Along the Way

The underground railroad that saved the lives of countless enslaved husbands and mothers and babies tortured by America’s original sin of slavery depended upon safe refuge along the journey to freedom—a place prepared.

Through desert dangers where thieves waited and beasts preyed in the night, weary travelers along the Silk Road took restful shelter in inns along their way—a place prepared.

From the dense streets of Kolkata, India, where poverty’s scourges lie thick over crowds of people, and disease lingers in the sluggish air, humble compassion clad in white and blue saris gathers the wretched into a home for the destitute and dying—a place prepared.

Around the globe, in the midst of despair, people fleeing from war die in the sea, are lost in the desert, swarm at borders, scale walls, weep at fences, hang on trains, trudge every landscape imaginable hoping for a home at the end of a trail—a place prepared.

Jesus promised the most remarkable thing to his disciples: “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). And they asked, “Where? We don’t understand! Show us!” Jesus’ answer to his disciples does not offer a spiritualized road to heaven or a settled spot in Galilee, but it does offer all that matters: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus is the destination and the path. There is a refuge—a place prepared—in his love. The home of peace and safety that we all long for is found in Jesus. Jesus is with us all along the roads, streets, and alleyways, in places unseen and unknown. Jesus is with us, goes before us to prepare the place, and shows us the way.

From Sundays and Seasons