The Travelers

The word “traveler” is a lonely word. It implies going it alone. I don’t like it. But “travelers” takes away a lot of the fear, adds new dimensions of shared experiences, shared pain, and shared joy. Shared, not alone.

Though the road was not any clearer at this point, I took great comfort in that after over a year of going it alone, now I had traveling companions. This made the trip a million times less scary on one hand, yet now failure meant disappointment for more than one person. If I was the tour guide, what if we all ended up somewhere none of us liked? What if reputations were lost? What if my traveling companions decided to bail out because they were beginning to see that this trip was too …..unplanned?

The Onlookers

Those standing on the side of the road looked on shaking their heads in bewilderment and they were intimidating. Some were in the business world and insisted we needed a business plan. None of us knew exactly what a business plan was and God had not chosen to give us one at that point. There was another problem. We all knew that this big dream could ONLY come about if God chose to help us greatly. In fact we all had a sinking feeling that God would have to DO it! None of us felt capable to do what was asked of us. We had no idea how any of it would be accomplished so there was no way we could write up a plan. That didn’t sit so well with some of the folks we looked to for counsel.

I remember an interview I had heard with Mother Theresa. She was asked how she accomplished so much. She sighed. “Sometimes I think God trusts me too much!” It was humorous at the time and I and the interviewer got a good chuckle as did the Mother herself. But now that we were telling a few people about our big dream, those on the sidelines out of love chose to speak up trying to save us from gross disappointment. I am certain they thought surely God couldn’t trust US THAT much!

Who Are You Going to Trust?

“Why don’t you begin with something a little smaller….like maybe a five week study. Just NOT 66 DVDs!!” “Where in the world do you think you will get the funding for such a huge project! “Even the BIG NAMES in Christiandom do not take on such huge projects!” “What do you know about production, videoing, lights, sound…and what about the huge legal aspects!” All were good questions. All brought on serious doubts as to whether we had heard God correctly. Although done out of love, all dumped a little rain on the parade. We could well relate to Mother Theresa’s comment. We wished God did not trust us so much….. because we didn’t trust ourselves! But we trusted the Lord and we were growing in our faith that He could do this!

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.