Sunday morning started at 2am with my phone waking us to the Trogladites singing "The Lion sleeps tonight" and didn't end until 7am (NET - New England Time) when our heads hit the pillow half way round the world in Seoul, South Korea. Along the way there was lots of sitting, many people in a small place, airplane food (including vanilla bean gelato), a buffet supper at a restaurant at a local mall, and very little sleep. In other words, it was a great adventure!
However, our adventure began the night before when we realized that one of the suitcases we had chosen to travel with was more damaged than we thought. The metal framing on the outside was showing on all four corners and we began to imagine them getting caught in an airplane hold and hearing upon arrival in Seoul that my bare essentials now extended from one end of the 747's lower level to the other. Usually when one bares their soul in a pastoral visit this is not what comes to mind and I didn't want it to be the lasting impression of this new adventure.
I then targeted a large retailer and called Lisa a few minutes later to report the estimated costs. Much more than I anticipated. The next stop was a place that marshals their prices and came home with a Samsonite, four wheeled drive, in a styling blue color and plenty of leg room vehicle for my now safe and secure personal items.
As I reflected on this transition I began to think of moving from old to new and how it is hard to part with something that has been around for so long but clarity soon set in. How long had we had this suitcase? Hadn't we just purchased it a few, or maybe it was only a couple of trips ago? When we bought this old and worn suitcase it had been to replace another that was beyond use. Now we had another one, albeit a little more expensive and with a recognizable name, but how long before we
would be replacing it with another suitcase to take us on even more adventures, God willing.
As I applied such thinking to my life, and I invite you to consider your life as well, how many times do we receive blessings, gifts, friendships and other items that carry us along life's path? Some of those things and individuals will stay forever while others are only with us for a short time. Of me, each one is a gift from God and each one has helped to carry me along my life's journey. There has often been sadness at the passing of a friend, the loss of the ability to do something I've done all my life, or the wearing out of an item but God always seems to provide something new for the next leg or my journey. I don't mean to imply that we easily transition from one thing to another, like one might with suitcases, but rather just the opposite, when we come to a point in our lives when change is required, when we are willing to set for comfortable and broken in, Godw provides us with the tools and blessings to carry on to another spot, another experience in this blessed life we have been given.
I wonder what other parts of my life, and yours if you are willing to consider it, we have chosen to hold onto, to not seek out that which can take me to a new place, something more challenging, or life altering ? What is there that might be so worn as to reveal that which should not be when in reality God is offering us a new wine skin, a new friendship, a considerable challenge, that in reality will help to bring us closer to God in ways that may carry us around the world or maybe just down the street? What new adventure might be waiting for us if we are willing to put away that which has been with us for a while, in order to receive something that will take us even further? We may love comfortable but there will come a time when if we want a new adventure we may have to pack up the old and roll with the new. God's blessings to everyone on is day.
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