TRAVEL LIKE A
PILGRIM
God has been traveling with wandering people since way back, and He travels with us today. As He travels with His people, God gives each journey spiritual significance. People who travel specifically in search of that significance are called pilgrims. When you travel as a pilgrim, your spiritual adventure will bring home blessings and you'll be changed along the way.
If you meet a student abroad who is spiritually curious, invite them to join you in exploring God through scripture, prayer, and the story of God at work in our history.
Make any trip spiritually significant . . .
2 Corinthians 4:18 says, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." For each trip you may take, use the following questions to help you plan ahead to fix your eyes on the eternal.
BE INTENTIONAL
- Besides just visiting an interesting place, what are you seeking on this trip?
- What question do you want to bring before the Lord while you are here?
- Are you connecting your story to ones hidden in plain sight in art, architecture and the sacred?
- Are you discovering? Touch, taste, see and feel the rich history, landscape and spiritual needs here.
CHECK IN UPON ARRIVAL
- How is your soul as you arrive? Are you emotionally and spiritually open to the Lord's leading?
- What do you need to let go of in order to be fully present to what God has in store?
- What might Jesus' invitation be to you on this trip?
INCORPORATE THE LOCAL CONTEXT
- What historic and/or important religious sites can you visit to better understand the culture?
- How might you pursue God at certain sites where you'd normally just stop for a photo?
- What are the roots of Christianity in that country/city?
- Is there a ministry you can visit or an active church you can visit on a Sunday?
FRAME THE TIME IN SCRIPTURE & SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES
- How will you ground this time in God's Word? On what passages of the Bible might you focus?
- What Spiritual Disciplines might you practice?
FOCUS ON WHAT LASTS
- What has God been saying to you through Scripture or at certain sites?
- Are you examining the past to learn and follow a radically different path, walking with Jesus?
- In small ways or large, how are you different than when you began?
- What are your next steps that you need to take in response?
- What is God doing in you that will last beyond the trip?