Saint Cuthbert’s Way, March 2024
A Walk to Heaven
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” (Psalm 84:5 NIV) Introduction
How It All Came to Be
While in India in the spring of 2018 as my body was failing me God greatly surprised me with the promise of a sabbatical, something I had never even considered as a possibility. I had no idea how long or how extensive my sabbatical and healing journey would be but I felt strongly that at the end of the sabbatical I would do a through-trek as a sort of victory march celebrating my recovery. As it turned out it was a victory march but the celebration was for freedom. God also spoke to me about the Three Things.* He said that Calcutta had been the First Thing, the Himalayas had been the Second Thing, and the Third Thing would come after the sabbatical.
*The Three Things: In 2005 as I was raising support for my first trip to India I was in a meeting in which Alan Ross (from Scotland of all things!), a prophet, was the guest speaker. He prayed over me and said that there would be three things. And that was that. God had not told me what the Three Things were until that very moment in 2018.
About three years into my recovery I was still pretty much chained to my couch. One day on FaceBook I saw a post about the longest hike in the world—from the tip of South Africa to Magadan, Russia. My imagination kicked into high gear and I reposted with playful ideas about how I could make that expedition happen. Little did I know that my sister, Julie, had been sensing God leading her into some sort of spiritual retreat. She responded to my post, “Would you consider doing a pilgrimage?” I said, “Sure!” We discussed El Camino—too hot for me and too commercial for both of us. We wanted to be in nature rather than walking on roads from town to town. For a couple of decades I have dreamed of visiting Northern Ireland, the result of having prayed daily for them during their long season of war. I looked for pilgrimages there but nothing clicked. I was very drawn to Iona in Scotland and the thin space** there but felt that the walk was too short. Then a FB friend posted that he had just completed a pilgrimage in Scotland, St. Cuthbert’s Way. I did a little research and that route resonated loudly with me. I asked Julie, “How about Scotland?” She said, “You pick a place and I’ll go with you.” And, long story short it was a done deal.
**Thin spaces: I use this term cautiously as it is also used by other religions as well as pagans. In the Christian sense thin spaces refers to places that the veil between Heaven and Earth feels particularly permeable—a literal sensing of Heaven on Earth. While it could refer to a time of prayer or a gathering of Christ followers in which God manifests Himself in an extraordinary way, usually it refers to a specific geographic area where pilgrims regularly sense a strong and tangible Divine Presence, a nearness to Heaven. A Biblical reference to such a geographic place is Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:17). In Scottish Borders and especially on Holy Island my sister and I both had a deep, awe-inspiring sense of Heaven like I have never ever felt before.
What It Was and What It Was Not
We did not go on pilgrimage as an act of penance. Neither was it an attempt to twist God’s arm or to ‘earn’ something from Him for ourselves or for a loved one. It also was not an expensive vacation, nor was it an exciting adventure to a new part of the globe.
Pilgrimage for us was a contemplative spiritual practice. For several years before my collapse I had begun studying facets of Christian spiritual formation: readings from the Desert Fathers and Mothers, books on contemplative prayer, and especially important were podcasts such as Renovare and Jon Tyson and the sermons of my pastor back home in Anchorage. During these recent years I have hungrily continued this pursuit for a deeper walk with God and to be “transformed into Christ’s likeness” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Recently I completed studies with Dallas Willard Organization’s School of Kingdom Living. God has done an enormous amount of work in my soul—teaching, healing, restoring. The pilgrimage was a continuation of that growth. Our goal, simply, was time alone with God, to walk with Him and to commune with Him, simply to ‘be’ with God. And we were..beyond our wildest expectations. It was a most incredible experience with our Heavenly Father Who Loves us!
My Scottish Surprises
During our time in Scotland we did not see a single kilt nor a Viking (although we did walk the land on which they walked). We heard neither a bagpipe nor a single Scottish folk tune. And we did not encounter one bite of the bland, boring food that I went expecting.
We did, however, see incredible landscapes, the North Sea, a plethora of ancient ruins (some nearly 1400 years old) and stone cottages which have housed families for centuries (and which Europeans do not consider to be old). We heard myriads of bird songs and the bleating of newborn lambs. We met some of the kindest, friendliest, and most hospitable folks on earth. We ate some of the most delicious cuisine I have ever savored (even the food in remote inns is prepared by trained chefs). We tasted haggis and, while it might be a somewhat acquired taste, found it pleasant; my sister ordered it for breakfast every morning. I ate every Scottish shortbread cookie I could get my hands on and they were plentiful.
Although I had done some reading about the trail, I found it far more challenging than I was prepared for. Neither of us, however, regrets a single minute of it and will treasure the experience in a special place in our hearts forever. While I believed God had something in store for me on this pilgrimage, I could not have imagined how much. We both are overwhelmed and deeply grateful for how profoundly it has impacted us.
What It Was All About
The pilgrimage was far more than my sister and I could have ever imagined and we will be eternally grateful for this Walk with God. It was also far more difficult than, even considering my weakened physical condition, I imagined. I kept thinking this should not be so hard. In retrospect I realize that the increased difficulty was because of what God was working in me; it had to be hard to mimic the difficulties of the life that I was allegorically walking through. Those first days were so hard because I was reliving the struggles of my life. But, I was in essence ‘walking in the dark’ and until we were back in London I did not understand the purpose and meaning of my journey nor why it had been so difficult for me. I will explain all of that in day-by-day detail below. For now, I will just relate that for me the eight-day trek was an allegorical journey through my life from birth to the future. The places and events along the way symbolized places and events in my life’s journey; in a sense I trekked through my life in eight days. And the moral of the story is that God was cradling me in the palm of His loving hand every day, during every single event of my life. His Spirit was as close to me as the air I breath even during the most difficult and painful parts of my earthly journey.
Julie’s experience was very different from mine. She experienced a euphoric sense of the presence of God from our start in Melrose until we departed Lindisfarne to return to London. The more difficult the trek the more she reveled in His presence. For her, Holy Island represented Heaven and the pilgrimage was like a walk to Heaven. She says, “The trip was like being in a week-long dream..like what I think it will be like being with Him in Heaven. Basically all that was going through my mind was, ‘thank You’, and ‘this is so beautiful’.” While God was giving me understanding and tools to heal from my past, He was refining my sister through the difficulties of the walk and the exhilaration of His tangible presence with her. For example, after living a lifetime shadowed with ever-present fear she was completely free, without an anxious thought and filled with peace and trust through even the most uncertain and trying parts of the pilgrimage.
Coffee, Tea, and Reverie 