Kingdom Journeys

Those who know me or who follow this blog know that I’ve been on a journey.  Specifically, over the last ten years, the spiritual journey has included walking through the painful end of my marriage and discovering, in the midst of that, new sources for my identity and new depths to my relationship with Jesus.  It has also included the restlessness that would not go away until I allowed the Lord to speak fully into this stage of my life.  For me, there has been a physical journey as well.  At first it looked like mission trips that took me out of my comfort zone and stirred my concern for the world.  It eventually meant a move from Connecticut to Georgia. 
 
So journey is not a new theme for me.  To be honest though, ten years ago I probably wasn’t actively seeking a journey.  I wanted to continue to grow spiritually – just as I had for the 30 years I’d already been a believer – but I’m not sure I understood journey.  Or maybe I just assumed that spiritual growth and journey were the same thing – that vague “spiritual journey” everyone is on. 
 
But the last stage of my life has definitely been a journey.  I’m not sure that in the beginning I intentionally chose to embark on a journey – with its stages of abandonment, brokenness and dependence.  It feels like circumstances thrust me in the midst of a journey that I wouldn’t have chosen on my own.  But while I may not have willingly chosen to start it, I did choose to embrace it as a journey – to trust that there was a good purpose in it and that, if I allowed it to, it could shape me in life-altering ways. 
 
I have a new appreciation for the importance of journey, the subtle ways it is different from other spiritual growth and it’s ability to “accelerate discipleship” or “turbo-charge a person’s faith walk” in the words of Seth Barnes.  Seth, founder and executive director of Adventures in Missions, goes so far as to call it “the lost spiritual discipline”.  In his new book, Kingdom Journeys: Rediscovering the Lost Spiritual Discipline, he says “A journey is an act of leaving – a process of physical abandon that teaches us how to do the same spiritually.  Perhaps, to find your true identity you need to abandon everything else.” (p. 22)   
 
Finding your true identity and stripping away the things that provide false security –  it’s worth doing.  It’s important work for anyone who wants to advance God’s kingdom in the world.  Journey helps you do this.
 
We see the theme in how Jesus related to His disciples – asking them to abandon everything and follow Him, and then sending them out on journeys without their own provisions.  We see it historically in the idea of pilgrimage.  At Adventures in Missions, we see it over and over again in the impact of short term mission trips and the World Race on the participants.
 
What makes something a kingdom journey?  From Seth’s book:  “What sets a kingdom journey apart from gap years, road trips, and volunteer jaunts is the central focus on Jesus’ kingdom.  A kingdom journey is first and foremost about expanding God’s reign in the world and increasing it inside our hearts.”  (p. 55)
 
I encourage you to get the book – and then let the Lord speak to you through it.  See if the stories stir anything in you.  See if your view of the world expands.  See if it confirms you are where you are called to be – or if it feeds a restlessness you may already feel. 
 
Consider what it looks like if journey is really a life-transforming spiritual discipline.
 
 
 
Special Offer – For this week (the week of Sept. 25), the Kindle edition of the book is available free.