Jack C's Story.

Jack C

I wanted to walk because things had changed in my life. Within a span of four days, an old friend had died, a relationship had ended, and I had come to faith. I had whiplash. In the same breath, I was reeling for what I lost, yet praising God for what I had gained. I needed some stillness to piece this all together. Walking, for me, helps to unravel tangled feelings. It is like writing a to-do list. The act of putting feet to earth, pen to paper, tames the mind. It makes us capable of seeing where we are and where we want to go. The journey itself was a joy. I walked from Maidstone to Cantebury, staying in a chapel in Broughton Lees overnight. I saw muntjacs skitter through woods, white birds perfom permurations, and an evening sunburst that spanned miles. Through prayer, surrounded by creation, I had drawn nearer to God, or he had drawn nearer me, and we fell into almost casual conversation. When I arrived I met Torin. What a man. Talking at the Pilgrim Miracle Windows, he helped me to understand what a pilgrim is. The pilgrim is not who they were, nor who they will become. They are in a glorious limbo. The pilgrim has started to walk the right Way. He walks ever nearer to God. He tries to attune himself to the strange emmanations of His love, all the time knowing that complete union will only come when His Kingdom comes. In ‘Peace’, Gerard Manley Hopkins writes: ‘O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
 Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
 That plumes to Peace thereafter.’ ‘Patience exquisite’ - I like that. Peace is in store. So on we go… trudging and singing, in repentance and praise.