From There to There

Today I sat in my usual haunt at the Starbucks down the street from my house. There are only two tables with outlets and I try to get the one near the back. If I don't, I've only got about 90 min of computer life. If I get to sit here (yes, I'm here right now actually) then I get to enjoy this hard chair and multiple cups of coffee.

This, my dear reader, inspires these caffeine-fueled rants that I hope get you from where you are to where you are going...or, at least, a step or two closer.

Which is actually the topic of today's reflection; helping each other get from there to there.

As I sat with my open laptop and a pile of papers that will, hopefully, turn into life, someone I hadn't seen in years walked in. A lot of life has passed since I last saw her, but her enthusiasm upon seeing me planted at my post made an invitation to sit the natural, and welcome, consequence.

We spoke of the usual suspects when two people are catching up on their lives. Kids, jobs, and mutual acquaintances all spent their due being spoken over the steam rising from our coffee cups. We would have spent the 15 min she had before picking up her daughter staying here if not for the topic of transitions.

It seems to be a theme right now. Everyone seems to be in a hallway of change. For her, it was considering a career-change. For me, it's trying to figure out a new rhythm of life as a solo act. Last night I celebrated a dear friend who has "retired" from 10 years in professional ministry and is now in the wide-open expanse of possibility. There were tears of celebration and tears of loss as everyone is quite aware that it will never be the same again.

It can't be. That's what transitions are all about.

Change is the one constant of life.

I've been reflecting on our job of getting people from there to there. I've become aware of a simple human truth...

...it's all of our job.

Every single human on the planet is in the transportation business. We are people-movers. I'm a pastor, it's a job that gets clearly identified as one that moves people from there to there. I help people understand themselves and their faith in a very complex world. They are somewhere and want to get somewhere else. I help them find their way by getting them in the right vehicle with the right luggage...the luggage that fits them. My quarter-hour coffee companion is a physical therapist; helping people's bodies get from a position of non-movement to movement. There to there.

We spoke (as all people in our position find themselves doing at some point) of how tempting it would be to work at the coffee shop in which we sat. A "simple" job that ends when we push through the glass door at the end of a shift. We would be the best employees this company has ever seen, making better every detail of the environment in which we are given responsibility.

But our job wouldn't change.

We will still be in the people-moving business.

People would come from there (wherever "there" is) and our job is to get them there (a whole new "there") with something good for their time with us.

They don't stay long.

No one really stays long.

But we can make them better for having been here.

We can act as good guides

Love well

Leave good behind

Help them as they travel through our lives

Because they are also in the same business.

Everyone we guide will go from us and help another traveller. Our hope is that everyone guides with love and carries other humans well.

Though we know that they do not always do so.

Bad information, broken hearts, failure, rejection, disappointments, and outright abuse can make it hard to carry each other well. In those times we rely on healers to help us get better so that we can get back to the business of being part of this human family.

No man is an island.

Yes, it can be a lonely business, but every so often someone stops on our stretch of road and shares the space with us. The best ones are when it's unexpected; when we are simply doing the best work we can do and someone notices, puts their hand in ours, and works our spot with us. Those moments are blessings from God and should not be taken for granted.  Mistreating these rare moments or making it all about them will cause us to lose them.

Jesus' words come to mind as I consider these ideas: "Look for the Kingdom of God first...then all the rest comes naturally".  Some have taken these words and made them into a call to be detached in our religious life. Truth is, I think Jesus is simply saying the same thing; namely, our job is to work to create the kind of world where we carry each other well. As we carry well, we find that what our heart needs is carried to us.

So, my fellow bus drivers, engineers, pilots, and piggyback ride-givers...ours is a noble and high calling. It's the call of humanity.

Hop in...I'll do my best to get you a little farther down the road.

Amen.