From camels to cul-de-sacs


Why should we be interested in what happened to Abraham thousands of years ago? It might not even have actually happened, of course- does that make it even more irrelevant?
 If we do believe it matters, it is still so hard to make the leap from the life of a middle eastern nomad to our own comfortable, settled lives today.


Just because God called Abraham to a life as a traveller doesn't mean He still calls His people to travel today, does it?

In Deuteronomy, we read an early creed. God's people came before God in worship with these words:
" A wandering Aramean was my ancestor..." Deuteronomy 26:5 Their story begins with the travels of Abraham, and somehow the fact that he was a traveller is significant. Maybe it mattered because the people who heard this were still on a journey, out of Egypt. And maybe that's why it continues to matter. Even if we are not on a physical journey from one place to another, we often use the metaphor of travel to make sense of our lives. As we reflect on where we have come from and where we are going, let's remind ourselves of these ancient stories.

This weekend, find time to read Hebrews 11 where the writer encourages us with stories of many who travelled in obedience to God's call.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
Hebrews 12:1,2 

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