07/16/2022
We travel the earth today in similar fashion to Jesus, and His disciples, but do we spread the gospel as we do so? A journey that took Jesus weeks and months to complete is now possible in minutes, and hours, but does that afford us the opportunity to interact with others as He was able to do? Is spreading the good news of Jesus Christ even something we consider a priority as we go, or is it something that maybe, just maybe, is an afterthought that we might stumble upon as we sit in an airplane high above the clouds? If we could travel by any means available to us, and it would not cost us a penny more, which method would we choose? In all honesty wouldn’t it be the fastest, and the one that provided us with the most comfort? Where is our Emmaus today? Where is the wind in our sails as we leave a crowd on one shore and teach a lesson of faith to our companions upon a stormy sea, as we sail to meet a waiting crowd on a distant shore?
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”
Mark 16:15 ESV
The speed at which we travel today is an encumbrance to us if we intend to do the Lord’s work along the way, but so is the fact that we don’t pass through, and by humanity to the same extent that Jesus did as he walked from one place to another. We stay in hotels, and not the homes of kind families, and we encapsulate, and separate, ourselves from the masses by traveling inside cars, buses, trains, airplanes, ships, and isolate ourselves even further by sitting dutifully in our assigned seats, rarely walking about, and talking to strangers… unless perchance one might sit in the seat to our right or left. So how do we choose to travel, and when the opportunity arises for us to do so, will we even mention God, the name Jesus, or our faith?
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV
I have a dear friend, Pastor Greg Brewer, who is on an epic journey right now. He is traveling a circuitous route of over 6,000 miles around the United States by train. As he travels the train stops in cities, small towns and waysides across the country where he is able to meet new people and have real conversations. The trip is not fast, and for a modern person it is painfully slow, but the object isn’t to reach a place quickly, or to simply make a nostalgic journey, but to see and experience places, and people as he goes. He can walk from railcar to railcar as the train moves from place to place, and share the experience, and yes Jesus, with his traveling companions, then he gets off the train in various places and interacts with the local people who live there. Pastor Greg’s trip is much like traveling by caravan was in the time of Jesus, and affords him the opportunity to tell strangers who he is, why he is traveling this way, that he is a pastor, and yes… about the good news of Jesus. Traveling in this way also increases his own faith as he meets saints, angels, and Jesus, along the way.
“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:3-4 ESV
I was in an airport in Washington D. C. after having visited my mother who lives in that area, and a huge storm had delayed flights that were destined for airports up and down the east coast. Needless to say, the airport was packed with people who were sitting and standing everywhere. As I stood near my gate something drew my attention to a man and woman a good ways from me. They were dressed nice, he was in a suit, and she wore a rather formal black dress. I tried not to stare, but my eyes kept returning to them, because the man looked so familiar to me. As I waited a person got up out of their seat and left, so I quickly took the vacant seat. Then a few minutes later, as I read an article on my cell phone, a boarding call was made and several more seats were vacated. Finishing my article I looked up, and to my amazement the man and woman were seated directly across from me. I kept looking over at them, and noticed that he was looking at me too. So I gathered the courage to introduce myself and ask if we might know each other. Well we didn’t, but he was an Ethiopian Pastor and they were returning home from a trip abroad. About that time my flight was called, and I excused myself to stand in the boarding line at the gate.
The plane was a small one, and only had two seats on either side of the aisle, so I took mine, and watched as the plane filled up. To my surprise I saw the nice dressed woman enter the plane followed by the pastor, and I watched as they passed one assigned seat after another until they reached me. The woman then took a seat across the aisle from me, and the pastor’s seat was the window seat next to me. I asked the woman if she wanted to switch seats with me so that she could sit with her husband, but she quickly informed me that he wasn’t her husband, and that I needed to sit with him. Well to make a long story short, we talked all the way to Nashville about our faith, our testimonies, and before we landed I had anointed him with oil and prayed for him, and his ministry.
Traveling puts us in places, and introduces us to people that God wants us to interact with, it makes it possible to share the gospel with others, meet angels, and in the case of Pastor Habte Adane, the Ethiopian Pastor, to encourage a fellow believer. When we landed, exchanged contact information, and were saying our goodbyes, Pastor Adane said this to me… “When we first met you didn’t know me, and I didn’t know you, but our spirits knew one another.” Let’s ask ourselves… whose spirit will we recognize today as we travel our community, city, nation, or the world?
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Hebrews 13:2 ESV
Around the world there are many pilgrimage routes; some are well established, like “The Jesus Trail”, “the Camino de Santiago”, and the roads leading to Jerusalem and Rome, but others are being traveled for the very first time as we step out onto them. Over the centuries millions of pilgrims have carried a few belongings on their backs, and the good news of Jesus Christ in their hearts, and then left home to win souls, and strengthen their own belief… are we pilgrims, or possibly missionaries, as we travel about today?
“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.”
Luke 24:13-15 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the journeys you send us on, and for all the souls we meet along the way. Thank you for using our experiences in new places to witness, strengthen our own faith, and have the opportunity to speak with you in places where we are not bound by well-known liturgy or long established religious habits. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is with us always, and wherever we go. Praised be your name for the quick gospel encounters we have with lost souls, but also for slowing down our pace so that we can see and speak to many who we would otherwise pass by. Merciful are you Father for placing us in the lives of those who seek you, and for using our encounters with these lost souls to save them, strengthen them, and to increase our own faith as we do so. Powerful is your Word, and amazing your grace that is poured out upon us. Wash our feet Jesus after each long day of walking the dusty way of our faith, and Father, cleanse us in the blood of your Son, to remove every trace of sin, as you prepare us for your judgement. As you judge us we pray that you will call us redeemed, call us worthy, and call us your children who have been given eternity with you, and are now called by the names you have given us. All glory be to you our Holy Father, as we obediently return to you from our travels as Jesus did, bringing with us all that we have found, or were given; all that is yours… every soul we gathered that was wandering, or lost.
Rich Forbes