On A Long And Lonesome Highway....

"We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you." Numbers 10.29

There is tranquility in the midst of chaos. You just have to plan for it and the moment it happens upon you; ride it until the very end. Oh, I assure you, it will end. Yes, in our own minds we imagine that they go on forever, these endless highways of life. But they do end, though their ending is not always the same and frankly the variations to which they end seem unnumbered. The night always surrenders to the light as the sun kisses the dawn.

It would seem Hobab took up the desert journey. Reluctantly I admit but are not many of our undertakings of a reluctant nature. One is hesitant until they recognize the full value of the experience. Did Hobab ever say, "I wouldn't miss this for the world". Did he not become the eyes of Israel? A desert guide if you will. I doubt he fully grasped the full essence of this journey as surely we fail to grasp ours. Yet the "goodness of the Lord" would become his. A beneficiary of the kindness of God. And so the gentile joins the journey and travels down this lonesome highway. These are some of the best moments. The solitude of it all, endless miles peel away, trees blur into one as the day gives way to the encroaching night. Mesmerized by the hum and the glistening starlight, while a guitar gently weeps into the night. These are the quiet moments. The memories come flooding back. Journeys long forgotten, old roads beckon as the sirens of the highway calls.

Why is it that we are always going toward or away from something. Are we prone to missing that which is in-between? Nor am I sure that it matters if one is running away from something or running towards. The pursuit of the prize, the goal which dominates one's attention robs them of the moment, and then it is gone. I confess I had forgotten the joy of the moment. Thankfully it found me and one does not always have to live in the past. I loved that old road, from Haverhill all the way up past Dover. For me of course it all became one. I was younger and simpler then. It all made sense. God forgive me for growing up (not old, there are many who are old and have not forgotten this lesson). I am referring of course to the journey and the prize. Are they not in their own way one and the same? Never dread the journey, for on that lonesome highway you just may have some of the most peaceful moments of your life. "So we roll.... clean out of sight." Sola Fide, WHB