Safe & Sound

First, let me just let everyone know that I am safe and sound. I arrived in Santiago on Sunday and it was a wonderful experience. I am not scheduled to leave Spain until Saturday, so I was not anywhere in the vicinty of the plane crash in Bajaras. I am currently in Finisterr. It took 3 days to arrive here and it was more exciting for me to arrive here than it was to arrive in Santiago. Part of it is because, Santiago was part of a joruney, and the arrival to the cathedral was not an end point for me, as it was for others. It had always been about the journey and not the destination. Finisterr, however, holds sigificance, because it is arrival at the "end of the world," and the opportuiyt to experince the majesty of God while looking out to the Atlantic ocean. It will also be an opprtuiyt to watch the sun set over the Atlantic. A number of us will head to the coast tonight for the traditonal watching the sunset and burning of clothes we have worn on the Camino. The ritual signifies a doing away with the old and the beginning of a new life. For some it also involves bathing in the waters of hte Atlantic. For me, I will use the opportunity to remember my baptism and give thanks to God for a safe journey and a continued guidance in the Camino that continues in life beyond this experience. A passage of scriptues says that God will giove us the desires of our heart. As I began the Way of St. James, last year in France, and continued this year, the comment I often heard was, "I cant´t imagine ever doing something like that." In journeying along the Camino, a major lesson for me has been if I can imagine it, and can be open to the possibility, it is only a few steps before the possiblity becomes reality. I have come to believe that imagination is our ability to be open to the dreams and possibilities God places in our heart. If I am open to the possibilites, God usually has a way of making the possibilty a reality. I have learned to not place limitations on God by saying, "I can´t imagine doing...," because once I make that statement, I close myself to whattever dreams and possibilities God has for me. A pilgrim tha I met shared with me another way of hearing the scriture to which I referred earlier. For her, and I agree, it is when we are open that GOd will place desires within our heart, and then God will turn those desires into reality. And so, my dream is to remain oopen to the desires and dreams God places within my heart, and to be ready to follwo them wherever God might lead: France, Spain, Africa, Guatemala....God will place desires/dreams within your heart; may you be open to allowing God to turn them into reality. Dream it, believe that it is possible, and watch God make it real. I am all walked out, and will not be going to Muxia, there is no need. I just made my reservation to fly back to the States and tomorrow I will take a bus back to Santiago, have dinner with some friends and fly out on Saturday morning. God bless you all, and may you be blessed as you follow your Camino.