Leave a Trail

 

As I stepped out into the cool Fall air, I was greeted with the brilliant blue sky and these lingering contrails from various planes. It was striking, the grand blue canvas with the white stripes.

When I was a boy, I was always fascinated by these signs in the sky. I did not fly on a plane until I was in college, so the idea of being up there, in route to somewhere else, was very exotic and mysterious. I would imagine where the plane was headed and what the people were planning to do when they arrived. I imagined the food. I imagined it was all quite exciting.

Most of the time we know where we want to go. That is not the problem, is it? The challenge is getting there. How do we chart the course for our future? To what extent can we chart that course? Where do we find direction? As I looked at that beautiful sky, I thought of the words of Jesus, that simple invitation that changes everything: “follow me”. Even when we are unsure of where we are going, we can follow him. Even when we can’t imagine the destination. Even when the destination is far from exotic. Through it all we can follow him.

And like the planes in the morning sky, we leave a trail behind us. As we follow Jesus, others can see the direction we are headed. Who knows? They may be intrigued. They may wonder about our journey. They may join us in the exotic adventure called faith.

Peace.