To reach another place requires movement, voluntarily or otherwise, and part of the process is some preparation. Columbus’s trip beyond the horizon was not made casually. Before wagon trains headed west someone had to gather supplies and plan a route. A friend of mine was in an Army family and moving always involved her choosing what would be familiar in a new strange place. Currently, travel is less daunting, yet preparation is still a necessity. . Brochures can familiarize the new area. That useful internet can produce transportation: cost and timing. While maybe not appreciating the whole process, some three year olds have boarded a plane in Houston and debarked in Paris. Just not my story.
Childhood going somewhere for me was by car, period, To Baton Rouge and New Orleans to shop, to Shreveport to visit relatives, and two vacations of my whole life to places outside the state. Summer jobs took me to Santa Fe and David and I did have some plant provided trips. Even though I know the routine, leaving home is still an adventure. As you read this, 4/6 of current Smiths will be in the air to visit the other 2/6 in Colorado. I was a fringe organizer and either provided my own lists or had them given to me. A plane ticket awaited on my computer and I needed help to download. I ran afoul of the USPO and needed a neighbor to gather mail. Labeled zip-lock bags will keep me from going cold turkey on medicines, and the suitcase stayed open several days for additions. Yet, I was gathered at 7:30 this morning, locked the door, and moved forward.
There are several going forth and getting there stories in the Bible. I am most impressed by the precipitousness of leaving Egypt and that same repetition of time to move on now that announces the impetus of let’s go for 40 years. Mention is made of 600,000 men (imagine that line at the airport) but no number of the women who had to check daily if a cloud said they could stay put. Granted, their wanderings were guided by fire, yet the females were still the ones who had to again tie on the breadboard, gather the children, and head across the desert. Considering that, my defined preparation for a one day journey seems like an easy effort.
Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey, but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up.
Exodus 40:36-37
Let Me Tell Ya 