In the fall of the year, a young woman was traveling alone along the rugged road from Alberta to the Yukon. On a highway traveled almost exclusively by four-wheel-drive vehicles, she set off in a rundown Honda Civic. The first evening she found a room in the mountains and asked for a 5 AM wakeup call. She couldn’t understand why the clerk was surprised at the request, but, as she awoke to early-morning fog shrouding the mountain tops, she understood.
Two truckers befriended her at breakfast and asked where she was headed. “Whitehorse,” she replied. One of the truckers immediately said, “In that little Civic? No way! This pass is dangerous in weather like this. If you’re going to try to do this, we’re going to have to hug you.” The woman drew back and said, “There’s no way I’m going to let you touch me!”
“Not like that!” The truckers chuckled. “We’ll put one truck in front of you and one in the rear. That way, we’ll get you through the mountains.” All that foggy morning the woman followed the two red dots in front of her and had the reassurance of a big escort behind as they made their way safely through the mountains.
Caught in the fog of the dangerous passages of life, we need to be “hugged.” With fellow Christians who know the way and can mentor us, and with others behind us who “have our backs” who gently encourage us along, we can also pass through safely. This is what genuine and authentic Christian community is all about…it is as old as the first generation of the Church (Acts 2.42-47), and it’s why small-group ministry is so important in today’s congregations. A church can only be healthy if it keeps on hugging!
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