Bible Travelers

Transcript

okay um in terms of x travel um part of retirement for us um x I've got a got a stepmother in Sarasota x Florida who has Alzheimer's and and x assisted living and so we travel down x there relatively frequently to check in x on her in the house and just to to take x care of x things somewhere in one of my drives x back and forth a straight straight drive x is 16 hours if I do it by myself um but x gives you an idea how far it is but in x one of those travels drives I started x thinking about what was I going to do x for Bible class and I started thinking x about traveling and I thought you know x there's there's a lot of people in the x Bible that travel I like to travel you x know and I'll say to start the class x travel especially international travel x which we'll talk about a little bit x isn't for everyone but I will submit x that travel provides x experiences that can inspire you can x transform your faith you can experience x new cultures different way of life x different ways of x life it gives you an opportunity to see x the world it gives you an opportunity to x see God's beautiful creation um it it x just it's a vast x world and I'm just a teeny tiny little x piece of x it travel also forces you to go out of x your comfort x zone um you when you do that you broaden x your horizons you stretch x yourself x um and we're going to look at all these x things tonight in our x class I just just a side note as I Was x preparing this class I didn't x realize that the daily readings were x going to be in the later latter part of x Acts with all of Paul's travels we're x going to talk about Paul's travels in a x little bit but as I've been I I usually x listen to The Daily Readings as I've x been listening to them I've got a new x appreciation for all of Paul's travels x after putting together this class so x hopefully you'll do the same to um just x think about the the words that are on x the page or the the voices that you hear x reading at the Bible in the daily x reading and maybe it'll help you x understand Paul a little bit x better I also found it interesting just x class what was it two weeks ago that x John perks did class um and some of the x the words he used in his class he was x talking about navigate or Compass or x Direction travel is just wrapped into x our normal um everyday language and so x it's something that we're all familiar x with one way or the other one way or the x other near or far short or long distance x International domestic we're all x familiar with x travel what I want to start out with and x what I like to do in a lot of my classes x is just start out with some quotes about x travel quotes in in a verse or two too x also just to sort of set the set the x scene here my first quote is my life my x life is my joury Journey with God it may x be hard sometimes but I am assured it x will all be worth be all worth it so x this journey of life you know and I was x thinking about that verse when I thought x about x nowadays we hop on a plane a few hours x later we're x somewhere my x grandfather didn't like to fly but he x didn't like to fly because he liked to x drive in experience the journey along x the way you know whenever Dana and I are x on a little two-lane road going through x not on the interstate but on a two-lane x road I always say you know granddaddy x would have enjoyed this you know this is x this is that Journey the the experiences x you x have and whatever those experiences are x in our journey of life with God it's all x worth x it another quote difficult roads often x lead to beautiful destinations I was x thinking about this when I think it was x Ben on Sunday during Steve Sunday school x talked about the New Hampshire 48 I may x get that wrong but I that's I scrambled x a note real quick on Sunday but you know x sometimes it is difficult to get to x those places but often times it does x lead to a beautiful x destination another quote every choice x we make along the path has consequences x for the journey x I'm actually in our Ecclesia on this x upcoming Sunday sort of spoiler spoiler x alert for anybody who's in our Ecclesia x I'm going to be talking about this a x little bit sort of in connection with x tonight's class because we do have x choices it talks about in Deuteronomy x you know choose life but our choices you x know there there are two gates the wide x gate the narrow gate there's two ways x the broad way the narrow way difficult x way there's two groups the many and the x few and there's two destinations x destruction and life so we have a lot of x choices to make in life and those x choices have consequences on our journey x of x Life Elizabeth Elliot said once it is x God to whom and with whom we travel and x while he is the end of every Journey he x is also at every stopping place I really x really like that one really like that x one you know it's again it goes back to x my life the first quote my life is my x journey with God God is always there x with x us and then finally is Psalm 954 in x whose hand are the depths of the Earth x the peaks of the mountains are his also x so these verses and these quotes this x verse and these quotes are to set the x the stage for the class tonight and to x talk about Bible Travelers and to talk x about our our travel in life before we x go to some of those uh more specific x details I wanted to just interject a x little humor a little travel humor I x found this recently my first one so x here's a car going forward the the car x is called time you got last year next x year in Christ return and the child in x the back seat is saying Are We There Yet x and the parents are saying not yet but x we're getting x closer that's where we are today in our x journey in our travels we're getting x closer I believe we're getting very very x very close it's just around the next x corner but James 5'8 you too be patient x and stand firm because the Lord's coming x is near so next time you're driving in a x car with your kids or your grandkids and x you hear that are we there yet um just x think about this this little comic strip x and say no but we're getting closer to x Christ's return the other comic I found x and I I just I really enjoy this one so x you know on your GPS was it must have x been Steve talking about last Sunday x because he did everything Sunday um but x he talked about GPS and Maps you know in x your GPS it says when you're traveling x it says you'll be arriving in 25 minutes x or you'll be arriving when I go to x Florida in 16 hours well here's the one x I really enjoyed here's Moses wandering x in the wilderness arriving in 40 years x that can't be right x so there you go we we'll leave it at x that I just enjoyed that one very much x when I saw that I asked Dane I said can x I use that is that okay she's like oh x yeah that's fine so you can blame her if x you'd like but I'll take credit for it x if you like x it okay next let's talk a little bit x about travel x today like I said I can make it to x Sarasota Florida from my house in 16 x hours if I'm by myself because I'm just x flying down the road 16 hours it's not x that far you know I can make it to x Chicago in two and a half hours and I'm x in a different world than I am here on x our farm I mean we live in a little town x 450 people we've got a farm with all x sorts of animals and hay fields and x stuff Chicago is a different animal alog x together but you can get there so x quickly and have you ever really thought x about how comfortable it is to travel in x the 21st century you know I I think back x to my my grandparents car traveling in x the in my grandparents car back in the x late 60s it was barebones basic not a x whole lot of bells and whistles x today let's say let's say I'm I'm a I'm x a child and I get in the back seat of my x parents car so I'm riding in my SUV in x my parents SUV going to my grandparents x house on a hot summer day x I'm going to be sitting on a covered x cushion seat I'm going to have the air x conditioning blowing on me you know I'm x going to complain a little too hot a x little too cold you know there's going x to be a bump in the road I may be x plugged in and listening to my favorite x songs I might be watching a movie on an x electronic x device I you know it's I don't want to x be disturbed I just I get a little x annoyed when I'm riding down the road in x a few hours let's let's call it I don't x know 3 hours I can make the 3 hours 200 x mile trip to my grandparents house you x know over the river and through the x woods to Grandmother's house we go it x only takes half a tank of gas you know x you get there just in time for for lunch x or for supper and you got Grandma's home x cooking you know the biggest frustration x in travel in the 21st century was is x sometimes it just takes too long you x know if you're a child sitting in the x back seat Are We There Yet it just takes x too long so I want to contrast that with x travel and Bible x times and this is probably I I should x turn the class over to to Rich and let x Rich talk about all the history of x travel and Bible times he'd probably do x give it a lot more do do a lot better x job than I would but I want to think x about the the contrast between traveling x the 21st century and traveling Bible x times first off Bible times you're x walking almost everywhere you go you're x walking to work you're walking to the x synagogue you're walking to your x relatives your relatives may live as far x as 30 miles away you may have to walk to x Grandma and Grandpa's house you know x when when God presented to Abraham the x land of Canan God said in in Genesis 13 x He said Lift Up Lift Your Eyes now and x look from the place where you are x northward Southward Eastward and x Westward for all the land which you see x I give to you and your ascendance x forever arise walk in the land through x its length and its width for I give it x to x you 2,000 years later Jesus arrives on x the scene he's seems like he's walking x everywhere you know there there were x animals to use mules donkeys horses x camels if you're traveling long distance x but walking was still the most common x method of travel I believe it was Mark x Hampton in Bible class or Bible class x exhortation I don't remember Sunday x school few weeks ago t talked about the x donkey and and the donkey was the most x common Beast of Burden most common use x of uh way to travel other than walking x you know you've got the other options x but the donkey was the main thing in in x the the land of x Israel and as I understand it I know I x don't know if Mark said this or not but x as I understand it a donkey's average x Journey was about 20 miles a day think x about that 20 miles a day think about me x driving to Florida 1150 miles x in 16 hours don't do the math you'll x figure out that I was probably speeding x um the only animal that the Bible ever x mentions Jesus writing on was a young x donkey when he wrode in Jerusalem during x the last week of his life so Bible x travel was uncomfortable it was tiresome x it was dangerous it talks about in John x Jesus being wearied after traveling from x Judea to a city in Samaria to sikar um x we're going to talk about Paul later but x I'll just read this passage we all we x all know it it says Paul in 2 x Corinthians he's had been on frequent x Journeys and dangers from Rivers dangers x from robbers dangers in the city dangers x in the wilderness through many sleepless x night and hunger and thirst often x without food and cold and x exposure so this is what it was like x travel in in the first x century one of the advantages that that x the Jews had in their their country in x Bible times was Hospitality shown to x traveling strangers both Old Testament x and New Testament basically Travelers x could enjoy something like not today but x something like bed and breakfast you x know their donkeys their camels or x horses they would be given water they'd x be given hay The Travelers could sleep x indoors sometimes sleep in a tent um get x a morning meal and be on their way you x know this is the way it was in Bible x times um I submit that's the way it x should be today in in our times and I x will I will offer to anyone driving x through Central Illinois ever if you're x ever like I said two and a half hours x from Chicago two hours from Indie three x hours from St Louis driving through x Central Illinois stop and see us at our x farm we'll make it a bed and breakfast x for you we'll put you up we'll let you x we'll let you go out and and play with x the goats and play with the Sheep play x with the dogs and get some eggs you know x we'll do all that on the farm and make x it enjoyable for you just like it was in x the first century so we that's I think a x beautiful thing that they had that I x think we do have my I know my x grandfather when he traveled he would x always find somebody to stop and visit x from some time past you know we'd be in x the car with him and he'd say oh let's x stop and see so and so and he hadn't x seen so and so for 30 years you know 10 x years two weeks whatever they would x always welcome him in and vice versa x we'd be sitting at his house in Arkansas x somebody would just show up and say hey x I was driving down I40 and thought I'd x get off the road and see you so I think x that's where some of those lessons came x from in Bible times you know the the x heat of the sun they would a lot of x times travel by night they get to their x directions from the Stars you know they x had to be careful with from thieves you x know think about the Good Samaritan you x know they had to worry about animals x wild animals and and judges it talks x about Samson that a young lion came x roaring against Samson as he traveled x through The Vineyards of timna you know x dangerous travel in in Bible x times distances were so much different x I've already talked about that you know x but 15 to 20 miles per day on a walk was x about what an individual could do you x know if they're a large group of people x probably probably x less but x they also needed to worry about water x that was one of the most important x things I mean I worry about gas when I'm x on the road you know I'm I'm one of x those who like to take the gas needle x right down to the end and then it's like x oh I'm in so much trouble I'm going to x run out of gas I was in North Dakota x driving once and I I don't know how I x got to the next gas station but but we x got there because North Dakota you don't x have quite as frequent stops but for x Bible time it was all about water they x were looking for Springs of water or x Wells and that was important to x them people also traveled in Bible Times x by boat you know whether there's sails x or ores in In Jonah it says uh the men x in the boat with Jonah rode hard using x ores to try and reach land you know x traveling by boat was sometimes scary x some dangerous bad weather certainly you x get tossed on the waves the stormy x weather we certainly know those stories x with Jesus saving his disciples from x storms and you know Paul in Acts 27 Paul x talks about being sh Shipwrecked and the x boat being torn to pieces and God x protected them and the other prisoners x that were on the the boat some jumped x overboard and swam to safy safety others x had to float on pieces of the broken x ship boat travel could be dangerous but x Boats were a big part of the lives of x Jesus and his disciples you know I think x if I my count was right four the x apostles are fishermen who used their x living who made their living using x boats Jesus taught from a boat to crowds x you know x and and when we think about again going x back to x walking donkeys horses camels x mules boats whatever they were those x were the modern forms of transportation x we've got in the 21st century different x modern forms of transportation x we need to thank God for them for those x trans modes of transportation and we x need to use those to the glory of God so x what better way to use them to take the x name of Jesus with us wherever we go x whatever we x do so that's my history x lesson I wanted to tell you a little bit x about my travel and this isn't going to x be a travel log I promise you but just a x real quick x overview my grandparents and my mother x had the travel x bug you know Dana side of the family x they also had the travel x bug we enjoy travel Dana and I enjoy x travel Lord willing we're going to x travel again this summer to Eastern x Bible school and we're going to travel x Lord willing to to Boston to stoon after x after Bible school just to to meet all x of you face to face those of you who x we've not done that with um and you know x it's travel has just become a part of x who we are so far so far I've made it to x 49 out of the 50 states I haven't didn't x count the provinces in Canada but um I x have made it to 49 out of 50 states I x got to get to Alaska one of these days I x was I thought about this as I Was x preparing I went back and found a a x little booklet that my grandmother wrote x about my mother x and it said by the time my mother was 21 x so that would have been 35 45 55 x 1956 she had been in in the book booklet x that my grandmother wrote it said that x my mother by the time she was 21 had x been in all 48 lower x States and I paused for a minute and I x googled it there were only 48 states at x the time you know Hawaii and Alaska x Weren't There Yet she'd also been to x Mexico and Canada and I say that's not x bad for someone back in the 1940s and x 1950s so we got a long history of of x travel you know Dana and I have been x blessed to be able to travel to South x Africa twice on mission trips um just x one quick little story about that and x I'm going to talk about danger later on x in travel we were at a bible school we x went over to clean up a old school we x filled up the back of a pickup truck x Dana got in the front of the truck with x pickup truck with the guy who has taken x us to the dump I got in the back of the x pickup truck to lay on top of the piece x of carpet that was covering the stuff so x nothing would fly x out we had no idea who this guy was and x we just say we put our trust in you God x and we go off and we ended up at the x dump and we dumped all the garbage and x then we went back me in the back of the x truck Dana in the front of the truck and x we we took a mission trip with the boys x my boys in the when was it x 200 four five five six somewhere in x there we went to Jamaica for a mission x trip um and that was just a beautiful x beautiful time there in 2005 and this I x was thinking about um Jason Denine here x um we went to Israel with my sister and x her family so my boys um were x teenagers One Day in x Israel the day that Nicholas my oldest x son was baptized in the Jordan x River we also traveled to Northern x Israel that day to Bonas I don't know if x that's the right way to say it to Banus x waterfall while we were there Hezbollah x started bombing Northern Israel and x kirat Shimona which you I'm sure you've x heard in the news lately and the guys x there said Well normally we'd send you x back to the bomb shelter but in kirat x Shimona but that's where they're bombing x so we can't do that so we they sent us x back through what would be the Goan High x and we had un Vehicles going the other x way and we're in this nine of us in this x big white bus and big white bus like hi x here we are look at us so we go back to x tiberias and that was also my younger x son's birthday and somewhere that x evening my nephew who was I don't know x five or so six at the time he said he x was doing his alphabet program that day x he said well today's a day of x bees baptisms bombs and birthdays so x it's a a good way to always remember x that x day you know I was thinking too when x when Rich said that Jason was traveling x out west to uh Zion National Park you x know some of the travels we've been on x to the Grand Canyon to Utah to Zan to x Glacier National Park to Yellowstone to x yosee and I was thinking about you know x those places and thinking about what Ben x talked about briefly in Sunday school on x Sunday about climbing the top of x mountain being there and seeing the x beauty of it it's just amazing just x amazing um I read two books recently x that I would highly recommend about x travel and Christianity let's call it x it's by a gentleman named Paul x stutzman Paul stutsman um is a menonite x man but he he lost his wife to x cancer and he wrote his first book he he x traveled the Appalachian Trail from x Georgia to mount Kaden is it Maine Brian x and Chris can correct me on that one but x Mount Kaden I know um and he called it x um hiking through one man's journey to x Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian ta x Trail just a beautiful inspiring x inspiring story and then he did a x follow-up book called bike Across x America my Coast to Coast adventure and x the people I met along the way he he x biked across from Washington State to x Key West Florida but just a very x inspiring book about travel Christianity x the people and the x experiences x so I want to tell you just one more one x more quick story is it's a it's a a lot x of time travel is about the people x travel is about the people it's not just x about me going to experiencing the views x or me having the adventure and we're x going to talk about people and faith x stuff here in in just a moment but the x people that you can experience are just x incredible I've got one main story here x to tell you when we were in x Florida last year yeah last year x February of 23 so it was what is I do x the math six months after the big x hurricane down there Dana and I went x down to Santa Bella and Captiva Island x to help for a day or two with the the um x hurricane cleanup x and while we were there we went out on x the beach one day before we were x scheduled to go start with the cleanup x and Dana went and sat down on a pile of x shells so santaella island is one of the x top places in the world for shells so x Dana went and sat down on a pile of x shells and there was a a a blanket there x and Dana thought well this pile is big x enough somebody can share make a long x story short a woman came over sat down x she and Dana started talking had a x lovely lovely conversation x this woman is from Ohio outside of x Cleveland she operates um coffee shops x and other businesses that help people x with disabilities the people with x disabilities run their coffee shops we x went over to visit her recently to see x her in action to see their their x information in action Dana taught a x class while she was there on gardening x for for um Teresa's x businesses but all because of a x conversation during travel so you never x know where where life might might lead x you x to x um okay let's go to the next list the x next list I x have is a very incomplete list of Bible x Travelers you know I tried to go through x and say okay let's pick the highlights x which we're going to do that my x highlights in a few minutes but when you x really start to look at scripture and x see how many people are x traveling everybody is going somewhere x doing something so I want to just go x through this list relatively quickly and x just highlight each person here first x off Noah and his descendants you know x they had to migrate from the the mount x arat area to Babel you know that's x that's where in excuse me in Genesis 11 x Genesis 12 Abraham trusts God and he x travels from ER the CES to the land of x Canaan and once he's there he's got to x leave leave Canaan and go to Egypt talks x about that in all Genesis 12 we're going x to go back and look at Abraham in a few x minutes Rebecca Rebecca had to leave her x Homeland to be Isaac's wife in Canaan x Genesis 24 Isaac like his father Abraham x Isaac had to to command um Jacob not to x marry a Canaanite woman but to return to x his family family's people for a wife x Jacob we're going to look at Jacob too x Jacob as he's going he had to he was x wrestling an angel he's going from haran x to x Bethal Joseph not by choice necessarily x but Joseph traveled and even when Joseph x traveled he was put by God in position x to Aid his family when they had to x travel when they had to flee the drought x in x Canaan Moses I mean we could I we could x do the whole class on Moses in his x travel actually I did a class on Moses x for for stoen class one night so we're x not going back there again but x Moses's travels from Egypt and on in and x in Midian and and everywhere else you x know and just lots and lots of travel x the children of Israel going back to x that cartoon that I showed earlier you x know there's Moses there's the children x of Israel wandering for 40 years in the x wilderness God eventually leads his x people back from Egypt to Canaan and x Abraham's line comes full circle showing x God's promises are not forgotten Ruth x you know Ruth there's famine and God's x people and Ruth is called to go out of x Moab back to Bethlehem and return x there Saul you know when when in the x days when the Israelites were looking x for a king God said Saul I want you to x in 1 Samuel 9 said I want you to go from x giba to Rama you know so he had to x travel Samuel had to travel he had to go x from Bethlehem to to anoint David he had x to leave and and anoint David Jonah we x talked about Jonah in the in the boat x Jonah had to go to x Nineveh David I mean David just we're x gonna go on narrow down on David in a x few minutes but you know when when David x was Anointed God said I want you to go x to x Hein so David went Elijah traveled all x over you know um he go went up to Mount x Horeb and he's he's going here and there x and everywhere non non had to go and x travel from Syria to Samaria just to be x healed by x God think about the captis of Judah what x I'm hoping is that as we're looking at x this list as you read these stories you x see the travel that the we we just read x the the words on a page and sometimes we x don't think about the struggles of x travel which is why I did that longer x section on the travel and Bible times x because the to think about the captives x of in Israel this this is a lot of x people all moving together going back to x Jerusalem you know Joseph going down to x Bethlehem you know the Romans x were accomplices to God's x will when Caesar Augustus issued the x decrees saying that his census has to be x taken Joseph had to travel to x Bethlehem the Kings Jesus's birth x traveling when they they they they heard x heard the news that Jesus had been x born you know Phillip Philip wants this x what's it called um the Great Commission x go into all the world you know so x Phillip he goes into Samaria in Acts x chapter 8 Saul is on his way to Damascus x when he's converted on the road saulpaul x but we'll call him Saul here in this x first part of the travel on his way to x Damascus Barnabas Barnabas traveling x from Jerusalem planting a church in x Antioch and traveling other places x around around the x area Paul we're going to get down into x Paul later with his travels um but you x know Paul x himself when x I'm not I'm not going to go there yet x we'll go there in a few minutes and then x Jesus we're going to we're going to x narrow down on Jesus too in a few x minutes just think of Jesus as being a x traveler okay so those are some of the x things I want you the the stories as you x read the stories the next week month x year as you think about these just think x about travel think about x travel I said earlier that travel can x help increase faith and we're going to x look at five of the folks that we've x just talked about in this incomplete x list and look at how their faith was x increased by their travel so we're going x to look at Abraham we're going to look x at Jacob we're going to look at David x we're going to look at Paul and we're x going to look at x Jesus so we're I want to show I hope I x want to show how x these men of x old when they traveled their faith how x their faith fit together with their x travels I think the most obvious in my x mind is x Abraham Abraham was faithful enough to x pack up his household having no idea x where he was x going why because he trusted x God you know he had no x clue God says take all your family take x all your possessions and x go he was willing to x go I mean to me this is just a a proof x of how strongly Abraham said God x wherever you're going to lead x me it's got to be better than where I am x because this is where you want me to x go you know and and all the other trust x and the faith this this is our first x indication of Abraham's Faith but then x you get into Genesis 22 and he's asked x to sacrifice his son Isaac you know x where is where did his faith start and x where did it grow as he's journeying as x he's x traveling God x strengthened Abraham's faith during his x travels during his x journeys so x I think about the experiences Abraham x had along the way in his travels I think x about the breathtaking views that he had x you know just being out there on a plane x and looking at the Sunrise and the x sunset and saying thank you God for x being with me I don't know where I'm x going but I trust x you the lesson is for us where is God x going to lead us is God going to call us x to go somewhere that we don't x know and instead of saying well I need x to make sure I have this in place this x in place this in place this in place and x then I'm going to question why am I x doing this God why am I sometimes it's a x matter of just go just x go like I I told you our story in South x Africa when we jumped in a pickup truck x with a guy and went to the dump you know x which was it wasn't close I don't x remember how far it was but it took us a x while to get there it was just jump in x the jump in the truck have faith that x God will watch over us wherever we're x going so there's x Abraham let's talk at Jacob for a x minute Jacob had to travel alone to x survive and along the way he saw God x provide for him so he took his brother's x blessings and then he had to rush out of x Canaan go visit Uncle laben x along the way he wrestles with an angel x is this strengthening his faith is that x part of the journey that part of the x travel strengthening his x faith then with Leah and Rebecca and x laan and everything else that was x happening there not necessarily travels x per se but the journey as it x were Jacob's faith is being x grown all the way when he goes back when x he travels back to x Canaan he had so much x more flocks and herds and x children than he had when the first time x he went on that Journey when he went x back that piece of travel was so much x different as was his x faith as was his faith x David you know I talked about David x being an anointed and and God saying I x want you to go to Hein but think about x David in the x Psalms David you know the difficulties x that he had to to face just waiting for x the promises of God he had to flee for x his life he had to hide in caves you x know the perseverance that he showed x during this testing period caused him to x write some of the most beautiful x beautiful words we've ever read in x PMS showing his character showing how he x grew his faith muscles during this time x during King Saul you know continually x pursuing um x David and just always having to keep on x foot in the desert you know of x Judea so the character growth the faith x growth he x became as we're told a man after God x God's Own Heart so these travels of x David you don't I don't think of that x travel in the same way as I do Abraham x but it was it was going here it was x going there it was going there always x continually moving and traveling that's x what David was doing traveling is for x David you know it's it's not always x easy sometimes it's challenging I think x I'm a I'm a pretty laidback person pry x easygoing person but the most stressful x time is trying to get through the x airport through security to your gate x knowing you're going to get there on x time and not miss your plane I'm sure x you felt that you know it's like H am I x gonna make it or x not so but like it can be difficult it x can be challenging it can be dangerous x we talked about that x earlier you know it's it's x tiring it's not easy poor David I mean x David just again going here and There x and x Everywhere You x know so all of this helps to improve x perseverance helps to build character x helps to build Faith these challenging x Journeys these challenging travels going x to these challenging x destinations for David it was worth all x the effort and all the x pain so think about that with x David with Paul we we could do a whole x class on well Rich did that a number of x classes on Paul and some of his x travels but I already read the verse to x you from second Corinthians about the x shipwrecks and you know and all that but x despite all these Paul just kept going I x mean Paul was like the ever ready bunny x he just kept going and going and going x despite the threats despite the x hardships despite the prison sentences x you know everything he just kept going x as I Was preparing for this class I I x read a note somewhere that said let me x read this to make sure I've got it right x that it's estimated that Paul traveled x over 10,000 miles on his journeys and x established at least 14 new churches so x 10,000 x miles in a fairly compact x area fairly compact area so a lot of x traveling Paul in x and you know even though it was x dangerous for Paul it was worth the risk x and sometimes there's things in life x that can only happen if we're willing to x take a risk there's greater opportunity x to see God's x protection if we take a risk now I'm not x saying be crazy and go nuts but sometime x just go a little bit a little bit x further I'm going to talk about that in x a few minutes too but so think about x that taking risk and looking at the x journey and looking at how God watches x over us and takes care of x us finally Jesus of my I won't call it x top five because I think there's a lot x of others we could talk about too but x the five that I x chose we don't I don't think about Jesus x traveling but when you think about the x fact that he was walking practically x everywhere in his life Crossing Seas by x boat you know hiking mountains x withdrawing to the mountain to pray or x to the Wilderness to pray you know I I I x think I share x that well again Ben talked about it on x Sunday briefly that intimacy with God x whenever I go to the mountains you know x here in Central Illinois it's a far cry x from a mountain a far cry from a x mountain but when when I'm in the x mountains somewhere x just I I I find a deeper connection a x deeper x connections so after after I retired in x November Dane and I went out to Sedona x Arizona in the Grand Canyon and one day x Dane and I hiked up to in Sedona hiked x up to a place called The coxcomb so like x a rooster the the Cox comb that's what x it looks like from a distance but we x hiked out and about and up and up and up x and up and we got to the top and and we x sat on a Sat on a Overlook looking out x over the valley and you could see if x you've ever been been to Sedona or seen x Sedona it is gorgeous but just being x there nobody else was around no one was x around the quietness of it the intimacy x with God when you're in a place like x that is just so beautiful so I can x understand when Jesus had to withdraw to x the mountains or to the to to of the x Wilderness to the Garden of Gethsemane x wherever he went just to have the x intimacy with God and to be alone in x God's creation just again just just x beautiful I x think okay what I want to do in the last x few minutes of class is I like to end x class typically with just looking at a x number of verses just to sort of cement x I start with some quotes and a verse x give you some examples some history some x examples of my own travel x we look at some some Bible Travelers and x now I want to close with some different x verses and some of the lessons that x apply to us can't apply to us first off x a lesson on x safety in Psalm 121 it says the Lord x will protect you from all evil he will x keep your soul the Lord will guard your x going out and your coming in from this x time and x forever God will watch over us in our x travels we put our TR trust in x him in Luke 4 it says for it is written x he will give his angels orders x concerning you to protect you you know x just the other night Dana and I were x sitting on the front porch having dinner x and we've got a x little conversation box just to give you x interesting questions and the question I x don't know if the question came from x that box or Dana just asked it out of x the blue but you know she her the x question was have you had any experience x with x angels and I immediately went to a a x trip going to a Bible school we were x over in Indianapolis we got lost going x through x Indianapolis delayed by a little bit x when we got to the other side of x Indianapolis finally and going on what's x that East huge huge x accident did the angel help us to get x lost so we weren't in the middle of it x timing wise it was right there it was x right x there you know this x the Angels looking over us it says in x Proverbs 3 then you will walk in your x way securely and your foot will not x stumble for the Lord will be your x confidence and will keep your foot from x being x caught so with angels watching over us x and protecting us you know I I find it x interesting one of the most dangerous I x think it's I think it's on the list of x most dangerous hikes in the US is in x Zion National Park again I don't know if x if Jason's on tonight or if he's still x out in Zion but it's called Angels x landing and Dana and I were at Zion in x number of years ago and we took we x started going up to Angels Landing you x go on this Switchback called what was it x called Walter's Wiggles back and forth x back and forth you get up there you're x walking along holding on to a chain x walking past people and looking x down 600 feet I don't know and we got to x a certain point and Dana's like are we x there yet and some guy was there and he x said no that's where you're going and we x looked up and said no we're not and so I x think Angel's Landing was a good term x for it because for me to go on that I x would have to see my angel holding on to x me to to take that x trip next lesson just to trust in God x during your trip in Psalm 23 we we all x know he restores my soul he guides me in x the paths of righteousness for the sake x of his name even though I walk through x the valley of the shadow of death I fear x no evil for you are with me your rod and x your staff they comfort x me trust in God during your trip that's x I think what Psalm 23 is saying to us in x Deuteronomy 31 and the Lord is the one x who is going ahead of you he will be x with you he will not desert you or x abandon you do not fear and do not be x dismayed x trust in God he will take care of you x Psalm 139 if I take up the wings of the x Dawn if I dwell in the remotest part of x the sea even there your hand will lead x me and your right hand will take hold of x me in judges 18 then they said to him x inquire God please that we may know x whether our way which we are going will x be successful the priest said to them go x in peace your way in which you are going x as the Lord's x approval trusting in God during our trip x letting God be in control I think this x is the lesson for us goes hand inand x with the last one but Proverbs 16 the x mind of a person plans his ways but the x Lord directs his steps it's sort of the x let go and let God let God direct your x steps I can do all my planning all my x logistical planning but at the end of x the day God's going to take care of me x it sort of goes back to that Elizabeth x Elliott quote I had earlier that God's x at the end of The Journey but he's all x the way along he's all he's with you all x along the way Psalm 119 your word is a x lamp to my feet and a light to my x path if you've ever been in utter x darkness and I think I I think I said x this during a class one time here but x took a trip to we had a a Bible study x weekend at marrat Caverns Missouri years x ago my brother-in-law and I and a friend x climbed over a fenced off wall that we x weren't supposed to go into in a cave we x had our flashlights we walked back into x the cave we we finally said we better x turn around the three of us we turned x back around all of a sudden there were x all these Forks left and right our x flashlight started dying and flashlight x died and that was utter Darkness x finally way off in the distance I could x hear Dana yelling Ray Ray are you there x and we followed and obviously we made it x out we're here today but I think I I x think about that often when I read this x verse your word is a lamp to my feet and x a light to my path without that word we x are in utter x darkness and think about this what's it x called again the Great Commission go x into all the world and preach the gospel x uh Mark 16 x preach the gospel to all creation x whether you're preaching the gospel x locally whether you're preaching on x mission trips wherever you're going this x is part of our travel we should be doing x this as we travel you know that was part x of Dana's conversation with this lady x Teresa in on Captiva Island in Florida x on the pile of shelves was pile of x shelves they started talking about um x God in the Bible you know and that's x they they had an immediate connection so x opportunities to do that frequently x again the some of these subjects are x similar in lessons but I I think some x verses fit better with some this is x letting God lead the way in Exodus 13 x and the Lord is going before them in a x pillar of cloud by day to lead them on x the way and in a pillar of Fire by night x to give them light so that they might x travel by day and by x night God LED them do we let God lead x the way for x us or do we say nope I'm in charge I'm x gonna lead x and then walking the path that God's x laid out Psalm 18 you enlarge my excuse x me you enlarge my steps under me and my x feet have not x slipped God has set a path for us to x walk on and all too often I will Veer x off to one side or the other and will x trip and x fall you've all I've told you all this x before I'm a runner and I I enjoy x running on roads I enjoy doing trail x trail runs and I've fallen on trail x runs and you know you you've got to x watch carefully where you x walk but knowing that God is creating x that path and if we walk on that path x that will help us and our feet will not x slip I think the last verse I have here x is reminding that all are welcome Luke x 13 they will come from east and west W x from North and South will recline at the x table in the kingdom of x God have you ever thought about travel x in the x Kingdom what will that be like that's x another class we're not doing that x tonight x but the travel coming from east and west x north and x south the kingdom of x God are we there x yet it's not far off