How can I follow the "Camino" like James did?

We long for a full and meaningful life, but we cannot find it.
At certain moments in our lives, each of us is stabbed by a bittersweet longing for another kind of world, a world where love and kindness and beauty and peace rule. This intangible desire is for a world where there is peace and love in all of our relationships. On the Camino we experience something of this. But in life, we cannot find it. Without the benefit of bright yellow arrows at every turn, we journey haphazardly, with only glimpses of pure love and true peace. Many of us don’t even know we are lost because we have given up hope that this kind of life is even impossible and so we’re not even trying to find it. But Jesus Christ offers to lead us there: “ I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) There is reason for hope.

Jesus offers to take us there if we will follow him.
By his own life, Jesus demonstrated that he is a worthy guide. Consider love, for example. For all the songs and poems and rants in its honor, who will tell us what this love is that “makes the world go round”, this “love that can conquer all”. I search in vain on the radio dial, on the Bestseller List. But Jesus said, “There is no greater love than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:3) This rings true, doesn’t it? To love someone is to give your life to them. And Paul, a follower of Jesus, adds flesh to Jesus’ timeless words and tells us what love does: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” This describes exactly the remarkable life that Jesus lived. And Jesus promises that if we follow him we will find the life that we have always wanted, and that it will continue into eternity. "I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6)

The decision to follow Jesus requires that we turn from evil.
We learn in the Bible that the consequence of our sin, our selfishness and cruelty toward others, is spiritual and physical death. We feel this spiritual lifelessness most everyday, and it is no secret that physical death draws near to us all. To choose life is to reject our own selfishness and the way it hurts others and ourselves. But who then will bear the consequence of death? Jesus did not speak idly of love. It was he who laid his own life down for our sake, being killed in the worst way for our sin. But because of his perfect life and because he was the Son of God, Jesus conquered death and lives still, offering us spiritual and eternal life. So we stand at a crossroads. Will we choose life and follow Jesus or will we carry on in our own way. We’ve been down that way before. We know where it leads. Jesus promises: “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.” (John 8:12)

Following Jesus means making him your friend and your teacher.
Jesus gave his life for us because he loved and wanted to make us his friends. Any good friendship is based on trust. To follow Jesus is to trust that He knows the way. To follow Jesus is to trust that he has borne the consequence of our sin. We can get to know Jesus better by studying his life in the Bible and by spending time with others who are following him. And because Jesus is not here with us physically, when we choose to follow Jesus, the Spirit of God comes to live within us so that we can speak with him through prayer. In fact, we can choose to follow Jesus today and begin our friendship with him by speaking with him right now in prayer.

Dear Jesus, I choose to follow you. Thank you for forgiving my sins. I trust you to be my guide and friend in this life and forever. I will follow you so that I become the person you created me to be."

Continue here to learn the first steps in your walk with Jesus