Pastor's Reflection 2026-09-24
As I write this Pastor’s Reflection, Luz, her mom Stella, and I have just returned from Europe where we visited Luz's younger brother Anthony and his wife Sarah in the Netherlands. We spent about 1/2 of our time in the Netherlands and the rest of our time in Belgium and Germany. I should confess right now that I speak zero Dutch. In Belgium, I managed a few words in French. And in Germany… well, thank goodness most people spoke English.
There is a particular kind of humility that comes from traveling in a foreign country where you don’t speak that language. I remember standing on the platform at the train station in Antwerp, watching the announcements scroll by in Dutch trying to catch the English part. (Parts of Belgium speak Dutch, other parts speak French, and a small portion speaks German.) On that trip, we manage to get to the correct platform at the correct time but we quickly discovered that the platforms got switched. So I had to ask a few strangers for help. While traveling, Luz and I leaned on each other a lot. We also used Google Translate to read menus, and our GPS apps to make sure we were going in the right direction. We also trusted Luz’s brother and some patient strangers to get us where we needed to go. We were, in the truest sense, foreigners. Grateful ones, but foreigners all the same.
On one of our long train rides, I found myself staring out of the window thinking about traveling to unfamiliar places. I recalled Abraham in the Old Testament. In Genesis 12, God says to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Those were God’s instructions, minimal as they were. God did not create an itinerary. Abraham did not have Google Translate, or Apple Maps. God’s instructions were simply “go,” along with a promise that God would be with him. Hebrews 11 later reflects on this: Abraham “set out, not knowing where he was going”, and still he went. Would you embark on such a journey to an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar language without a map?
In reality, I think most of us know something about that kind of journey. Grief is an unfamiliar journey to places we have never been, with a language that only those who have traveled that same road can understand. Some of us have had to visit other unfamiliar places, like a new diagnosis, a divorce, an empty nest, a troubled child, the first months of sobriety, or the failing health of a loved one. We find ourselves standing in the middle of a different and unfamiliar life, unable to read the signs, unsure which platform is ours and often unable to even find the right language to describe what we’re going through.
What struck me during our time in Europe was that we did not have to travel alone. We did not need to speak the language fluently. We only needed to trust the people around us, trust our apps, and trust that the God who called Abraham is the same God who would travel with us. This same God will go with you into every foreign and unfamiliar place that you have had to or will have to navigate in your life. That is a promise.
So, if you find yourself somewhere unfamiliar this season, geographically, spiritually, physically or emotionally; I hope you will remember that you don’t need to fear because God will be with you on your journey to an unfamiliar land. You don’t need to know where you are going or how to get there. Abraham didn’t. Neither, most days, do I. Happy journeying my friends.
Grace and peace,
Pastor John
There is a particular kind of humility that comes from traveling in a foreign country where you don’t speak that language. I remember standing on the platform at the train station in Antwerp, watching the announcements scroll by in Dutch trying to catch the English part. (Parts of Belgium speak Dutch, other parts speak French, and a small portion speaks German.) On that trip, we manage to get to the correct platform at the correct time but we quickly discovered that the platforms got switched. So I had to ask a few strangers for help. While traveling, Luz and I leaned on each other a lot. We also used Google Translate to read menus, and our GPS apps to make sure we were going in the right direction. We also trusted Luz’s brother and some patient strangers to get us where we needed to go. We were, in the truest sense, foreigners. Grateful ones, but foreigners all the same.
On one of our long train rides, I found myself staring out of the window thinking about traveling to unfamiliar places. I recalled Abraham in the Old Testament. In Genesis 12, God says to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Those were God’s instructions, minimal as they were. God did not create an itinerary. Abraham did not have Google Translate, or Apple Maps. God’s instructions were simply “go,” along with a promise that God would be with him. Hebrews 11 later reflects on this: Abraham “set out, not knowing where he was going”, and still he went. Would you embark on such a journey to an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar language without a map?
In reality, I think most of us know something about that kind of journey. Grief is an unfamiliar journey to places we have never been, with a language that only those who have traveled that same road can understand. Some of us have had to visit other unfamiliar places, like a new diagnosis, a divorce, an empty nest, a troubled child, the first months of sobriety, or the failing health of a loved one. We find ourselves standing in the middle of a different and unfamiliar life, unable to read the signs, unsure which platform is ours and often unable to even find the right language to describe what we’re going through.
What struck me during our time in Europe was that we did not have to travel alone. We did not need to speak the language fluently. We only needed to trust the people around us, trust our apps, and trust that the God who called Abraham is the same God who would travel with us. This same God will go with you into every foreign and unfamiliar place that you have had to or will have to navigate in your life. That is a promise.
So, if you find yourself somewhere unfamiliar this season, geographically, spiritually, physically or emotionally; I hope you will remember that you don’t need to fear because God will be with you on your journey to an unfamiliar land. You don’t need to know where you are going or how to get there. Abraham didn’t. Neither, most days, do I. Happy journeying my friends.
Grace and peace,
Pastor John
Posted in Newsletter 2026-09-24