What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

We got back from vacation on Sunday evening around 8:00 p.m. Needless to say, we were exhausted. We had flown into Dallas, TX where we stayed with relatives for 2 days, driven down to Corpus Christi where we stayed for 4 days and attended one wedding party for my brother and a birthday party for my child, then we drove to Houston for a wedding rehearsal and then the wedding the next day, then we drove from Houston to Dallas to catch our plane back.

And the entire time I ate too much BBQ, slept too little and only got one 45 minute workout in. To top it off, one of our beloved church members passed away on Wednesday of the week I was gone...so I had to work overtime when I got back to prepare a funeral service which was held for her yesterday.

I feel a little confused about where I am and where I have been. It seemed appropriate that when we landed in SeaTac, the first song to come on over the speaker was the Grateful Dead's "Truckin" in which the lyrics 'What a Long Strange Trip It's Been" seemed all too fitting.

My time away was punctuated by moments of joy at being with dear friends and loved family, nostalgia as we drove past our old house in Dallas, confusion as I met my soon-to-be sister-in-law and wasn't quite sure what to make of her, irritation as I attended my brother's wedding held at a Church of Christ (I was asked by two people what I do and when I told them I was a pastor, there was nothing but disapproving silence), and sadness as I thought about my church member who had passed away--a woman who had been in church just the previous Sunday.

I was happy to return home if for no other reason than to get back into a routine that would restore a sense of normalcy and comfort. Of course there is nothing normal about our weather today--forecasters are predicting a high of 98! And we don't have air conditioning (yikes).

Through my experience of the past week, I have come to appreciate again how hard it can be for worshipping communities to change. After all, what is more foundational to one's sense of normalcy and what is right in a chaotic world than the dependability of ordered worship. And yet, ordered worship can become stagnant and unimaginative too.

Through the long strange trip of this past week, the one thing that seemed to bring me a sense of calm and peace, was prayer--even just a few brief moments of prayer. Again, this was a reminder to me that we cannot stop change, but we can navigate through it better when we are focused on what is most important--when we focus on God.

I don't know what kind of travels the summer holds for you, but I hope they will be maybe a little less hectic and topsy-turvey...and that through it all, God will be at the forefront of every moment.

Journey on...