Hitting the Road

This week on the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Dan Allender and his wife, Becky, celebrate the arrival of summer by talking about an upcoming multi-week road trip to Colorado. They recorded this episode on the way to get an oil change, an outing they describe as a practice round for their big trip.

Becky: “I look forward to laughter, I look forward to adventure.”

Dan has immersed himself in planning for the trip, studying maps for the best routes and the most promising fly fishing locations. As they talk, he invites Becky to join the planning and name particular experiences she would like to share with Dan. It is of course crucial to know the destination and to plan the details, says Dan, “But destination and details don’t really get to the issue of desire and dreams. What do you want from this trip?”

Dan: “If you’re going to have a trip that matters, you’re going to need to be able to remember it.”

Destination and details don’t really get to the issue of desire and dreams.

As Dan invites you to reflect on the trips or experiences that might be coming your way this summer, Dan and Becky talk about how the planning and memory of a trip often hold as much sweetness as the trip itself. They name the importance of logging details, taking pictures, and writing down experiences so they can cherish the memories and the storytelling in the future.

Dan: “This is a taste of rest, of sabbath, of play, of adventure. It’s really a taste of what the coming Kingdom will be like. And even if it’s fantastic, it still can never be heaven.”

In that memory and storytelling, even the (perhaps inevitable) disappointments of a trip have the potential of offering a surprising joy. All of this—the beauty of new places, the joy of shared experiences, the thrill of planning and remembering—becomes a context in which our hearts are open in new ways to witness something of the goodness and glory of God.

Dan: “Any trip ought to be a reminder that the Kingdom of God, in its fullness and in its fullness of joy, is coming. I don’t want to just go to Colorado. I want to be reminded through Colorado of the beauty of the coming Kingdom.”