One of these days, my husband and I will both be retired and we can travel, (if our knees hold out!). There are places in this world that I have always wanted to visit, Italy, United Kingdom, Australia, the South Pacific area and The Holy Land. Every once in while, I look at travel sites and I dream a little as I take that mental journey to those incredible places, but, I am always brought back to reality by a barking dog or one of many cell phones ringing some where in the house. It is so easy to get lost in pictures and videos online. Ahhhh, some day.
I have family members that have traveled to all 4 corners of the globe and places in between. Some of them have been to Israel and Palestine, on a mission trip of sorts. I look forward to making that journey myself someday and experiencing first hand, the stations of the cross as I walk down the Via Dolorosa. One of the stations is now even a Muslim girls' school and pilgrims to the area are not even allowed inside the area to see or worship. The second station where Jesus received his cross to carry, is now a chapel and is called the Church of the Condemnation. As you journey on to Golgotha, there are 12 more stations, some are visible, some not, and some have little prayer areas for people to be still in the silence and prayer and listen in their hearts to the sounds of nearly 2000 years ago. The last four stations are the ones that most travelers want to see and experience because they house the tomb where Jesus was buried and Golgotha. If you ever have the chance to make the journey, don't be surprised at the surroundings. I have had people tell me that you don't even realize that you are walking the path, because today, it is a busy market place with lots of noisy people everywhere. Sounds like just about any touristy place in any well visited corner of the United States.
These days, my husband and I are home bodies. Gasoline prices are insane and at almost $60.00 to fill my 14 gallon tank on my car, I make as few trips as possible, as I would imagine you do as well. We incorporate as many stops into one trip as we can to conserve. When I was growing up, my parents took us on loooonnnnng vacations all over the USA and parts of Canada. Those are some of my fondest memories, yes Daddy, even the camping! We could go into an area that had been drought stricken and by noon the next day, they had all the water they needed and we had a soggy tent! I've been in tents and campers for more storms in my life than I can count, including a tornado as we were camped atop a hill in Cheyenne, Wyoming in the middle of July. We kind of got used to the smell of wet canvas and packing up or running to the car for shelter. My Mother's rule was camp out for a couple of nights and then we camped out in a Holiday Inn - hot showers, soft beds and a swimming pool that didn't have crawly things in it. Loved those nights! The tent nights were fun too, but there's nothing like a good old fashioned hot bath to melt the campground grundge away.
In 1986, my parents, my husband and I made a July trip to visit Disney World. It was close to the time that Epcot opened, so there were a lot of new things to see and do. Let me offer you some advice. DONT' TENT CAMP IN FLORIDA IN JULY! Beautiful campgrounds on Disney property, but in July, there is just no way to stay cool when you are tent camping. My daughter was not quite a year old on this trip. My parents had a tiny little travel trailer with a screened room that attached. The inside had a bunk and a couch area that made into a small bed. My Dad and my husband were such gentlemen. They put cots in the screened room and slept outside while my Mother, daughter and I slept on the actual beds in the trailer. I love my Daddy dearly, but he used to have this thing about not totally setting up so it was a quick break down when we left. Every time I moved in the bed, the whole little trailer shook and rattled. We found out why the next morning. Daddy had not put the additional support legs down that stabilized the whole trailer, it was a time saving strategy for when we packed up. Love you Daddy. I don't think I will ever forget that. Here we are, dinner is over, long day in the Magic Kingdom, we are all exhausted and HOT. My dad and my husband are sleeping on their cots in the screen room. If you've ever been in a commercial campground, you probably know first hand that you get real chumy with your next door neighbors, because they are literally mere inches from your doorstep, your tent or your restless body on a cot on a steamy July night in central Florida. Image in your mind, now, add serious snoring to that and then add neighbors rattling a can of rocks to disrupt the snoring men that were oblivious to the rattling rocks and the neighborly campers trying to get them to WAKE UP, roll over and stop snoring!.
Yes, fun times on camping trips and some unforgettable ones, too! Ohio has some wonderful state parks, many with beautiful lakes, great fishing and awesome campgrounds. I guarantee you that my brother will never forget one in particular. Cowan Lake State Park. When he was 4 or 5, he picked up a hot coal from our campfire and we spent the night in the ER while they took care of his blistered little hands. A couple of years later, he somehow managed to roll around, squirm and gradually slip out between the canvas sides of the camper and the bottom of the frame. There he was, dangling over a ravine, sound asleep! We were so blessed that he didn't wake up and panic and slip on out and down the hill.
We have had some wonderful travels. Such great memories, but I am really looking forward to those grown up trips that my husband and I can take in a few short years.
There is another kind of journey that we can all experience. This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday. On this day, the church celebrates Jesus' arrival into the city of Jerusalem, and the beginning of Holy Week, starting with His condemnation, His public torment, His painful journey bearing the weight of a rugged cross on an already beaten and flogged back, His passionate journey on the Via Dolorosa. The 14 Stations of the Cross, 14 parts of the journey to the cross and the events that followed and finally the 14th station, the tomb where His body was laid.
You know, it would be such an incredible spiritual journey to be able to visit those places in the Holy Land and see and feel His presence in those places; to kneel and pray in those rugged corners where maybe He fell while carrying the cross or saw His mother in the crowd, or spoke to the weeping women. It would be an incredible experience to feel His spirit there with us. Quiet prayer along the Via Dolorosa. But in reality, we don't have to take a plane to Israel to find that peace, that love, that passion that He blesses us all with, every single moment of every single day, right where we stand, no matter where we are. Join me and take that journey. It starts with a prayer, it starts with wanting to be a better person, it starts with confession and your own willingness to take up the cross, and then that journey continues with every breath and step you take for the rest of your life. We each have our own stations of the cross and sorrows and passions and joy and love that is simply put - LIFE. Live it the right way. Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, was buried, but HE rose from the dead on the third day, the day that we now call Easter. He died for OUR sins, our imperfections. He died that we might be forgiven. Easter's coming! Salvation is on the horizon and it is yours and mine to have for an eternity. You just have to ask. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all walk the walk and share His passion and be the kind of people that He wants us to be!
I wrote at Christmas time, that we wouldn't have Christmas without Easter. That is just the way God planned it. I hope you see now what I meant. You couldn't have one without the other.
Life's a journey, some of them, we spend in tents on mountain tops or steamy Florida campgrounds. Some of them we spend visiting exotic places all around the world. Some of them, we get to experience the wonders of the world. The most important journey that any of us can take, is the one when we reach out for the Hand of God. You don't need a travel agent or a credit card or a passport, just the desire to have a personal relationship with your Creator and try to live your life the way that He wants you to.
Merry Christmas, Happy Easter and enjoy your journey....the rewards are indescribable!
May you experience through prayer the meaning and the passion behind every day in the next week and celebrate Easter with me as we celebrate a Risen Lord on Easter Sunday. May you share the joy of Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem as the crowd hailed Him with palm branches and Hosannas. May you begin to realize the scorn and suffering that He endured for us, for our tomorrows. May you come to know the passion and the love and the forgiveness that He let shine for us, for our tomorrows as He took His last breath. "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." Take a breath and take your own journey down your own Via Dolorosa....and may you find His passion there waiting for you....
Blessings and the peace and love of Christ to you and your family during this Holy Week and the days that follow. God loves you and so do I,
Katydid
