I’ve been thinking a lot about traveling recently. This is the year I want to venture out to new places, see new sights, and enjoy new experiences. With that in mind, I borrowed some “classic” travel books from the library … Traveling with Charley by Steinbeck, The Innocents Abroad by Twain, and The Art of Travel by de Botton. I haven’t read any of them completely but have begun reading bits and pieces of each- each one is fascinating.
Anticipation
De Botton, for example, in his first chapter, elaborates on the anticipation of travel and how often anticipation does not match the reality of our arrival. He tells of going to Barbados. In preparation, he had read the advertisements that included azure blue seas, a hotel bungalow with wooden floors, white bedlinen, French doors that framed the sea, and a palm tree silhouetted by a gorgeous sunset. He carried those images as he boarded his plane for the long ride. When he arrived, he saw the long line at customs, the bored immigration official carefully examining each passport, the oil storage facility in the background with garish green print, and the mass of taxi drivers and travel agents outside waiting to pounce on the weary travelers.
Reality
Our travels don’t completely match the snapshots we take and post on Facebook. Recently we went to the beach. You might have seen gorgeous sunsets but didn’t see the gusting wind that nearly carried us away. You saw cute kids frolicking in the water, but you didn’t see the tears when they were exhausted. De Botton says, “We are familiar with the notion that the reality of travel is not what we anticipate.” It’s not that it isn’t fun and rewarding – our beach trip was amazingly great! But travels are often different and include a much wider variety of experiences than the snapshots we share.
The anticipatory and artistic imaginations omit and compress; they cut away the periods of boredom and direct our attention to critical moments, and thus, without either lying or embellishing, they lend to life a vividness and a coherence that it may lack in the distracting woolliness of the present.
De Botton, The Art of Travel, Location 182
As I was reading, I couldn’t help but think about our anticipation of Heaven and the challenges between here and our arrival there. We don’t know exactly what Heaven or the “new” earth will be like. We have the brochure snapshots captured in beautiful word pictures. Here are a few:
City of God
You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect.
Hebrews 12:22-23 NLT
Magnificently Beautiful
The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
Revelation 21:18-21 NLT
Filled with Light
They will be able to look upon His face, and His name will be written on their foreheads. Darkness will never again fall on this city. They will not require the light of a lamp or of the sun because the Lord God will be their illumination. By His light, they will reign throughout the ages.
Revelation 22:4-5
Many Dwelling Places
There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.
John 14:2-3 NET
Every Nation and Tribe
After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10 NLT
This one thing I do know …
the reality of our arrival will far exceed our anticipation.
We are on a journey that, in de Botton’s words, includes the distracting woolliness of the present. Scripture tells us that if we have been justified, we have also been glorified. We’ve been raised up with Christ, and seated with Him in the heavenlies. In Christ, we have been brought to fullness. Those glorious descriptions of life are already true and yet – not yet completed. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we still struggle with temptations but that God provides for our endurance.
What are your travel plans? Have you experienced the disconnect between anticipation and arrival? What pictures of Heaven encourage you on your journey this month?
Prayer
Father, You who bless us with the
Possibilities of travel, You whose creative
Spark causes us to seek out the beauty
Around us, Grant us safe traveling mercies
As we walk with You. May we seek
To follow You well, to stay in the light
And on the path you provide. May we
Rejoice in the already and not yet of
The gospel, allowing the truth about
Who we are in Christ to flourish –
So that in all things and in all ways, our lives
Point to the Savior. Amen.
