BLESSED ARE YOU PILGRIM, BECA– USE YOU HAVE DISCOVERED THAT THE AUTHENTIC “CAMINO” BEGINS WHEN IT IS COMPLETED.

I think about the Camino in Spain as being an international spiritual boot camp. That is, it is training in things spiritual in which a lot happens to many pilgrims in a very short compressed period of time. That is why we all feel like just got run over by a big truck and we have a tough time talking about what happened.

But the important thing is that the Spanish Camino gave us “presents” to use in our walk now and tomorrow wherever that leads. Let’s work on discovering those and putting them to use to make things easier and more meaningful. And beyond that I am no longer thinking that I should bring little trinkets from the Camino to plug into my “real” life but just the opposite the Camino is the new paradigm for me, for us.

Words from Laura, “Above all, we are lucky, aren’t we? We’ve been there…we’ve experienced…we’ve tasted…we’ve enjoyed…we’ve felt it.” Yes. Love, Phil.

Kelly’s back! I just talked to him on the phone. He, Rick and I will have a meeting tomorrow evening, well, meeting and wine tasting. Let’s see what else is new? Rebecca and I had a great dilly dally this evening. Just to sit with someone you love and have a glass and tapas and put the day in context is priceless.

I am going to try my second adventure with flan in a few minutes. Yea, I got the Royal brand (directions in Spanish) which makes twice as much as the Jello brand for the same price. Making it for the Camino meeting with Rick and Kelly.
Will give you the full report.

OK, am giving a Camino talk tomorrow at Rebecca’s church. That will be fun. Then next Saturday will be giving talk to my Teleios Group, a men’s bible study that I have been going to for ten years. People want to know! Love, Phil.

BLESSED ARE YOU PILGRIM, WHEN YOU CONTEMPLATE THE “CAMINO” AND YOU DISCOVER IT IS FULL OF NAMES AND DAWNS.

In this document, as it is written, every time the word Camino is used it is in lower case and in quotation marks. Interesting. Have been thinking about this and working on it. And I have been thinking and working on this #3. To me at this point it is so beautiful and mysterious that I would rather not clutter it up with words. Couldn’t we just let it float in the breeze and admire/savor/wonder? OK, I’m glad that you are with me! Love, Phil.

BLESSED ARE YOU PILGRIM, IF WHAT CONCERNS YOU MOST IS NOT TO ARRIVE, AS TO ARRIVE WITH OTHERS.

Or as Kelly would say,”It’s not a race, people!” Yesterday we talked about the idea that the Camino is not just a walk but it is a walk with a purpose. Today we are adding the idea that that purpose is not one of competing. The idea is not to win over someone by increasing the distance between you but to decrease the distance till you are with that someone.

Who might that someone be? Your hiking partner or a pilgrim that you are familiar with or is it someone intriguing that you caught a glimpse of yesterday or a week ago perhaps and lost track of or is it someone that has just shown up “out of the blue” or is it possibly yourself?

Whoever it is, everyone will prosper. Maybe that will be in some small way but maybe in some huge way, you never know. Don’t be shy, it’s all good in other words. Love, Phil.

Lovely pics, yes?

BLESSED ARE YOU PILGRIM, IF YOU DISCOVER THAT THE CAMINO OPENS YOUR EYES TO WHAT IS NOT SEEN. The Camino is a walk but it is not a walk to just take a walk. It is a walk designed to give you an experience if you are open to it. Let me repeat that, it is a walk designed to give you an experience if you are open to it. It has been going on for 1200 years and all those millions of pilgrims that have walked over that time speak to its power.

Other news Lucia is in Scotland after going on a hike on Mt Aetna, Sicily with a group of Camino vets. I wish that I could cut and paste her description over here. Maybe tomorrow.

Camino Repair and Towing Project #2: starting today and for one week put a bandaid (plaster ) on one of your feet even if you don’t need it just to celebrate healing. And maybe even put it on top of your foot where folks can see it and wear it proudly!

I go by Kelly’s house twice a day on average and I am reminded to wonder how he doing. He has spent the most time of all of us on the trail and must be toughly baked by now. He was scheduled to leave on the 15th. It will be great fun to see him soon.

OK, have to get to work and then to the hospital. Have to get started on my income tax project which is due in nine days. My friend Larry said that he would help me with it. Nice. So, so long for today, Love Phil.

Yes, got the flan made this AM. Right, last minute. And Rebecca said to make sure to tell you that it was Jello brand in a box. OK, right, but the directions are in English AND Spanish so that should count. It took me twenty minutes from box to refrigerator, not that it is a race. Remember tomorrow we have a brand new weekly project.

I have a quote for you from church on Sunday here on Vashon. There was a response that we repeated I think three times just to make sure … “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”. You may have heard this but I am passing this on, just in case.

It has come to dawn on me that my Camino is starting to talk to me here just as she did in Spain. She says that I have too much going on and I have to slow my pace to avoid injury. So, I am going to try and do something with the blog to give me a little break for ten days. If I did a post each day coming up on one of the ten Pilgrim Beatitudes it would be less effort and still fun and profitable.

And I did hear His “voice” last night in between sleeps. I put that in parenthesis because He just occurred rather than I heard something. The message in paraphrased form: “Your Dilly Dallies on Earth are only tapas. Your complaint that there is not enough time to DD sufficiently with everyone will be solved in heaven because time will be unlimited forever.” Yea, that’s what I’m talking about!

So, here we go off again. Love to you and yours, Phil.

This is the other side of the piece of paper. It is not knowledge that is secret but it was gotten at some sacrifice and is a benefit of taking that less used road.

The Beatitudes of the Pilgrim

1 – Blessed are you pilgrim, if you discover that the “camino” opens your eyes to what is not seen.
2 – Blessed are you pilgrim, if what concerns you most is not to arrive, as to arrive with others.
3 – Blessed are you pilgrim, when you contemplate the “camino” and you discover it is full of names and dawns.
4 – Blessed are you pilgrim, because you have discovered that the authentic “camino” begins when it is completed.
5 – Blessed are you pilgrim, if your knapsack is emptying of things and your heart does not know where to hang up so many feelings and emotions.
6 – Blessed are you pilgrim, if you discover that one step back to help another is more valuable than a hundred forward without seeing what is at your side.
7 – Blessed are you pilgrim, when you don’t have words to give thanks for everything that surprises you at every twist and turn of the way.
8 – Blessed are you pilgrim, if you search for the truth and make of the “camino” a life and of your life a “way”, in search of the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
9 – Blessed are you pilgrim if on the way you meet yourself and gift yourself with time, without rushing, so as not to disregard the image in your heart.
10 – Blessed are you pilgrim, if you discover that the “camino” holds a lot of silence; and the silence of prayer; and the prayer of meeting with God who is waiting for you.

OK, there it is. Love, Phil.

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Phil’s Camino Promo
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Check this out please. This is Plan B. Wonderful clips here. You can help this happen by passing this on. Thanks, Phil.