Miles To Go

A few months ago, on one of my numerous trips across the San Mateo bridge, I spotted a Cal-Trans truck a few cars ahead of me.  On the back of the truck was a sign that read, "Thank you for driving."  How odd, I thought.  The few drivers who receive thanks are generally designated drivers and those who carpool.  The rest of us are pretty much considered a hindrance.   However, as I moved closer to the truck I realized that my earlier view had been partially blocked.  The last line read, "Safely."  Thank you for driving safely.  I responded with a quiet, "You are welcome."  

 

 In the past seven years, as I finished the last two years of seminary, and then embarked upon this great adventure known as ministry, I have driven just over 100,000 miles.  I guess you could say that my car is one of those cars that is  only driven to church on Sunday.  It is just that pretty much every day is Sunday for me, and my churches are rather spread out.   Last night as Tyler and I sat on the couch and talked, I laughed as I mentioned my milestone.  "100,000 miles finds me right back here."  That is the nature of many such journeys.  They bring us home.      

 

Ministry is not fast work.  At least not for me.  I have needed to make every one of those miles. As I moved through the skilled nursing community yesterday, I rejoiced that not only was Elizabeth up, she actually accepted the invitation to come worship with us.  "By jingle bells, I believe I will!"  And off she rolled.  Then she paused and asked, "By the way, where am I going?"  We both laughed and went into the activity room together.  Four years ago she would not even talk to me.  Now we greet one another with hugs. It has taken Roger five years to really begin to open up and share his sorrows and fears.  There are several men in this community that I just beginning to get to know.  If their physical appearances are any indication, their lives have not been easy.  Yet, most take communion with a humility that is profound.  They know the hunger and thirst all too well.   

 

On my run on New Year's Eve, I passed by a box marked "Free!".  A book lying on top of the discarded clothing caught my eye, and I picked it up.  My find was a devotional entitled, "A Year of Days with the Book of Common Prayer."  The entry for January 2 has stayed with me, and I shared it with the community yesterday.  Roger, who is really struggling not to believe that God has cursed him with poor health, found it encouraging.  I would like to share part of it with you as well.  May you, too, find encouragement for your own journey.  I pray that your journey is both deep and wide, and that you always find communion along the way.  May all know that not matter how far we go, we always travel in God, and to God.  Yes, it is a mystery - strange, unbelievable, incredibly beautiful, and worth the trip.        

  

When Jesus healed people, we are not told that he healed them and that thenceforth they never got sick again or never had any problems in their lives or never died...They were not restored to a magical life outside the realities of mortal existence. They were returned to their lives, their frustrating, exhausting lives, to lives studded with joys and sorrows - like our lives are. The hand of God that touched them did not yank them our of this reality and into another. They went on to live and die in the world of history in which we live and in which we will die.  The presence of sorrows and ambiguities in human life is not a sign of the absence of God. Life is hard. Life is terribly uncertain. But we know we are not alone. That our lives don't hang, unprotected, tossed to and fro by the anonymous winds of indifferent space. God contains our lives.     

   

Blessed be.