Day Two!

Woke up wet!! There was a big rain storm last night so I had to pack wet. The tent kept me nice and dry. The morning I had to rig for rain, but ended up being a great riding day. The trip to NY was great. When I got to Gilbert Lake, I was excited that there was no rain in the forecast, so I opened up and hung everything out to dry. I decided to sleep under the stars... I bit nippy to do that at 51 degrees.

  

I have often said that it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. What we do on the journey, the people we encounter, the way we act, the lives we touch, the lives that touch us, the roads we travel, all have a formational piece to them. Our Christian life is about the journey (and sometimes we have to pack wet - knowing the soggy mess will be with us at the next destination.) So much for mixing metaphors.

I have the versus in Exodus rolling around in my head every time I put up and take down a tent. The Israelites were a nomadic people when they left Egypt. They wandered around the dessert for 40 years. I am "wandering" around the United States for 12 weeks. There is difficulty in wandering. Part of the packing wet metaphor was we always take baggage from the past with us. If you read yesterday's post, it could be stuff we need to let go. However, not all baggage is bad. We must be able to evaluate, and we do this with God' help!

Challenge to Self: Decide what personal baggage I need to keep, and what I need to let go of... I realize that I can't give away a piece of baggage that makes me me, but how do I use that baggage in a good way?

Challenge to Trinity: Churches often have struggles because they have packed wet and let it go for a while without airing it out. What they end up with is mold. What are the "moldy" parts of Trinity the need some air. How might we go about opening that baggage in a healthy way? (Knowing that it's going to stink for a while!).