A couple of years ago, we took a motorcycle trip with a group of pastors to Canada. Canada is breathtakingly beautiful. That trip was endless miles of wilderness, mountains and rivers. There were times we didn’t think our gas tanks were big enough to make it to the next gas station. One morning before we got on the road, I noticed on the map that the mountain range we were riding through that day was called the “Yoho” Mountain range. A side note on the map indicated that “Yoho” means “awe and wonder.” Once I saw them, I knew why.
That became our theme that trip. Because when you are on an adventure as we were, each new day brings new “Yoho” experiences and places. In fact, when you are on an adventure, you actually welcome change and expect the unfamiliar…and detours are okay. How disappointing to be on a road trip and see the same thing everyday! Someone once asked me what was my favorite vacation. My response? “The place I haven’t been to yet.” Life is too short. I never want to go to the same place twice.
Change is the essence of life. The problem is…we don’t like change. We manage and manipulate life as best we can all the while hoping life doesn’t slip through our fingers. We resist any interruption to those plans, living protectively, all the while missing the abundant life Jesus offers. Our hearts need to embrace the “Yoho” of each new place and experience that God brings us to…being willing to surrender what you are, for what you could become.
Isaiah 43: 18″Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
19″Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
Why does faith in Jesus include an invitation to lose our lives? Maybe it’s because the greatest danger to life is trying to secure it.
Psalms45:5 – Blessed are those who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
Gail Johnsen 