Journeys.

         Everyone reading this is on their journey. We are not talking about trips. Journeys. You probably think of it as life, but it is a journey. Every journey is different. Every journey has its long stretches of sameness and little short blips of crazy fun. We see so much, maybe learn so much and we live so much.

         I have been thinking a lot about journeys this week. On June 14, 2021 my best friend from the growing up years died. His journey ended a year ago. A year ago I was sick and getting sicker. I had made an overnight trip to the Cleveland Clinic to spend time with Keith just two weeks before he died. The trip was so hard and I should have gone to ER when I got back, but I knew Keith was dying. He would have a funeral that the family expected me to do. So, I was sick, I was trying to help Keith’s family and my son was starting to freak out about a coming birth. Everything was a blur. Keith died, we had the funeral, two days after I got home I went into the hospital and while there I continued with Keith’s family. To busy and too sick to grieve.

         On June 14, 2022, however, it seemed to come out of nowhere. Funny how the mind works. I woke up on Tuesday in a dark, dark mood. That is not me at all. I started my morning and did my usual things, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of intense grief. Then I checked the date. My mind let me wait a year to grieve, but grief finally came. And that started me thinking about journeys.

         Keith’s journey was not unusual. His brother, Kevin, has had a wild journey, one Keith looked at with some envy. Kevin is a retired Navy Captain. He has commanded ships, been all over the world and has experienced a world very different from Keith’s. But Keith…graduated from Kent State University with a BA in business administration. Once out of college he became the assistant manager of a drug store. In time, be became manager of a drug store in Defiance, Ohio and then later of a very large store in Toledo. He retired in 2021 and a week later he started getting sick. Not long after going to the store in Defiance a young woman came into his store. She saw Keith and told me later it was love at first sight for her. Keith, however, had never been good around girls. They were a nuisance. They took up time and drained you of your money. He could never understand my fascination with girls. He would have been content to have gone on forever without a female in his life, but this young woman, ten years younger than Keith, wouldn’t let up. She practically begged him to go out with her. Finally, he did. On his third date with Gloria, she admitted that she had a spotty past and had two sons. Keith shocked her by wanting to meet the boys. They married, Keith adopted the boys and they were a happy family.

         Keith’s journey was boring, as he said, when compared to his two brothers. He was referring to me as his other brother. My journey has taken me to many places. I have preached in ten states and have pastored in three. Some of the things that happened along the way have been intense. We were married for five years before our son came long, and those were kind of crazy years. It only slowed a little with our son’s birth. He has seen bizarre. All part of the journey. And, having Marsha along on most of that journey was an experience in itself. For good or for bad, she was never boring. She managed to hang in with the weirdness, which was only fair since she created a fair amount of weirdness herself. Keith and I would get into a catching up conversation and he would eventually say how boring his own life was. But he and Gloria had WOW vacations. They did things that were fun and exciting. They went places.

         It is funny. He envied Kevin and myself a little. But Kevin and I envied Keith a little, too. Keith and Gloria lived in the same house a long time. Kevin and I, and our wives, seemed to always be on the move. Keith and Gloria were married a long time, “until death did they part.” Kevin and I cannot say that. Keith went to work every day and came home at night. Every day was certain. For Kevin and me, every day has been uncertain. That can get old after a couple of decades.

         Journeys.

          Everyone reading this is on journey. Your journey is unique. Maybe you have never lived outside the county you grew up in, or maybe you still live in the same zip code. But your journey can, and should be, amazing.

         And just so the journey isn’t just about your walk here and now, take this verse to heart. Hebrews 12:1  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, If you do this, your grandchildren’s grandchildren will benefit from your journey. They will never know you and maybe never hear about you. But they will know of your Lord. You can work now to continue your church’s journey and in so doing you can leave a legacy behind. A legacy of grace and love.

         Now, that is a good journey.