Out There

Ray Ortlund post:  Not in the Shire

“Do you feel any need to leave the Shire now – now that your wish to see [the Elves] has come true already?” he asked.

“Yes, sir. . . . I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way.  I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can’t turn back.  It isn’t to see Elves now, nor dragons, nor mountains, that I want – I don’t rightly know what I want; but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire.  I must see it through, sir, if you understand me.”

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (Boston, 1994), page 85.

The obvious is sometimes worth saying, namely, that our futures lie out ahead of us, in the future, not behind us.  Out there in the unfamiliar, the demanding, not back in the safe and the predictable.  Out there – in the promises of God calling for our faith.