About a year ago my mother told me about a yard sign she had seen: “Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.”
I love plans. I am an actuary; my job is to plan and project future events. But last week, I was reminded that some things are in God’s hands and not ours.
A few hours into our hike of 15 miles on Friday, I began to feel a tightness above my right knee. This continued to get worse as I struggled to complete the remaining 10 miles. The knee got better overnight with rest and Advil, but on Saturday after five miles the pain came back only worse. I channeled my inner Ignatius pride and wanted to continue, but my wife Ruth talked more sensibly. After 13 days of hiking and more than 150 miles we decided that God did not mean us to continue our journey on foot.
This has been a difficult decision. Our plan had been to walk the whole Camino. We’ll finish the trip, but using different modes of transportation.
I know adventures await us. There will be opportunities we previously could not have experienced. We are disappointed, but we are excited to see what God has in store for us the rest of the way.