Day one of the journey...

My bags are packed, food and drinks prepared so I won't have to stop except when the car gets hungry. It's going to be fun logging the mpg this little hybrid gets on her way to and from Missouri. I'll get a few hours of sleep this evening, and then in the wee hours of the morning I'll be heading out across the country.

I hope to find some time for just-for-fun reading in the next few weeks. To that end, I'm taking along a couple of books by Diana Gabaldon, a Phoenix author -- great adventure, mythical, a little racey. I am NOT taking along any lectionary resources... just a Bible. I also tucked in a copy of Homer's "The Odyssey." Not exactly light reading, but I thought it might be an appropriate book for a trip such as this -- an exploration without a tight schedule, a meandering kind of journey.

A few years ago when Jim Sterling was serving on the committee that helped plan my ordination service, he gifted me with the following reflection called "The Journey." In Greek mythology, the island of Ithaca is a symbol of ultimate destination, toward which Odysseus makes his way through complicated and perilous adventure.

"When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction
.............
ports seen for the first time...
.............
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.
Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But do not in the least hurry the journey.
Better that it should last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you the splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out...

Be sure to write to us here at the blog when you set out for your Ithaca, and let us all know where the journey takes you.

See you in August.