The View from the Road

In my life, I have found great treasures by pausing to notice what is around me.  Every once in a while, looking up from the book I'm studying, the text being translated, the instrument being played, and wondering what's there, who's here, and what within that context that might be the beauty waiting to be noticed.

The concept of experiential learning has long captured me, and although I believe the road of life is best lived with the end in mind (so that we don't just go in circles), I've noticed that the art of appreciating the beauty along the way is so very easily abandoned.

The other day, I was coming back from Texas where I had made a quick trip to preach a funeral, when I glanced to the right and noticed beauty.  Somehow, 'round about the Whiskey Bay Pilot Chanel, there was this amazing river that cut through the swamps.  I drove atop the Atchafalaya Swamp bridge like I have so many times, wondering just how long it was going to take me to cross over today, and was suddenly reminded of how amazing the view around me was from the road.

I held out my phone and snapped a few pictures of the next great scene I saw... not as striking, but it would not have been safe to slam on the breaks just to get the shot.

In this life, the road is not the destination; but the experience happens along the pathway, and the beauty of that passage is so very easy to miss.

Sometimes joy is in the view from the Road.

In the peace of Christ... on the road,

Pastor John