The journey

By Dean Kellio

FOR THE EAST COUNTY CALIFORNIAN

There’s joy in a journey. With each step we take we get closer to our final destination. A journey of a thousand miles begins with just one first step where we move forward by putting one foot in front of the other.

By Dean Kellio

FOR THE EAST COUNTY CALIFORNIAN

There’s joy in a journey. With each step we take we get closer to our final destination. A journey of a thousand miles begins with just one first step where we move forward by putting one foot in front of the other.

Our mode of travel determines what the landscape around us will look like and how close we are to it. It’s in these details that our joy can be discovered. After liftoff, astronauts watch as their landscape shrinks and the vastness of space envelopes them in a canvass of black velvet while anxious loved ones look up and wonder what it might be like to float in outer space.

Back on Terra Firma a college dropout decides that a higher education is not right for her and begins walking from Santa Barbara to Baja in search of something she just can’t put her finger on. She manages walking ten to fifteen miles a day and is amazed at the amount of wildlife that surrounds her and how many parents stop to ask if she is “OK?” She discovers the road is a hard place to survive but she’s young and the excitement in the adventure calls and begs her to continue on down to the border.

Its six fifty-seven Wednesday night and nobody has arrived yet for the bible study as the pastor opens the door to the building. He knows that he will never fill a stadium, large sanctuary or even the room inside but he faithfully prepares and shows up to minister. He knows that the eight to twelve people who come to hear God’s word are important to the Father so he continues to labor for his crown of glory.

Its one-thirty a.m. as Kitty wipes the bar top down and announces “last call” to a crowd of locals who gather every night to drown their hurts and sorrows.  They feel better after a couple drinks and find solace in the relationships they have made over the years. It’s a place where everybody knows their names and they always feel welcomed to join the ongoing conversation that fills the atmosphere.

As important as our destination is, it is not as important as the places we pass and the people we meet along the way. We were never meant to walk alone. God created us to fellowship with Him. We were made in His image and formed with the desire to live with Him in a community where we can learn and grow along side of each other.

Someone once said that there is a “God” shaped hole in our DNA and that we have a desire to fill while we are alive. This desire to fill it is what drives the young girl to walk to Mexico, the pastor to open the church and calls hurting souls to local pubs and taverns. The thing is, the hole can only be filled in a meaningful way by God.

There is so much joy in the journey if we will only pause along the way to look at the landscape around us. There is so much beauty in nature and especially the people God has created. But like rough rocks in a river, whose edges are sharp, we are sometimes hard to walk with. It’s only as the river of life rolls and tumbles us down towards our destination do we finally become smooth, polished and a thing of beauty.

God loves us; He isn’t angry with us and isn’t interested in punishing us. Actually it’s our own selves that do the punishing. God created us with this hole so that we would desire to find and fill it with only Him. Our problem is that there are so many distractions, wrong turns and pitfalls that we often lose our joy and sight of our destination.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus once said that whenever two or more are gathered in His name that He is in their midst? You might be thinking “I thought He was with me when I was all alone?” yes, but you can’t have a community of believers in a room of just one. 

So this journey that we are on is not only about our destination but more about the opportunities available to meet, help and get to know our neighbors. It’s about coming to the table that Jesus has prepared for us and taking part in His communion. “And the Spirit and the bride say ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take of the river of life freely.