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Don’t Be a Tourist

                 From the moment that God told Abraham to leave his home and follow him (Genesis 12:1-3), God’s people have understood that they are on a journey.
                That being true, the essential question becomes, “How are you making that journey?”  There are two options: You can be a tourist or you can be a pilgrim. 
                Tourists leave their real life behind for a little while so that they can visit another place.  Generally, they travel in groups and do not mix much with the local people.  They hit the highlights of various regions, but they do not really experience what it is like to live in that part of the world.
                For example, in 2001 a group of us from Estevan went to Israel. Despite all that we did and saw during those two weeks, I cannot say that I know what it is like to live in Israel.  I was in the country, but my experience was an artificial representation of life there.  For example, even though the tension between the Palestinians and the Israelis was higher than normal, we were told not to talk about the subject.  We were in Israel, but we did not experience every day life in that country.
                On the other hand, pilgrims do things differently.  They actually live where they are and get to know people.  They do not skim the surface.  They are immersed.  The journey is their life. 
                God has always wanted his people to be pilgrims.  When the Israelites were deported from their homeland, God sent Jeremiah to them saying, “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:4-7).  Instead of standing apart, they were to dig in and influence those around them.
                Too often, God’s people huddle in their own groups, do not really get to know anyone and are disengaged from the real life around them.  That will not help anyone.
                Tourists see things.  Pilgrims influence them. 
                Be a pilgrim.

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