Mark Twain, St. Paul & A Not So Innocent Abroad--Hebrews 11:8

Day 18

I didn’t take any pictures of our travels yesterday.

Exhaustion just isn’t a good look. 🙂

We left our hotel (Ca ‘del Nobile) in Venice at 6:30 am, humping our bags through the streets to the ferry station.

Our plan was to take a ferry to the bus station to the airport, then when we looked at the sign at the Rialto station a little closer, we realized the ferry could take us all the way to the airport.

Why not a 45 minute ferry ride across the Venetian Lagoon in a ferry that was probably designed to carry boxes of fruits and vegetables back and forth across the water?

Just another Bonine pill.

We flew from Venice to Madrid on a flight where we paid $36 each to sit by the emergency door and help people escape if our plane was on fire or sinking.

For the extra leg room, money well spent. And we didn’t crash–a bonus.

Then from Madrid, on to NYC on a flight that was delayed almost an hour while they tried to fix the AC while we cooked on the tarmac.

I mean almost literally cooked–they opened all the doors to get a breeze and started a water service up and down the aisles. Somewhere down below a panicked puppy was barking, broiling along with the rest of us.

Sweat mixed with tears for many listening to that.

So, no, I didn’t take pictures.

But, we inched closer and closer to home. And being homebodies of a sort–the sort that is happiest in the few square feet that we call home–we felt the joy of returning.

Mark Twain put it this way in The Innocents Abroad

"Homeward bound!—the last few hours of the voyage! How different the mood of the passengers from that with which they started on their journey! The change is marked. The hilarious spirits of the outset have given place to a calm content, a serene satisfaction. We are going home! The thought of it fills us with a quiet joy."

We aren’t home yet, we have a full day of I-95 to go, (which may be as close to hell on earth as any of us will ever experience, as long as you don’t count the JFK airport).

We will step out of this hotel in Cranbury, NJ (that’s as far as we got last night) and we will continue on–to home.

Paul sort of encapsulates our last few weeks of travel when he describes Abraham faith in Hebrews 11:

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he left, not knowing where he was going.

We had a travel itinerary and being on a cruise ship that schedule is iron-clad. I would like to think that our faith is the same–we plan as carefully as we can and we try to take into account every exigency that we can think of.

But we are led by our faith and sometimes that doesn’t adhere to any schedule but God’s.

Oswald Chambers writes in The Way Of Abraham In Faith:

“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us “go.” The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.”

I can’t help but think how yesterday’s travels would have been different if the young guy traveling beside us on the ferry across the Venetian Lagoon hadn't called out to me, as I was getting off, “Hey mister, is this your phone?”

My phone, the nexus of my being in this modern world, had slipped out of my pocket as I struggled with my bags.

How different the day would have gone had he not called out to me.

I know God loves a stern test some days, but He is also kind and loving, and this fellow reminded me that I am loved.

Michael Ramsden notes the element of trust in our faith in Isn’t It All Just A Matter Of Faith?

“Similarly, when the writer of Hebrews talks about faith in God, he talks about it in this way. Faith is knowing that God is real (that He is), and knowing that you can trust His promises (that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him). You cannot trust someone who isn’t there. You cannot rely on someone if you think that their promises are not reliable.”

You know, even if I did leave my phone on that ferry–we would still have been provided for–just not on the careful timetable we had scheduled.

Just step out today, head home or go on your trip. Plan well, but know, just know, that stuff you didn’t plan for is going to happen; you might even lose your phone.

But have faith, Abraham’s faith.

Lord, fill our hearts with trust in Your divine guidance. Help us to leave the familiar behind, knowing that Your plans lead to an eternal inheritance.

Lord, strengthen our faith to follow You, step by step, without fear of the unknown.

Amen.