Bible Travelers

Transcript

okay um in terms of

travel um part of retirement for us um I've got a got a stepmother in Sarasota Florida who has Alzheimer's and and assisted living and so we travel down there relatively frequently to check in on her in the house and just to to take care of things somewhere in one of my drives back and forth a straight straight drive is 16 hours if I do it by myself um but gives you an idea how far it is but in one of those travels drives I started thinking about what was I going to do for Bible class and I started thinking about traveling and I thought you know there's there's a lot of people in the Bible that travel I like to travel you know and I'll say to start the class travel especially international travel which we'll talk about a little bit isn't for everyone but I will submit

that travel provides experiences that can inspire you can transform your faith you can experience new cultures different way of life different ways of life it gives you an opportunity to see the world it gives you an opportunity to see God's beautiful creation um it it just it's a vast

world and I'm just a teeny tiny little piece of it travel also forces you to go out of your comfort

zone um you when you do that you broaden your horizons you stretch yourself

um and we're going to look at all these things tonight in our class I just just a side note as I Was preparing this class I didn't realize that the daily readings were going to be in the later latter part of Acts with all of Paul's travels we're going to talk about Paul's travels in a little bit but as I've been I I usually listen to The Daily Readings as I've been listening to them I've got a new appreciation for all of Paul's travels after putting together this class so hopefully you'll do the same to um just think about the the words that are on the page or the the voices that you hear reading at the Bible in the daily reading and maybe it'll help you understand Paul a little bit better I also found it interesting just class what was it two weeks ago that John perks did class um and some of the the words he used in his class he was talking about navigate or Compass or

Direction travel is just wrapped into our normal um everyday language and so it's something that we're all familiar with one way or the other one way or the other near or far short or long distance International domestic we're all familiar with

travel what I want to start out with and what I like to do in a lot of my classes is just start out with some quotes about travel quotes in in a verse or two too

also just to sort of set the set the scene here my first quote is my life my life is my joury Journey with God it may be hard sometimes but I am assured it will all be worth be all worth it so this journey of life you know and I was thinking about that verse when I thought

about

nowadays we hop on a plane a few hours later we're

somewhere my

grandfather didn't like to fly but he didn't like to fly because he liked to drive in experience the journey along the way you know whenever Dana and I are on a little two-lane road going through not on the interstate but on a two-lane road I always say you know granddaddy would have enjoyed this you know this is this is that Journey the the experiences you have and whatever those experiences are in our journey of life with God it's all worth it another quote difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations I was thinking about this when I think it was Ben on Sunday during Steve Sunday school talked about the New Hampshire 48 I may get that wrong but I that's I scrambled a note real quick on Sunday but you know sometimes it is difficult to get to those places but often times it does lead to a beautiful

destination another quote every choice we make along the path has consequences for the journey

I'm actually in our Ecclesia on this upcoming Sunday sort of spoiler spoiler alert for anybody who's in our Ecclesia I'm going to be talking about this a little bit sort of in connection with tonight's class because we do have choices it talks about in Deuteronomy you know choose life but our choices you know there there are two gates the wide gate the narrow gate there's two ways the broad way the narrow way difficult way there's two groups the many and the few and there's two destinations destruction and life so we have a lot of choices to make in life and those choices have consequences on our journey of

Life Elizabeth Elliot said once it is God to whom and with whom we travel and while he is the end of every Journey he is also at every stopping place I really really like that one really like that one you know it's again it goes back to my life the first quote my life is my journey with God God is always there with us and then finally is Psalm 954 in whose hand are the depths of the Earth the peaks of the mountains are his also

so these verses and these quotes this verse and these quotes are to set the the stage for the class tonight and to talk about Bible Travelers and to talk about our our travel in life before we go to some of those uh more specific details I wanted to just interject a little humor a little travel humor I found this recently my first one so here's a car going forward the the car is called time you got last year next year in Christ return and the child in the back seat is saying Are We There Yet and the parents are saying not yet but we're getting closer that's where we are today in our journey in our travels we're getting closer I believe we're getting very very very close it's just around the next corner but James 5'8 you too be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near so next time you're driving in a car with your kids or your grandkids and you hear that are we there yet um just think about this this little comic strip and say no but we're getting closer to Christ's return the other comic I found and I I just I really enjoy this one so you know on your GPS was it must have been Steve talking about last Sunday because he did everything Sunday um but he talked about GPS and Maps you know in your GPS it says when you're traveling it says you'll be arriving in 25 minutes or you'll be arriving when I go to Florida in 16 hours well here's the one I really enjoyed here's Moses wandering in the wilderness arriving in 40 years that can't be right

so there you go we we'll leave it at that I just enjoyed that one very much when I saw that I asked Dane I said can I use that is that okay she's like oh yeah that's fine so you can blame her if you'd like but I'll take credit for it if you like it okay next let's talk a little bit about travel today like I said I can make it to Sarasota Florida from my house in 16 hours if I'm by myself because I'm just flying down the road 16 hours it's not that far you know I can make it to Chicago in two and a half hours and I'm in a different world than I am here on our farm I mean we live in a little town 450 people we've got a farm with all sorts of animals and hay fields and stuff Chicago is a different animal alog together but you can get there so quickly and have you ever really thought about how comfortable it is to travel in the 21st century you know I I think back to my my grandparents car traveling in the in my grandparents car back in the late 60s it was barebones basic not a whole lot of bells and whistles

today let's say let's say I'm I'm a I'm a child and I get in the back seat of my parents car so I'm riding in my SUV in my parents SUV going to my grandparents house on a hot summer day

I'm going to be sitting on a covered cushion seat I'm going to have the air conditioning blowing on me you know I'm going to complain a little too hot a little too cold you know there's going to be a bump in the road I may be plugged in and listening to my favorite songs I might be watching a movie on an electronic device I you know it's I don't want to be disturbed I just I get a little annoyed when I'm riding down the road in a few hours let's let's call it I don't know 3 hours I can make the 3 hours 200 mile trip to my grandparents house you know over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go it only takes half a tank of gas you know you get there just in time for for lunch or for supper and you got Grandma's home cooking you know the biggest frustration in travel in the 21st century was is sometimes it just takes too long you know if you're a child sitting in the back seat Are We There Yet it just takes too long so I want to contrast that with travel and Bible times and this is probably I I should turn the class over to to Rich and let Rich talk about all the history of travel and Bible times he'd probably do give it a lot more do do a lot better job than I would but I want to think about the the contrast between traveling the 21st century and traveling Bible times first off Bible times you're walking almost everywhere you go you're walking to work you're walking to the synagogue you're walking to your relatives your relatives may live as far as 30 miles away you may have to walk to Grandma and Grandpa's house you know when when God presented to Abraham the land of Canan God said in in Genesis 13 He said Lift Up Lift Your Eyes now and look from the place where you are northward Southward Eastward and Westward for all the land which you see I give to you and your ascendance forever arise walk in the land through its length and its width for I give it to you 2,000 years later Jesus arrives on the scene he's seems like he's walking everywhere you know there there were animals to use mules donkeys horses camels if you're traveling long distance but walking was still the most common method of travel I believe it was Mark Hampton in Bible class or Bible class exhortation I don't remember Sunday school few weeks ago t talked about the donkey and and the donkey was the most common Beast of Burden most common use of uh way to travel other than walking you know you've got the other options but the donkey was the main thing in in the the land of Israel and as I understand it I know I don't know if Mark said this or not but as I understand it a donkey's average Journey was about 20 miles a day think about that 20 miles a day think about me driving to Florida 1150 miles in 16 hours don't do the math you'll figure out that I was probably speeding

um the only animal that the Bible ever mentions Jesus writing on was a young donkey when he wrode in Jerusalem during the last week of his life so Bible travel was uncomfortable it was tiresome it was dangerous it talks about in John Jesus being wearied after traveling from Judea to a city in Samaria to sikar um

we're going to talk about Paul later but I'll just read this passage we all we all know it it says Paul in 2 Corinthians he's had been on frequent Journeys and dangers from Rivers dangers from robbers dangers in the city dangers in the wilderness through many sleepless night and hunger and thirst often without food and cold and exposure so this is what it was like travel in in the first

century one of the advantages that that the Jews had in their their country in Bible times was Hospitality shown to traveling strangers both Old Testament and New Testament basically Travelers could enjoy something like not today but something like bed and breakfast you know their donkeys their camels or horses they would be given water they'd be given hay The Travelers could sleep indoors sometimes sleep in a tent um get a morning meal and be on their way you know this is the way it was in Bible times um I submit that's the way it should be today in in our times and I will I will offer to anyone driving through Central Illinois ever if you're ever like I said two and a half hours from Chicago two hours from Indie three hours from St Louis driving through Central Illinois stop and see us at our farm we'll make it a bed and breakfast for you we'll put you up we'll let you we'll let you go out and and play with the goats and play with the Sheep play with the dogs and get some eggs you know we'll do all that on the farm and make it enjoyable for you just like it was in the first century so we that's I think a beautiful thing that they had that I think we do have my I know my grandfather when he traveled he would always find somebody to stop and visit from some time past you know we'd be in the car with him and he'd say oh let's stop and see so and so and he hadn't seen so and so for 30 years you know 10 years two weeks whatever they would always welcome him in and vice versa we'd be sitting at his house in Arkansas somebody would just show up and say hey I was driving down I40 and thought I'd get off the road and see you so I think that's where some of those lessons came from in Bible times you know the the heat of the sun they would a lot of times travel by night they get to their directions from the Stars you know they had to be careful with from thieves you know think about the Good Samaritan you know they had to worry about animals wild animals and and judges it talks about Samson that a young lion came roaring against Samson as he traveled through The Vineyards of timna you know dangerous travel in in Bible

times distances were so much different I've already talked about that you know but 15 to 20 miles per day on a walk was about what an individual could do you know if they're a large group of people probably probably less but

they also needed to worry about water that was one of the most important things I mean I worry about gas when I'm on the road you know I'm I'm one of those who like to take the gas needle right down to the end and then it's like oh I'm in so much trouble I'm going to run out of gas I was in North Dakota driving once and I I don't know how I got to the next gas station but but we got there because North Dakota you don't have quite as frequent stops but for Bible time it was all about water they were looking for Springs of water or Wells and that was important to them people also traveled in Bible Times by boat you know whether there's sails or ores in In Jonah it says uh the men in the boat with Jonah rode hard using ores to try and reach land you know traveling by boat was sometimes scary some dangerous bad weather certainly you get tossed on the waves the stormy weather we certainly know those stories with Jesus saving his disciples from storms and you know Paul in Acts 27 Paul talks about being sh Shipwrecked and the boat being torn to pieces and God protected them and the other prisoners that were on the the boat some jumped overboard and swam to safy safety others had to float on pieces of the broken ship boat travel could be dangerous but Boats were a big part of the lives of Jesus and his disciples you know I think if I my count was right four the apostles are fishermen who used their living who made their living using

boats Jesus taught from a boat to crowds you know

and and when we think about again going back to walking donkeys horses camels mules boats whatever they were those were the modern forms of transportation we've got in the 21st century different modern forms of transportation we need to thank God for them for those trans modes of transportation and we need to use those to the glory of God so what better way to use them to take the name of Jesus with us wherever we go whatever we do so that's my history lesson I wanted to tell you a little bit about my travel and this isn't going to be a travel log I promise you but just a real quick

overview my grandparents and my mother had the travel bug you know Dana side of the family they also had the travel bug we enjoy travel Dana and I enjoy travel Lord willing we're going to travel again this summer to Eastern Bible school and we're going to travel Lord willing to to Boston to stoon after after Bible school just to to meet all of you face to face those of you who we've not done that with um and you know it's travel has just become a part of who we are so far so far I've made it to 49 out of the 50 states I haven't didn't count the provinces in Canada but um I have made it to 49 out of 50 states I got to get to Alaska one of these days I was I thought about this as I Was preparing I went back and found a a little booklet that my grandmother wrote about my mother

and it said by the time my mother was 21 so that would have been 35 45 55 1956 she had been in in the book booklet that my grandmother wrote it said that my mother by the time she was 21 had been in all 48 lower

States and I paused for a minute and I googled it there were only 48 states at the time you know Hawaii and Alaska Weren't There Yet she'd also been to Mexico and Canada and I say that's not bad for someone back in the 1940s and 1950s so we got a long history of of travel you know Dana and I have been blessed to be able to travel to South Africa twice on mission trips um just one quick little story about that and I'm going to talk about danger later on in travel we were at a bible school we went over to clean up a old school we filled up the back of a pickup truck Dana got in the front of the truck with pickup truck with the guy who has taken us to the dump I got in the back of the pickup truck to lay on top of the piece of carpet that was covering the stuff so nothing would fly out we had no idea who this guy was and we just say we put our trust in you God and we go off and we ended up at the dump and we dumped all the garbage and then we went back me in the back of the truck Dana in the front of the truck and we we took a mission trip with the boys my boys in the when was it

200 four five five six somewhere in there we went to Jamaica for a mission trip um and that was just a beautiful beautiful time there in 2005 and this I was thinking about um Jason Denine here um we went to Israel with my sister and her family so my boys um were

teenagers One Day in

Israel the day that Nicholas my oldest son was baptized in the Jordan River we also traveled to Northern Israel that day to Bonas I don't know if that's the right way to say it to Banus waterfall while we were there Hezbollah started bombing Northern Israel and kirat Shimona which you I'm sure you've heard in the news lately and the guys there said Well normally we'd send you back to the bomb shelter but in kirat Shimona but that's where they're bombing so we can't do that so we they sent us back through what would be the Goan High

and we had un Vehicles going the other way and we're in this nine of us in this big white bus and big white bus like hi here we are look at us so we go back to tiberias and that was also my younger son's birthday and somewhere that evening my nephew who was I don't know five or so six at the time he said he was doing his alphabet program that day he said well today's a day of bees baptisms bombs and birthdays so it's a a good way to always remember that

day you know I was thinking too when when Rich said that Jason was traveling out west to uh Zion National Park you know some of the travels we've been on to the Grand Canyon to Utah to Zan to Glacier National Park to Yellowstone to yosee and I was thinking about you know those places and thinking about what Ben talked about briefly in Sunday school on Sunday about climbing the top of mountain being there and seeing the beauty of it it's just amazing just

amazing um I read two books recently that I would highly recommend about travel and Christianity let's call it it's by a gentleman named Paul

stutzman Paul stutsman um is a menonite man but he he lost his wife to

cancer and he wrote his first book he he traveled the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to mount Kaden is it Maine Brian and Chris can correct me on that one but Mount Kaden I know um and he called it um hiking through one man's journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian ta Trail just a beautiful inspiring inspiring story and then he did a follow-up book called bike Across America my Coast to Coast adventure and the people I met along the way he he biked across from Washington State to Key West Florida but just a very inspiring book about travel Christianity the people and the

experiences

so I want to tell you just one more one more quick story is it's a it's a a lot of time travel is about the people travel is about the people it's not just about me going to experiencing the views or me having the adventure and we're going to talk about people and faith stuff here in in just a moment but the people that you can experience are just incredible I've got one main story here to tell you when we were in Florida last year yeah last year February of 23 so it was what is I do the math six months after the big hurricane down there Dana and I went down to Santa Bella and Captiva Island to help for a day or two with the the um hurricane cleanup

and while we were there we went out on the beach one day before we were scheduled to go start with the cleanup and Dana went and sat down on a pile of shells so santaella island is one of the top places in the world for shells so Dana went and sat down on a pile of shells and there was a a a blanket there and Dana thought well this pile is big enough somebody can share make a long story short a woman came over sat down she and Dana started talking had a lovely lovely conversation this woman is from Ohio outside of Cleveland she operates um coffee shops and other businesses that help people with disabilities the people with disabilities run their coffee shops we went over to visit her recently to see her in action to see their their information in action Dana taught a class while she was there on gardening for for um Teresa's

businesses but all because of a conversation during travel so you never know where where life might might lead you to

um okay let's go to the next list the next list I have is a very incomplete list of Bible Travelers you know I tried to go through and say okay let's pick the highlights which we're going to do that my highlights in a few minutes but when you really start to look at scripture and see how many people are traveling everybody is going somewhere doing something so I want to just go through this list relatively quickly and just highlight each person here first off Noah and his descendants you know they had to migrate from the the mount arat area to Babel you know that's that's where in excuse me in Genesis 11 Genesis 12 Abraham trusts God and he travels from ER the CES to the land of Canaan and once he's there he's got to leave leave Canaan and go to Egypt talks about that in all Genesis 12 we're going to go back and look at Abraham in a few minutes Rebecca Rebecca had to leave her Homeland to be Isaac's wife in Canaan Genesis 24 Isaac like his father Abraham Isaac had to to command um Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman but to return to his family family's people for a wife Jacob we're going to look at Jacob too Jacob as he's going he had to he was wrestling an angel he's going from haran to

Bethal Joseph not by choice necessarily but Joseph traveled and even when Joseph traveled he was put by God in position to Aid his family when they had to travel when they had to flee the drought in

Canaan Moses I mean we could I we could do the whole class on Moses in his travel actually I did a class on Moses for for stoen class one night so we're not going back there again but Moses's travels from Egypt and on in and in Midian and and everywhere else you know and just lots and lots of travel the children of Israel going back to that cartoon that I showed earlier you know there's Moses there's the children of Israel wandering for 40 years in the wilderness God eventually leads his people back from Egypt to Canaan and Abraham's line comes full circle showing God's promises are not forgotten Ruth you know Ruth there's famine and God's people and Ruth is called to go out of Moab back to Bethlehem and return

there Saul you know when when in the days when the Israelites were looking for a king God said Saul I want you to in 1 Samuel 9 said I want you to go from giba to Rama you know so he had to travel Samuel had to travel he had to go from Bethlehem to to anoint David he had to leave and and anoint David Jonah we talked about Jonah in the in the boat Jonah had to go to Nineveh David I mean David just we're gonna go on narrow down on David in a few minutes but you know when when David was Anointed God said I want you to go to Hein so David went Elijah traveled all over you know um he go went up to Mount Horeb and he's he's going here and there and everywhere non non had to go and travel from Syria to Samaria just to be healed by

God think about the captis of Judah what I'm hoping is that as we're looking at this list as you read these stories you see the travel that the we we just read the the words on a page and sometimes we don't think about the struggles of travel which is why I did that longer section on the travel and Bible times because the to think about the captives of in Israel this this is a lot of people all moving together going back to

Jerusalem you know Joseph going down to Bethlehem you know the Romans

were accomplices to God's

will when Caesar Augustus issued the decrees saying that his census has to be taken Joseph had to travel to

Bethlehem the Kings Jesus's birth traveling when they they they they heard heard the news that Jesus had been

born you know Phillip Philip wants this what's it called um the Great Commission go into all the world you know so Phillip he goes into Samaria in Acts chapter 8 Saul is on his way to Damascus when he's converted on the road saulpaul but we'll call him Saul here in this first part of the travel on his way to Damascus Barnabas Barnabas traveling from Jerusalem planting a church in Antioch and traveling other places around around the

area Paul we're going to get down into Paul later with his travels um but you know Paul

himself when

I'm not I'm not going to go there yet we'll go there in a few minutes and then Jesus we're going to we're going to narrow down on Jesus too in a few minutes just think of Jesus as being a traveler okay so those are some of the things I want you the the stories as you read the stories the next week month year as you think about these just think about travel think about

travel I said earlier that travel can help increase faith and we're going to look at five of the folks that we've just talked about in this incomplete list and look at how their faith was increased by their travel so we're going to look at Abraham we're going to look at Jacob we're going to look at David we're going to look at Paul and we're going to look at Jesus so we're I want to show I hope I want to show how

these men of

old when they traveled their faith how their faith fit together with their

travels I think the most obvious in my mind is Abraham Abraham was faithful enough to pack up his household having no idea where he was going why because he trusted

God you know he had no clue God says take all your family take all your possessions and go he was willing to go I mean to me this is just a a proof of how strongly Abraham said God wherever you're going to lead

me it's got to be better than where I am because this is where you want me to

go you know and and all the other trust and the faith this this is our first indication of Abraham's Faith but then you get into Genesis 22 and he's asked to sacrifice his son Isaac you know where is where did his faith start and where did it grow as he's journeying as he's

traveling God

strengthened Abraham's faith during his travels during his

journeys so

I think about the experiences Abraham had along the way in his travels I think about the breathtaking views that he had you know just being out there on a plane and looking at the Sunrise and the sunset and saying thank you God for being with me I don't know where I'm going but I trust

you the lesson is for us where is God going to lead us is God going to call us to go somewhere that we don't

know and instead of saying well I need to make sure I have this in place this in place this in place this in place and then I'm going to question why am I doing this God why am I sometimes it's a matter of just go just go like I I told you our story in South Africa when we jumped in a pickup truck with a guy and went to the dump you know which was it wasn't close I don't remember how far it was but it took us a while to get there it was just jump in the jump in the truck have faith that God will watch over us wherever we're going so there's Abraham let's talk at Jacob for a

minute Jacob had to travel alone to survive and along the way he saw God provide for him so he took his brother's blessings and then he had to rush out of

Canaan go visit Uncle laben

along the way he wrestles with an angel is this strengthening his faith is that part of the journey that part of the travel strengthening his

faith then with Leah and Rebecca and laan and everything else that was happening there not necessarily travels per se but the journey as it

were Jacob's faith is being

grown all the way when he goes back when he travels back to

Canaan he had so much

more flocks and herds and children than he had when the first time he went on that Journey when he went back that piece of travel was so much

different as was his faith as was his faith

David you know I talked about David being an anointed and and God saying I want you to go to Hein but think about David in the

Psalms David you know the difficulties that he had to to face just waiting for the promises of God he had to flee for his life he had to hide in caves you know the perseverance that he showed during this testing period caused him to write some of the most beautiful beautiful words we've ever read in PMS showing his character showing how he grew his faith muscles during this time

during King Saul you know continually pursuing um David and just always having to keep on foot in the desert you know of Judea so the character growth the faith growth he became as we're told a man after God God's Own Heart so these travels of David you don't I don't think of that travel in the same way as I do Abraham but it was it was going here it was going there it was going there always continually moving and traveling that's what David was doing traveling is for David you know it's it's not always easy sometimes it's challenging I think I'm a I'm a pretty laidback person pry easygoing person but the most stressful

time is trying to get through the airport through security to your gate knowing you're going to get there on time and not miss your plane I'm sure you felt that you know it's like H am I gonna make it or not so but like it can be difficult it can be challenging it can be dangerous we talked about that earlier you know it's it's

tiring it's not easy poor David I mean David just again going here and There and Everywhere You

know so all of this helps to improve perseverance helps to build character helps to build Faith these challenging Journeys these challenging travels going to these challenging

destinations for David it was worth all the effort and all the pain so think about that with David with Paul we we could do a whole class on well Rich did that a number of classes on Paul and some of his travels but I already read the verse to you from second Corinthians about the shipwrecks and you know and all that but despite all these Paul just kept going I mean Paul was like the ever ready bunny he just kept going and going and going despite the threats despite the hardships despite the prison sentences you know everything he just kept going as I Was preparing for this class I I read a note somewhere that said let me read this to make sure I've got it right that it's estimated that Paul traveled over 10,000 miles on his journeys and established at least 14 new churches so

10,000 miles in a fairly compact area fairly compact area so a lot of traveling Paul in

and you know even though it was dangerous for Paul it was worth the risk and sometimes there's things in life that can only happen if we're willing to take a risk there's greater opportunity to see God's

protection if we take a risk now I'm not saying be crazy and go nuts but sometime just go a little bit a little bit further I'm going to talk about that in a few minutes too but so think about that taking risk and looking at the journey and looking at how God watches over us and takes care of us finally Jesus of my I won't call it top five because I think there's a lot of others we could talk about too but the five that I

chose we don't I don't think about Jesus traveling but when you think about the fact that he was walking practically everywhere in his life Crossing Seas by boat you know hiking mountains

withdrawing to the mountain to pray or to the Wilderness to pray you know I I I think I share

that well again Ben talked about it on Sunday briefly that intimacy with God whenever I go to the mountains you know here in Central Illinois it's a far cry from a mountain a far cry from a mountain but when when I'm in the mountains somewhere

just I I I find a deeper connection a deeper connections so after after I retired in November Dane and I went out to Sedona Arizona in the Grand Canyon and one day Dane and I hiked up to in Sedona hiked up to a place called The coxcomb so like a rooster the the Cox comb that's what it looks like from a distance but we hiked out and about and up and up and up and up and we got to the top and and we sat on a Sat on a Overlook looking out over the valley and you could see if you've ever been been to Sedona or seen Sedona it is gorgeous but just being there nobody else was around no one was around the quietness of it the intimacy with God when you're in a place like that is just so beautiful so I can understand when Jesus had to withdraw to the mountains or to the to to of the Wilderness to the Garden of Gethsemane wherever he went just to have the intimacy with God and to be alone in God's creation just again just just beautiful I think okay what I want to do in the last few minutes of class is I like to end class typically with just looking at a number of verses just to sort of cement I start with some quotes and a verse give you some examples some history some examples of my own travel we look at some some Bible Travelers and now I want to close with some different verses and some of the lessons that apply to us can't apply to us first off a lesson on

safety in Psalm 121 it says the Lord will protect you from all evil he will keep your soul the Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time and

forever God will watch over us in our travels we put our TR trust in him in Luke 4 it says for it is written he will give his angels orders concerning you to protect you you know just the other night Dana and I were sitting on the front porch having dinner and we've got a little conversation box just to give you interesting questions and the question I don't know if the question came from that box or Dana just asked it out of the blue but you know she her the question was have you had any experience with angels and I immediately went to a a trip going to a Bible school we were over in Indianapolis we got lost going through Indianapolis delayed by a little bit when we got to the other side of Indianapolis finally and going on what's that East huge huge

accident did the angel help us to get lost so we weren't in the middle of it timing wise it was right there it was right there you know this

the Angels looking over us it says in Proverbs 3 then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being

caught so with angels watching over us and protecting us you know I I find it interesting one of the most dangerous I think it's I think it's on the list of most dangerous hikes in the US is in Zion National Park again I don't know if if Jason's on tonight or if he's still out in Zion but it's called Angels landing and Dana and I were at Zion in number of years ago and we took we started going up to Angels Landing you go on this Switchback called what was it called Walter's Wiggles back and forth back and forth you get up there you're walking along holding on to a chain walking past people and looking down 600 feet I don't know and we got to a certain point and Dana's like are we there yet and some guy was there and he said no that's where you're going and we looked up and said no we're not and so I think Angel's Landing was a good term for it because for me to go on that I would have to see my angel holding on to me to to take that

trip next lesson just to trust in God during your trip in Psalm 23 we we all know he restores my soul he guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of his name even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort

me trust in God during your trip that's I think what Psalm 23 is saying to us in Deuteronomy 31 and the Lord is the one who is going ahead of you he will be with you he will not desert you or abandon you do not fear and do not be dismayed

trust in God he will take care of you Psalm 139 if I take up the wings of the Dawn if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea even there your hand will lead me and your right hand will take hold of

me in judges 18 then they said to him inquire God please that we may know whether our way which we are going will be successful the priest said to them go in peace your way in which you are going as the Lord's

approval trusting in God during our trip letting God be in control I think this is the lesson for us goes hand inand with the last one but Proverbs 16 the mind of a person plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps it's sort of the let go and let God let God direct your steps I can do all my planning all my logistical planning but at the end of the day God's going to take care of me

it sort of goes back to that Elizabeth Elliott quote I had earlier that God's at the end of The Journey but he's all the way along he's all he's with you all along the way Psalm 119 your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my

path if you've ever been in utter darkness and I think I I think I said this during a class one time here but took a trip to we had a a Bible study weekend at marrat Caverns Missouri years ago my brother-in-law and I and a friend climbed over a fenced off wall that we weren't supposed to go into in a cave we had our flashlights we walked back into the cave we we finally said we better turn around the three of us we turned back around all of a sudden there were all these Forks left and right our flashlight started dying and flashlight died and that was utter Darkness

finally way off in the distance I could hear Dana yelling Ray Ray are you there and we followed and obviously we made it out we're here today but I think I I think about that often when I read this verse your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path without that word we are in utter

darkness and think about this what's it called again the Great Commission go into all the world and preach the gospel uh Mark 16 preach the gospel to all creation whether you're preaching the gospel locally whether you're preaching on mission trips wherever you're going this is part of our travel we should be doing this as we travel you know that was part of Dana's conversation with this lady Teresa in on Captiva Island in Florida on the pile of shelves was pile of shelves they started talking about um God in the Bible you know and that's they they had an immediate connection so opportunities to do that frequently

again the some of these subjects are similar in lessons but I I think some verses fit better with some this is letting God lead the way in Exodus 13 and the Lord is going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way and in a pillar of Fire by night to give them light so that they might travel by day and by night God LED them do we let God lead the way for us or do we say nope I'm in charge I'm gonna lead

and then walking the path that God's laid out Psalm 18 you enlarge my excuse me you enlarge my steps under me and my feet have not

slipped God has set a path for us to walk on and all too often I will Veer off to one side or the other and will trip and

fall you've all I've told you all this before I'm a runner and I I enjoy running on roads I enjoy doing trail trail runs and I've fallen on trail runs and you know you you've got to watch carefully where you walk but knowing that God is creating that path and if we walk on that path that will help us and our feet will not

slip I think the last verse I have here is reminding that all are welcome Luke 13 they will come from east and west W from North and South will recline at the table in the kingdom of

God have you ever thought about travel in the

Kingdom what will that be like that's another class we're not doing that tonight

but the travel coming from east and west north and south the kingdom of

God are we there

yet it's not far off