After months of busy ministry and after the twenty-three day revival I finally packed my suitcase and satchels filled with book and headed east for a private retreat. I knew it would be a long drive but I also new my soul needed to be replenished. I was ministering on fumes and desperately needed to refuel.
It is interesting to see the changes in geography on that seven-hour drive. It of course started on the flat plains of West Texas. Not much to look at except to inspect the cotton crop getting ready to be harvested.
As I drove I-20 east I next noticed the windmills. They hardly turned at all. I do not recall much after that due to the fact I became engrossed listening to a sermon. I was snapped to attention by a truck next to me driving suspiciously. Next to me I looked up nearly three hours from home and saw a family from our church headed to a stock show. They soon left me in the dust.
I made a brief pit stop at Taco Casa in Abilene for lunch. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed my cheese topped chilada and my combination burrito with sour cream. I wolfed them down to get back on the road. I still had four hours of hard driving to go.
I next focused on the growth in Weatherford, TX. Brenda and I lived there right after we got married where I served the Spring Creek Baptist Church as youth minister. We both got an education in that town and in that church. We look back on those years as some of the fondest in our whole ministry.
I snaked my way through Fort Worth and recalled the drive I used to make from Weatherford to Seminary. Once I got through Fort Worth it was on to east Texas. Soon the trees became more prominent with Pine trees lining up along the road. When I began seeing the Pine trees I knew I was getting close to where I grew up.
The last hour drive down highway 287 from Corsicana to Palestine included scenes of cotton fields, lakes, and rolling forest hills. When I pulled onto the place I have affectionately named my “prayer cabin” I was on the back porch in prayer within five minutes. I enjoyed the gentle cool fall breeze while looking over the private lake.
There is a point to all of this. I enjoyed the journey. Many times when I am on a trip I have one thing in mind and that is my destination. I miss everything else because I am so focused on the end of the trip. For whatever reason I enjoyed the journey this time. I have enjoyed my days here. I have had no schedule to keep and no phone calls to attend to. I have been able to stay up late and get up when I wanted. I have used my time to exercise, pray, read, and finally today for the first time I took my computer out and I am writing.
I have enjoyed the trees more than at any other time in my forty-four years of living. I guess west Texas will do that to you. I have enjoyed lunches with my host and long time friend Jimmy. I even enjoyed driving down to Lufkin and seeing my boyhood home. I walked into my home church and enjoyed standing near the same spot I first entered that church just days after being saved. I spent precious time with my friend Jeff. Driving home late last night I noticed how the trees grew so tall they made a canopy over the country road I was driving to get back to the cabin.
All of this set me to thinking. How often do we get so busy on our jobs and keeping up with our lives that we forget to enjoy the journey. I am very goal oriented and driven. Sometimes I can put my nose to the grindstone and miss all the wonderful scenes, experiences, and people in life. I feel God has a call on my life to pastor, preach, and write. I have life goals and those goals are usually broken down into yearly goals. Do I really enjoy the process and the journey of attaining those goals.
Getting away on this retreat has reminded me to enjoy the journey. I will be headed home tomorrow but not before stopping in Fort Worth to eat lunch with some dear friends. This will cut into my time but will also be part of me learning to enjoy the journey. I gladly look forward to enjoying the journey back home. Who knows what I will experience on the way at home. One thing I plan on doing is taking more time out of life and driving to enjoy the journey.
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