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Come - Distressed Travelers
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Distressed Travelers
Come
Matt 11:28-30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. NIV
I had a shock this week. I’m in a Christian writer’s e-mail support group and we had a time of commitment. Most of the commitments were what you would expect – finishing a book, writing so many words per day, balancing life with work, you know – the usual. The shock was that some of the writers committed that they were going to start spending time reading the Bible every day. I was surprised that they didn’t already do that. Christian writing is hard work and a heavy responsibility. I wondered how anyone could carry such a burden without seeking the daily respite of God’s word.
I didn’t think I was being judgmental, but just in case, I asked God to examine my heart. What I came up with was that I was truly surprised. Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have been surprised since only about 15% of Christians spend time every day in prayer, meditation, and Bible Study. I remember being surprised when I first heard that statistic. At first, I didn’t believe it but I polled my friends at church and found out that it was true. I didn’t want to believe it because when I finally accepted that it was true, my surprise turned to heart break for what Christians are missing.
I first discovered coming to Jesus on a daily basis when I was five. My heart was broken because my favorite cousin had moved away so I started going to the window every day to look for him. As I sat in that window staring out at the flowers and trees in the vacant lot across the street, the spirit of God ministered to my soul. I didn’t have a name for what was happening to me but I found myself going to that window long after I knew my precious cousin wasn’t coming back.
I came to Jesus formally when I was 8 years old. One night, while sitting around a campfire in a children’s Christian camp, I asked Him to come into my life. By the time I was in high school, I sat in the window daily with my Bible in hand. I grew spiritually, learned the Bible, and helped lead others to Christ. Daily spiritual renewal was a practice that I assumed most Christians engaged in.
When I married and got busy with my life, I forgot about the window. I was going to church, leading children in music, singing in the choir, and playing the piano for services but I forgot the practice of coming to Jesus daily. The result was that my spiritual, emotional, and physical life started falling apart. I became a distressed traveler in this difficult journey we call life.
In 1979, I hit a spiritual, emotional, and physical bottom. I was grossly obese, had had multiple surgeries in the previous 4 years, and knew I was dead spiritually and emotionally and dying physically. On January 19, 1979, God and I made a deal. I would get up every morning and ask for knowledge of God’s will for me and the power to carry it out and I would do my best to do what He said. God promised to restore my physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Since then, God has been completely faithful to that promise and I’ve done my best. I wake up every morning anticipating with glee my time in prayer, meditation, and Bible Study. My husband and I believe that without that daily time with God, I would not be alive today.
This year, I woke up on my birthday thanking God for allowing me to be with my husband. I’d been on the road almost two months and I was weary. Bob had a business trip in Minneapolis, Minnesota and I had driven hard to meet him there. I was going to get to spend four nights in a hotel sleeping in a real bed. The best part was that my husband was going to take me out that night for dinner and a movie. I thought life just couldn’t get any better and then I began my morning time with God.
I opened one of my favorite devotional books, Our Daily Bread. The title of the devotion for August 21, 2007 was Distressed Travelers. Thinking back to the difficulties of this recent journey, God had my attention. Wonder of wonders, the Bible reference was Matthew 11:28 (see above) which was part of the theme scripture for the 2007 Pocket Full of Quarters journey. I knew God was wishing me Happy Birthday by offering me a word of affirmation and encouragement.
The story was about a family traveling back to the United States from Hong Cong. Their final destination was a city I’d just left, Grand Rapids, South Dakota. Unfortunately, they wound up stranded in Chicago. When they arrived weary at their hotel, the hotel clerk looked at them and said, “Distressed travelers.”
“Distressed travelers” is the common term for the frustrated weary people desperately trying to get from Point A to Point B. Perhaps weather or mechanical problems grounded their plane. Maybe they are just lost or stranded beside the road with a flat tire. Regardless of what landed them there, they are distressed and looking for relief for their weary bodies and soul.
The meditation in Our Daily Bread, said the term “Distressed Travelers” is a metaphor for life. The following is a quote directly from the meditation.
We are pilgrims in this world, traveling to a heavenly home that will be beyond description. Along the way, however, the cares and burdens of the journey can rob us of our hope and joy. We become distressed travelers in desperate need of encouragement and refreshment. The Lord calls to weary pilgrims like us, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Only He can give us rest for our souls to strengthen us for the road ahead.
I sat in awe at such a direct message from God. If I’d skipped my morning time with Him, I’d have missed His affirmation. It was there waiting but I had to come to Him to get it. I prayed for all of the “Distressed Travelers” I’d met across America and wondered if they would still be distressed if they came to God daily in prayer, mediation, and Bible study. I left my morning time with God, rested, and strengthened for the road ahead.
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