pilgrims on the way.
it’s interesting - awesome, really. we often get asked some variant of these questions about the road trip “what the greatest part?” or “describe your road trip in one sentence”. inevitably, and without hesitation, we all reply, “GOD is good - so good!”
it’s true.
after reflecting upon our 10 day road trip as friends, there were many things we anticipated and even expected from the journey: we expected long drives (and there was a bit of that), we anticipated lots of great conversation (plenty), we expected lots of laughs (again, plenty, often in between dancing in our seats to songs on the radio), we looked forward to great food (we ate well! and, in many ways, it defined every stop as we tasted each city), we even anticipated frustration/anger (we had little, and most was in relation to hunger…getting hangry ™ Amy Gilbaugh).
BUT, the one thing we didn’t anticipate or expect was how GOD would show up consistently and abundantly throughout. i could go on a long laundry list of the ways GOD was good to us, but i have already journaled them. and, more importantly, the list continues to grow the more i think about the trip.
often as seminary students, we start to believe, though we know otherwise, that GOD only meets us in scripture or our theological texts. and, HE certainly does meet us there. BUT, in this trip HE met us in one another. through conversations, acts of service, the kindness and extravagance of strangers, and the quiet moments in between cities, GOD was there. we saw HIM and his CHURCH.
it was a great reminder that we are pilgrims on the way,
So let us attend together to the greatest drama ever staged—to a script whose performance draws us in, not as the the original characters themselves (as the masters of modernity would have it)—yet also no longer as mere spectators (like unscripted players)—but as a growing cast of pilgrims making their way together behind their royal Redeemer in a procession to the City of God.
- Michael Horton, The Christian Faith
one of the most important ways HE was present was in our relationships. one of my favorite moments came when my girlfriend and i were talking one night, and we both said that we didn’t believe we could like or enjoy one another more than we already did. BUT, we do. in fact, i feel closer to her and our two awesome friends as a result of our ten days together.
in the back of my mind, i thought this might be the case. there is something about a roadtrip that binds people together. somewhere between the incessant traveling, the unexpected turns, the close quarters, the bad hotels, the singing loudly to songs on the radio, and seeing each other wake up, the group of people and relationships that began the trip together are never the same.
AND, i’m grateful for it.
i think we are only beginning to realize how HE was good to us, and how we bonded because of it. recounting GOD’s goodness never tires or ceases to amaze.
SO, i imagine we will be talking about this trip for quite some time.
