For the next 14 days, I’ll be on a tour bus sharing God’s Word in 11 cities. This is truly a humbling opportunity in so many ways. But in a unique way, it is humbling personally. You may wonder what could be humbling. Joel, you’re on a tour bus. You get to visit a new city everyday. You are speaking to hundreds of people This sounds amazing! Well, it is but also its complicated. Let me give you a quick insight into tour bus life.
I’m on a bus that is roughly 500sqft with at minimum 4 other people but usually closer to 7 people.
I live out of a suitcase that I have to pull out every day and pack away every day
We are allowed to use the bathroom on the bus but only for #1. NO #2 on the bus, and no exceptions! So, this means if you need to go in the middle of the night, the bus driver has to pull over the entire bus and everyone watches as you make your walk (or jog depending on the urgency) of shame to the public bathroom.
At night we have no control over the conditions of the road. So it could be an easy drive that puts you right to sleep. Or like last night for me, it could be so windy you wake up in the middle of the night thinking you are going to get sick. No, I didn’t get sick but ya’ll; it was a very close call.
I’m away from my family and Facetime is awesome but it also makes my heart long for my wife and kids all the more.
See, so much good and equally mixed into that good is challenge and tension which all leads to a deep awareness of our weakness and inability. Each morning I wake up in my little coffin and it is truly humbling.
Throughout this process, I realized that this bus is kind of like an exile experience. I read recently that exile, “is, in its very essence, living away from home.”1 While on the tour bus I am literally living away from home.
And being away from home creates a longing in the human heart to return home. To return to the place of belonging. The tension is that while we are away good is taking place! But that holds hands with anticipation and longing for the return back to home.
It’s also important to realize that these humble exile moments are formative for us. The Israelites experienced a perpetual return to different types of exile throughout Biblical history. Yet, each experience was not void of purpose. It was identity forming. This is the gift of exile. During these seasons we learn to become a type of people that can flourish away from home so that we can be even more rooted in who we are when we are home! The exile experiences of our lives have a purpose. Even the seemingly small and incidental ones like being on a tour bus and compromising your comforts. These are good things for the human heart to process through.
P.S - If you haven’t heard, my new (and very first!) book “The Hidden Peace: Finding True Strength, Security, and Confidence Through Humility” is now available for pre-order! You get some fun incentives right away :)
Susan Robin Suleiman, Exile and Creativity pg. 2
No No. 2 on the bus?! I would never survive!