On the Road Again

Me and Willie Nelson.  It’s in your head now, isn’t it?  “On the road again / Goin' places that I've never been / Seein' things that I may never see again / And I can't wait to get on the road again.”  That’s the second verse.  The first one says “I just can’t wait to get on the road again.”  I’m not sure I can sing that right now.  Make no mistake, I’m still loving my job in Nashville.  And I’m still loving my wife and son here in Indianapolis.  So, I’ll get on the road again to be here and then be there.  But I’m beginning to think the road thing isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.  Especially in the summer, when they thing they have to work on those roads and slow everyone down.  That gets old real quick!  Sitting bumper to bumper on an interstate somewhere along the almost 300 mile journey.  Creeping along, inch by inch, knowing that the miles are still sitting there waiting to be traveled.  I’m a science fiction fan, where are the worm holes?  Where are the transporters?  Beam me home Scotty!

Nope, gotta drive it.  Mile after mile.  And then this weekend I got home on Friday and then Saturday (today) I had to go to Kokomo for the first meeting of the Indiana Conference Delegation to General and Jurisdictional Conference!  And I took the interstate around Indy.  On a weekend.  Bad choice.  And then tomorrow, after the open house, back on the road again, to Nashville.

Oh, open house.  My brother asked about the initial house viewing last week.  As La Donna replied, they came, they saw, they left, and haven’t said a word.  To us or to our realtor.  So, photos were taken on Wednesday, there’s an open house on Sunday, then we wait.  And hope.  And clean.  Well, she cleans.  I get on the road to Nashville.  I may never be forgiven for this one.  We are hoping and praying for a quick sell.

And just now we were online looking at houses to buy.  Ones we can afford, which narrows the available ones considerably.  Some look good.  Some sound good, price wise and dimension wise, and they make us wonder what’s wrong with them.  Sorry, we’re suspicious types.  But we look and we wonder and we imagine where we will be.  I found one that I thought was great, until I checked out the map, it was halfway to Paris... Tennessee!  Well, not quite, but a long way out anyway.  So, we looked again.

There is just so much we don’t know.  So many questions we don’t have answers for.  And that can be difficult at the best of times.  So much so that there are moments where we feel like maybe we just should have stayed put.  Things would be easier.  

Genesis 12:1-4 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

I had to include the last verse here.  For those, like myself, who are wondering why I’m doing this thing at my age.  I haven’t hit 75 yet, so there.  But my real reason for including this passage came at the end of the first verse: “to the land that I will show you.”  Did you catch that?  God didn’t show up at Abraham’s door with plans all in place.  He didn’t have the checklist completed and the route Google mapped.  God said, “go to the land that I will show you.”  Or in other words, we’ll figure it out as we go.  

When we sign up for this gig, this following Jesus gig, this going all in on faith gig, then there are times when we move forward without all the answers.  We take the next step because it seems like that is what God is calling us to do.  So we go, even when it is scary, even when it is frustrating, even when it costs more than we realized it was going to cost.  We take the next step.  So what is your next step?  What is God calling you to do tomorrow?  Or next week?  Or sometime soon.  Maybe it is scary, maybe it involves traveling, or maybe it means reaching out to someone nearby and healing something broken, or reviving something that has died.  Because God’s call takes all kinds of forms.  Not all of them involve changing location, but there is usually some sort of change called for, some sort of growth.  

So, though the drive doesn’t excite me right now, I’ll get on the road again tomorrow.  I’ll keep following the call and keep building a new life with Discipleship Ministries.  I am loving my job, just wish it was closer, or we were closer.  Maybe one day we’ll find our current promised land and be able to settle for a while.  Until then, I’m on the road again.

Other than venting, and keeping you all informed of the progress, what’s the point here?  Well, maybe there isn’t one.  Except for a call for prayer for us.  Maybe that’s all there is to it.  Maybe I’m including you in this little venture because things feel a little better together than they do apart.  

“Here we go, on the road again / Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway / We're the best of friends / Insisting that the world keep turnin' our way”  

We’re on the road together, even when the world isn’t turning our way.  Or the way we imagined.  Or hoped or prayed for.  Or even if it is, we still prefer to be together. So whatever road you’re on, if you’re following your call, then we’re that band of Gypsies traveling together.  So, let’s get on the road again.    

Shalom,

Derek