It is rare and unlikely to take a break from normal life for 6 weeks. I mean, come on–what about jobs and bills? One of the reasons Doug and I were able to take this trip is we purposefully planned it when we knew his time at camp was going to be done and my school would be off for the summer. Now, I wasn’t planning on God leading me to a different job when we made camping reservations in January. Fortunately, the organization that hired me understood my previously-made plans and made it work anyway (thank you, Hope Unexpected). Another reason we were able to take an extended time away from typical life is due to budgeting. Doug is a budgeting genius, and I have grown in that practice over the last three decades. We have been living on a minimalist budget since January, knowing our finances would soon be very limited. We also were given a gift when my dad died, making it possible to have no income for 6 weeks.
One of my hopes for this trip was to deeply encounter God. I was eager for the gift of time, space, and place to see, hear, know, and love Jesus more because life would be different and not filled to the brim with the typical. What I longed for was to hear Jesus’s voice loudly, obviously, deliberately. You know how, when looking back, we often forget the common, trudging, ordinary parts and remember the past through rose-colored glasses? That’s what I was doing. I have been privileged to hear Him at times in the past in my soul where, without a shadow of doubt, I knew what He was telling me to do. I didn’t realize before Doug and I began this sabbatical of sorts that was the way I wanted (even expected) God to talk to me.
Encounter is a word I have thought about often. It means to have an unexpected meeting with, to come face to face with something and be changed because of the experience. It’s like the difference between the times in 2021 when I saw a bear a mile away through binoculars in Glacier NP and when I came around the trail in Grand Tetons NP to discover a mama bear with 2 cubs a few dozen feet away. The difference was powerful, and my behavior and thinking were definitely changed because of my true encounter with that second bear.
During these last 40 days and nights, I did encounter God. Yet it wasn’t in that almost audible voice in my head and heart like I had anticipated. The day before we began that long drive homeward, during that last leisurely morning time of quiet Doug and I had been having, I spent time musing over that fact. “Shoot,” I lamented to myself. “I really wanted to hear God on this trip.” As I continued musing, a growing awareness of truth rose in me.
You have encountered God. Yes, it has been in different ways, but you have.
Almost every day, Doug and I set aside a couple of hours of this trip to read the Bible, to discuss other writers’ reflections, and to mull over what God might be doing and saying. With space to ponder, a relationship in which to wrestle, and time to comprehend, phrases, ideas, and themes in His Word became clearer, more noticeable. Things He has already spoken and had written down through His people ages ago continue to speak to my everyday life and needs. Words and actions Jesus already said and lived out on earth reveal God’s word in ways I can apply with the help of the Holy Spirit, now. Through the reading of the Bible, I have encountered God.
In Maine, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, I have seen God in the diversity, beauty, and uniqueness of His creation. I have stood on the edge of the ocean, bearing witness to its vastness, and glimpsed the infinity of God. I have climbed a mountain overlooking towns, lakes, rivers, and fields and pondered the difference between the heights of God’s perspective and my own. I have balanced on the rocks of a cliff, gazing down at humpback whales rolling through the surf feeding on tiny capelin, and been struck with God’s sustaining power. I have hiked to the place where the Norse people from the west first met the Aboriginal people from the east and was reminded that I believe there is no chance in God’s sovereignty. I gazed at icebergs in July and laughed at the delight God can bring through surprises. Through the mountains, coasts, flora, and fauna He created, I have encountered God.
In those same places we traveled, I have seen God in the kindness, generosity, help, and talents of God’s people. When in Acadia NP Doug helped a young woman fix her camper that had come off its hitch, stranding her at the side of the road, and then when we bumped into her 517 miles and 6 days later at the Red Shoe Pub in Cape Breton NS, my jaw dropped at the mysterious ways God orchestrates and weaves details together. When stuck for five hours on the Trans Canada Highway due to a horrific semi-truck and car accident, sharing lovely conversation with two local Canadians, I marveled at how God designed people to connect and be in community with each other. During that same traffic stop, when a man who lived nearby drove his four-wheeler bearing a hand-scribbled sign announcing “Free Water” taped to his windshield while blaring opera music refreshed beleaguered travelers with his offering, I thanked God for upending my assumptions and reminding me that every person is made in His image. After creeping along the road 2 hours later, seeing a man and a woman handing out bananas and water bottles to still-weary travelers, I was humbled at how a small act of kindness reveals God’s goodness and grace. When leaning back on a stool, singing along with fiddlers, guitarists, drummers, and mandolin players, I reveled in how God can be seen through the joy of music and people sharing their skills and passions with others. While listening to multiple different languages spoken through people of a myriad of colors, shapes, and sizes, I praised God for his artistic wonder seen in the beauty and variety in each one. Through the people God has created, I have encountered God.
We got home yesterday. Today we went to church for the first time in 6 weeks. We went to our home church where we are members. As we walked in, people we already know, along with those we are getting to know better, warmly welcomed us back with greetings, hugs, and chats. During the service, it seemed that every single part of the liturgy, music, and order of worship washed over me with meaning. My eyes kept welling up with tears, and my heart kept filling up with God’s presence. When the pastor gave the message, it was as if God was speaking directly to me and my needs. At the end, we shared the Lord’s supper. The bread and juice were transformed into the spiritual reminder of God’s grace, help, mercy, and love for me. What comfort! What help! What provision! Through His body here on earth, the Church, I have encountered God.
My hope as I return to my daily life is that I continue to encounter God not just in times away but also in times of routine. My prayer is that you also encounter God in the many ways He reaches out so you too, may know and love Him and be known and loved by Him.
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