pilgrimages – Jerry Lout ⚬ Writer ⚬ Speaker ⚬ Mobilizer

In a pilgrimage that is shared among people who are marked by a growing love for one another, words like boredom and drudgery fall by the wayside. And, introduced now in their place, are terms like invigorating and adventurous.

Receiving heaven’s grace that transports a Christ-follower more fully into “life in the kingdom”, means that partnering practices are called for. These are not burdensome. But they are necessary.

“Whither Thou Goest” is a lyric my brother sang at my wedding. The years that followed saw my bride trekking with me from her Montana home to Texas, to New York, to Africa and many places beyond. Our wedding vows held concrete meaning for Ann and me. New (and renewed) union in Christ will bear similar features. Unrelenting love marked by a choice. To orient one’s life to walking in step with the beloved.

Growth in grace (God acting in our life) “is something we must plan for by regular engagement in activities that enable us to receive God’s grace in all areas (of our lives)”. Professor Willard’s statement brings clarity to what is actually called for in the life of a Christian convert. For the remainder of life.

In truth, a lifelong journey of deepening companionship with Jesus is the thing a disciple longs for. It is what they are made for. Nothing less will usher a person along a path of flourishing in the faith pilgrimage.

Much different from the case of a dreamy-eyed bride taking her place alongside her flawed and maverick-minded groom. The disciple’s union is a forever-journey of unfolding goodness in the companioning company of the all-wise Christ Jesus (bridegroom of heaven).

The Jesus-follower carries an increasing conviction that nothing must be allowed to compete with their single-hearted aim. Of journeying in the close company of Christ himself, up and into, all of eternity.

“Our intention as apprentices of Jesus”, Willard states, “is to become the kind of person who lives in the character and power of Christ. We must, then, do those things that will enable us to become that kind of person from the inside out—through appropriate actions and practices. Such actions and practices are ‘disciplines for the spiritual life.’”

Could it be, that coming into God’s salvation means something far more (far richer) than simply getting one’s sins forgiven in order to escape the bad place and get into the good place?

While the good news (gospel) most certainly includes securing forgiveness of sins (how wonderful), the Gospel which Jesus himself repeatedly preached is not merely defined by the word “forgiveness”.

Christ came bringing a new kind of life, a radically transformative kind of life into all aspects of the believers being. What could be clearer about the message Jesus conveyed, through both his life modeled before others, and by his spoken words?

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”*

There is an interesting thing about vision. Once a person catches sight of a forward-looking hope or dream, they usually move toward it with only a tiny glimpse of additional things to follow. What they hold is a sketchy outline at best. No neatly printed, detailed contract is laid out before them – not to mention fine print!

The life-change adventure begins when we start realizing that “our vision is not our vision alone”. Indeed, when the presence of the Divine makes himself known somewhere along the way, it is then that we may start catching the wonder that his vision overlaps mine and mine converges with his. A new story is now taking shape. God’s story becoming mine as the two streams of narrative (his/mine) merge into one – much like the blending of threads forming a tapestry – eventually fused to make history, i.e. HiStory.

In not having a contract neatly incorporating fine print detail, we discover a priceless insight – usually well into our pilgrimages. We have been spared much of what we were not ready for at any given crossroad on our long and beautiful and hard and precious trek.

Learn from the past, look to the future. . live in the present.*

Now is the favorable time**

Parting from a world of rain-starved earth and barren cotton fields (Dust Bowl territory), Clyde and Thelma lived in the present. In time “the present” became their past. What a surprise it would have been to either of them had they discovered beforehand that they would one day come to joyous faith in a loving Savior for whom their hearts longed. And how distressing, that the life of their young son would be snatched from them by the swift waters of a Phoenix irrigation canal.

It was in the “present moment” of grief that my mother and father’s story merged with a greater story, a forever story.

Tag: pilgrimages

To The Full

A Greater Story