Meanderings: Swapping Road Stories With Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Hagar, Ishmael

By D. Dean Benton

After fourteen years in the pastorate, my wife, daughter, son and sister-in-law, accompanied by a dog and two cats, boarded a bus to shift ministry to full time concerts, seminars, extended meetings. Thirty-four years later we had journals full of interesting events, encounters, and famous people. We met amazing people with stories to tell. About 3500 venues in 40 states with 73 denominations. Our vision was people taking their next step in personal maturity with tools to deal with emotional struggles, mid-life crisis, and family strengths and failures. Biblical patriarch--the first Hebrew--was among the first to hear God to "take it on the road." Abraham's tour group found the road to fulfilled promises and a new land was not straight. They meandered off into adventures, failures, challenges and encounters with Yahweh. Our troupe found ourselves meandering into barriers, disappointments, assault, inadequacy, hilarity, crises, warm welcome while seeking and obeying God's instructions. Our mantras tended to be "What was that all about?" and "What do we do, now?" Meanderings is a collection of stories of how Abraham's pursuit of God's promises of family and land affect us as we tried to figure out how we were to fulfill our calling of speaking hope to life in real time and real life issues. Come, Meander with us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: D. Dean Benton
• Release date: Aug 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370259045

D. Dean Benton

A native Iowan, husband of one, father of two and grandfather of three. A pastor, seminar leader, author of 27 print books and 15 ebooks, singer, songwriter. After 14 years in the pastorate, Dean and his wife Carole, with family, worked in concerts, seminars and conferences for three decades before returning to the pastorate. The Bentons worked in forty states in about 3000 venues.

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Preface

In the early days of computers, a man asked his room-size computer, Do you think you will ever think like a human being? The machine analyzed its computational habits. After a few minutes it printed the answer: That reminds me of a story.

Now that we wear a more powerful computer on our wrist and computers double their capability in less than a year (at last count), those who know such things are using words like post-human. At the same time, marketing experts are teaching us that marketing that works is wrapped around a story.

I’ve enclosed stories collected as we sang, preached and seminared in over 3000 venues, forty states and seventy-four denominations. There are stories of people who meandered through the underbrush and mud of divorce, marriage, depression, stress, death, mid-life crises, burnout, redemption and bursting hope. There are also stories of accomplishment, joy, celebration, insight and influence. These are docudramas of people I know and care about and people and families we met in concerts, seminars, truck stops and coffee shops. I appreciate them sharing their pilgrimages.

This is the story of Abram and Sarai, their dreams, encounters and how they processed the promises of God. I remember the study of Abram and Sarai that preceded and accompanied writing the first Meanderings book as a rich time that dominated my thinking and preaching. Thirty years later, I am again volumes deep in study of Abram and Company. So much I didn't learn the first time around. Sarah was a more powerful person than I knew and Abraham had more foibles. All of the major characters in the story take on a multi-dimension persona when the Islamic, Jewish and Christian narratives are all considered. Abraham is a hero in all three. Sarah and Hagar show up differently in at least two of the traditions and narratives. Ishmael is the son in one and Isaac is the promise in the others. God, as quoted in the Old and New Covenants, gives Ishmael legitimacy but calls Isaac, The Promise. Each in his own place and assignment.

This epic story and each of Abraham’s family experience brings value to our own journey. We are grafted into the family tree through the Abrahamic Covenant. You are a descendant.

I’ve invited Kona to join us. She lives at our son Doug’s house, but she greets each of us as if we are her favorite. Kona is hardwired for adventure. If you are going for a walk or ride, she’s primed. Ready for adventure—what a reputation.

These words from our daughter, Debi, who shared a four-year old Facebook memory:

As I was driving Hannah to school this morning we passed a 2nd grader. He was alone. He had his imaginary sword out and was battling his way to school. I wondered: when is it that we forget how to slay dragons and vanquish foes, and stop seeing life as a grand adventure? At what age do we leave the sword at home to rust, and instead pick up a walking stick, and begin to trudge?

To MEANDER means to wander idly. Since I take serious the material on these pages, I’ll amend the definition to wander without hurrying. So, pack your bag to interact and introspect. Bring a treat for Kona and stories to tell. We won’t hurry.

Come, Meander with me.

Introduction

Robert A. Caro writes about the impact top soil made on Lyndon B. Johnson’s family when they moved to Texas to become farmers. Lyndon’s father, Sam, bought land near the Pedernales in The Hill Country. He sold all his property, borrowed from three banks and mortgaged personal items and his fate to buy farm equipment, fix the house and get the Texas farm operational. He did not understand Hill Country top soil. He was betting on cotton.

A gully across the Johnson land was deep enough to walk elephants in according to family. Sam took a team and wagon and loaded rich, black, river bottom dirt into the wagon all by himself. He drove back to the gully, dumped the dirt and repeated the trip until he had enough rich soil to plant cotton. The first spring rain of 1920 was a gully washer that roared through the Johnson gully washing soil and seeds away. He filled the gully again with black dirt and seed. A second flood repeated the devastation. Sam needed that crop. He excavated again. A relative said, He planted it, and planted it. And he never got a crop out of it. Not one.

A loved one said about Sam,

"He was not a farmer type. He was not a man of the soil. Not physically and not in his head either. But he tried very hard to be a farmer. I still remember how hard he tried."1

The pain in that chapter has hung on me since I first read it in 1992. It taught me something. I still remember how hard he tried. How hard he tried. Trying hard is not good enough if the top soil is a thin veneer over land that will not produce. Neither is hope or faith, wishful thinking or willingness to fight. Author Robert Caro says, What counted in the Hill Country was the reality of the soil.

Trying hard is not adequate if we are out of our calling or assignment. No matter how hard we try.

"God often chooses people knowing that they are the key to touching other lives. His favor is upon you so you can be part of His plan of distributing that same favor to others."²

During the writing of this book, I have calculated and recalculated what didn’t work and celebrate those activities that did. I have studied journals and memories to unearth reasons. On this date the conclusion is this: be sure you know whom God has called you to bless. Then do whatever it takes to keep yourself in a position that God can favor you to be the distributor of blessing and favor—the reality of the soil.

My recalculations showed me reasons which never threw shade on God as the one who was holding out or picking fair-haired people to give sum-zero amounts of favor. God is looking for sons and daughters who will be obedient and prepare themselves for His favor.

I have wondered if Abraham, who was known as the friend of God, and Moses whom interacted with Yahweh face to face, or David who was the apple of God’s eye were His first choice. Were there others called, who did not put themselves in a favorable position?

Surround yourself with people who add value to your life. Alex Elle

Abraham’s assignment was to bless persons, nations and families. It became the family business. My core mission is to add value to you. My hard work in this writing is to add soul-value that will not wash out. This book is to bless you—add value to you. These meanderings have added value to me, so I share them with you. If nothing else, to know which gully to avoid.

Section One

Meanderings

SWAPPING ROAD STORIES WITH ABRAHAM’S TOUR GROUP

Packing for Pilgrimage

Chapter 1

Packing for Pilgrimage—1

Genesis 11:31-32

Four men traveled to the Yukon on a raft which was dismantled upon arrival and used to build a cabin. At the end of their year on the ocean, in the wilderness and removed from creature comforts they talked of their journey. They relived chapters written in journals and pictures taken of baths in icy water.

What a story to tell my grandchildren, one said. The balding fellow congratulated himself for doing this before he got too old. One of the four was headed back to San Francisco to put together maps for his next journey. He said, Hey, there’s got to be another adventure!

That is the spirit of the pilgrim. Relax! You don’t have to pack a suitcase or put casters under everything you own. The pilgrim spirit does not demand we put our house up for sale. The call of Jesus to Follow me! is not limited to a few strange people who have gypsy blood in their fuel lines.

There’s got to be another adventure…though apparently not for everyone.

Before Abram¹ heard God say, Leave your country, Terah, his father, had either heard God’s call to Canaan or made a decision to immigrate to that new land. Genesis 11:31-32 opens a mystery. The family got to a town named Haran and settled there. The story has several potential tangents from Terah getting sick and could venture no further or God’s plan was that Abram would lead the family and be the center of an adventure Terah could never have dreamed or caught the vision.

There is more to Terah’s lifeline than I know, but what I do know makes me sad. There was no more adventuring for him. What happened between the home farm in Ur and the town called Haran? Terah lived to be 205. A doctor in Savannah took my cholesterol numbers and uttered words that may have knocked Terah off his camel: A person your age…. Or a dream killer may have done him in with a just thinking about your welfare conversation.

There was a season I settled into disappointment. I concluded I was totally unable to hear the voice of God or access His provision and favor. The constant absolute in my soul—thinking, feeling and will was: IT’S OVER! YOU’RE FINISHED!

None of those things may have ambushed Terah, but pilgrims—adventurers—must brace themselves because the Promises of God will be assaulted and the adventurer will be opposed. Too old. Misheard God. Misinterpreted the message or plan. Disappointments pile up and the reasons to put permanent roots down in Haran become convincing.

The phrase, Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country…" (Genesis 12:1a) suggests God had spoken to him before his father led the family to Haran.

It was a rainy, foggy night in Alabama as we traveled to our next concert. We tried to visit historical places and engage the culture as we traveled. Tuskegee was our destination that night, but we arrived too late. We pulled into a Burger King for a late supper. The spirit of Booker T. Washington (talk about a pilgrim!) and the vision of Tuskegee settled on me. I didn’t know what was going on inside me or what this place and people had to do with me. Washington believed that the glory of his race had been stolen and he wanted it back.

I was set upon an adventure. Forty-five years later Booker T. Washington is still one of my American heroes. That adventure took on a new dimension when I found one of my college student friends grew up in Washington’s town and went to the school that was life-shaping to Booker T. Washington. He packed to impact the world. He did that!

Chapter 2.

Packing for Pilgrimage—2

Isaiah 43:19

A four-year old friend called our adult daughter to ask if she had heard about the new park in town. When Deborah heard the park’s location, she said, Oh, that’s been there for a long time. It’s not new.

The little girl replied, Yeah? Well! It’s new to me!

No matter that the trees were 100 years old and the tennis nets have been changed twenty times. No matter that the sliding board has worn out the britches of three generations. It was a brand new park in town to Erin.

A young mother said, I must be getting old. Nothing seems as exciting as it used to. When the pilgrim spirit leaves a person, business or church, the vacuum fills with boredom and negatives.

"When fantasy fails and when we feel stripped of stimuli, we begin to feel that special kind of restless anxiety that constitutes boredom.

To know all, to have done all, to have seen all, to predict all…would lead quickly from boredom to ennui to despair." 1

Erin is no longer four. She is a grown lady, a lawyer, married, with children who look like her. I bet she could make a case for the power of keeping eyes wide open for new things.

Bob Benson became our family’s favorite story teller. His son Robert has his own quirks and styles. He also ranks with our favorites. So there was Robert Green Benson, Sr. whom we loved as Bob. His son is Robert Green Benson, Jr., who is known as Robert. When he had a son he was named Robert Green Benson III. We heard Bob tell the story about his ten-year old son Tom saying, Little Robert, sure is lucky. He gets to do all them new things. When questioned what them new things were he was ready with a list: He’s never climbed a tree, waded in a lake, run through a field, felt the wind in his face or ridden a bicycle—all them new things. ²

As sure as that is one of my favorite books, there is a list of absolutes. Near the top of the list is: among one of your most valuable intellectual and emotional assets is curiosity about new things and old things that need a better explanation.

I don’t think Abram’s family ever vacationed in Canaan. They weren’t returning to a favorite place. It was new! When Yahweh spoke Abram’s name and told him to go to Canaan to grow a family and a nation, the few words stirred his imagination. Before long, obedience described his behavior.

So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him (Genesis 12:4a)

I don’t know how the Lord spoke to him. Their patterns of communication are mysterious, but Abram had absolute certainty that he was going to have a boy and he would one day get his mail at a Canaan Zip Code. I’m guessing, but I think his spiritual curiosity and imagination made him wonder: What will this promise look like from my new front porch? Whole lot of new things.

What’s new in your life? What are you certain about?

Chapter 3

Packing for Pilgrimage—3

John 15:15-16

In our moving about, we came across the Christ of the Ozarks exhibit where the Passion Play is presented each summer evening. The entire terrain is dominated by a sixty-foot concrete sculpture of our Lord with outstretched, beckoning arms. Hundreds of acres reverberate with the sounds of sacred music pumped through one speaker at the foot of the statue.

A swarm of bees was building a hive on the speaker cone. Don’t bees have ears? Why would they be attracted to such decibels and amidst all the traffic? Bee keepers might tell me there is a natural attraction to the vibration.

I was writing the first draft of this book that day. It was a natural jump to question what drew Abram to God. Or, for that matter, what drew God to Abram? Was there something inherent in Abram that God sought? Was the selection the result of God thumbing through Asian phone books? Did God speak via a faithful witness? Ur of the Chaldees was home to many gods and dominated by the moon god. Yahweh was not known, but I wonder if someone had chiseled a paragraph about Yahweh on a wall? Was there a verbal tradition among a remnant of believers who had access to Abram?

Whatever the source, the answer is found in God’s sovereignty and plan. Abram obeyed the call…. The transient life was as alien to the new pilgrim as bees on a speaker cone. Something was planted in him that would take a lifetime to define and understand. He ventured.

"Everyone knew that Booker Washington was always pushing for some ideal he carried in his head. Most others simply couldn’t grasp it, but it was something Booker just couldn’t be satisfied without, something he strove to achieve but couldn’t quite define. Later eras would call it the spirit of excellence."3

Drawn to a strange place is how others may evaluate our pilgrimage—like bees to a woofer, like Washington to a struggling school. One of my favorite stories of Tuskegee was when he discovered the school sat on a clay bank once used for making bricks. He declared the new buildings would be made of bricks which they would make and they would be of the best quality. Students dug pits until the right consistency was found. Washington bought brick-making equipment from a landowner. But the bricks failed. Washington was zeroed in on Tuskegee bricks. Students left school, faculty vocalized their doubts. Three kiln were built that failed. Give up were words not in his vocabulary. He went to Montgomery, sold his gold watch and set into motion the purchase of a fourth kiln which worked. It produced bricks of excellent quality, making Tuskegee Brick a name defining excellence.

Historian Louis R. Harlan said,

"Persistence in the face of adversity was a quality that allowed Booker Washington to succeed while lesser spirits would fail and abandon an effort."4

Who is teaching you excellence? Perseverance?

What feels alien to you about your calling?

What do you cling to as you hear God saying, Leave…?

Are you having a difficult time perceiving what God is saying or recognizing the new?

Chapter 4

Packing for Pilgrimage—4

Hebrew 11:3, 1 Peter 2:11

"Heaven preserve me from littleness and pleasantries and smoothness. Give me great glaring vices and great glaring virtues, but preserve me from neat little neutral ambiguities." 5

Abram was born in a world of idolatry locally dominated by Nannar the moon god which was central to life in Ur. Beyond Ur, Abram would have confronted Baal. He would have witnessed, perhaps participated in worship featuring slaughtered animals, an endless orgy of sexual and alcoholic excess and depravities including routine child sacrifice.

We cannot ask that New Testament morality guide Abram, but he may have found Ur appalling and that disdain evolve into an open heart when the One True God revealed Himself. For sure, he had not lived so close to the message or character of Yahweh to dull his hearing God’s voice.

Our dissatisfactions, urgings, revulsions, circumstances, emergencies, disappointments, upheavals or being cast out, cause us to long for and then search for a better land.

By faith Abraham obeyed the call to go out to a land for himself and his heirs…. Given his personality, his historical epoch, his role in the Mediterranean region, Abram responded to the beckoning God. God begins with us where we are. He does not issue random cattle calls (in the theatrical sense), nor will He call you to Abram’s task. He does call us to a pilgrimage.

Given your time, place, personal wiring, what is currently causing inner turmoil? Dissatisfaction? Urgings? Emergencies? Revulsions? Can these inner quakes be the way God is calling you to a new adventure? All change is born out of dissatisfaction with things as they are. Can you relate to Hebrews 6:13-17?

Our small village was moving into modern life with a new sewer system. One morning our first and second grade kids complained of illness. Soon we all had the flu. We all went back to bed, except for the 12,467 trips to the bathroom. Mid-morning there was a knock on the door. I crawled to the door, lifted the blind and saw our plumber. He announced that this was the day our house would be connected to the new sewer line and that we would be without water or bathroom for several hours. Having those restrictions felt like the onset of the Great Tribulation. I begged for postponement. I pleaded. Didn’t help!

By noon, Deb and Doug had recovered. They crept into our bedroom to view the bodies and offered to make their own lunch. Their parents gladly agreed.

Minutes later we heard breaking glass, crashing dishes and screams of dismay. The delicately balanced refrigerator middle shelf lost it and spewed contents. The fridge was emptied of green beans, orange Jell-O, orange juice cartons and creamed corn that was growing its own antibiotics all topped by pickled beets. The sight or the odor or the prospect of having to clean it up while bending over delayed the parents’ recovery.

We longed for a better land! No neutral ambiguity there.

Speaking of inner turmoil. Dissatisfaction. Urging. Emergency. Revulsion. Needs and reasons are sometimes as clear as pig slop on the kitchen floor. The Ur urging is not that clear, but something within keeps calling that it is time and we hear God saying, Follow Me. Abram knew it was time.

Chapter 5

Packing for Pilgrimage—5

Ephesians 1:19, 1 John 1:5-9

Abram stepped out on a meager amount of data about the Caller with his massive promises of an unnamed land and an expansive family. Yahweh promised to show the traveler where to turn left. That was about all the directions and information he was given. He was given no GPS or destination. After the initial response, God spoke in broadening revelations, but Abram stepped into that new knowledge one step at a time.

Over the years of becoming, there dawns a new season with a choice: pilgrimage or polluted stagnation. The next adventure is the antidote against the malaise that comes with seeing it all and having learned all the rabbit tricks. Stepping into God’s new challenging venture clears the pollution. The worn talismen we have tucked away to keep us safe get tested. If you’re wondering what the odor is, it may