Issue 009: A Desert Journey

A Desert Journey. Why is it that dreams of a rich, full life so often bring us desolation instead? For followers of Jesus, the idea has added significance: he spent forty days in the wilderness before telling us about restoration and the promise of freely given abundant life. In America, Martin Luther King, Jr. embarked on his own desert journey to undo decades of racial tension—animosity even—in a nation founded on the created equality of all people, while dreams of freedom reborn still struggle to survive the journey from rhetoric to reality.

Today as the excitement of the holidays drifts away, winter sets in. Summer becomes a memory too distant to satisfy, and at best we seek out whatever adventure we can find in snowboarding, or snow running. All the while the ache for spring’s return grows stronger.

But in the cold and the quiet, in the longing, in the stillness and desolation, a new hope begins to stir. Stripped to the bare essence of existence, we find as we wander through the desert that old and worn ideas connect to form new ideas, a fresh perspective. The uncanny paradox is that in a place seemingly empty of life, out of the ashes life begins anew. We journey through the desert not to die, but to be reborn.

You can read part one of the series on a desert journey below.