Religion: A Pastor Ponders

Travelers

by Pastor William Jenkins

May 21, 2005

A very long time ago, two teenage country boys decided they would hitchhike to downtown Sioux City, Iowa, on a Saturday morning and save a nickel bus fare.

An old pick-up truck stopped and they jumped in. They asked the driver if he was going all the way downtown. The driver responded, “Downtown? You want to go downtown? I didn’t know you wanted to go somewhere. I thought you were just out taking a ride.” The boys got off at the next stop.

The truck driver stated a philosophy that describes the way many people live. He had decided that people don’t have to be going anywhere particular; they’re just out for the ride. They don’t necessarily have any purpose in where they are going. They’re just traveling. The truth is we are all travelers. We cannot escape it. It is the way we are made.

There are two kinds of travelers. The truck driver described the kind of traveler that is a wanderer. A wanderer has no particular destination in mind. Like the hobos of a generation ago, they are just hitching a ride to a destination not of their choosing. They have not given much thought to where their lives are taking them; but you can be sure that they will be surprised whenever they arrive and wonder how they got there.

The other kind of traveler may be described as a pilgrim. Pilgrims have a sense of purpose in their travels. There is a destination of their choosing to which they are moving. This destination may be immediate, downtown Sioux City, or it may be distant. It may involve a place on a map, a place in life or a place in eternity. Pilgrims understand that where they are now is temporary; there is something better up ahead.

In the Bible Cain and his kind are vagabonds and wanderers on the earth (Genesis 4:14). Abraham and his kind are pilgrims (Hebrews 11:13). We are created to be travelers and we have a destiny towards which we are traveling as wanderers or as pilgrims.

Ponder this for a while.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org