Today I woke up with renewed energy, the malaise from yesterday just a memory. I am not a theologian. I have a novices understanding of faith. I believe in God. I have faith in God though I experience challenges to my faith. There is a reason I was put on this earth, married Carla, had a family and made it this far in life. There is something more. There has to be. I am heartened to see Carla rely on her faith in God in good times and bad. I hope and pray my kids rely on their faith to guide them and comfort them. Faith can be a powerful refuge. I woke up thinking about my faith and as we started our walk we were faced with a big rocky climb. Before me was an old man with walking sticks. His steps were small, he tilted to the left, he was barely making it. As I passed by him and uttered the obligatory “Buen Camino” we looked at each other. I could see his faith in his eyes. He grimaced and wheezed but those eyes said it all. He knew God was going to watch over him. He had faith. A little farther on just at the top of the steep climb and elderly lady sat on a bench. Carla and I have seen her time and time again on the trail. We can see her strain, stop and struggle. When we came up to her as she rested we recognized each other and she had her ever present smile. She looked confident. I felt like I was again watching faith in action. We’ve seen it in many ways on our journey. Today Carla and I celebrated faith in God and faith in each other- though Carla has little faith in my map reading skills- with just cause. I flunked orienteering in ROTC Advance Camp. I could not shoot an azimuth to save my life.

As Carla and I were sitting with that bird, me with my beer and Carla with her wine we were interrupted by a woman sitting next to us with her husband who felt the need to correct (incorrectly I might add)Carla’s pronunciation of a town. She started to converse with us in a saccharin condescending tone and told us how we were doing the Camino the wrong way. She also told us about the things we shouldn’t do- including writing this blog. Now Peter the litigator of the past would have showed this woman all the flaws in her preaching, it would have been easy to crush her. I was at a juncture. Like Matthew Kelly’s descriptions of Holy Moments, I had a choice. I could dress this woman down or I could let it. I was at the same place I was with the flight attendant in my Just Killing Time blog. I felt the positive energy of the Camino and held my tongue and just nodded. She left think she had set us straight and I avoided creating major negative energy. Thank you God and the Camino for showing me the way.

The downtown

Took a dare and picked an alternate route to Burgos to avoid industrial area. We stopped to talk two older gentlemen. They asked me where I was from I said “good luck”. They were a bit hard to understand. They did say they still ring that bell. I love this country.

Entering Burgos

Bike art-yeah!