Sandy Creek Covered Bridge

07/13/13 by Sojotales

PSALM 120:5

I was wondering what to title this Blog and the word Sojourner kept coming to mind. One of the Bible study groups that I attended while I lived in Tennessee was called Sojourners or Sojos for short. The class was led by an amazing missionary couple who described the class name as the way we as Christians travel through life. We are all Sojourning (traveling, wandering) through life towards our ultimate goal of going to live with Jesus. The name and description struck a chord with me when I first heard it and it still does. As I was praying about this blog the name Sojourner kept coming to mind, but I debated with God about the name; vacillating between trusting that God wanted these stories called Sojourner’s tales, or whether my fleshly self just liked the name due to the fond memories that I had with an amazing Sunday school group. Now I know for without a doubt that the title Sojourner’s tales is His will.

Before I spend any amount of time on my motorcycle I always pray; usually for His protection while riding, but today I also asked Him to guide me and teach me whatever it was that He wanted me to learn on that day. As I rode along on my motorcycle I felt a gentle pull to travel do Missouri State Road 21 even though I’d never really researched whether there were any amenities, tourist spots or other items of interest that might be in that particular area. I headed south from St. Louis and was surprised when, around Hillsboro, I felt that gentle pull again. Looking to my right I saw one of those brown tourism signs that read Sandy Creek Covered Bridge state historical sight. As I read the sign that pull intensified and as I headed that call a sense of peace built inside of me. Serenity seemed to descend on me as I followed the road signs to an idyllic state park. As I pulled in and saw the grounds, I realized that I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect spot to sit, read the Bible, and write. Almost every picnic table was in a cozy, shady spot and I happily chose a seat on one of them near the covered bridge.

Sitting at the picnic table with the sounds of the woods surrounding me and the burble of the stream behind me just seemed to enhance that peace even more. Much to my surprise when my Bible fell open my eyes were drawn to a very interesting verse in Psalm 120:5 “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!”

Sojourn! There was that word; popping out of the page like it was highlighted and in big bold print. I read and reread Psalm 120 and as I sat there I recognized the fact that the author of this Psalm was taking his fears and worries to the Lord as he dwelt amongst a people spoiling for a fight. I was reminded that we, in our daily lives, so often seem to have people around us who, like those in the Psalm, only have fighting on their minds. Whether it’s arguing over politics, or differing procedures, the he said/she said of gossip; those around us seem more interested in talking about fighting than in the peace of God’s Word.

When I think along the same lines that the Psalmist did in Psalm 120; when I am feeling alone and unsure of myself; I take comfort in the next Psalm which starts, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” I sat quietly writing these thought in my journal and I was reminded of the gorgeous views of the hills I’d admired along the way as I rode to this park. I continued reading the rest of Psalm 121 taking comfort in the words that the psalmist records about God’s promises to protect us and watch over us forever.

The more I read and reread Psalms 120 & 121 the more a calm certainty fell on me about using the title Sojourner’s tales, not because I thought it was a cool name, but because now I knew by the experiences of the day, and the words that the Holy Spirit guided me to as I sat on that picnic bench that it was something God had planned for me all along.