Enjoying the Journey of Life With Jesus and My Loved Ones

Perhaps you know that Kathy and I recently completed an epic drive. We drove 4641 miles from Palmer, Alaska, to Gainesville, FL. For the most part, it was a great trip. But, we did not always agree on EVERYTHING during our nine days on the road. One area where we had different ideas was how far to drive in a day. For the first few days we followed the itinerary of a friend. But, their route went to Arizona. Our trip took us southeast to Florida. As we followed different roads, I tended to drive a little further.

One day Kathy exclaimed, “You keep telling others, ‘We’re not going to kill ourselves,’ but we sure have long days.” I responded, “We haven’t driven 1000 miles in a day, have we?” (I used to drive that way in college, and even on a trip with my son, Josh.) “So that’s the definition of not killing ourselves, driving less than 1000 miles?” Kathy exclaimed. I thought I responded somewhat innocently, though I now find out that I am wrong. I asked Kathy, “How many times did we drive from Florida to visit your family in Memphis? That’s 700 miles.” Kathy responded, “I should have checked definitions about ‘killing ourselves’ before we left.” Maybe we should have talked about this topic BEFORE we traveled.

We took pictures along to way and posted the photos on Facebook. We posted a picture when our odometer reached 2500 miles into the trip, a picture from the fields of Saskatchewan. My brother, Stephen, commented, “Looks like you still like each other.”

We did drive a lot of miles each day. The shortest distance was the 250 miles we drove to Tok, AK, when we started out. But, as we drove, I experienced the trip with my best friend, with my wife. Not only did we take this trip together, but we also brought our Lord with us. We experienced God’s creation along the way. We saw beautiful scenery and, especially in northern Canada, we saw LOTS of wildlife. Part of the creation we also saw was miles and miles of fields with many different crops. We saw wheat, and corn, canola and soybeans, sunflowers and cotton, and . . . you get the idea. We saw LOTS of crops!

We also visited with some of our friends along the way. (On the trip back to AK perhaps we can drive more slowly and visit more friends.) We stopped in Niagra, North Dakota, to visit Pastor Denny and Sue Neels. In Chattanooga we spent time with another long-time church friend, Jo Parham.

We also experienced our Lord’s protection. Twice other drivers dangerously cut in front of us. However, where they were thinking about speed, or dangerous driving, our Lord worked safety. Both in Illinois and in Georgia, we escaped with just a scare.

God promises to be with us in our journeys. In Psalm 119:105, the psalmist wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” God guides our journeys with His word. We bought an atlas. God’s Word is our map.

Our Lord promises His protection. In Psalm 121:8, He tells us, “the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

In fact, Jesus tells us that He is the road to our ultimate destination, to heaven. “’4 You know the way to the place where I am going.’ 5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” Jesus is THE WAY because He died to forgive our sins and rose to win eternal life for all who believe.

Life is a journey, a journey through failures and accomplishments, through laughter and tears, a journey through life and death. When we travel with loved ones, when we travel with Jesus, the journey is an opportunity to grow in faith and love. As you travel through life, May God go with you! “Vaya con dios!”