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First post in a new series: Journey

Lynne Baab • Tuesday July 29 2025

First post in a new series: Journey

Pause for a moment and think about trips you've taken recently, or trips taken by people you know. I’m thinking about these:

  • Dave and I travelled to San Francisco to see a Mary Cassatt art exhibition.
  • A friend of mine took a long drive and ferry voyage to attend a funeral in Campbell River, halfway up Vancouver Island in Canada.
  • Another friend traveled halfway across the country for a family reunion.
  • A friend and her husband spent two grueling weeks with his mother, who has advanced dementia and lives on the other side of the country.
  • Two families at church who are dear to me travelled to fun places this year: France and Mexico. I loved seeing photos on Facebook of their kids enjoying historic sites.
  • A teenager from our church went to Japan on a high school trip and ended up in a hospital there having emergency surgery. (She is home and fine.)

I opened with those six bullet points above to show that our journeys today are varied. Some are fun, interesting, and filled with beauty and warm relationships. Others are sad, challenging, demoralizing, and painful. Most trips, of course, have some of both. When my friend travelled so far north to go to a funeral, her sadness about the death was coupled with joy in seeing old friends at the funeral. The teenager who had surgery in a Japanese hospital enjoyed Japan before she was hospitalized, and she experienced a strong sense of God’s presence and provision in the hospital.

With this post, I am beginning a series on “journey” as a way to understand our faith and grow in prayer for the challenges and gifts of Christian discipleship. Month after month, one of the most popular pages on this website is a blog post I wrote almost 10 years ago, entitled “Why ‘journey’ works so well as a metaphor for faith.” In it, I point out some characteristics of journeys that illuminate what it means to follow Jesus. I’ll build on those characteristics in the weeks to come and add some more.

In this first post in my new series, I want to emphasize two of the points I made ten years ago. First, “journey” focuses on the process of getting there, not the arrival. Have you ever said these words, “I just want it to be perfect,” perhaps referring to a wedding, a meal, or something you’re making? Seeing our life as a journey reduces our drive for perfection and our laser focus on the end goal. We are more able to pay attention on what’s happening as we get there. We begin to understand how much Jesus cares about our integrity, kindness, and ability to show love at every step.

A second point I made in that blog post a decade ago is that a journey implies changes, transitions, challenges, and adventures. These are an inevitable, sometimes frustrating, and often helpful part of walking with Jesus. God truly does work good in all things (Romans 8:28). Like my friends visiting their Mom with dementia or the high school student in a Japanese hospital, we watch for the blessing of God’s presence and provision in hard situations. When we experience Jesus there with us, we rejoice. We grow in trust.

I invite you to ponder:

  • What does the word “journey” evoke for you?
  • What have you learned from the trips you have taken about how to grow in trusting Jesus?
  • In what ways do you experience Jesus as your companion and guide on your journey of faith?

Jesus, you have called us to walk with you. We rejoice in the beauty of the world you’ve called us to walk in: your amazing creation, loving people, interesting tasks, and fascinating places. Thank you for your companionship as we journey. We rejoice that you are with us in hospitals, at funerals, in challenges, and when we are discouraged. Thank you for strengthening and guiding us. Enable us to grow as your disciples as we consider the metaphor of a journey to describe our walk with you.

Next week: Journey in the Bible. Illustration by Dave Baab: Rockaway Beach, California, painted by Dave when we visited San Francisco to see art.

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