Who are your traveling companions?

I just got back from Cambodia a couple of days ago from a family trip. Laura and I had all three kids, two daughters-in-law, and our grandson together for the first time in 3 ½ years. The reason for this family reunion was for our stateside family to see and experience where our oldest son, Will; his wife, Michaela; and our grandson, Karuna, live and serve as missionaries.

Now that I’m back and over my jet lag, I wanted to share a reflection that I hope is helpful to your life journey, even if it never includes travel to the other side of the world.

Walt Whitman’s classic statement best sums up my family excursion: “We were together. I forget the rest.” Much of life’s journey is measured not by our destinations but by our traveling companions. Since we were together as a family, it didn’t matter to me if we were in Cambodia, Indiana, or the Arctic Circle. “We were together. I forget the rest.” 

I’m grateful we got to spend time visiting Will and Michaela’s ministry and meeting some of their missionary partners, but far outweighing that (as wonderful as it was) was that fact that “we were together.”

Our combined photo album reflects this. We took pictures of Angkor Watt in Siem Reap, the village where Will and Michaela serve, and some of the interesting food items we ate, like crickets and silkworms. (I don’t recommend them.) All those pictures of places and special moments have one thing in common: family. We have 397 photos and 21 videos in our shared iPhone album, and the main storyline was not the places we visited or the food we ate; it was the people who experienced those places and food together.

This reminds me of Jesus’ words in John 15, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you” (verse 15). We are part of Jesus’ “friend group," His family. We are His brothers and sisters (Matthew 12:50). 

At East 91st Street Christian Church, the church I serve, we celebrate our 100th anniversary this year. We’re going to have some special celebrations where we look back and honor the past, celebrate our present, and look ahead to our future. But one thing I can assure you is this: All the pictures, videos, and highlights we will see and discuss are not centered around the places, programs, buildings, and street addresses, although those will be included. The center of the pictures, videos, and highlights are the E91 family in Christ, those who traveled together through this journey of life.

My question to you is this: Who are your traveling companions, and do you value them more than your travel plans?

When we come to the end of our days, we will have forgotten far more than we remember. But one thing we will always remember, and carry with us into eternity, are those with whom we traveled life’s journey. When we get to heaven, most likely we will say, “We were together. I forget the rest.”