On Safari

I was privileged to share the following devotion with the staff at PALM (Partners in Literacy Ministries), Nairobi, Kenya during their Monday morning devotion.

A reflection from John 14:1-7

I love the powerful statement of Jesus as he pronounced to his disciples that, “I am the way…to the father” (v.6). Jesus states emphatically that he is THE way to our father in heaven. Jesus is not simply a way, but rather the only definitive way to spend eternity with our heavenly father.

I remember the first time I dug deeper into this verse I was excited as I found other possible translations to the word “way”. The fact that the original Greek text can also mean path, road, or journey gave me a deeper appreciation for the verse. Jesus is the path to the father. Jesus is the journey. And if we have chosen to follow him, Jesus becomes our journey.

Looking down from an aerial view, we can see rivers meander gracefully across the surface of the earth. Our lives, our journey here on earth, are like rivers that gracefully weave back and forth to our final destination. We simply need to enter into the flow of God’s grace, even as a river flows gracefully into the oceans. This is “the journey” of grace that Jesus is calling us into.

The beauty of entering into the flow of God’s grace, finding our journey in Jesus is that it becomes all him. It’s all about Jesus. Jesus is THE journey. We simply find our true journey in Him. As we draw closer to Jesus, as we enter into “the journey” we are able to more fully find the journey of greatest joy. When we find ourselves questioning the direction in which we should go, we simply need to press into Jesus, into “the journey” to find our path.

My understanding of this passage grew to a deeper level this past Sunday. I was attending Nairobi Baptist Church. As I gave my best attempt at singing along in Swahili I recognized the word Safari in a particular song. The English translation listed on the overhead indicated that safari meant “journey”. This led me to my new Kenya translation of John 14:6, “Jesus said, ‘I am the safari…no one comes to the father except through me’”

I am the great adventure. We know our final destination, but we don’t know what kind of events we will encounter along the way. It’s not a common or known path to and from somewhere that we have traveled before. We are going to a place we have never been. The unexpected can happen. Accidents will happen. As we enter into the flow of the river of God’s grace, sometimes we will encounter rapids. Sometimes the river will be wildly rushing downstream. At times in the turbulence it might not feel safe. But we have this knowing when we’re pressing into Jesus, this knowing that it’s the right course.

Even with the midst of the potential for peril….Jesus reminds us “Don’t be worried!” (John 14:1 CEV), “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” (NIV) for…

“I am the journey”

“I am your journey”

“I am your safari”

On safari in East Africa, your brother in Christ,

Additional insight in Greek for those inclined:

John 14:6 - “I am the way”. The Greek is ἐγώ εἰμί ὁ ὁδός , which pronounced in English is “Ego eimi ho hodos”. The break down of the original text helps us understand the emphasis being given in this sentence. The second word is a verb in first person singular, which means that “I” is a part of the Greek word “eimi”. One doesn’t need to include the first word to make the statement “I am”, but Jesus adds “ego” for emphasis. It’s redundant. Literally translated, “I I am the journey.” The emphatic I, I AM complete with the definite article THE, makes it as though Jesus is screaming this truth w/out raising his voice.