I woke early after another wonderful night’s sleep and quietly prepped my things for departure (including pairs 10 & 11 of fresh socks that Joel had purchased for me the day before). Thereafter the rest of the Family rose and we shared a really nice breakfast together – before the kids headed off to day’s […]
I thereafter flowed smoothly into Towson proper, where I soon encountered a preacher who happened to be exiting the Church of the Immaculate Conception. He asked me what I was doing and why, and a highly unusual exchange took place – first one where he didn’t offer any affirmation or support for my selfless endeavor […]
Onward I flowed into the ever-expanding morn, eventually merging with Old Court Road, where I pass the Hunt’s Memorial United Methodist Church and its main signage that encouraged all passersby to “Pray is forward everyday!” (No, my Paulinist friends. Jesus would have us Do/Love it forward in every way!) … Shortly thereafter I was stopped […]
Shortly after bonding in friendly fashion with a surprisingly gregarious roadside-burrowed woodchuck near the town of Pikesville, I made my way into Randallstown and then up to the front door of the wayside New Antioch Baptist Church there. Pastor Barney answer my knocking request for water with a curt Hello followed by him asking if […]
I kept walking onward and shortly thereafter came across a crew installing solar panels who were taking their lunch-break by the roadside. I waved hello and smiled, whereupon one of them called out loudly “Why are you walking? Are you stupid?” Without pause or even a hint of a frown, I smiled gently and answered […]
I then continued onward along Old Court Road, with the walking remaining extremely sketchy, what with the extremely thin (non-existent, really) shoulders and the very high velocity of through traffic. I found myself thinking that it would have been far safer (and probably more Productive to the Cause) to walk through the slums of Baltimore […]
“Disturb life’s common structures. Do what people thought you’d never do and smile when they can’t believe that you are even attempting it. Jump on that train, quit your job, go to the next border and take your next pilgrimage. Fall in love with a very different Life and learn the sweet sound of lonely […]
It took quite a bit of moxie and more than a bit of persistence to make my slow-but-steady way along the uber-thin-shouldered route of Old Court Road, and I eventually (and super gratefully) finally entered the outer vestiges of the town of Granite (also known as Woodstock), where the cozy porch of a a beautiful […]
“You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything, or it could be nothing. It could be the spectacular, or it could be the humdrum. And yet none of that ever really matters. For you just keep putting one foot in front of the other, over & over & over & over again, […]
And onward & onward I walked, past the St. James United Methodist Church in Marriotts Ridge (with its bold sign proclaiming quite correctly that we have all been “Sent forth to LOVE”) as the sun began to set. I plodded on into the darkness for what seemed like a small slice of eternity – first […]
This was one of the weirder nights of my entire pilgrimage, no doubt. After Ivan left me at the Dunkin Donuts, I drank some of the Coke he had given me and tried to sleep on a row of chairs on the roadside patio there. Almost needless to say, not even the massive fatigue I […]
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