The Quest
Today is a day filled with last minute details. As I pack, prepare, and get things ready to be gone I find my mind wandering to my family. Yesterday morning I sat and ate donuts with the boys at their daycare. As we ate I was struck with how fast they are growing up. No doubt they will grow up some while I am gone. The last time I went to africa Luke was to young to even realize I was gone. Now he is so big we set and have conversations (all be it conversations about the scary monkey he believes lives in his closet). It just makes me wonder how much I will miss while I am gone and almost makes me not want to go.
I believe it was Steinbeck who once wrote “While men are at home all they can dream about is adventure, while they are on an adventure all they can dream about is home.” There is a lot of truth to that. I guess in some way that describes the longing buried deep in our hearts for home. Not just the home we live or work in and the people we share that home with but the larger, deeper home waiting for us in the end. Some have called this the “God shaped hole” in us. A longing placed in our hearts for God and only able to be filled by God. It's what sends us on these adventures and quests even when our loved ones are left waiting on us.
It's while traveling that I see this most in my life. At home when I am buried in activity it is easy to put my life, faith and family on autopilot. While traveling God always seems to get my attention by placing a deep burden on my heart. It's taken me years to understand it, at first I misidentified it as what I call reverse stress (the void felt when stress is suddenly removed) but last time in Africa I realized it was not stress but my reconnecting with the quest.
Do you know all of us are on a quest? A golden adventure filled with modern day dragons, and white horses, castles, and yes even princes and maidens. So today I feel like I am not just packing for a trip but preparing for a quest. I am preparing to engage the quest.
Have you engaged the quest lately?
I believe it was Steinbeck who once wrote “While men are at home all they can dream about is adventure, while they are on an adventure all they can dream about is home.” There is a lot of truth to that. I guess in some way that describes the longing buried deep in our hearts for home. Not just the home we live or work in and the people we share that home with but the larger, deeper home waiting for us in the end. Some have called this the “God shaped hole” in us. A longing placed in our hearts for God and only able to be filled by God. It's what sends us on these adventures and quests even when our loved ones are left waiting on us.
It's while traveling that I see this most in my life. At home when I am buried in activity it is easy to put my life, faith and family on autopilot. While traveling God always seems to get my attention by placing a deep burden on my heart. It's taken me years to understand it, at first I misidentified it as what I call reverse stress (the void felt when stress is suddenly removed) but last time in Africa I realized it was not stress but my reconnecting with the quest.
Do you know all of us are on a quest? A golden adventure filled with modern day dragons, and white horses, castles, and yes even princes and maidens. So today I feel like I am not just packing for a trip but preparing for a quest. I am preparing to engage the quest.
Have you engaged the quest lately?
posted by Paul at Friday, October 03, 2008
3 Comments:
Have a great trip brother. Wish I could be with you.
Love you Dad!!
-the boys
PT...thought of you at Moab last week. Peak aspen turning and excellent weather.
Praying for you on the quest. Listen deeply to the voice of God as you live the dream.
Blessings
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