Not all who wander are lost, but we probably are!The moment I read this saying on the back of an RV as I traveled down the interstate, I laughed out loud and immediately began conspiring with a friend to use her vinyl-cutting machine to create one for my parents. Just a quick scan of my mother’s travel journals, and you will judge this act completely justified. Just the sheer amount of accumulated road miles they have amassed (they did drive to Alaska, after all), means it’s inevitable they will find themselves Getting Lost or at least in a period of Temporary Separation.

Initially experiencing Temporary Separation during college (days long before GPS), as we caravanned through downtown Dallas on a basketball trip, I helplessly watched as my coach’s van quickly took an exit across several lanes of traffic. With cars all around and unable to dart through traffic, the riders on my van just waved goodbye as we progressed down the interstate. With numerous other experiences along a similar vein when attempting to keep multiple vehicles together, on a camping trip to Canada in the summer of 2016, with my rental car straight from Hawaii (try explaining that along with a TN license at the border crossing) between two fifth-wheel campers, dad and I Pre-Decided that if we became separated in the traffic of Calgary, I would reunite with them at the Beaver Dam Golf and RV park in Madden, Alberta.

As our three-vehicle convoy worked its way through the traffic of Calgary, with two of us having no cell service and following paper maps, we did indeed experience a Temporary Separation. With GPS sending Phil and Sherry (in the front vehicle) off an exit and my parents not exiting behind me but remaining on the interstate, I was forced to make a decision to stay with the Hill’s or hang back with my parents. Without cell service, I decided the wise move was to stay with the friends in the camper ahead of me and separate from my parents, confident that my dad knew that I would head to the campground. All I had to do was arrive at our stopping place for the night and we’d all be reunited.

God chose to have a little more fun with our Temporary Separation and instead of a reunion at the campground, it occurred at a random spot on Highway 2 outside Calgary. With clear skies and unobstructed views, I could see Mom and Dad’s camper ahead as their highway merged onto Highway 2 from a separate location at the same precise time we arrived. No one was lost, both journeys arrived at the same place just via Different Routes. Our intact caravan continued its route to our stop for the night, surviving the Temporary Separation.

This adventure came to mind as I was composing Getting Lost and considering how often I allow myself to become distracted and experience a Temporary Separation from my friendship with God. Sara Hagerty shares in Unseen how this separation can occur, “When I don’t realize what I’m truly craving, God’s thoughts toward me will get lost while I seek affirmation from a sea of other eyes. But when I listen in hiddenness, God’s thoughts reveal themselves and become precious…Yes, we want to be known. But how often do we consider that God wants to be known too? The unsearchable God does invite our searching; friendship is formed in this seeking. God wants to be our friend in the way that friends share more than high-fives and occasional help. He wants to share hearts and stories and inner lives.”

Being ever grateful that these experiences with separation are temporary, I am confident, just like I was that we’d all meet back up at the campground in Alberta, that if I return my focus back to Him, He will reunite with me in a friendship that is far more abundant than anything I could ever imagine. Hagerty shares, “This friendship with God isn’t just about the [God Winks] He gives to us when no one is looking. He’s also searching the earth for ones who will look back, who will know Him, who will carry His heart…Friendship with God means hearing. We become God’s friend when we listen for His heart and His soft whisper in His Word…I want to be another Mary [of Bethany]. I want to know God as a precious friend.”

My hope for you today is that any separation you experience from the presence of our wonderful Savior is temporary, and that He will quickly reunite with you the same way He joined our caravan back together on that Canadian highway.

Reference:

Hagerty, S. (2017). Unseen: The gift of being hidden in a world that loves to be noticed. Zondervan.