Tomorrow I am flying to the Netherlands to see my youngest son and I have a confession to make.
I. Do. Not. Like. To. Travel. I haven’t seen my son in a year and I am beyond excited to give him a great big hug. I can’t wait to discover new places, see new sights, and try new food, but getting from point A to point B is a nightmare for me. I am a planner who is also a procrastinator. I should be packing right now. I have a lot of essays and articles on faith. I could easily pull one of those, yet here I am, typing something brand new. Why? Well, because it is distracting me from the stress of getting ready to travel.
I don’t like to go on car rides that are longer than half an hour. I don’t like the bouncy trains that continually stop to pick up and drop off passengers. I don’t like to summon taxis or Ubers or Lifts or have any stranger drive me through the unknown streets of a big city at breakneck speeds. And I especially don’t like going through the indignity of the TSA, getting into a giant 875,000 pound tube made of metal and plastic full of people I don’t know packed in like sardines, improbably taking off into the air for 8+ hours, and hoping that the instructions from the flight attendants that I ignored won’t be necessary.
Yet, the destination is worth the struggle. “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” - Mark 4:35-41 Jesus was resting in this story. He knew that the storm would pass and they would be fine. Jesus was calm, he was right there with them, and still they panicked. “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” The disciples had been with Jesus for a while now, they had seen his healings and heard his teachings, but when faced with crashing waves and powerful winds their basic survival instincts kicked in and it was every man for himself.
To live is to struggle. We struggle for first breath at our birth. We struggle for our basic necessities like food and shelter. We struggle in our relationships with other people. We all struggle and face storms, but it is through these challenges that we learn and grow, survive and thrive. There are moments of calm, moments when we reach our destination on the other side of the storm, where we can breathe and get ready for what comes next.
I am fortunate to be able to travel. The struggles I will face tomorrow are small compared to the chaos swirling around in our world today and the deep hardships people are facing. I will work to find peace in the journey by relying on my adventurous husband, watching other people who are riding in the same boat (airplane), anticipating the experience, and resting with my eyes closed until the wheels land on the other side of the ocean.
Then I am going to squeeze my son with aching arms and a heart that is overflowing with love, I’m going to treasure every minute of being with my family, and I’m going to relax and renew my soul until I have to face the challenge of our return trip.
Becky Long is the partner, in ministry and in life, of Pastor Don Long Jr. of Wesley United Methodist Church.
