Travel Day - Needing Stillness

Up at 4:30 after a night of intermittent rain in East Texas oil country. I shower and step into the muggy air for only a few steps, and then my car is loaded. Into the dark of night, I retrace my steps to the radio surfing of hip-hop, country western, and NPR before finally choosing silence as I head back: Country Road 1805 to FM 16; FM 16 to Interstate 20 heading east. 20 becomes 80 and if I’m careful 80 becomes 30, becomes 35E northbound, and by that time the darkness has lifted to reveal the thick fog that is DFW airport. Eggs at Dickey’s BBQ (‘hold the grits please’) and then a flight and another flight and I’m in Denver.

A friend who lives at the center where I’m teaching is arriving at the airport at the same time, so we drive together to Estes Park, enjoying good conversation. Now I sit on the deck of the chalet where I’m staying and gaze west as the sun sets over Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ve been reading an article about simplicity on the plane and can feel the call of the wild, and the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. I can see the wind whipping snow off the ridges as the sky turns purple. A cup of tea. A little music. God is here, reminding me that though I live in a rather complex moment, and have a complex job – the complexities are mostly just anxiety stemming from my insecurity, and from gazing too closely at the issues. I need to step back from the problems more often – step back into the arms of God. Only there, is one enabled to serve and lead and love out from a posture of security and assurance that 'all manner of things shall be well' . All else is posturing, whether that posturing wear the clothes of culture or counter-culture – left or right – North or South.

All of this is just a fancy way of saying, “Be still and know that I am God”. I was, for a little while this afternoon at sunset, and I have good news… He still is.