On the Way to the Way 7: Another Step and Another Step

"Arrival is less important than the journey." 

pg. xvi The Scared Journey by Charles Foster

Have you ever been in the midst of the journey and then was forced to take a u-turn? It may have been because of your decision or your mistake. It may have been because of another you are journeying alongside. It may have been due to circumstances beyond your control, perhaps the road was under construction. For whatever reason you had to turn back and the journey somewhere new turned into just another journey home.

Or perhaps you did take a journey and ended up in the correct location but it just wasn't what you thought it was going to be. This happened once to Mary and I. We set out for a little town that was supposed to be a throwback to times long gone. It was touted as an experience that was worth having. In fact you could even take a train there, but we decided to drive, mainly because the train tickets were just so expensive. And so one Saturday we got in our car and drove down Indiana's country roads and around her curves and up her hills. We arrived at this quaint little tourist town that had been hit hard by the economic downturn. There were more buildings unoccupied as occupied. And what was left was not really worth the trip.

So we set off again to another destination which was better than the first but still not as great as we hoped. As we once again left a sub-par destination we started talking about how much we enjoyed the journey, how meaningful the conversations, how enjoyable the detours were, and how even though the places weren't grand we most likely wouldn't forget them because we experienced them together.

Foster goes on to say, "This is because, if the journey is a walk with the Yahweh-man, there is an important sense in which you have arrived already." This is important to remember on pilgrimage, but it is also important to remember in every area of your life as well. If you walk with the Yahweh-man you never walk in vain, no matter the detours and no matter the destination.

I know that even if you are walking with the Yahweh-man it does not assure a perfect trip or that you will reach your destination or time, or ever, but I also know that when you walk with him things have a tendency to ultimately work out. This is hard to remember when the detours occur, it is hard to remember in the midst of the storm, but that doesn't make it less true.

Buen Camino,
Pastor K