In four weeks I'll be stepping into the unknown. No, that sounds way too ominous...I'll be stepping into what is unknown to me. Of course I'm referring to my upcoming adventure of boarding a plane in Jacksonville, Florida and thirty-five hours later stepping off another plane onto African soil.
Thankfully, there are others who are travelling with me who have made this journey before and they do know how to prepare. Their experience and guidance go a long way toward making the unknown more knowable. As they share their knowledge with me I no longer feel as bewildered as I would otherwise. Even though I am headed down a road that I've never travelled before I can move forward unafraid because those I trust have alerted me to what lies ahead and how to safely traverse the terrain.
Do you see how this applies to so many areas of our lives? We all come to points in our lives where what is stretched in front of us is completely new, sometimes frightening. Perhaps you felt this way when you first realized that your marriage was ending and you had to seriously begin thinking about your life on your own. Or maybe you felt a cold terror, mingled with crushing grief at the death of your spouse. How would you go forward? What would tomorrow look like for you?
Isn't it true that in those times it was the friend who had traversed that terrain ahead of you who afforded you some of the best help? She assured you of the possibility of life on the other side of the unknown. She provided guidance born of her own experience. She let you know what was previously "unknowable" to you.
Perhaps you have been the guide a time or two for a tearful friend just coming to her own precipice of the "unknown".
Have you ever noticed that very often the kind of guidance that is truly called for may not always be the kind of news that our friend (or ourselves, for that matter) like to hear?
If, as I prepare for Africa my traveling companions told me to "take whatever was easiest, don't even bother your busy schedule about the trip until the night before" I'd be in big trouble. For one thing I'd not have my immunizations that I need, I would not be protected from malaria, and I'd probably not even be going because I wouldn't have a visa to get into the country. Being properly prepared has cost and parts of preparation is even painful.
The same is true when bringing genuine help to a friend looking down the prospect of a dreaded life altering event, genuine help first brings comfort, but must also bring reality.
For me, comfort and reality have a name...Jesus. He truly is the personification of these traits, and so many others that also bring peace. The comfort and reality that I will be clinging to in Africa is Jesus. I will need Him. This much is not unknown to me. I am so, very grateful that He is my first and best Guide.
