Don't Get Tripped Up

I do enjoy traveling and I keep an eye out for good prices. I also enjoy looking at trends in travel.

For a while, the travel industry focused their advertising on taking those trips that might be on your bucket list.  That faded a bit and I started seeing ads about taking the trip of a lifetime.

I guess both those campaigns have been waning since I’ve been seeing information about taking an “epic” trip.  Recently I noticed the phrase “unforgettable trip” in advertising.  More recently, I’ve been seeing promotions about taking “sustainable” trips and even “reconnecting to our roots” trips.

As I’ve been pondering these advertising campaigns, I thought I’d consider what their ideas encompass and then look at them from a spiritual perspective:

1.  “Bucket list trips” are based on a list of the experiences a person might hope to have before they “kick the bucket” (i.e. die).  While I can certainly come up with a bucket list of trips, I’m thinking a bucket list of spiritual experiences might be a better focus.  Topping the list should be what the Apostle Paul focused on:  “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection…” (Phil 3:10) 

2.  “Trip of a lifetime” is the best or most important trip that you are ever likely to take.  I can come with some trips that might fit that definition but I think the trip of a lifetime is not so much a trip but a race:  “Let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…”  (Heb 12:1-2a)   

3.  “Epic trips” are those trips involving something unusual or exciting or even dangerous.  Again, I can think of a few trips that would fit that definition but I’m thinking the most unusual and dangerous trip is actually to lose yourself:  “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it.”  (Mark 8:35)

4.  “Unforgettable trips” are those where you make lifetime memories through travel.  I am finding that my most unforgettable trips don’t just involve sight seeing or doing touristy things but seeing people or meeting new people.  Paul wrote:  “so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company,” (Rom 15:32). 

5.  “Sustainable trips” focus on reducing tourism's negative impacts and on maximizing positive benefits for communities, cultures, ecosystems, and the planet.  From a Biblical perspective, the greatest positive benefit for communities and cultures would mirror what happened in the book of Acts:  “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.  And the word of the Lord was spreading through out the entire region.”  (Acts 13:48-49) 

6. “Reconnecting to our roots trips” focus on bonding with family, honoring your heritage or learning about your culture. I suppose a trip that many Christians might be interested in would be a trip to Israel and the places where Jesus walked when He came to this earth.  Yet a trip to reconnect to your roots could also be to where you died and were born at the same time:  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  (2 Cor 5:17). 

I’ve definitely enjoyed being able to travel.  Yet, when all is said and done, it can’t possibly measure up to the spiritual journey that God has me on.  And my “ticket” for this journey shows this as my final destination:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  (Rev 21:1-3)