Hitchhike to Heaven

I woke up this morning missing my friends--- craving them, needing to see their precious faces and hold them in my arms. This tends to happen when the world is QUIET, when there are no DISTRACTIONS. The TV is off. The computer is shut down. The books are closed. All is SILENT. When I am ALONE... The faces of my friends just creep into my head when I least want them to. Not because I don't love them-but because I love them so much. I would give and do anything to see them just one more time...and it hurts thinking about it. I'm not talking about the friends here at Freed that I love so dearly, nor the friends in my hometown that are only two-and-a-half hours away...but I'm talking about my friends that live 721, 1826, and 4656 miles away. These friends, my companions, that distance keeps us apart.

So I started thinking-how can I see them? How can I arrive at this destination where I know their presence will remain? Gas is too expensive these days to drive or take a plane...for the shortest distance round trip, if I get 20mpg at $3.50/gallon, it would cost over $250...and let's just forget about plane tickets. Now that may not seem like a lot of money to you, but for a poor college student who needs to save up for the rest of her life, that's a different story.
But there is another option:

I'll hitchhike.

I'll start here at Freed walking to Jackson and head torwards Memphis. I'll walk through the drive-thru's and look on the ground for the spare change (thanks, dad) just so I can eat a meal. I'll walk along the freeway holding out my hitchhiker thumb (thanks, God) pointing it straight up while it bends to the left. I'll ride with the dirtiest of the dirty. The meanest of the mean. I'll risk my life and my family's worries. I may be threatened. I may be robbed. I may starve. I may be abused. I may be kidnapped. I may be sexually assulted--- I may die. But...I may get to see my friends.

And then there is God.

I woke up this morning missing my Friend--- craving Him, needing to see His precious face and hold Him in my arms. This tends to happen when the world is QUIET, when there are no DISTRACTIONS. The TV is off. The computer is shut down. The books are closed. All is SILENT. When I am ALONE...He is there. He is just a call away. A hitchhiker's thumb to Heaven.