The Grace Trip

"No expectations. Only gratitude….because all is grace"

So today Amy and I are doing what we normally do on Thursdays: Fly to Istanbul and then cruise the Greek Isles.

Okay, okay we don’t do this EVERY Thursday. But we are doing it this one.

This is a trip of a life-time, actually. A trip we wanted to make for many years, but never thought we would be able to.

We’ve been referring to it as the Greece trip, but I think a better name is the Grace-trip. By that I mean that the whole trip is a gift, which is the root idea behind the Greek word for grace.

Last spring Darren, one of the church elders, and I were having lunch at a mediocre Mexican restaurant when he asked me, “Where is someplace you and Amy have always wanted to go to but never had?” I didn’t have to think long. Greece had long been on our radar screen, both for its incredible natural beauty but also because of it’s place in history. It was here that philosophy began, and it was here that so much of early church history occurred. Plato and Paul both walked the streets of Athens and taught there. The recipients of most of the New Testament epistles lived in either the Greek mainland or Greek settlements in what is now Turkey.

Little did I know at the time that sneaky Darren had a sneaky plan. He encouraged the church members to contribute to a gift fund to make this trip possible.

Their generous check was given to Amy and I in June as our church celebrated its 40 year anniversary; this year also marked the 20^th anniversary of our time as Senior Pastor and wife.

We were blown away of course. First of all, that Darren had pulled a sneaky on us. You see, Darren is an engineer, and engineers don’t do sneaky. I believe they actually kick you out of engineering school for it.

But more, of course, we were blown away just by the generosity of our church. This was a trip to see the Parthenon in Athens, not the Mitchel Corn Palace in South Dakota. It’s a spendy trip.

Originally Amy and I thought we might wait until next May for the trip, but she found an outstanding travel package that had been discounted. Windstar Cruise Lines has a land/sea package that first gives you three days in Istanbul, then eight nights cruising the Greek Islands before disembarking at Athens. We added on two nights in Athens for a full two weeks.

I call this a grace-trip, for that is what it is. It’s grace, because it is a gift. Undeserved and unmerited, like the very best things are.

Many people have told us that the trip is “well-deserved”. In fact, I think I heard that phrase three times yesterday. I appreciate the sentiment, but must demur.

They mean, of course, that it is a nice recompence for serving 20 years at our church. But serving 20 years at this church has been its own reward. Certainly there are aspects of serving as a pastor here that have been hard. But my overwhelming feeling is one of profound blessing. I get to study the Word, preach, and engage with people I love. And I get PAID to do this.

This trip is not deserved; it is a gift. This is a grace-trip, not a reward-voyage.

And…Amy and I have been able to increasingly view our whole sojourn in this life as a grace-trip. She has been especially helped in this by the writings of the amazing Ann Voskamp, and I have followed in her train.

Life, after all, is a gift. None of us deserved it or achieved it; we receive it.

That does not mean it is not also very, very painful at times. Amy and I have certainly not escaped grief and broken hearts. Losing a child is the worst pain imaginable. And cancer is not a fun time either. But God is still good. And life is still a gift.

That is what we choose to believe.

I’ve only travelled internationally a few times, but I am always tempted to get anxious about all the things that can go wrong. But I am laying down my expectations and agenda, and simply, as Amy put it, “sink into grace”. Or, as Ann Voskamp wrote,

“No expectations. Only gratitude….because all is grace.”

I am trying hard to make that my mantra for this trip. And also for my life.

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Some folk have asked if I will be writing about our trip (as I did on the last one). The answer is: I think so. Part of me wants to totally disengage from my phone or laptop as much as possible, and to just be in the moment without having to think about how to write about it. But another part of me loves to share wonderful experiences with others.

So I imagine I will at least put up some pictures. I may even try to record and narrate some video, like some millennial influencer. I think things will be too good not to share. But no promises.