The maps from last month are now covered with many Xs. In the last few weeks, I have been fortunate to stand in many treasured places. I have walked along the streets of Jesus’ hometown of Capernaum. I looked at layer upon layer of destroyed cities where Joshua once blew the horn and the walls came tumbling down. I sat and listened to teachings on a hill side where Jesus may have taught his disciples. I stood in the ruins of the prisons in Caesarea where the Apostle Paul was kept for two years.
Barbara Brown Taylor in one of my favorite books says, “No one longs for what he or she already has, and yet the accumulated insight of those wise about the spiritual life suggests that the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it. The treasure we seek requires no lengthy expedition, no expensive equipment, no superior aptitude or special company. All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need. The only thing missing is our consent to be where we are.”(from Altar on the World)
Today, I am in Iowa filled with many memories. I have learned many things but perhaps one of the most important is that it is no coincidence that God chose the small narrow section of the world in Israel to birth a nation and a new people. The geography, the agriculture, the never ending conflicts all teach a unique dependency on God. The Holy Land is not a place for extravagance. It was a place to learn to lift our eyes to the hills and know our help will come. “My help comes from tom the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121) When Psalm 23 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” It is not meant to deny our human tendency to seek more. Rather as BBT suggests, all we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need. And so I stand on my own X, thankful for all the places I was fortunate to be but also realizing the most important part of any travel or life experience is how it shapes us in our daily lives. I am so blessed to already have everything I need. And so while I have had a few weeks of writing about the extraordinary, I hope to continue to find the extraordinary in the ordinary in this place where God has called me to be.
