Pastor Skip shares a personal epiphany about hearing God's voice, drawn from a four-mile walk where he waited on the Lord. Using Matthew 5:41, he encourages listeners not to quit too soon when seeking God—going the extra mile personally and spiritually to receive what He wants to say. An invitation to try the practice of taking your own quiet walk to listen.

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Good morning, everyone. This is Wednesday, September the 16th, 2026, and I welcome you to today's Camino Chronicle. That's a, a record of some thoughts I've had, you know, walking along the path of life. Sometimes words connect with other words in a unique way, like the word discovery and the word epiphany. So discovery means, of course, something that is found or found out or noticed or, or realized. I think that most of us, when making a discovery of some kind, w- we pay attention to it based upon how notable or, or how valuable the discovery is. I mean, it's just common sense that the more valuable a discovery, the more we will hunt for more of it. And then this word epiphany. It means a, a sudden intuitive perception or, or insight into the reality or the essential meaning of something, and it often includes a, a spiritual connection. Now, you and I have had lots of discoveries in our lives, and with each one, we assess the value of the thing to see if we want to find more of it. Sometimes these discoveries lead to an epiphany, that sudden knowing in our soul. For today's chronicle, I want to share with you a recent epiphany I've experienced, [laughs] and it, it's about God. I think the Lord wants us to know more about Him. I think in our inner self, He is working to draw us closer. A- and if we can shut out the noise of the world, you know, long enough to listen, then we may begin to hear what He is saying to us. When reading the Bible, we frequently come to words like this: "And the Lord said," or, "The Lord spoke to so-and-so," or in the King James, "Thus sayeth the Lord." Well, in the New Testament, as early as Matthew 3:15, Jesus is responding to John the Baptist, and it begins, and I quote, "But Jesus said such and such." Matthew 4:4, "Jesus told him." Matthew 4:7, "Jesus responded." Matthew 4:10, "Jesus told him." Matthew 4:17, "Jesus began to preach." Matthew 4:19, "Jesus called out to them." Matthew 5:2, "And he began to teach them." And by the end of Matthew 7:28, it says, "When Jesus had finished saying these things." Just consider that all these statements made by Father God means He is actually talking to people out loud. [laughs] And please discover that in the Bible, the Lord is trying to talk to you. And, and now for the consideration of epiphany, that He is trying to talk to you even when you're not reading the Bible. Y- you see, I've discovered that the Lord talks to me when I'm ready to listen. Now, He may be trying to talk to me a lot more of the time, [laughs] but when I actually make it my purpose to listen to Him, well, He speaks. Last Sunday, I began a very short mini Camino. It's just a walk down a path, and I only went a little over four miles. It w- it was a walk along a trail near my home with the purpose of having some time with Jesus, just Him and me. I had some things on my mind that I wanted to say to Him, and that didn't take very long. We'll call that a prayer. Of course, I could have prayed anywhere, anytime, but let's face it, we usually don't. Our spiritual connections seem to do better when we fine-tune the frequencies, right? When we tune into God with our full attention. Now, again, we could probably do this a lot more than we do, but, but living life a- and, and being in the world, it just, it just clogs up our senses. So I'm learning to take short Caminos where I can isolate my soul to the Spirit of God. So last Sunday, I was on the trail, alone, of course, and I got through my list of things which I had to say, and then I waited upon the Lord for Him to speak to me, and He did a bunch. So I began to make some notes so I could reflect later. And this next one is, is the one that I have for you today. I didn't get the scriptural text during my walk, so I looked it up later because I was pretty sure what he was speaking to me kind of was sourced in or came from the scriptures. Turns out it was from Matthew five, verse forty-one, which says, and I quote, "And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two." Close quotes. So when I got home and I looked it up, I realized it was a teaching that Jesus was giving about several things, about revenge, about turning the other cheek, about going to court. But after those things, he said, quote, "And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two." Close quotes. One of my Bible commentaries explains that this is a reference to the custom of forced service in transport by a king's courier who could demand the service of others to carry out the king's business, which could not be refused. Hmm. Okay, that's for you Bible geeks who try to connect everything to the customs of the day. All right. But what I heard the Lord saying to me was that this little camino I was on was not a small thing, and that I would benefit more from two miles than I would from only one. In other words, "Skip, don't quit too soon. Don't stop before you hear from God. Don't let the inconvenience of walking or, or the interruption of your day, [laughs] or the cares of this world choke out the Word of God to your very own soul." But part of the epiphany was that I was being compelled, not forced, but compelled. Do you see the difference? Can you think of a time when you were compelled to, to do a thing, not forced to do it? I suppose our flesh cries out and tries to compel us to do lots of things we shouldn't do. But here I am talking about being moved upon by God's Spirit. Hang on one sec. Okay, I'm back. I can control a lot of things, but not when the door knocks. I was saying that I suppose our flesh cries out and tries to compel us to do lots of things we shouldn't do. But here I'm talking about being moved upon by God's Spirit, which in itself is an epiphany. I made a total of eight notes of specific things the Lord was offering me on that short four-mile saunter. [laughs] The purpose of today's chronicle is to encourage you to try this. It's, it's a kind of a spiritual fasting from the day's events by taking a walk alone, long enough to hear from the Lord, and then making some notes as to what he says. [laughs] And if you do, I'd love to hear from you what you heard from him. The Bible tells us that we overcome, in part, by sharing our testimony, and there's a lot to overcome in these days. Oh, boy. May the Lord bless you as you follow Him. Pastor Skip out.