Not Just a Peddler. God's Peddler!!

If you watch any old movies from the 50's or 60's you will surely come across some that show a medicine show man peddling his goods.   Those goods sometimes were called "Snake Oil," "Sweet Aromatics,"and many other "miracle cures" for what's ailing you .  George C. Scott starred in a movie about one such man by the name of Mordecai Jones, in the film called The Flim Flam Man.  He used his "cures" as a way to get in close to you so he could steal all your money.  Of course, the film was comedic in nature, but haunting in reality, that someone would do a such a thing to anyone else.  But it was surely based on reality.

Today our Flim Flam men come in different forms, like Publishers Clearinghouse, Debt Retirement Experts, Weight Loss Gurus, Free Ipads ( check your computer it's there), and many others.  What does all this stuff cause us to be?  Suspicious!!  Usually it only takes being burned one time to get your fill and then you will be more aware of these "flim flams."  For some it never ends.  They are the welcome target of trusting people they don't even know to help them through a major crisis over the telephone or computer.  What happens is trust is thrown out the window and suspicion becomes the norm.

If you are like me, you have had the same thing happen to you when dealing with Christians, specifically in the church.  Something will be said and never followed through with and little by little you start thinking, "something is missing here."  Then over a period of time you get suspicious and you start doubting whether any of it is real or trustworthy.  It causes your faith to dwindle and then instead of serving God,  you start trying to qualify everything you see and your faith becomes an empty shell. You've lost confidence.  Wow, how did  something so fresh and so exciting, like new life in Christ, become so dead and indifferent?  You've let those who aren't the right kind of peddlers adjust how you feel about those who are the right kind of peddlers.  A bad experience from the past has drifted you away from the narrow path Christ put you on, and now your faith is not even vibrant and growing anymore.  What do you do?

Confess to God your sin of distraction.  Pray for a filling of the Holy Spirit.  Search God's Word for the answers for your steps ahead.  Spend quality and quantity time with God in prayer.  Get some advice from someone who is on the right track. Step out of the ditch!!

You may say, "But what about those wrong peddlers who are misrepresenting God?"  Let God take care of them.  You take care of yourself.  Here's two definitions of a peddler.

The Wrong One - A person who illegally sells goods with the intent of stealing more from that person.

The Right one - A person who promotes an idea widely, like following Jesus.

Listen to what Paul wrote about having confidence in the ministry to the church at Corinth.  2 Corinthians 2:14-17 - But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.  For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.  And who is adequate for these things?  For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

There will always be those who do wrong when it comes to representing Christ properly. I will do it wrong from time to time, but only as a mistake, not a lifestyle.  I hope I will always peddle Christianity in the right way, from a sincere heart, not expecting anything in return.  That is my desire.  Your responsibility is to always make sure you are first of all, following Christ, and then living a sincere life of ministry to those around you.  A life that has it's power source centered in Christ and His Word.  If that is the case, the goods you peddle will always have the "miracle cure" and the cure will last forever!  REALLY!!!

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Make It Rain!!!

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Every time I hear a weatherman talk about an upcoming rain shower I cringe when they bring in the fateful words, "hopefully it will clear up so your lake day can be a success."  Why cringe?  Because I remember in the past when we have experienced drought after drought wondering when the rain will begin.  We beg God to rain at our beckoned call, but don't want it to spoil our fun.  We need it to rain regularly to "replenish" the earth.  What does it mean to replenish?  It means to fill something back up again or restock back to normal.  We want God to replenish, but sometimes we only want it when it's convenient for us.  God is always faithful to disregard our weak effort at controlling the elements and comes through with rain at just the right time.  I have come to realize that with replenishment comes a need for appreciation that God is still supplying our basic needs on the earth.  So I want it on record, I say "God make it rain."  We always need rain and when we get to the point to think we have enough, is when we have taken too much back in our hands.  A few years back the Atlanta area was going through one of the worst droughts I have ever seen.  At that time our church joined with others across our nation to pray for rain for the Atlanta Area.  When the rain came, it not only replenished the earth in that area, it helped the people realize "we need God."  The prayers we lifted were not any different than the ones mentioned in James 5:16 where James said, "The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with."  He goes on to tell about Elijah praying that it wouldn't rain and it stopped.  Then he prayed that it would rain and it did.  God answered Elijah's prayers and the rain began and everything started growing again.

Sometimes we try to put our faith in the same category as rain by letting our faith dwindle day by day.  Possibly the reason could be that it cramps our style or rains on our plans and we don't want that.  So we don't seek out God's replenishing through the Holy Spirit.  Before long we realize there is a great drought in our life and it scares us and we cry out to God, "fill me with your Spirit!"  God is faithful and replenishes our life and His promises are real and true.  If you've been living your life on your terms and on your schedule, you may be in a drought and not even realize it.  The Bible says to allow God to replenish you on a regular basis.  In fact we are to seek Him out for that replenishing.  In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  In other words, God, Make It Rain!!  This replenishing is not only helpful, but necessary if we are ever going to grow beyond the world's perspective about real life.

Allow God to replenish your life today and when that happens everything Spiritual in your life will start to green up and grow again.  Here's my prayer for my spiritual life.  GOD MAKE IT RAIN!!!

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

What Do You Value and Why?

I am going to write about a very tough subject today, but I believe that I have to speak up for life.  Real Life!  I went to the October Baby Movie Website the other day and listened to the testimonies of those involved in the movie and it really brought to mind the value of life....One statement they emphasized again and again was "Every Life is Important."  Of course, we know all the arguments in our society about the subject of abortion and how it impacts elections, jobs, medical care, religion, and also Christianity.  All of that only distracts us from the real issue....What is the value of a life? 

Let's look at it from God's perspective.  In Psalm 139, which is the battle cry for Christians when it comes to life and the importance of it, the writer was calling out to God in such a way as to say, "God you know me."  Why is that significant?  Because God made us.  God is the creator of life, so He knows every life and protects and leads every life that will follow.  His plans for each of us give us a value that is beyond comparison and the very essence of who we are is found in God our creator.  He breathes life into us.  In the past few months we have celebrated the birth of two more grandchildren, Vera Holland and Graham Tyler, and their introduction into this world has been filled with love and prayers.  Why?  Because we know God gave them life and their life is precious to God and to everyone they meet.  They don't have to say a word, but just make a noise, and we all do back flips.  Deep inside we know this life is precious and it would be selfish of us to not give them every opportunity to be all God wants them to be.  Their life.....every life is important.  They have value.

So why do we even hint that abortion might be ok?  Why does our society aggressively treat life like a commodity?  Because it is not looking at it from God's perspective.  I guess you could say the world has devalued life at it's core.  The world will continue to push this at the extremes from conception to old age and then over a period of time the two ends will meet in the middle and all life will have to meet a certain criteria to be important.  We already see hints of this through religious terrorism that is becoming more accepted each day.  Once again, this is not being done from God's perspective, but from the world's.  It comes from a selfish heart that has pushed God aside and only thinks about itself.

Let me give you an example of this selfishness I am speaking about.  If you were a twenty year old girl and found out you were pregnant and you wanted to have an abortion and society even says you can have your abortion and it's ok.   It's not a life.  In that kind of reasoning you might think, "Hey, no big deal.  My mistake, and I'm so young, and unmarried, and babies sure cost a lot, and it will cramp my lifestyle."  So you decide to get an abortion.  Then all of a sudden someone has invented a way to look into the future and when you look you see that the child you are going to abort will be the one to get the final answer for the cure for Cancer twenty five years later.  You also see that you will have terminal Cancer twenty five years from now and that your child will be able to save your life.  What would you do?  We know what you would do.  You would not only give birth to that child, but you would protect that child.  Send it to the very best schools.  Put it on a healthy diet.  Make sure it is emotional protected and above all things, you would teach it to "value life."  Why?  Because you are going to need that child to not only come up with the cure for cancer to save you, but to believe it is worth it to save someone.

If someone else happened to look into this future of yours and see that this child would find the cure, the information would be leaked, and those in high places would do everything they could to help you raise this child, protect this child, value this child, and make sure this child values human life to stimulate the emotion it takes to come up with the cure.  The government would put guards at your house, make sure your schools were the best they could be, keep crime in your area to a minimum, and preach valuing life to all who can hear.  Everything would change.  Why?  Selfishness!!!  The point is, if we truly value life, we will protect it.  We don't know what the future will hold for the next baby that is "allowed" to be born, but God says, "I made them."  So they must be worth SOMETHING!

As Christians, we should know this stuff!!  Think about it!  The next baby born might not have the cure for cancer, but they all have a cure if they grow under the teaching of God's Word and the opportunity to hear of "true life" in Christ.  What cure am I talking about?  The cure for the penalty of sin.  If we as parents and those who teach children will teach them, protect them, lead them, and explain to them about eternal life, "real life," then they will go throughout their world reaching it for Christ.  Sometimes I wonder who is more guilty, those who abort physically or those who abort spiritually.  The point is.....don't abort, or stop God's process of allowing someone to be born and then born again.  Life is of great value.   The life of God's Son, Jesus Christ was given to make sure the value has purpose and hope.  It's up to us as earth dwellers to protect the life of everyone, and it's up to us as Christians to  protect the legacy of the saved FOR everyone.  Remember, God created you and you have great value.

Matthew 13:45-46  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

What do you value?  I value the life, because God values life. Surrender all we are to Him who gave all He had.

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

Dive In!!! Total Immersion...

When I was in my teens a group of my friends went out to the rock quarry near our town and met for a swim.  The rock quarry had a cliff (of course) that was probably 40 feet high and it was the big thing to run and jump off that cliff.  There were probably seven of us and to the person every one of us ran and jumped off the cliff, yelling as we fell to the water below.  We continued to swim for awhile and then another one of our friends drove up and announced he was sorry he was late and began to change into his cutoffs (old school).  We were all yelling for him to hurry up and jump in and we saw him take a big run toward the cliff and everything was going fine until his brain clicked in with a voice of reason and fear.  About two feet from the edge he decided to stop, but the only problem was the gravel at the edge of the cliff didn't let him.  He proceeded to awkwardly "slide" over the cliff in an uncontrollable, convulsive jump that caused him to land on his side with a huge slap.  We were speechless.  I had never seen anyone go over in such a heap and he stayed under the water for what seemed an eternity and as we swam to check on him he surfaced.  With a loud moan, he yelled out, "I will never start that jump without being totally committed!"  Of course, we called him an idiot, and went back to swimming like nothing had ever happened.  But something had happened.  He showed to me exactly how we as Christians are when we don't live our life "all in" for Jesus.

In Matthew 8 Jesus was sharing how much power He was giving to those who truly follow Him.  In verse 19 a scribe came up and said these well known words.  "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."  Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord permit me first to go and bury my father."  But Jesus said to him, Follow me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead."

Basically, Jesus was saying, "dive in!"  In other words, you see what I am offering to you but you want it on your own terms.  You must accept it on my (Jesus) terms.  Believe you me, they had trouble with it then and we have trouble with it today.  It's easy to say, "Lord, I will follow You wherever you say", but it is tough to totally immerse your entire life with that commitment.  I have seen ministers who are what we call "full time" make for sure they are full time in their home town or where it best suits their family demands.  That is not diving in.  Don't get me wrong, God can put you in your home area, but you must be willing to move whenever and wherever He says.  I served in my home town for a few years and had a great ministry, but it was hard to overcome the stigma of just serving in the easiest place.  It was always Andra's and my desire to serve wherever He sends us and we have basically done that and it has been richly rewarding to our children.  You say how can it be rewarding when you move your oldest two children from Missouri to California as small children?  How can it be rewarding if you move them back and then move them two more times before they are in middle school?  How can it be rewarding if you move your oldest daughter right after her senior year to new place?  How can it be rewarding to move your youngest two children at pivotal points in their school lives?  One a new college football team and one at the beginning of her senior year?  How can it be rewarding to move your wife all over the country and miss numerous special family functions that she longed to be a part of?  The only answer is the "promise of Jesus" to take care of those details when we truly dive in.

What would have happened if we had not totally immersed ourselves in serving Christ?  We probably would have been miserable, half-hearted, and unhappy at best.  The misery of saying, NO to Jesus would have affected our marriage, our children, and everyone we met.  The guilt of turning away would have been something we would have carried with us for the rest of our lives......or.....we could change.......

Jesus carries a heavy dose of commitment for each of us who call His Name.  But Jesus also carries a heavy dose of forgiveness and revival for those of us who want to change.  Keep this in mind.  A person who is totally immersed under the water cannot see anything but what they are immersed in....water.  Those who don't stick their head under usually act like are immersed, but they are just WET!   Then they talk all about immersion without knowing what they are talking about.  Not until someone "dunks them."  If God were to come to you today and say, "you are playing games and talking about something you aren't living" would you let Him dunk you?

Wisdom says that what my friend said when he slipped off into the water and came up spouting is what we all should say.  "I will never start that jump without being totally committed!"  Don't be flippant when making your decision, but keep in mind this scripture.  Luke 14:28  "For which one of , when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?"

If you want to get to the water to be totally immersed in serving the Lord, then you might need diving lessons.  Meet Jesus on the high dive in five minutes and you will be free to leap into a whole new life as a totally immersed follower.  We have enough unhappy, half hearted committed Christians in this world and in the church.  Now is the time to change.  Will You?

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

In The Moment, not, For the Moment

I was in my Bible Study Class this past Sunday and in our discussion we were talking about Phillip being led by God to walk down a road that was off the beaten path.  No word about what could or would happen by God....just start walking. (Acts 8:25-40)  You know what Phillip did?  He started walking!  It may not sound like much of a gesture to you, but to me and a certain Ethiopian eunuch it was earth shattering.  Why me?  It reminded me of the freshness of a faith that early on would basically walk down that road without much hesitation, knowing that God was going to lead me where I needed to go.  It also helped me remember that God still works things out moment by moment and the expression of our faith to believe in Him doing it is the fuel for our very life.  It also helped me realize that Phillip's faith was not really radical faith, but just faith.  You remember faith don't you.  Maybe this will refresh your memory.  The disciples were trying to cure a man's son from a demon possession and they were failing miserably and asked Jesus, "Why could we not drive it out!"   And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. Matthew 17:20  In that moment Jesus showed them a glimpse of what faith really is and in that moment they knew that faith was real.  In the moment of our Bible Study I read of Phillip's faith and saw him immediately do what God told him to do, I knew once again what real faith is.  It's living in the moment and following God's direction totally trusting that He is with you and working through you.

Now we see the effect of that faith.  The Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53 and not understanding what he was reading and up runs Phillip to him and shares Jesus with him  and he accepts and is baptized right after his conversion.  Let me trim it down for you a bit.

God says walk down the road.....Phillip walks down the road......Phillip meets a eunuch and explains God's Word to him and shares Jesus......The eunuch receives Christ......Phillip baptizes him.......Phillip is swept away to the next thing.  Whew!!  Simple faith lived out "in the moment" and under the direction of the Holy Spirit!

After thinking about it for a while, I started realizing that we don't live so much In the Moment, but For The Moment.  You see we anticipate and worry and fret so much about what will or will not happen in the days ahead that we miss what God is doing In the Moment and we miss today by looking at tomorrow. Paul wrote to the high strung Philippians about this very subject and here's how he addressed it. Philippians 4:4Rejoice in the Lord always ; again I will say, rejoice ! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.  The road map for living in the moment is also a step by step process.  Here's how it goes:  Rejoice in your relationship with Jesus.....Your spirit will be gentle and your prayer life will be known by all who meet you.....Peace will be the end result that will not only affect you, but everyone you meet.....The peace will keep you from straying away from God on a daily basis....You will dwell on the important things of life and nothing else.....That peace will be with you in every moment of every day..... If you get talked into living for some hypothetical event or moment down the road, you will stand a chance of missing what God wants you to learn from today.  On the other hand, if you live today to the fullest, you will start a process that will be something you can look back on and see God's Hand guiding you all the way.  That means you are letting God be God and not you.  Nothing will catch you off guard.  Nothing will get you off course.  And that is because God is taking care of the details.   He's good with that and we should be too.

Oh, by the way, If you aren't studying God's Word by yourself and with others you will miss all the good stuff.  Don't be so easily swayed....READ THE BOOK!!!  Live IN THE MOMENT!

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Who's Your Daddy?

You hear that expression many times in sports and many other "he man" type venues.  I heard it a few weeks ago from one of my son in laws when playing Call of Duty and I got "schooled" by them.  I have said it as a kind of fun way of "taunting" others in jest, but what does it mean on a much higher plane?  It basically means, "who owns your heart."  In Webster's it denotes a very casual way of saying the word "father" and in its casual sense also lends its way to being able to address someone of higher standing in your life in a very "insiders" way.  Saying daddy is not designed to take away from the position of the one who is addressed, but it is a way of saying that you are much closer to them and your respect is from getting to know them better. In Romans 8:15 Paul addressed the church at Rome by dealing with what happens when you have free access to our Heavenly Father.  It probably blew them away to know that they didn't have to go through a man or an organization to get to God.  If they believed and received Christ, the door was open.  Before Christ they would have replied to the question, "Who's Your Daddy?' by saying, "the priest."  I call that secondary faith and that kind of faith, at its best, is weak.  Christ gave everything so we could have the same access to the Father He has.  In other words, when Christ was raised from the dead, we also receive the power to live a life of victory that transcends anything the world can offer.   So when asked we can say "God is my daddy!"

Here is a great scripture from Romans to emphasize the point of intimacy with God. 

  Romans 8:9 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about.

You see, you have to know Him to call Him daddy.  Some people may be confused when asked the question "who's your daddy?"  If you are one of them, you need to double check and make sure you know Him by receiving Him as Lord and Savior.  If you have done that and still lack that close friendship with God, then you are still held by the chains of your former life and you are not "free" as God intended.  Resurrection living is a whole other level in the Christian Faith and many of our well intended "church folk" live more out of secondary faith or tradition than truth and the end result is fear, lack of trust, and stagnation.  If you want to truly come alive in Christ you must trust God to show you how to live and one thing will be guaranteed.....yes, I said guaranteed!!!  You will come to God for answers and strength, and power, and His Word will draw you closer to Him and in turn closer to other believers.  There, I said it!!  The end result will be the church revived and growing with like-minded people who are in tune with God.

Romans 8:15 says, "This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life.  It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?"

So the next time you are put in the path of a dead, boring, Christian, you might want to ask them "Who's your daddy?"  If they can't answer, then it's time to share the truth with them and allow God to free them from the world's bondage.  If they aren't a believer, then you need to share some awesome news with them about someone you are close to....your daddy!

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

Gas vs. Electric

Philemon 1:4-7 I thank my God always making mention of you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake.  For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.  

With the introduction of many different kinds of electric cars into the transportation system, it seems that the big argument now is gas or electric.  Of course, these two sources are different in many ways, but the major difference I see is that gas is a source fuel and electric is a result fuel.  A source fuel is one that is derived from a source that is natural and a part of the earth and it supplies many result fuels.  Electric is made from source fuels like gas, wind, sun, etc.   Electric cars are man's attempt to solve the emissions that come from the source fuel cars, or gas.  Electricity has been around forever and man's attempt to harness it and create it are well documented and continuing as we seek the "perfect power source." Electricity will most likely always be a result fuel that is dependent on doing something to generate it and when 'the squirrel" stops running, it will stop as well.  At this point it is not perpetual and it's dependance on fuel sources to "make it happen" is  continuing.

Gas, on the other hand, is a fuel that is a pure source fuel that is found in the earth in the form of oil.  It's kind of amazing that oil will lubricate a car engine and when refined will also power an engine in the form of gas.  This source fuel has many different uses, (including powering electricity) and it enables many uses according to what you can figure out what you can use it for.  In the area of transportation, the use of refined oil, or gas is a must and this source fuel is the life blood of our main transportation system.  Our fear of too much bad air caused from the use of gas, is an ongoing argument in modern times and some people's desire to distance ourselves from this fuel source is a hot issue right now.  Personally I like gas engines and do not desire to use an electric car in any form or fashion, but a great analogy for us as Christians can be discovered from the basic truth of these two fuels.  One is a source fuel.  One is a result fuel.

I think Christianity in America has become very "electric" in it's approach and over the last few years we have become more "green" in our thinking.  Point in case, God's Word is referenced by many, but the inner truths aren't taught as life lessons.  Our faith will look more result oriented, meaning it is a faith that is created from outside sources, but impure and lacking power from the true source, Jesus Christ.  Like electricity it gets it's punch from media overkill, flash and dash worship, Christian books that reference The Bible (sometimes) and preaching.  There is great power in those things when used in the right way, but they always have to be "charged up" again and again.  Since they are not fueled by the true source, their power gets weak and if we don't get charged regularly, Christians will fall away from their church or even their faith after a while.  Of course, we love electricity because it seems to have no residual affect on our Christian Environment, but that is also the problem.  We have become followers of followers and the power we have may not even be power at all.  Just pseudo power.

I believe that we need to get back to the source of our true power.  Like gas, it just keeps on going as you put more and more fuel in it and the engine, if taken care of, will run and run.  Here's where we as Christians lose our power source.  We quit putting fuel in the engine!!  Our fuel is God's Word.  Not just read, but understood, and lived.  Our engine is our faith in Christ and the assurance of our salvation.  Our life is the car, pointed in the right direction (or as the Bible says about early Christians, The Way) and our  spiritual GPS is tuned into God's Direction for my life and the fuel allows the car to move to that destination.  By the way, remember the oil in the engine?  The purest source of our faith, or the oil, keeps our lives in great working order and when we get ready to start the engine, it will run smoothly.

Gas vs Electric?  I will choose gas every time, because it is a source fuel.  God's Word vs Derived Faith?  I will choose God's Word every time, because it is the source fuel for my faith.

You are probably thinking, "what about the environment?"  The environment we live in is already polluted, but when we live our lives from the source of true power and strength, Jesus Christ, the exhaust  of our lives will always be a sweet smelling fragrance that shows there are more and more Christians running their lives from the pure source of the Word.  In John 15:18-19, Jesus says, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love it's own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.  Keep on getting your fuel from the pure source, not the result fuel source.  No second hand faith.  Jesus Christ died and defeated death so we could live as ambassadors of that pure faith.  Now it is just up to us to keep the fuel in the engine.  That kind of faith will power any other source and keep the power coming.

The Pilgrimage continues,

David Warren