"Not all who wander are lost...."

"Not all who wander are lost..." (J.R. Tolkien)

I love this poem.  I first saw it when I was traveling back to Costa Rica from Israel, by way of Germany, after having first gone to Holland to visit a dear friend.  I had also gone, that year, to Mexico, California, Nicaragua and Panama--not to mention the cities, and high-ways and bi-ways of Costa Rica.  At times, I wandered alone.  At times, I met up with friends, and family, and church members, and people I had never seen before (those were always a little scary).  My favorites were the times I was told things like, "Come outside the gate to a silver van, and look for a person with red hair; then, get inside."  "Change this amount of money at that money-changing window; walk outside and find this specific taxi; take it to this place and we'll see you there."  "Look for a pastor holding a Bible on a bench in center square."  Those are always adventurous, and I hold tight God's hand...feeling Him holding tightly to me.  Ignoring the butterflies and taking a deep breath, I jump (trying to follow carefully the instructions I've been giving).
So, I had to laugh at the message spoken to me by the sign in Tel-Aviv's airport.  "Yes, my dear, you are a wanderer. You've been up, and down, and all around.  But in your case, you are not escaping.  You are not hiding. You are not lost."  My grandmother told me in a letter when I was 15 that her favorite memory of me was in a blue dress when I was about 3 looking for Easter candy in her bushes at Royston, GA.  She said she knew, somehow, that I would brave into the great "unknown" looking for those lost souls and "treasures hidden in darkness" to bring them back to the Presence of the King (Jesus).  Psalm 84:5 says we are blessed if our hearts are set on pilgrimage: whether we wander to Africa, or to the corner store.  We are blessed to remember that life is a journey, and we wander every day closer to "Home."
So, here's to the travelers; the dreamers; the explorers; the ones brave enough to knock on your next-door-neighbor's door and say, "I brought this cake just for you to say, 'You're important.'"  May you venture ever nearer to the center of God's heart.  May you feel the breezes from Jordan's distant shore calling you onward as you roam.  You are not lost.  You move ever onward towards a day when "The crownless again shall be king."