On Journeys

Having recently returned from my fourth road trip of this year, I've had journeys on my mind quite a bit.  There is a good deal to be learned from long travels to other places, and I've brought away from my own a few observations, better than souvenirs . . .

First, journeys are costly.  We all know that gas and airline tickets are not cheap, and there are plenty of other expenses to keep in mind.  Most of the time, traveling requires a considerable commitment of personal resources.  On top of that, journeys take time, and lots of it – I've spent more hours this year in a cramped truck, van or plane than I’d like to count.  If a thousand miles on the road doesn't teach you patience, I don’t know what will!  And with all that time and money invested, journeys demand endurance.  You can’t simply decide to be done whenever you feel like it.  You can stick it out to your destination or you can turn around and go back, but either way, you can’t just quit in the middle of what you've started.

Most of the time, those long journeys are best with a companion, or companions.  There is safety in numbers, they say, or at least less boredom, and there is no better way to get to know people than to travel with them until sleep deprivation, hunger, and unexpected circumstances reveal their character.  For I've found, too, that journeys hardly ever go as planned.  Be it the weather, road construction, plane delays, getting lost, truck breakdowns, or any number of other variables, it seems that something always comes up to make things interesting.  You can plan all you like, but without a good measure of flexibility, you’re in for a lot of frustration.

Planning is important, of course, because journeys need a goal.  If you don’t have some fairly concrete idea of where you’re going and why, you’re not traveling, only wandering.  There has to be a point to it, because eventually, all journeys must come to an end.  For the most part, they end in the same place they began: going home we call it.  Even if it is only a one way course, travel to no end is once again nothing more than wandering.  For those who return to their starting point, it may seem that everything will return to the way it was before they went away, but even though nothing else may have changed in his absence, journeys change the traveler.  He knows more about the world for having seen a different part of it, and though he may not realize it, he will not see even the old familiar things quite the same way again.

All this is true of journeys in our world, and so it is with the journey of the Christian life.  This is a costly journey, and time-consuming: it will require everything you have and all your lifetime.  There is no turning back once you commit to it.  Thankfully, though, you have many companions on this journey.  Some will go with you for a leg or two, and a few may stick close all the way, but there is one true Companion who promises to be right beside you no matter what.  This journey is guaranteed to have unplanned turns, but whatever may happen, you know where you’re going.  In fact, though you've never been there before, you’re going home, and the experiences along the journey will change you in a way you will not realize until you get there.

No one ever said that journeys were always enjoyable.  They are much more work than staying comfortably at home, but the end is worth it.  It would do us all good to leave the comfort zone of our homes, states, or countries for a time, if only for the lessons learned for the great journey of the soul.