Finding Faith ... in traveling this great big creation

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on Aug. 12, 2022.

The Rev. Devlyn Brooks at his home church, Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn.

By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks

They say that travel is good for the soul.

I also say travel is good for faith as it gives you a greater perspective about what a fascinating planet on which we live.

Thanks to a couple of recent work and personal trips, within 10 days, I found myself on the Texas shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic beach in Florida, driving across the Nebraska plains and finally marrying my niece high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Each experience gave me a much greater appreciation of the vastness of God’s creation here on earth.

Standing with my toes in the water of the Gulf of Mexico, it was impossible to think that Florida was some 800 miles away by boat. And a week later, it was even more overwhelming to try to grasp the size of the Atlantic Ocean, while standing on Florida’s eastern shore.

Then there was the trip across the plains to the Colorado Rockies. As I drove through the openness of Nebraska and eastern Colorado, I was moved by its unique beauty. And then I reached the mountains, and I was simultaneously overcome with joy because of the sheer beauty of them and seized by fear because of their intimidating presence.

These amazing adventures, so close in succession, gave me an up close glimpse of the Creator’s handiwork, while also putting my small place in the universe into perspective.

“For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.” (Psalm 95:3-5)

That’s why travel is important: It’s too easy to get trapped into our daily routines, where we believe we are so in control of everything, and our surroundings are reduced to a very small world. When in reality, these unimaginably large bodies of water, the plains that stretch to the horizon and mountains that reach the heavens remind us that we are but a speck in the larger cosmos.

Yes, we are each a beloved child of God, but our human egos easily can run amuck with that little bit of self-realization. We become self-centered, actually there is not only a great big world, but an entire universe out there.

Gaining perspective is important. It not only educates us, but it can also humble us. And that is not a bad thing.

When your wheels are clinging to the edge of a switchback with no guardrail, with a semi-truck bearing down on you from the opposite direction, 8,000 feet up in the mountains, you find a healthy dose of humility quick.

And that’s not a bad thing for one’s faith.

Devlyn Brooks, who works for Modulist, a Forum Communications Co.-owned company, is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He serves as pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com for comments and story ideas.