Weekly Devotion | July 18, 2024

Travel Bug

My recent 20-year anniversary cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean reminded me how much I love to travel. I enjoyed seeing amazing sights, meeting interesting people, and enjoying new cultures. It’s a luxury that we should all take advantage of. Our modern world is very connected. It would be a shame to not see more of the world in person.

Traveling taps into that innate desire humans have to leave home, explore, and meet new people. As the famous vacation writer Rick Steves says, “Travel is a political act. When we travel thoughtfully, we bring back the most beautiful souvenir of all: a broader perspective on the world that we all call home.” Travel helps us understand humanity better rather than sitting in front of a TV or computer making up our minds about those people without ever meeting them.

Travel can be Biblical, too. You’ll remember that the Disciples left home, explored and traveled with Jesus around Galilee – meeting people who were similar and different than themselves. It was a challenge to travel and meet people different than themselves, but God was doing a new thing. God opened heaven to all people in the world. After Jesus ascended, The Holy Spirit told the first Disciples to travel with the gospel from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. The Holy Spirit didn’t tell them to go home and be fisherman again.

Traveling also reminds us of where we come from. Traveling to a family reunion or traveling to a historical site, reminds us of our roots. We are all from someplace else. Traveling back to our roots connects us with the past and teaches us about who we are. Travel humbles us as we realize that we are only a small point on a line of human history.

Related to traveling and getting back to our roots, I’d like to invite you to go to England next May on a Wesley Heritage Tour. All the denominations of Methodism find their beginnings from man named John Wesley. The tour is a well-traveled path that explores the origins of Methodism as well as give you a great tour of England. Come to an information session on August 4th at 5:30pm in the Asbury Gathering room. Tentative plans for this tour will have us traveling 9 days starting May 7, 2025. The cost is around $4,000-$4,500 including airfare. Come and see what this trip might look like as it helps us understand who we are today by traveling back to where we’ve come from.

The travel bug bite is good one to get. I pray you’ll scratch that itch!
Peace,
Zack@madisonfumc.com