Road trip!
It’s next to impossible for us to really appreciate what life would have been like a century ago. At least we have historical accounts to help us get some sense of it.
But, if you were to ask someone who lived a century ago to imagine what our lives must be like, they would have had no context to have any inkling of life in the twenty-first century.
My Grandpa Lewis was the first of our clan to migrate from Alabama to Texas. He made that trip around 1913 at the age of 17.
About four weeks ago, I got up at 4:00 in the morning in South Lake Tahoe, California to drive to the airport in Reno, Nevada to fly to Amarillo, Texas to get in the car and drive home to Azle, Texas, arriving home about 10:00 p.m.
There is no way my 17-year-old Grandpa could have imagined that possibility. I’m not even sure he could have gotten his head around it 32 years ago when he died at age 90.
We are a mobile culture. Heck, I have a 46-mile roundtrip just between my house and my office. And I know plenty of people who have a much longer commute.
But I’m thinking today of something that Grandpa and I have in common, even separated by 100 years. Your traveling companions either make your trip seem shorter or make it interminable.
Think of all the people you interact with on a regular (let’s say at least weekly) basis. Now imagine that you’ve got to take one or two of them on a road trip. Whom do you choose?
I bet you dollars to donuts you didn’t choose the whiners and critics. Why not? Seriously, do I even need to ask why?
Well, here’s my perspective for today: life is a road trip. We are all on a journey toward an ultimate destination. How much we enjoy that journey will largely be determined by our travel companions. So, choose your companions wisely.
I could stop there, but it would miss the most important point.
The journey is just as much for the benefit of our companions as it is for us. Therefore, it behooves us to BE the kind of traveling companions we want to HAVE.
I state one of my Life Core Values this way: “Travel joyfully because ‘gospel’ means ‘good news’ and no one wants to travel with a critic.”
Travel joyfully because GOSPEL means GOOD NEWS and no one wants to travel with a critic. Click To Tweet
I have given my life to sharing the gospel—the good news about Jesus. If I want people to be interested in anything I have to say, it’s a good idea for me to be a pleasant companion on the journey.
“Take control of what I say, O LORD, and guard my lips.” (Psalm 141:3)
Sometimes traveling companions have to put a few miles on the road together before conversations get to things that really matter. I don’t want people to avoid those conversations with me because I’ve already done too much whining and criticizing.
Our lives matter to God, my friends. Let’s help each other enjoy the amazing journey.
