Last week I gave thought to “travel,” occasioned both by Mark’s repeated use of that word, and by my anticipated travel to Romania. Well, the latter of those two causes is now my present: I am on the tarmac at Indy, the first leg of my travel to Bucharest.
As I am seated in 12B, my thoughts turn not to Jesus’s travels, but to the travels of the master-disciple, Paul. Without question, I do not have the gifts and vision that were his, and neither is my two-week venture comparable to his life of travel and itineration. Nonetheless, I have wondered about his travels: The days prior to his scheduled travel, were they stressful? What farewells were spoken and promises shared? What preparations did he make? What parchments and writing implements were necessary? And what legal documents and tender were required?
Of course, my raising these question arise from my present experience: although I thought I had anticipated well the necessary preparations: sermons prepared, medicines purchased, passport at hand, iPad ready, nonetheless my last twenty-four hours, prior to Mary’s driving me to the airport were far too full. As a consequence, I’ve pondered how I might have scheduled my time differently: To what should I have said “no”? But more than that, perhaps the pertinent question is: To what (or whom) should I have said “yes”?
I do not mean to unduly “spiritualize” the past two days, but without question my “prayer-connection” was fragmentary at best. In this regard I’m reminded of a Bill Hybel’s line: “too busy not to pray.” I’m also reminded of Paul’s words. On the one hand he wrote of his “travels”: “Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequentjourneys, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers” (2Corinthians 11:25–26); on the other hand, he wrote of his “thorny flesh”:“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”(2Corinthians 12:8-9).
I wonder if I really believe those words. I wonder if my preparations and resulting consternations were a tacit admission: I assumed that “my grace” not “His grace” was sufficient. Once again, I’m not seeking a sugarcoated spiritualization, as though Paul knew nothing of the nitty-gritty travails of earthly life — and so his shipwreck upon the island of Malta (Acts 27); but I wonder. My days in Romania, are they about what I bring, my preparations, gifts, and abilities, or are they about what our Lord will do with or in spite of these?
I don’t mean to be rhetorical, but in truth that is the likely answer: His grace will be sufficient, whatever occurs during and in and through the three retreats of which I am privileged to be part.
Faithfully,
Stan