Walk to Emmaus

OK, I know that I am still high on the mountain and have yet to settle back into actually living in a fallen world, please excuse my youthful-like enthusiasm, but . . .

RockRambler you can share it with your wife. You just can’t go on the same pilgrim walk. Once you go as a pilgrim you can return as a servant and work on other walks. If you go first then you can come back on her walk. You won’t be with her all the time, you won’t be with the pilgrims during their study but you can work in the kitchen, serve her meals, clean her room, do her laundry, there are many different ways you can support her during her walk and then once you have both been you can work together on walks after that. This is not something that will keep you from your wife, it will bring you closer together. I can’t wait to share in my wife’s walk. I don’t know when she will go or even if she will go but if she does I will definitely be there. She may not see me, but I will be there.

I wish I could share my experience with everyone on this board but I can’t put it into words. If I could you would not understand and if you go someday your experience may be very different from mine.

Like donnA mentioned you do sleep in shared quarters. Ours were more like dormitory rooms with up to 5 men in a room. But you don’t sleep much either. I can’t tell you how much we slept because we left the world behind. When you get there you give up your cell phone (or blackberry or whatever). You give up your watch and your wallet. For 3 days and 3 nights you don’t care what time it is, you operate on God’s time. Obviously the servants and leaders know what time it is and keep us on schedule but never as a pilgrim do you have care what time it is. Of course we had some pilgrims that had to take medication on a time schedule and special servants brought them their medication on schedule so they had a pretty good idea what time it was and we could see the sun go up and down but the thing is we did not have care what time it was or worry about how long until this or that. It was liberating.

I have been to lots of conferences. This was no conference.

 

I can't wait. We have a ladies walk coming up in a month. Also my teen age son wants to go. From what I have heard I can't wait to see that. Our community uses a place less than an hour from my home so I hope I can return often. Of course I have followup and reunion next week. (did I mention it gets better?)

Rufus, I understand where you are coming from and respect your opinion. I realize you are sharing with us warnings of what you see as a very real danger. I disagree with you and would love to discuss it (in a Christian spirit of course), but this is my thread, please stay on topic. I am not about to become Catholic, Methodist, or even change Baptist Churches. This experience will make me a better minister where I am. If you are worried that the Emmaus program will somehow turn good Baptists into Catholics don't be. I would love to explain more but I really don't think you would understand.

 

Thanks Rufus, for what it is worth I do appreciate very much the fact that although you don’t know me from Adam you still care enough about my soul to warn me about what you see as a very real danger. I do think you are reaching out to me in love and concern, thank you very much.

I am sorry I really don’t know what you mean by

I don’t mean to insult your background, intelligence, or whatever. I just meant that you were not there on my walk, you don’t know me, and you don’t know what God has done in my heart. You may know more about the program than I do, I just meant you don’t know me and I can’t really put in to words everything that has happened to me in the last few days. Not because you lack understanding, but because I lack the ability to explain.

OK, I am starting to float down a little bit from this spiritual high and there is one thing I want to put out there for the rest of you. This “walk to Emmaus” program was something God used to bless me, but the source of my renewal was not a program but God himself. I certainly don’t want to elevate the program and put it higher than the God that used it to speak to me.

Emmaus is not the only way to revive your soul when you need to draw closer to God. It may not even be the best program and as Rufus believes there could be some dangers involved. Jesus Christ spoke to me this last weekend, not any program or denomination, or individual minister or church. I pray that he speaks to each of you in just as meaningful a way. I fussed at Rufus earlier not to put God in a box. I don’t need to put him in an “Emmaus” box either. May God speak to you however he sees fit.