Weekly Devotion
"Traveling Jones"
Hi Faith Family!
I pray you are happy and healthy today . . . wherever you are headed.
I'm heading off to Tucson tomorrow with my wife. We will attend the national rally of the Lutheran Women's Missionary Society (LWMS). Our congregation will be announced as this coming year's "Kids C.A.R.E." offering recipient. If you would like to learn more about it, you can check it out the LWMS website. Here is the direct link: www.lwms.org, then click the "Kids C.A.R.E." tab.
I like to travel. Maybe it's because I traveled so much as a kid. Now, if I'm hard at it for over 6 months, I start to get the "travelin' jones." I feel the need to get out of Dodge. I enjoy the thrill of the open road. I agree with George Baily in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," who appreciated the beauty of these three sounds: ancho rchains, plane motors, and train whistles.
So do you have travel plans this summer? Where are you headed? How are you going to get there? I've had some interesting travels using some interesting methods of transportation.
Here is Hannah choosing an interesting way to travel--on Toan's back! This pic is from our recent church picnic.
I had a similar form of travel my last trip to Vietnam:
This form of travel is called "xe o^m" which means "the hug vehicle." You have to hug the person driving to make sure you don't fall off. The first experience I had with this type of travel was not good. I was visiting a missionary in Hong Kong, who was taking me around using a motorbike much like the one above. However, I was pretty nervous, especially when this missionary started zipping between cars on the highway. He stopped the bike and said, "you don't have to worry about controling the bike--I'll do that. Just relax, lean when I lean, and trust me." We never had a problem after that.
There is a spiritual lesson within the lesson of the "xe o^m (the hug vehicle)" on a much larger scale. Worry, fretting, and fear have no place in our minds as we make our way through life with our all-powerful God at the wheel and rudder. Wouldn't we all be embarrassed and ashamed at how easily and frequently we have let doubt or worry creep in to our minds when the slightest detour or pothole enters our life's road? Yet it was because of our sin that Christ was shown the path of life on earth. Because of our sin Christ walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Because of Christ's love for you he did not walk, but his lifeless body carried to the new garden tomb. To assure you of his victory over death and yours through faith, he made his way to his believers again and again to assure us all: "He lives!" And now He guides us along life's paths.
So what shall we fear? With God at the helm, no matter what storms arise in our lives, God will bless us. More than we ask or imagine. God bless your travels, dear sibling in the faith, as God lovingly directs your steps.
"In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps."
--Proverbs 16:9
Prayer idea: Ask God's blessing on your travel plans. Ask God's blessing on your family and friends who will be traveling this summer. Ask for God to strengthen your trust in His direction and protection in your life.
Blessings on your week!