Creamer column: Traveling with God

I went to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for their annual 4th of July gathering. When you go to their house for a family gathering you might be greeted by as little as a dozen people to as many as 30. You don’t have to be family. If you don’t have someone to be with on a holiday, there is always an extra plate at my brother’s house. It seems every time I go to one of his gatherings there are people I have never seen before, but we all enjoy the food, family atmosphere and fun.

This year’s gathering was marked by stories of travels. My dad had been on a cruise up the northeast coast and into Canada. Within a four-day period he had celebrated the birth of two nations: Canada and America. My brother has made me want to go and see such beauty.

My sister helped chaperone a youth mission trip to Honduras. The pictures of that beautiful land were equally phenomenal. I was interested to hear how happy and reconciled with life the people seemed to be even though they didn’t have many possessions. It was great to hear stories of how the youth connected with the people so well. It seemed the missionaries were as highly impacted as those they went to serve and help.

Those were the major trips, but there were also plans for additional trips including the Dominican Republic, a wilderness survival trip, a reunion of former Boy Scouts at Philmont, N.M., a mission trip to the inner city of Charlotte and a beach trip.

I am so proud of my nieces and nephews (and their significant others) who are traveling around the world to help people who are less fortunate than themselves. It is so good to see the next generation eager and hungry to reach out to their fellow human beings from different corners of the world. I think those kinds of trips will change their lives and their concept of love and success.

We are all grateful for God’s protection as we travel. If we added up all the miles that my family will travel this summer the total would be unbelievable. We all need God’s hand of protection around us as we make trips. We have some responsibility when we travel in that we should be paying attention to what we are doing and not texting or talking on the phone.

Life is much like a trip. We have an idea where we are going, our eternal destination, just not sure of all the stops along the way. We have some objectives we want to accomplish, but ultimately it is still a journey of faith. In our journey, we really need to ask God to guide and protect us.

I believe God is with us, closer than any of us realize. He’s not only there to protect us but to guide us. He wants us to see some awesome sights, but often we miss them because we have allowed the busyness of life to crowd out his voice. I am convinced that God is walking along beside us much like a best friend would while walking the beach. He wants to share life’s experiences with you. God wants to be involved in every detail of your life, guiding you and listening when it seems like you don’t have a friend in the world. God is with you.

I want to encourage you to begin to recognize that God is truly walking with you every hour of every day. Look for His presence, listen for His voice. God not only wants you to share with Him, He wants to share with you. When we take time to bring God into every situation we are going to change the outcome of those situations. So I want to encourage you to invite God into your personal life, your family life, your work life, in every aspect of your life, stop and invite Him in. I believe if you do you will experience life more fully and you will discover peace, joy, and fulfillment.

Doug Creamer’s website is www.dougcreamer.com.

Email him at doug@dougcreamer.com