What Travel Teaches

No stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler.

—Job 31:32

One of the best parts of my childhood was traveling with my dad. He spent most of his work time at our church, preaching and leading the staff, but sometimes he traveled to other churches, meeting with pastors to talk about faith and leadership and the great privilege that it is for ordinary people to be a part of God’s story being written on earth. When I was in elementary school, he took me all over the country. In junior high and high school, I went with him to France, Spain, and Germany, to India and Australia.

My dad worked long hours on those trips. While he worked, I explored and ate. People are sometimes horrified when they hear that I wandered so many big cities all alone as a young teenager, but I found that people all over the world were charming and helpful, and that there might not be as much to fear as we think. I hope our children find the world to be as big and wonderful as I do because of the travel I was able to do at a relatively young age.