This is the end – The walk

The end is as hard as the beginning. Both are dramatic changes in reality. The transition from one world to the next.

I long for experiences that take everything from you. A total change in who you are. I don’t just want a job working 8 hours a day. I want to be a firefighter and work 24-hour shifts to serve my city. I don’t just want to go on a hike, I want to walk across the country for 4 months straight. I don’t just want to go to church, but to be transformed into a representative of Christ Jesus Himself. All encompassing. All consuming. All in.

Sunrise over Mexico

It is impossible to know everything I have learned on this trip from Canada to Mexico on the CDT. Some lessons I recognize, while others, I am sure, will reveal themselves over time. Such is life. One lesson that is quite evident right now, as I sit on the ground next to the southernmost point of the CDT, is that everything must come to an end. The good times, the bad and even the mundane. Knowing this truth can be quite powerful. It means I need to appreciate and enjoy the good times as much as possible. Be grateful for sunny days with a light cool breeze. Knowing that the bad will happen just like the good, even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment. When the temperature drops and the cold rain soaks you from the waist down. Your toes start to go numb from the cold, splashing around in mud puddles or curling up under a tree for shelter. This too shall pass. In those moments I try to recognize that soon I will be dry and wrapped in my quilt eating hot noodles even if it is hours away. The mundane is most of the way. You wake up, pack your bags, walk, eat, settle in and sleep. However, there is joy in the mundane. Joy to coherence. Joy to the pattern and rhythm of daily life.

New Mexico

When one path ends, another must begin. What is the next path I will take? Another trace? A job? A family?

Only God knows what comes next and I trust his leadership with everything I am. I know that whatever is next, it will be a great adventure.

Sela

Crown of calluses

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