Sojourners

I remember the ride to the airport. My heart was racing. Nervous and excited at the same time, I was about to board a plane to Madrid, Spain. I was traveling overseas to spend a year as a foreign exchange student in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain during my senior year of high school. Young and impressionable at age 17, my world (of small town rural Minnesota) was about to expand SO much. This experience taught my heart to love travel and not fear other lands or people. Adventure is out there as the movie Up so beautifully illustrates.

Do you enjoy travel? What is it about the human soul that is drawn towards the idea of “going” and “seeing” a place that is different from what you know? Do you believe travel can help a person mature and bring about life transformation? Can it help someone know him/herself deeper? What is the allure of experiencing Paris, hiking the Alps, shopping in New York City, relaxing on the beaches of coastal Italy, doing mission work overseas, riding the fast paced train from Milano to Roma, seeing the Mona Lisa with your own eyes, wandering around Morocco, cruising the rivers of Germany, snorkeling in the Caribbean, seeing the sunrise over the Grand Canyon or the lush greens of Hawaii? Don’t even get me started! I want to go and see it all! That’s just my journeying spirit. But, I think there’s more to it.

Why do think God created us with this desire? I think God is all about the attitude of “going”. I think He also rejoices when we learn that His people and world are diverse on so many levels. It shows us that the world consists of so much more than ourselves. We are different. Customs are different. Landscape is different yet breathtakingly beautiful. Languages and ways of communication are distinct and at times challenging. That’s part of the adventure! I actually think it’s good to spend time in a place where you are different or you don’t speak the language. It will grow you. It will flip your perspective a bit. It will challenge you. Once again, it will teach you there’s more to the world than you. Travel will stretch you and embellish your current understanding of the world. It will add color. It will add smells. It will add visual memories of people who are different than you, but in the deepest parts, the same. It will help history come alive to you. Your eyes will behold beauty that you never knew could exist. In the moment you see it and experience it—your world broadens. You know a little more about God because you have now touched a little more of His creativity and heart for diversity and difference. He created a very big world for a reason.

There is something about the allure of adventure. The idea that there is more. More to see. More to taste. More to experience. The differences, the similarities. History and culture. Art and food. Getting lost and finding your way back with a map or asking a stranger in a different language if they can help. Wonders of the world. All of it to be explored. I think God extends an invitation for us to also journey with Him in a similar way. Perhaps He designed our lives as one big travel expedition—sojourning from here to there. There is much in our souls to be explored. Some hesitate. Some can’t wait to go. There is beauty and pain to see and walk through. Some places might have to be visited longer than others, but there is something of value to learn along the way. Some places you didn’t even know exist. Do you like to travel? There’s so much to see. But, you have to be willing to go. A whole new world lies within you. The journey is yours to take. The adventure awaits.

Maybe God gave us the desire to go, because He wants us to go and see. He doesn’t want us to hesitate. He knows there is more. He wants us to experience the abundance of the more. He knows it will change us forever.

Reflection:
-Are you a traveler or not? When you think about your personality and design, what draws you to “go and see” or what causes you to hesitate?
-If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be? Why?
-If you have traveled, did it grow you? Spend some time remembering those experiences. What about it was amazing? Challenging?
-What do you think is most beautiful about the world God created?
-How have you spent time exploring your self and who you are in the deepest parts of you? Have you accepted that invitation from God or do you hesitate? Where do you want to go? What do you want to learn? What could be healing? What beauty might be waiting for you there?

Journeying Together,
C