They stood at a rocky outcropping after a particularly difficult climb, the vegetation sparse on the stone slabs.  An elderly man, weak and tottering; a young man, strong and fit.  The young man was heartbroken; he knew his father couldn’t hike much further.  His mother had already been carried away in the loving arms of the Lord earlier in the journey.  Now it was just the two of them.  Soon it would be only one.

Around them rose a forest.  The timber stood tall, the vegetation thick and the forest floor continued to climb precipitously.  Everything ahead of the young man seemed dark and foreboding; the prospect of traveling forward alone seemed unthinkable.  Tears ran unchecked down his cheeks.

The kindly father put his arm over Trav’s shoulder.  “I know the journey seems daunting,” he said.  “And it is.  But you must work your way through it nevertheless.”  Trav couldn’t bear to look at his father and didn’t want to look at the forest, so he kept his eyes downcast.  His father continued.  “It’s true that many never make it out of the wilderness.  There is an abundance of dangers and distractions, and these take many down on their journey.”  Trav shuddered involuntarily, both from grief and fear. 

The man tightened his grip on Trav’s shoulder and pulled him against him.  “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  Trav inhaled.  Exhaled.  The father slowly spun Trav to stare directly into his eyes.  “You will make it through anything if you remember to look!  Traveler, you must remember to look!” 

Trav’s eyes widened.  “Look at what?” he asked.

“Look at these three things,” the elderly man replied.  “Look in the Living Word; look up at the Loving Presence; and look ahead to the Looming Destination.”

“What?  What do you mean by that?”

“The Living Word is the Bible tucked into your pack.  The Loving Presence is the loving Lord who is constantly with you, and the Looming Destination is your ultimate goal, your heavenly home.  Each is crucial for your journey.  If you fail to faithfully look at any of them, your travels will be negatively impacted and you will struggle much more than you need to.  Do you understand?”

The young man gulped and nodded.  “Not totally, but kinda.  It’s what you’ve always told me, right?” 

“It is indeed.  You must remember these instructions.  Now repeat them after me. …  Look in the Living Word; look up at the Loving Prescence; and look ahead to the Looming Destination.”  Trav repeated the words. 

“Good.  It’s almost time for you to set out on your own.  Now don’t forget to look.”  The man embraced Trav, tears in his own eyes, then released him.  A glowing smile lit up the old man’s face.  He slowly collapsed backwards while the Lord’s hand reached down to catch and cradle him.   “Look, Trav!” the man whispered.  “Remember to look!  Then we’ll be together again one day.”  And the Lord carried him away.

Racked with debilitating grief, Trav remained in that rocky place for some time.  But eventually he recognized he had to move on.  In many ways, his life journey was just beginning.

Initially Trav made a point to regularly look in the Living Word, to religiously look up and see the Lord’s Loving Presence hovering over him, and to routinely look ahead at the delightful golden glow of the Looming Destination. And while he experienced adversity, those three views enabled him to keep up his spirits, overcome the hardships and advance safely on his journey.

Over time, however, the wilderness he traversed began to garner more and more of his attention. 

Trav daily pushed through the thorns and thickets, stumbled up the rocky hills and tripped down the ravines on the other side.  He slogged through the bitterly cold rivers.  He shivered in the frost; sweated profusely in the heat; bled from the injuries he incurred.  At the end of the day, he huddled exhausted near the flickering flames of his fire.  He didn’t seem to have the energy to look in the Living Word.

Occasionally he would find sweet relief from his travels in a lovely clearing where flowers burst exuberantly from the forest floor.  Birds chirped delightful songs and tree frogs added their choruses.  And Trav would drop his pack, take a seat on a log in the shade, and breath in the sweet aroma of the cedars and the wildflowers.  He cast his eyes around.  The view was simply too lovely to interrupt with a look in the Living Word.

There were other days of extreme difficulty; situations that demanded a great deal of his attention.  He found himself fending off the words and schemes of fellow travelers who intended to take advantage of him.  Wild animals stalked him; swarming insects frequently made him miserable.  Fierce storms lashed at him, drenching him in the rain and terrifying him with lightening.  Fires raged unchecked, floodwaters rose, and fierce winds toppled branches and trees, forcing him to take protective measures.  Freak accidents occurred.  Each season brought unique challenges; every landscape its own difficulties.  Among the day-to-day struggles, Trav was simply too distracted to look up at the Lord’s Loving Presence.

Along the way Trav was joined with a delightful companion named Journ.  She made his travels much more pleasant; the journey was now shared.  But now there were two to protect and provide for; two to care for and attend to.  In his happiness and busyness and preoccupation, Trav neglected to look up at the Loving Presence.  He almost forgot the Lord was there.

Eventually Trav and Journ found themselves in a particularly difficult stretch of their life-walk.  A massive windfall of trees surrounded them, the giant trunks strewn helter-skelter.  The travelers were forced to carefully make their way through this almost impenetrable maze of timber, sometimes crawling under the trees and sometimes scrambling over them – always having to navigate through the clutching branches and always emerging from one log only to find another one barring their progress.   

As they attempted to scale yet another fallen fir, the wood gave way and dumped them painfully to the ground.  Weak and bleeding, with their faces in the pine needles and their exhausted bodies surrounded by stinging nettles, they were overwhelmed with despair.  All they could see was the brutal journey before them: the enormous fallen trees, the clawing branches, the gouging thorns and biting insects, the meals to procure, the elements to endure, the countless obstacles.  They gave no thought to the Looming Destination.

Journ sobbed and Trav pounded the ground in frustration.  “I know this journey is hard, but it’s not supposed to be this hard!” Trav exclaimed.  “My father told me it would be hard.  He told me …”  His breath caught.  “My father told me …” Tears flowed as the memory overtook him.  “He told me to … ‘Look in the Living Word; look up at the Loving Presence; and look ahead to the Looming Destination.’”

Journ gasped.  “My parents told me the same thing!  But we’ve been so busy looking at the forest and the journey, the hardships and the joys, that we haven’t done it.  We haven’t looked in, up or ahead.”  Her eyes widened.  “Oh, Trav.  We’ve been focusing on the wrong things. It’s no wonder we are struggling so much!”

They turned their heads and nodded knowingly at each other.  Then they rolled onto their backs … and there was the Lord, right where he always was, hovering over them and watching.  But now he was smiling with joy.

From that moment on, Trav and Journ held to different priorities in their travels.  They made a point to look in the Living Word every day, to look up at the Loving Presence routinely; and to look ahead to the Looming Destination frequently.  Their journey was still challenging and their obstacles many, but the Living Word gave them healing and strength, the Lord’s Loving Presence gave them sufficient and sustaining help, and the Looming Destination gave them hope of a better future at journey’s end.

Never again did they neglect to look, look and look!  And never again were their journey’s struggles quite as significant, no matter how significant those struggles happened to be.

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

(Hebrews 4:12)  For the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

(Joshua 1:9)  [The LORD said,] “Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

(Matthew 28:20)  [Jesus said,] “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

(John 14:1-3)  [Jesus said,] “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

(Romans 15:4)  For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.