Take The Journey

Take the Journey. Genesis 12:1-4

Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ

September 29, 2002

4 Jokes

To celebrate its bicentennial, two dozen history buffs retraced the journey of the Lewis and Clark expedition. *In a related story, Biography Channel viewers retrace the rough career paths of Jerry Lewis and Dick Clark.

You know we all love to hear stories about Journeys, adventured and unexpected travel experiences. We crave the stories from others who tell stories of their vacations or travels. In fact some of the most popular books out today are about travel, not only is that true, but some of our classic books are about traveling adventures. Take the example of Homer’s Oddesy, The huge success of the travel channel on cable. Or even look at the car market and witness how many names are associated with an exciting adventure where we find the Journey we should be on. Explorer, Escape, Expedition, Pathfinder, Land rover, Outback, Forester, All of these things excite us as we try to find the journey that we need to be on.

But even more than the physical journey we love to hear about people’s journey through life. We want to know what makes people tick. Biographies are such hot sellers, that it seems everyone has one. I even read last week about a 17 year old kid in Switzerland that is writing his biography. TV. Shows like Behind the music, or True Hollywood story or even the biography channel show how much people like to chart the “life journeys” of other people. We enjoy adventure and unexpected story lines.

I heard a story recently that a sailor started talking with a pirate, and they take turns telling about their adventures on the seas. The sailor notes that the pirate has a peg-leg, a hook-hand, and an eye patch. The sailor asks "So, how did you end up with the peg-leg?"

The pirate replies "We were in a storm at sea, and I was swept overboard into a school of sharks. Just as my men were pulling me out, a shark bit my leg off."

"Wow!" said the sailor. "What about your hook"?

"Well...", replied the pirate, "We were boarding an enemy ship and were battling the other men with swords. One of the enemy cut my hand off."

"Incredible!" remarked the sailor. "How did you get the eye patch"?

"A big bug flew into my eye.", replied the pirate.

"You lost your eye to a bug!?" the sailor asked incredulously.

"Well, yes...", said the pirate, "...it was my first day with the hook..."

There may be a lot of people here today who can relate to this story. I mean sometimes things happen in life but it seems that we have a tendency as people to inflict more pain on our own lives than is necessary.

And for some this may be a sore issue today because we feel mistreated or like we didn’t get what we thought we deserved. Or maybe we even ended up in a worse situation because of our judgment. Please don’t misunderstand me this morning. I am very independent and believe that life does not happen by accident. That this world is what you make it but I have learned that I don’t want my life to be about what I make it. My life needs to be what God wants it to be. All of that requires a lot. It requires time, patience, commitment, getting real about our lives, But most importantly it requires taking the journey of faith.

A little guy gets on a plane and sits next to the window.

A few minutes later, a big, heavy, strong mean-looking, hulking guy plops down in the seat next to him and immediately falls asleep. The little guy starts to feel a little airsick, but he’s afraid to wake the big guy up to ask if he can go to the bathroom. He knows he can’t climb over him, and so the little guy is sitting there, looking at the big guy, trying to decide what to do.

Suddenly, the plane hits an air pocket and an uncontrollable wave a nausea passes through the little guy. He can’t hold it in any longer and throws up all over the big guy’s chest. About five minutes later the big guy wakes up, looks down, and sees the vomit all over him.

"So," says the little guy, "are you feeling better now?"

I hope you all leave here today feeling a little better about your life and encouraged to take a journey of faith yourself.

Our Bible story today comes from the book of Genesis. We are in the 12th chapter. The story is about Abram or as we know him Abraham. It is in this text that God sets up the promise that is fulfilled in Jesus.