Step by Step, From Here to There

[HKHaugan]

After I graduated high school I got out on the road hitchhiking. I found work on a dairy farm in the mountains, a soda shop on Cape Cod, then cutting trees, bar tending, lifeguarding, cooking, and eventually ending up at a shipyard in Jacksonville. When you hitchhike, anything that stops, car or truck, has about it the sense of momentary security. Every ride, every new place, every job was a court of rest and discovery in the world’s wilderness. Even though you know it wouldn’t be for long at least you were moving, going somewhere and you were not alone until the driver said, ‘This is where I turn…’ Where you stopped in an unfamiliar place or knew your job was just for a season and you had to leave and you’re alone again.

However, it was not a threatening aloneness. There was always something new out there. Every instance was locked into your memory. You were always looking forward to what the next town or stop held. You were stepping out into life...in hope...in expectation...in wonder...in faith...in trust...in belief that something good was going to happen. You never know what the next moment brings but that's the point. It's what that moment brings that takes developing character to learn, absorb and build upon. But they reflect a deeper spiritual reality. You begin to see that in the long run everything had a spiritual meaning.

Another sense about that particular period of time in the 40’s and 50’s was the feeling of safety in the process. Even though you were alone on the road it was not full of fear. Lots of people hitchhiked and lots of people picked you up. Sure you had a few speedy drivers and a few a bit looped but you didn’t carry with you a fear of what might happen. The world was different then. I’m not sure anyone realized it but there was an unconscious sense of security and trust. There were general boundaries you knew you didn’t cross and an overall cover that was accepted in the general population. I would hasten now to identify that cover as the Lord’s grace, the ultimate shape of spiritual reality.

It seems these days there are more conscious invisible boundaries, more unresolved anger, more anxiety, less security and no general cover. People are more alone, divided, cautious, looking for safe places for their minds and hearts in a world of increasing conflict, speed, media bombardment and overwhelming technology. Also they are being compelled by the pressure of it all to find more immediate answers to being alone. It is not just about life. It’s about life and survival in the moment. It’s no longer about long-term values but momentary fixes. The secular world and its spirits falsely promise immediate delivery of physical satisfactions for spiritual needs. A recent TV ad showed a man sitting on a couch in the electronic section of a big appliance store entranced by choices he has in the midst of a multiple display of HDTV’s. The ad concludes what the man really wants. There in the background of the ad a resonant musical chorus is singing, “I want it all and I want it now.” This is the shape of this world’s temporary reality, its vacant premise and it's emptier promises.

Through the tempter’s ‘I-want-it-all-now’ noise and mist, Jesus calls out, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (Jn.14:27).”

He is not only promising peace but His presence as well, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God trust also in me. There are many rooms in my Father's house. If this were not true, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. If I go and do that, I will come back. And I will take you to be with me where I am (Jn.14:1-3).”

Everyone is looking for a home for the heart, a temple to worship and a special room for experience. Jesus is saying that trusting Him is the door to the many rooms, courts and chambers in His Father’s house. He is the gate for the sheep. Through faith in Him Jesus carries us into the spiritual dimension where He has prepared a temple for us to worship Him; His mind, His heart and His Spirit. His qualities are the courts in which we can continually experience Him, His qualities.

“Walk around Zion. Go all around it. Count its towers. Think carefully about its outer walls. Just look at how safe it is! Then you can tell its people that God keeps them safe. This God is our God for ever and ever. He will be our guide to the very end (Ps.48:12-14).”