Month: August 2024

On Travel Part 3

The idea for Part 3 of  “On Travel” came from a news item I saw earlier this summer.  July 4 marked the 250th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s purchase of a place known as Natural Bridge in southwestern Virginia.  It is a rock formation featuring a giant hole or tunnel.  Virginia’s Route 11 runs over the rock ‘bridge’ and a park and trails have been developed around the site. Years ago, our family visited the Natural Bridge park.

Native Americans prized the phenomenal site, but after Jefferson’s purchase of it from King George, the property continued in private ownership and became a tourist attraction early in the twentieth century. In 2016, Natural Bridge became a Virginia state park.

At the time our family went there, the park was still privately owned.  After a long, steep stairway descent, paths take you along a creek and under the bridge.  There are caves too, which may have been how the tunnel formed.  I recall how as we walked the creekside trail, our school-aged son with typical boyhood energy, scrambled along the rocky ledge of the path.  Suddenly, he fell off the path and for a  millisecond, I wondered how far down he had fallen.  It turned out that we were not far above the creek bed but the rock gashed his leg:  it was one of those gasp parent moments!

The other fun aspect of visiting Natural Bridge at that time was an evening light show.  In 1927, Westinghouse helped create a light show spotlighting the rock formation with moving beams and colored lighting.  As the lights flashed, the creation account from Genesis was broadcast to the audience.  It was meaningful to experience a wonder of nature, technology, and creativity with credit given to God.

This past week, my Bible readings included Psalm 36 which says,

5Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.

The heights and skies of the mountainous area, as well as a flowing stream with just a little depth, are on awesome display in wonders like Virginia’s Natural Bridge.  It is also comical to me that verse six ends with

“You, Lord, preserve both man and beast.”  Our son came through his fall with only a scrape!

A late summer road trip approaches for us.  We will look for God’s wonders and trust Him to preserve our travel.

The Natural Bridge, Virginia, 1852, by Frederic Edwin Church, on display at Bayly Art Museum. Charlottesville, VA

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On Travel Part Two

Not all rest stops are as intriguing as the artful, waterside, and panoramic ones I described in  On Travel Part One.   Sometimes the road weary must take what is available when a break is needed.  Such was the case when my husband and I ended up in a small, dingy fast-food restaurant in a town that also seemed small and dingy.

This poster hung in the dining area. Sorry, Kentucky but honestly Virginia bears a very similar shape!

I don’t recall if it was fuel or food that demanded our stop, but we found few options as we drove through a depressed main street area. The town lacked charm and energy, but a reputation proceeded it in our minds.  Hopewell, Virginia was where Rev. Tim Keller first pastored a church.  Keller eventually became the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church of New York City, a renowned preacher, and a prolific author.   I dedicated a  blog post to his legacy last summer after he died of cancer at age 72.  Since then, a new family member carries his name.

Hopewell was an odd placement for a man like Timothy Keller.  He was a well-educated intellectual, a voracious reader, and able to comprehend, reason, and expound at very deep levels.  He loved academic settings. Hopewell was a blue-collar town. As a young pastor there, Keller had to balance his brilliance in Bible teaching with pastoral care and connecting in community.  The Hopewell congregation also “forced Keller to develop his skill for distilling difficult and complicated concepts in ways that Christians and non-Christians alike can understand.”  (Hansen, Collin.  Timothy Keller His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation, 2023).  The Kellers lived and ministered in Hopewell, Virginia for nine years; their three sons were born in Hopewell.  One of Hopewell’s congregants gave the eulogy at Keller’s memorial service .

You might wonder why my blog about travel took a detour to a small town, and a pastor’s first start.   For me, the Keller years in Hopewell signify how God calls us to be faithful and obedient whatever the task, wherever the task.  Sometimes, maybe often, our placements feel like a misfit.  I would not extrapolate this to mean, start small so that God will do something big later.  I don’t think ministry is ever about size.  It’s about faithfulness in the moment.

Personally, I have been thinking about another small start.  At my fortieth high school reunion, I reconnected with a classmate.  We had not been in touch since the summer after our freshman year in college because my family moved away.  Through tears my old friend recounted her memory of “that little church.”  During our junior high years, she attended Wednesday night youth group with me.  The youth program wasn’t flashy, but there she heard the Gospel, resulting in a lifetime of faith in Jesus for her. Wherever spectacular travels might take you this summer or especially if you remain in your routine place, abound in faithful living.  “Therefore … be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15 v 58

*If you subscribe to my blog via email, thank you.  The posts are best viewed at  “A Writer’s Daughter”  

Someone enjoys a summer day in the neighborhood.