It is always an interesting time being out of your country of origin. In fact the very act of traveling internationally brings out something interesting in my thought processes about Kingdom living.

Those who follow after Jesus are told this is not our world, our country. We are told that we are citizens of Heaven. Bondservants of the King who paid for us by His blood but, although we are His, calls us friends, sons, and daughters. Citizens of His Kingdom. But I wonder how comfortable we are there?

This particular trip, I was traveling through a country and an airport that I have not been through before. It is always an interesting experience to figure out how in the world you get from point “A” or terminal 2 to point “B” or in this case terminal 3. It is uncomfortable when it involves going outside of the airport, catching a bus that drives off the grounds….and then 15 minutes later you are on a highway…and then you see that it comes into the other side of the airport all together and pulls up at a terminal building. As you are riding and staring the out the window thinking…’this could be interesting’ you recognize that most all the signage is in a language other than one that you know…or for that matter that even has letters to recognize. At this moment, you recognize….you are a visitor!

How does that relate to how we go through this world/country/state/city/community that we live in? On one hand, indigenous people make for the best missionaries because they know the culture, the language, etc. but do we become too comfortable? Too complacent? Too routine in going about our lives that we forget that we are here…now…to make an impact with the Gospel?

When traveling, there are some basic needs….to find food on your own because you can’t guarantee that someone else will feed you. To find a place to eliminate that which you need to get rid of…think about it, you’ll get it…. And you need to be able to find your way.

These same things relate to our walk as a disciple of Jesus. We need to learn to feed ourselves…on His word, on His Creation, from the hand of the Spirit. We must take an active part as it is not the purpose of everyone else or anyone else to do that…it is ours. To eliminate…in this context I am thinking about our need to confess and to grow. While Christ has paid the price for our sins, we are responsible to seek holiness…to be set apart…to be growing in the Spirit so that the fruit of the Spirit gets displayed in our lives…Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Self-control…the list goes on….And although this is the fruit of the Spirit, we have our role to play in the process. And finding our way…do we know where we are going? I don’t mean that in the sense of eternal locations…but present location. Where are we going in our walk today? Who are bringing along with us? Who are we supporting? Who are we allowing to support us? Today…this week…this month? How do I determine if I am heading in the ‘right’ direction whatever that means? What is the goal? Who am I meant to be? How do I get there?

And sometimes that takes you outside…outside of your space, outside of yourself. It can also mean that you are outside of ‘security’ and all of your stuff is going to be gone through…this can be a good thing. To have the ability at the end of the experience of looking and saying “yep…I’m good to go onward” is a wonderful feeling.

So how about as a thought for today…can we take a look around us, check in with the Holy Spirit, and determine, are we heading where we need to go?