Traveling Well

Summers, traditionally have been times to vacation. Our family enjoyed wonderful trips across the years. Perhaps our favorite of all was the summer we journeyed to Colorado, Wyoming, Yellowstone and Salt Lake City. Our children were old enough to enjoy the trip and remember most of it. We still laugh with each other over the funny things that happened. Our appreciation for the beauty and wonder of God’s creation that Colorado, Wyoming , Yellowstone National Park offer is etched in our memory. Even the great Salt Lake was an amazing sight to see.

I think about these family journey’s now in a different way. I know, for the most part, those occasions are over. Our children are married now. Their travels follow their interests and they pursue their visions of great vacations. We enjoy the pictures and hearing their travel logs.

At our core, embedded in our DNA, is a travel gene that is as old as Abraham. I think about it every time I read Hebrews 11. Essentially the writer of the Hebrew letter is reminding us of our DNA. He is reminding us that there is only one way to live. That is, by faith. It’s not a question regarding whether or not we will be on the move. The question, for me is, how well will I travel? Will I travel living by faith or will I shrink before the journey and pass up the opportunity?
Personally, I prefer to be on the move, going out into whatever adventure God has placed before me. One never knows, really, what one will encounter. What great gift is to be opened, discovered, and ultimately enjoyed. To shrink back, to avoid the trip, to sit on our blessed assurance is to make a choice for something other than life. The writer of the book of Deuteronomy says, “I have set before you life and death. Choose life."

I am of sufficient age now that I think more about my choices. I especially think about the choices I have made that were poor. The trips I have taken that ended badly. The places I have gone I should not have gone, wish I’d never heard of. The real temptation today is to decide not to travel again because of some of those trips. However, to make that choice is to choose death, not life.

If a person never again straddled a bicycle after having the first spill, think what she would have missed. The wind in her face, the joy of sights never seen, not noticed. To get back up after a bad trip is to walk by faith. To love when love has hurt you is to allow faith to frame your love. To risk when risking means the chance of being wounded is to follow the seed of God's grace planted in you from the moment of your birth.

We're on a journey, you and me. The traveling is what makes the destination worthwhile. Grab you some traveling partners, pack lightly, travel well.