Walking Reflections

On August 9, 2010, Ed Stafford plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil to cool off, pop open some champagne and celebrate. Other sun bathing tourists on the beach might have seen him as just another crazy Brit who soaked up a little too much South American sun. Stafford would say he was, indeed, a little bit crazy but not in the "frat boy" sense of the word - more in the "Indiana Jones/intrepid explorer/boldly-going-where-no-one-has-gone-before" sense of it.

That is because when Stafford's toes hit the surf that morning, he officially became the first man ever to walk the entire length of the Amazon River. His two-year, 4,200-mile trek took him through some of the most dangerous terrain on earth. Stafford and his companion, Peruvian forestry worker Gadiel "Cho" Sanchez Rivera, braved deadly snakes, 18-foot crocodiles, exotic tropical diseases, hostile natives and the daily potential of disaster to complete the trek entirely by walking through the rain forest and not using boats, as other expeditions had done. 

"I've been told I was going to be killed so many times," the 34-year-old former British army captain told the Associated Press. "But I'm not dead. I'm here now and ... I've proved that if you want something enough, you can do anything!" The day before, Stafford had collapsed on the side of a road just 53 miles short of the finish, but he rallied after a few hours of rest to push through to the end, having enough energy to make his run into the surf. 

Why did he do it, you ask? 

It was a personal challenge for a man who left the military to be a stockbroker, got bored by the drudgery of finance and ended up leading student expeditions in Belize, then supervising the building of a BBC base camp in Guyana. "The crux of it is, if this wasn't a selfish, boy's-own adventure, I don't think it would have worked," he said about his quest. "I am simply doing it because no one has done it before."

Stafford started his trek on April 2, 2008, on the southern coast of Peru. His original traveling companion, another Brit, left him after three months on the trail. Stafford continued walking with various local people he met along the way until Cho joined him a few months later. He also brought an electronic companion as well. Unlike the intrepid explorers of old, Stafford still had contact with the outside world via an Internet satellite phone that he carried with him and that enabled him to pass the nights by downloading TV shows such as The Office.

Stafford survived on beans and rice and on the piranhas he caught in the river. He was also able to buy provisions in villages he encountered along the way, many of which welcomed him. Some, however, were a bit less than hospitable. At one stop, he had villagers radio ahead to another village to ask permission for Stafford and Cho to walk through their territory. The response was that if any gringo came that way, they would kill him. After choosing an alternate route, Stafford and Cho were still confronted by another group of natives who were very distrustful of outsiders. The natives captured the two adventurers and brought them before the village elders. After a lot of scrutiny and a strong scolding, they were let go and continued on their way. 

Jesus was himself an epic walker, according to the gospels. Cari Haus, who writes for the Web site ILuvWalking.com, says Jesus traveled distances on foot that are mind-boggling to those of us who are used to moving while seated. Here are some stats:

* If we take Matthew's narrative at face value, Jesus, as a young boy, would have walked about 400 miles with his parents during their return from Egypt to Nazareth.
* Every devout male in Galilee would travel to Jerusalem three times a year for religious festivals, which meant a 240-mile round trip from Nazareth. If Jesus followed this pattern every year between the ages of 5 and 30, he would have walked 18,000 miles in trips to Jerusalem alone (3 x 240 x 25).
* Based on the gospel accounts, Jesus traveled 3,125 miles in his three-year public ministry. His disciples would have walked many of those miles with him.
* That means a conservative estimate of the distance Jesus walked during his lifetime was 21,525 miles. That's a lot of sandals!

 

Stafford's long walk allowed him to see and experience things that most people fly over and forget.

Jesus' lifetime of long walks allowed him the opportunity to see faces, hear stories, experience the hospitality of strangers and feel the connection between the land and its people. Jesus led his disciples on a journey that gave them the best kind of laboratory for learning what God was doing in Jesus' own ministry and their part in it.

We might call it "ministry by walking around."