A Journey

Ah, the cable cars were great fun. We knew that they were not the most efficient means of getting around San Francisco, but we really wanted to ride the famed cars. The lines were long, both to buy a one day pass and to get on the first car. But a local showed us a shortcut that we used throughout the day.

Though we had looked at maps, what we didn't realize is that there are only three cable car routes, and two of them parallel one another, starting at the same spot and ending up just a few blocks from one another near Fisherman's Wharf. So it clearly isn't the most efficient way to get around San Francisco. Many waits, some full cars so more waiting until the next one, and limited coverage of the city. So why do thousands upon thousands buy rides every day? It is all about the journey and having fun on the journey.

Kathy and I enjoyed most hanging off the sides of the cars--one gets to see more, and there is a thrill in the experience. One meets interesting people waiting in line or trading short conversations on the car. Most interesting was a Scottish policeman who is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan (I was wearing a Vikings sweatshirt--see below for blog on cold!). He wondered if Favre would be back this fall (pronounced "fa-vray" by this Scot). He said that he was coming to a game in Washington DC, not this season but the season of 2011 when the Seahawks are scheduled against a good friend's team, the Redskins, in DC. (I wonder what Kathy would say if I told her I was going to London one weekend for a game. Actually, I don't wonder...)

The cable car bells were constantly clanging. We stopped in the middle of intersections to let people on and off (the only level spots on many roads). We plunged down steep hills with the brake man yanking as hard as he could on the mechanism in the rear. We actually spent more time riding the cars that day than we did seeing the sights.

And it was worth it. Because it was the journey.

We are all on a journey. Very often it isn't the most efficient journey. And sometimes it doesn't even seem to take us the places we would rather go. For Christians that journey is most clearly stated by Jesus, "I am the way..." That way differs a bit for every Christian. No one will ever take the same exact route on the cable cars that Kathy and I did (if only because I got on one going the wrong way for a long block, and we walked straight up three blocks to a different line--and I do mean straight up, on that San Francisco hill). But the cable cars eventually end up in one spot. That spot in our Christian journey is Christ.

Wherever your journey takes you this day--even if it is never to leave home--may that journey include a conversation with a new or old friend. May that journey find its beginning and end in Christ.