We Were Sojourners Together

Her husband wrote, “I remember when you and Debbie parted. She said, 'I didn't want to die before telling you how much I love you.' And she really did!" I remember saying goodbye to Debbie. For a moment the hustle and bustle ceased and was replaced by eternal quiet. My ever present "to do"list faded. The car door was opened and she was preparing to leave when she said, "I didn't want to die before telling you how much I love you." We embraced and I stood watching until I could no longer see her.

"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!" (Psalm 119:18, 19) Sojourner? Yes, but not alone. Debbie and I met in our early twenties. The pilgrim's path we were walking together was sometimes obscure. Sometimes we stumbled over unexpected obstacles. We needed to remind each other of the truth. Life took us in different directions but we always shared the same destination. We were sojourners together.

“He has made everything beautiful in its own time. Also he has put eternity into man’s heart.”(Ecclesiastes 3:11) Debbie loved maps. She liked being able to see how everything fit together. I was never good at reading maps but she taught me. When I stand on a mountain and I can see the scope and sequence of the land below me I smile and think of Debbie and her maps. I also think of the eternal perspective that God has given me.

The nature of a sojourn or a pilgrimage is that it is temporary. This journey doesn’t last forever in the end we come to our destination. I remember the day I got the phone call to tell me Debbie had reached her destination. Her words of love lingered in mind. For a moment I saw life from a higher vantage point a place where hustle and bustle ceases and is replaced by eternal peace.