Lessons from a Journey Through Four Countries and One Kingdom
It’s been an interesting season of travel. Though I’ve journeyed a bit over my six-plus decades, most of it has been within the United States. Europe, until now, had remained unexplored territory. Well, as the saying goes, there’s a first time for everything.
Mark Twain once observed, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”
After three weeks of traversing four countries, about 14,000 miles (22,500 kilometers for my European friends)—by plane, train, and automobile—navigating the complexities of transportation, language challenges, and cultural differences, and witnessing the breathtaking diversity of people and places, I can only say, as the young folks might put it: “Twain ain’t never lied.”
It will likely take weeks, months or maybe the rest of my life to fully process what my wife and I experienced. What struck me most—like a splash of cold water—was how deeply conditioned I am to expect and anticipate the familiar. I see, I want, I ask, I get. I’m part of, and accustomed to, a cultural system that largely works—at least, for me.
Scripture often reminds us that God’s people are strangers, foreigners and pilgrims. Paul writes, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). And again in Ephesians, we are told that we are “no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of His household” (Ephesians 2:19).
Those verses take on new weight when you’ve stood in unfamiliar places, surrounded by languages you don’t speak and customs you don’t quite understand. You realize what it means to feel like a foreigner—to depend on grace, humility, and patience to find your way. Maybe that’s part of God’s design: to remind us that this world, for all its beauty and wonder, is not our final home.
We were never meant to grow too comfortable here. The predictability of our routines can quietly dull our spiritual senses, making us forget that we are travelers on a far greater journey. Our heavenly citizenship carries both implications and obligations—to live as Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), to love beyond borders, to pursue justice and mercy, and to reflect the heart of the kingdom we represent.
So as I unpack my bags and return to the familiar rhythms of home, I pray I never fully settle. May I stay just restless enough to remember where I truly belong. And may that holy discomfort keep us all awake—to the beauty of difference, the urgency of compassion and the sacred calling to live not as residents of this world, but as citizens of heaven on our way home.
Categories: Acts17seventeen Christian Christianity Community Follower Of Jesus Travel
Pastor Mark
Mark, the eighth of nine children born to Reuben and Henrietta Meeks—dedicated church planters with nearly 30 congregations established across California’s Central Valley—is a preacher's kid who grew up immersed in faith and service. With over forty years of experience teaching, discipling, and ministering to communities, including the hospitalized and incarcerated, Mark responded to God's call to pastoral ministry. He holds degrees in civil engineering and public administration, as well as a Master’s in Theology from Fuller Seminary, equipping him to serve with both practical insight and spiritual depth.
acts17seventeen 
Leave a comment