Beautifully Exhausting

I just returned from an 11 day trip to England. My jump across the pond was for the purpose of accompanying one of the pastors I coach on the Peak Wesley Way pilgrimage. David Juliano is the Lead Pastor of Sebring First Methodist Church in Sebring, Florida. If you’re an HGTV fan, like our family is, you’ll know that Sebring just participated in the “Home Town Takeover” with the Ben and Erin Napier from the “Home Town” show. David’s church is surrounded by the projects Ben and Erin facilitated.

In 2019 when God supernaturally called me to invest in church leaders as a coach, the first confirmation of my new calling came when David (out of the blue) asked me if I would coach him. David and I have been meeting together monthly or more since October of 2023. In the nearly two years working together, David has invited me to preach at his church several times as well as lead in two leaders retreats. He has become more than a “coaching client,” but also a much-loved brother-in-Christ and friend.

Last year, he asked me to help in write a proposal to his church leaders requesting a sabbatical. A sabbatical is an extended time away for personal renewal. In my 39 years as a pastor, I took two sabbaticals, one for four months and one for two months. These set aside times are designed to enrich a leaders spiritual, emotional, relational and missional life. I was surprised when David asked me to accompany him on the Peak Wesley Way pilgrimage as a kind of spiritual director or guide. In the last year when people have asked me to describe my new ministry of coaching I say, “I’m a temporary assistant to the Holy Spirit.” This invitation would take this calling to a new level as I would literally walk, live, eat, drink, laugh and learn with David, 24 hours a day for 10 of my 11 days in jolly old England.

Our well-planned agenda included flying in and out of Orlando and spending two and half days in London. We would then train to Matlock, a quaint English village in the Peak region of England, spending the night in an equally quaint pub inn. From there, David and I would begin a 44 mile, 6 day hike through the hilly and mountainous Peak District. Each evening we would sleep at a Methodist Chapel on a “luxurious cot.” The chapels have been retrofitted with a small kitchen and a bathroom with showers. Sadly, most of the six chapels we visited were closed Methodist churches, but this new ministry was giving them new purpose.

When asked to describe the pilgrimage, I have been saying to friends, “It was beautifully exhausting.” Let me explain. For weeks before the trip, both David and I trained for the walk. My routines included using my water rower at home coupled with walks wearing my 22 pound backpack several times during the week. David had a similar pattern. With a titanium left knee, a reconstructed, arthritic right knee and 65 years of living, I was concerned about my physical ability to make the pilgrimage. I am grateful to report that I made it! But it was quite an adventure.

In our first leg, a 9.5 mile walk from Matlock to Youlgrave, the hike began with 1600 foot elevation gain. I kept thinking to myself, “If this first hour and half walk is the entire walk, they are going to find my dead carcass up here!” By the grace of God, this was not true. The path leveled off and for the rest of the 44 mile hike, the elevations were less strenuous. I did notice a pattern for us as we walked. Whether the days journey was 9, 8, 6 or 5 miles, the last mile was always the hardest. Fatigue was contextual and more self-induced than I would have imagined. When the end was in sight, we got tired.

But despite the exhaustion on the body of the walk, the actual environment of the pilgrimage was fantastic. It was equally breathtaking, but in a different way. God’s creation took our breath away in a way the hike could not. Its raw, unadulterated beauty was stunning. Every turn opened up new vista’s of rolling hills, steep cliffs, babbling streams, and farm animals (mostly cows and sheep). Daily, Psalm 19:1-6 (NIV) ran through my mind and passed through my lips:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.

It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.

God’s creation is beautiful.

So there you have it! Our 6 day, 44 mile pilgrimage was “beautifully exhausting.” Every day, I turned to my friend David and said, “Have I told you thank you for inviting me on this trip?” I could not say thanks enough to either my benefactor or my God. “Thank you Lord for this adventure with you and David in the handiwork of your creation.”

The Gift of Lament