ROAD TRIPS! I love ’em. Some of my fondest memories are of our young family traveling in our much-loved VW Vanagon.
The van had a “weekender” package that included a fold-up table that let us have a picnic anywhere there was a scenic pull-off.
Impromptu picnics were about the limit of my road-trip spontaneity in those days.
I took as much pleasure in researching potential routes and highlights as going on the trip.
But one of the best trips I had was not long ago with my son-in-law when everything needed to be much more “fluid”.
He had finally negotiated a deal for a car in Ashville, N.C., (long story) and wanted to drive it back home to Tacoma.
I pleaded for him to let me come for company and respite.
He said we’d be flying low and there would be little time for sightseeing.
OK, I said. A road trip of any kind is great.
We flew back to Ashville the next day.
On the flight back, I flipped through an old road atlas to get a general route in mind.
Within 24 hours of landing, we were headed west.
I longed to stop at “Historical Site Ahead” signs, but time was scarce.
I did whine my way to stop at one though.
It was the geographic center of the U.S. How cool is that? (It’s in Lebanon, Kan., by the way).
Stopping at centers or farthest points of regions (think Cape Flattery) are near-spiritual places for geographers like me.
Our type is unconsciously and uncontrollably pulled to visit them.
It took me a long time to take the spiritual road trip to become an ordained deacon.
It was a kind of unconscious and uncontrollable pull, too.
Churchy things have been part of our family heritage for generations, but moving from pew to the periodic pulpit was not something I had in mind.
I thought I was perfectly happy being a well-read layman.
I had built a good bibliography but had no destination or a map to get there.
Geographers are attributed with the saying, “You are never lost if you know where you are going.”
I never felt spiritually “lost,” but over the COVID years, I settled on the Diaconate as a destination to apply my family heritage.
Mentors helped me map the course and they rode shotgun.
Back to road trips, traveling alone cross-country, like my son-in-law thought he would do, does have its merits sometimes.
A traveling companion can be good, too, though.
Together, you might come up with a different way of getting to where you thought you were going, or maybe even a different destination.
That travel partner needs to know you well, be a good driver so you can confidently take a nap or just look out at scenery.
There might be a good conversation or times of comfortable silence.
Life can be a fulfilling spiritual road trip, too, with the right companion, and I think Jesus fits the bill.
He’s a good listener, has your back and knows the way ahead.
In fact, he IS the way.
Have a good trip!
_________
Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. Don Corson is an Ordained Deacon in the Lutheran Church (ELCA) and the winemaker for a local winery. He is also the minister for Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Forks. His email is ccwinemaker@gmail.com.
