Joel's Jottings: "Being In Between"

The Mississippi River levee in Issaquena County, Mississippi. Photo by Joel Alvis

A few weeks ago, Vicki and I went rambling in the Mississippi Delta. We drove over to Vicksburg and then north along the Great River Road. It is a national byway with signs and directions along US and state highways, as well as county roads. We took a county road and ended up on top of a levee. The GPS was still tracking us, and we should have been able to make it back to US Highway 61. So we kept going.

We traveled several miles down the levee road on our back to intersect US-61. But then we came to a sign: Road Closed.  We had to turn around and backtrack our path. We were in the middle of nowhere. Still, it was a fun day to ramble around.

Jesus made the trip from Galilee to Jerusalem by going through Samaria. The Samaritans—as in the “good one” of Luke 15 and the healed leper of Luke 17—were cousins with the Jews of Galilee and Jerusalem. They had been separated by wars and religious disputes hundreds of years before the time of Jesus. The Jews focused their faith in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritans centered their worship at Mt. Gerizim. Jesus went in between Galilee and Samaria on his way to Jerusalem. The differences were so deep that the peoples were then divided deeply for many, many generations. The Samaritans have almost disappeared or been assimilated into Palestinians.

Our Delta ramble brought to mind that we all have times when we are in between. It can be literally as on a levee road. But it can be between illness and health, plenty and want, hunger and abundance, life and death. We can be in between in our politics, family, work, and education.

The Good News is that there is a way through. Sometimes we have to back track. Other times move forward. Sometimes, we even have to hunker down for a bit. We’re reminded of this at various points in our journey. Sometimes even on a weekend ramble.

When and where have you been in between?