armed for his continued journey, for the road ahead was hard and slippery, and led through the Valley of Humiliation.

And in this world of beauty, this world of sweeping vistas and snow-capped mountains, this world of freshly chopped garden rhubarb and sweet rolls bubbling over the edge of the buttered pan, in this world of snuggling under woven blankets among heaps of squishy pillows, there is pain and injustice and brokenness right around the corner.

And it is impossible to hold the good and the evil in my human heart and mind. I cannot grasp the pain of the Taliban sweeping through Afghanistan even at this moment. Or the horrors and ramifications of World War I, the war that did not indeed end all wars, but rather unleashed new standards of destruction. Or even the back story of the two grizzled men sharing a doorstep and a brown paper bag as we drove home from downtown Denver last night.

But The Lord God Almighty can, and does. And He has declared that justice will be done, and that He will seek the lost, and the strayed will be brought back, He will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.

He is the Good Shepherd who lay down His life for His sheep.

And Jesus said unto them, "Follow me."

 And Christian replied, And besides, O thou destroying Apollyon, to speak truth, I like his service, his wages, his servants, his government, his company, and country, better than thine; therefore leave off to persuade me farther: I am his servant, and I will follow him.