Just Traveling On

It’s entirely possible you don’t travel as much as you used to. Perhaps, if you’re like me, you stick close to home. I simply don’t like crowds anymore and the cost of ‘having a good time’ just doesn’t fit my wallet so good sometimes. I’ve been here and there and drove a vehicle or two nearly half way across the country a couple of times and walked the Golden Gate Bridge where from the park across from San Francisco we watched the famous fog envelop all but the tippy top of the bridge towers, a fabulous sight. There are still a lot of places I’d like to visit one day and maybe I’ll live long enough to travel more. I read an essay a long time ago by a person, author unknown, who told of some places they had been and some they wished they had been. It goes like this: “I’ve been in many places, but I’ve never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can’t go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone. I’ve never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there. I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have personally made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and workplace. I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump; and I’m not too much into physical activity anymore. I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often. I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm. Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older. One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart. At my age I need all the stimuli I can get! I have never been in Continent, although I suspect I may go there someday when I’m a little older; who knows?

[Psalm 71:1-9; Luke 12:13-21] Two scientists were on a field trip in the mountains. They discovered what they felt was to be a deserted baby eagle in a nest on a jutting rock, just below the top of a dangerous cliff. They wanted to rescue it, so they asked the young son of their guide if they could lower him on a rope to fetch the little bird. The boy was not at all enthusiastic about their plan, so he declined. They offered him money; then doubled it, but still the boy refused. Finally, one of the scientist asked in despair, “Well then, how do you propose that we save the baby eagle?” The mountain boy replied, “I’d be glad to go down and rescue the baby bird for free if you’ll let my dad hold the rope.” The Bible indicates that we are all travelers and one day our spirit will return to the Father and the body will return to the ground (Genesis 3:19). Paul likens his travels through life to a race wherein he disciplines himself to be like Christ and righteous in the sight of God in everything he did (Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 9:19-27 & 2 Timothy 4:7-8). The preacher said, “…and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1-2) We are all traveling in a foreign land, ‘This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through…” and my spirit is restless here. We are all “On the Road to Forever” together. Do we believe God is ‘holding the rope’ in our lives? If you know the saving power of our Savior and the loving grace of our Father, then you know peace. Are you willing to ‘go out on a limb’ be ‘dropped over the edge’ so to speak, to rescue a sinful lost soul from this disheartening frightful world? It doesn’t matter what or how much you gain in this life. It’s all meaningless, if in the end, your life has “...not been rich toward God.”