#112 - It’s All a Part of the Pilgrimage {Reflections}

A single sentence changed how we travel, plan, and live: whatever happens is all part of the pilgrimage. That line guided us from the streets of Tel Aviv to the hills of Galilee, where a thoughtful guide helped us move beyond checklists into the living story of the land. It surfaced again in Tanzania when cascading flight delays upended our plans and exposed how tightly we grip control. And it shaped a quiet birthday at home that became unexpectedly rich once we stopped choreographing every moment.

We unpack what pilgrimage really means—an embodied way of moving through places with open eyes, open hands, and an open heart. Instead of treating setbacks as failures, we practice inclusion: the rain, the closed gate, the missed flight, the unexpected invitation to sit and share apples in a friend’s living room. This is not fatalism; it’s intelligent surrender. We still prepare and show up, but we stop making perfection a precondition for peace. Along the way we talk about spiritual presence, resilience, and how everyday life can become sacred ground when we let go of the script.

If you’re wired to optimize every minute, this conversation offers a gentler way to navigate your day. You’ll hear practical ways to turn detours into meaning, to trade anxious control for attentive presence, and to notice the people, places, and stories that breathe life into ordinary hours. Listen, share with a friend who could use some breathing room, and subscribe so you don’t miss new reflections. If this resonated, leave a review and tell us: what detour are you ready to include as part of your pilgrimage?

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
Hey, what is up everybody?
Hey, this is Ryan.
Welcome to our Reflectionspodcast.
Hey, a couple years ago, me andsome friends went to Israel.
It was incredible.
Went flew over to Israel and didthe whole tour with a good
friend of ours named KentDobson.
And you know, we didn't want tohave the nickel and dime tour.
You can go to Israel and youknow, you can do like 1-800 tour
Israel or whatever, whatever.
And there's there's a hundreddifferent tour guides and groups

(00:37):
out there, and they're all on abig bus.
And it's like, I did not wantthat.
I didn't want the mainstreamtour.
I wanted somebody that had livedthere, who'd been there, who
knew the land, who knew thestory, who incorporated some of
the Palestinian-Israeli, youknow, that kind of the conflict
into the into the week.
And so Kent was incredible.
Kent leads uh guy uh tours overthere.
And anyway, this is not a plugfor Kent and Dobson, but it

(01:00):
that's what we got.
It was awesome.
But here's what happened when wethe night we got there, we flew
into Tel Aviv and we got therelate, night one, and on the bus
right, he's giving us anorientation for the week.
And he said this one line, I useit all the time.
Here's the line.
He goes, Hey, just so you neverknow, whatever happens this week
from now until the end, uh, it'sall part of the pilgrimage.

(01:22):
I was like, Oh, that's so good.
It's all part of the pilgrimage.
Because we were there on apilgrimage, not just a tour.
A pilgrimage is this is thisancient spiritual practice of
walking on a place or in aplace.
Usually it's sort of a placedeemed sacred or holy, uh, and
we can unpack what that meanslater.
But it's going to a place, asite, and exploring it with your

(01:43):
feet and with your eyes open toexperience the smells and the
sounds and to read the storiesof that land and the place.
And so it's a spiritual andphysical experience, if you
will.
And so we weren't going overthere just to see sights.
We were going over there to seethe sights, to read the stories,
to allow the spirit to kind ofwork in us and move in us.
And and um, and Kent said,whatever happens, it's all part

(02:05):
of the pilgrimage.
So if the if the tire goes outor blows on the on the bus, hey,
it's all part of the pilgrimage.
If it's raining on day two andwe're supposed to be, you know,
on the Sea of Galilee on theboat, well, it's all part of the
pilgrimage.
Uh, if on day five, you know,we're going down to Jerusalem
and we, you know, we can't getinto this certain area, well,
it's all part of the pilgrimage.
In other words, whateverhappens, we're gonna have our

(02:27):
hands open and just let ithappen because all of it is part
of the pilgrimage.
Years later, I took some friendsto Tanzania.
Tanzania is in like uh easternAfrica, sort of the central part
of like, you know, uh, centralpart of Africa and um just south
of Kenya.
Beautiful area.
We have some partner churchesover there in uh in Jong Bay
region.
And when I was going, I told ourteam, I go, hey everybody, just

(02:50):
in case I didn't say thisbefore, whatever happens on this
trip, it's all part of thepilgrimage.
And I was, you know, I wasquoting Kent Dobson.
And so I told him, Whateverhappens, be flexible.
Whatever happens, it's all partof what of the journey of the
trip.
And so be open.
And uh, this is hilariousbecause the last night we were
flying out of Dar Salaam, wewere gonna be home in a day and
a half or whatever it was, and Iwas so pumped to get home and

(03:12):
see Katie and the kids.
My daughter Addison was with me,but and uh otherwise my other
kids were at home and Katie wasat home.
And we we get to Dar Salaam tofly out, and there was like this
this weird royal visitation inKenya, and so our flight out of
Nairobi got delayed such that wewere delayed and we missed all
of our flights that wereconnecting flights.

(03:33):
So we were we were gonna bestuck in Dar Salaam for like
four days.
And I was like, No, I couldn'tbelieve it.
I was so frustrated, and andvisibly I was probably upset
because we'd been there for Ithink like eight, nine, ten days
already.
And my friend Dave, DaveNordmeyer, who's an awesome guy,
he turns to me and goes, HeyRyan, it's all part of the
pilgrimage.
And I go, Don't you dare use mywisdom against me, buddy.

(03:56):
But uh, he was right, like thisis all part of the pilgrimage.
And one last story.
On my birthday, I I love, I lovemy birthdays.
I don't know why.
They're just fun.
It's like it's almost like Ihave this free, like uh, you
know, get out get out of jailfree card where I can I can do
whatever I want on my birthday.
I usually I usually take the dayoff, and me and Katie plan like
this really great day.
Actually, I plan it.
She just goes along with me.

(04:16):
And I can do anything I want to.
Like I can go to a bookstore andlook around for four hours if I
want to.
And she'd be chill, she'd becool with that.
I can go to a coffee shop andjust sit with Katie and read, or
I can go to a movie and andinvite friends.
We can do she's like, whateveryou want to do, Ryan, we'll do
it.
And I love that about mybirthday.
So it's like this time I canjust sort of do whatever I want.
And um, which I know soundsextremely selfish, but hey, it's

(04:36):
my birthday, not yours.
So anyway, so on my lastbirthday, I just was not feeling
I didn't feel inspired to likeplan out some ornate birthday uh
happening that day.
And so I knew that I knew I'mlike, I kind of want to go to a
bookstore.
We had gotten a hotel for thatnight, but that was kind of it.
And I was feeling a bit sad.
I'm like, gosh, I have I lost mymy mock, you know, my gumption

(04:59):
or have I lost my inspiration.
Have I gotten so old I can'teven plan out a fun birthday for
myself anymore?
And then I realized, you knowwhat?
Maybe this day I'm gonna dosomething different.
I'm just gonna let the dayunfold in front of me and see
what happens and and where ittakes me, as though the whole
day is all part of thepilgrimage.
Whatever happens, it's all partof the pilgrimage.
So that day I like, I did.

(05:20):
I like I let go of control andthis desire to plan and this
need to control and makeeverything perfect.
And I just let the day unfoldand saw where it went.
And we had a blast.
We were at some friends' house.
My friend Bob called.
He goes, Hey, I've got a bunchof apples for my apple tree.
Do you want to come over and getsome?
I was like, Yeah, let's do that.
And while we were there, we werehanging out in their living room
just talking and eating apples,which is so funny to say, but

(05:42):
and I was like, Oh, we shouldget going.
And they're like, No, we don'thave to go anywhere.
We can just sit here becausethis is all part of the
pilgrimage.
So here's what I want toencourage you today.
Maybe the next couple days, ifyou're like me and you love to
control things or plan things orperfect things or get the best
or most out of things, or maybeyou like to manipulate things in
a good way or not.

(06:04):
But um, maybe today, becauselook, we spend a lot of time and
energy on trying to do that, andmany of the things are just
quite frankly beyond ourcontrol.
And many things we weren't meantto try to control or manipulate
or perfect.
And maybe sometimes justwhatever happens is part of the
pilgrimage, part of the journey.
Maybe instead of spending allthat energy and time on trying

(06:25):
to control it, we just letthings be.
And we just go along for theride.
I'm not saying to become afatalist, like whatever happens
is according to the gods.
I'm just saying maybe today ortomorrow, just show up and see
where the day takes you and letgo of trying to control
everything or manipulate thingsor plan everything or perfect
everything.
And just let the day be whateverthe day seems to want to be.

(06:48):
So today, may you see that it isindeed all a part of the
pilgrimage.
All right, love you guys.
Peace.
Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'dlove to have you share it with
some friends.
And don't forget you are alwayswelcome to join us in person at
Central in Elk River at 8 30,which is our liturgical
gathering, or at 10 o'clock, ourmodern gathering.

(07:10):
Or you can check us out onlineat clcelkriver.org.
Peace.