Shawn at Glendalough

The sun is desperately trying to peak through the murky haze this soft Irish morning. I am sipping a warm cup of Irish tea with the perfect amount of milk and sugar. In a couple of hours I will be back on a plane to the States. But now I am enjoying the fresh air sweetened by flowers.

Has it really been really been 13 years?

This is my first trip of the 2011 summer pilgrimage season. All Saints Episcopal Church, from Ft. Worth Texas, has enjoyed their week in the south of Ireland. They hiked to a glacial lake in the Commeragh Mountains, climbed the tower of a thousand year-old church to watch the bells toll in measured rhythm, explored the monastic ruins of St. Mullins and Glendalough and frolicked in the Irish Sea. Every day has been one of surprise encounter with God and the Irish.

St. Mullins

Yet, none of this would have happened unless the seed had been planted those 13 years ago.

I first came to Ireland in 1996. I knew I had to visit after reading Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization. I studied the ancient wonder-voyages brave monks took as they cast their small hide boats out onto the Irish Sea with a simple prayer:

May the Hand of God lead us where He might, to establish a safehaven, a

light-tower of Christ’s love for those who do not hear the Voice of the

One that forever calls to His Creation.

I was a youth pastor bringing a group from my church.  My new Irish friends, John and Sonja Spencer, hosted our group. We embraced Ireland with emerald awe and wide-eyed inspiration. By the time I left, I was in love with a country that was not my own.

I returned once again in 1998 with my youth group. By that point I was leading mission trips around the world a few times a year with our church youth. But Ireland remained a very special place. Sitting down one evening with John, I dreamed aloud about starting an organization that led cultural exchange trips around the world, just like the wonder-voyages of old.

Coomshanon

But it was a fantasy.

In reality, I could not imagine a life outside of pastoring. I loved what I did. I felt safe and I enjoyed a steady paycheck. Frankly I did not think I had what was necessary to pursue such an outrageous dream.

Two years later, after a messy break up with the church, a year’s sabbatical to ponder what I wanted to do when I grew up, no money and one shot to pusue a dream career, Wonder Voyage was born.

There would be years of struggle, pain, and sacrifice. Success was far from guaranteed. And there was a thousand reasons why it should not have worked.

As I sit this morning, sipping on my tea, a lump rising in my throat, I think upon that conversation more than a decade ago where I dared to risk it all and pursue a dream.

The azul Irish Sea

I am convinced that dream-seed was divine. I am sure that sometime during that conversation the finger of God pushed that seed deep into my mind, past my layers of doubt and safety; through my stony helmet of pride, stubborness and boxed-religious thoughts, into the subconscious place where faith, hope and love resided.

This morning I have come full circle and I know, without a doubt, that a God who speaks to the human hearts, who helps us aspire, who longs for us to become what He has created us to be; started this distinctive community called Wonder Voyage.

As I gulp down the last of the cup of tea and head to the bus that has just arrived, I am thankful that for once I listened.

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People often assume that leading trips around the world is the perfect dream job.  Dream job? I agree.  Perfect? Far from it.

A Wonder Voyage director is privileged to travel, visit exotic places, see unbelievable vistas and engage in once in a lifetime experiences. We share adventures with multitudes of interesting people from every walk of life. There is great satisfaction in serving others who are desperately in need of help. And God meets us face to face.

But there is another side to what we do.

We are, essentially, in a service industry. The service side is usually hidden to those who have never lead a trip. And that service  is often our fiery trial.   Our staff is often up before dawn and in bed after everyone else.  They must become waiters, porters, bus drivers, tour leaders, pastors, priests and accountants. A voyage director must listen to the voice of Christ in pursuit of daily obedience.  We are driven by the need to see others experience God’s love thus we must practice holiness  so we remain a conduit of that sovereign love. We never know what challenges may arise, what dangers we mightface, how a plan can come unraveled in minutes.  And we must have an immediate  solution if it does unravel.

Difficult personalities are the toughest trial I deal with. Trust me, there are a lot of unpleasant people we engage with and yet, we have to serve them with the love of Christ. It is easy to deal with those who appreciate what you are doing.  But what about those who are selfish, feel entitled, or they are just down right nasty and rude? We must be willing to serve others regardless of how thankless or unkind they may be to us.

These are all part of the fiery trials of leading trips. But we are not so different from the waitress that works 14-hours a day to pay the bills or the construction worker that slaves in the hot sun to do road work. What about the office worker dealing with inter-office politics or the youth pastor being berated by a parent or the kid working the drive through at a fast food restaurant? They all have their own fiery trials.

I came across a verse today in my morning devotionals. Duet 30: 6,

‘and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart… so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart…’

Everyone goes through hard times and deals with difficult people. That’s life. But you have a choice. The fiery trials of your life will either harden your heart to God and man or they will be instruments of revelation, showing you who you really are.

Let the moments that make you want to quit and run away reveal the true nature of your heart. Let those moments expose you.

Then hand that revelation to God.

Circumcision, by nature, is the process of cutting off unnecessary flesh. Once your ‘unnecessary flesh’ is exposed turn it over to God. Ask Him to change you, to transform you, and to set you free.

The cutting will be painful. You cannot get around that fact. But once that flesh is removed, and as that transformation begins, you will know a joy unspeakable.

I first sat down with Paul at a soup kitchen in 2003. Our Wonder Voyage team was serving at a weekly outreach in the East Village of New York City. Paul had emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in the mid 1990s in search of work. He was a professional chef and jobs were abundant in NYC.  We had an instant connection through his hometown of Galway, where I had lived for a few summers. We shared a meal, great conversation and a lot of laughs.

“What’s your story Paul? How did you become homeless?” I asked.

“I had a good job at a top restaurant for a couple of years.  To be a chef in NYC is great for the resume. But everything changed after 9/11.” Paul’s gaze dropped to the table. He began to swirl spaghetti with his fork like he was tending a tiny Zen garden. “By January of this year the restaurant shut down. Jobs are sparse. I had nowhere to go. My money ran out in weeks and I really didn’t know a lot of people.”  He looked at me again. “Shawn, in NYC a trip from the penthouse to the poorhouse is only a paycheck away.  So here I am on the streets. Too poor to move. Too poor to eat.  Not a job in sight.”

For a year Paul moved from shelter to shelter. All of his meals came from the kindness of others. When Paul went to interviews he had to hide his homelessness to even be considered for a chef position.

When our conversation ended I gave Paul a hug and prayed for his well-being. I thought about him often over the next year.

In 2004, I revisited the soup kitchen with another team. As I entered the dining area I saw Paul. His huge Irish smile gave him away.  He had cleaned up and was wearing nice clothes. He sat eating a bowl of soup amongst the other homeless men and women. He looked healthy and happy. I sat down and broke bread with him to catch up on his story.

Six months after I first talked Paul, he roamed the streets and took every job interview he could find.  Finally, with a bit of Irish charm, he was hired as chef at a nice bistro uptown. He found an apartment and served in a Methodist homeless ministry when he wasn’t at the restaurant.  I asked the obvious question: “so why are you at a soup kitchen on a Thursday night eating a meal?”

Paul gave me a ‘matter of fact’ look. “Shawn, these are my friends. They helped me get through my toughest times.  They protected me, taught me how to survive on the streets and kept me laughing.  These are my friends and this is where I hang out with them whenever I have a Thursday off.”

As we got up and walked out of the building I ask Paul a question.  “If you could say one thing to prepare my groups that come to serve food to the homeless, what would it be?”

His answer came as swift as an Irish tide.

“These people, my friends, can get food.   In fact, a lot of churches bring them meals.  But you know what they really want?  Why don’t you go and get them a meal from a fast food place, the same meal you would get for yourself, and go hang out with them. Break bread on their level.  These people don’t need your food or charity.  They need your time, your kind eyes, your open ears.  They need to know you care enough to listen to them and to meet them where they are at. They need you to hear their stories.”

From that day on we did just that. If a team has the courage to meet the homeless face-to-face, to look into their eyes and smile, then we challenge them to Buy Jesus a Big Mac.

In Matthew 25, Jesus said, “What you do for the least of these you do for me.” So in buying a Big Mac meal for a homeless person, we buy one for Jesus. When we sit down and spend a few minutes hearing their stories we begin to hear the heart of Christ. As we shake their hands, Christ grabs ahold of our hands.  And as we give people going through rough times our time, our eyes, our ears we move a little bit closer to the heart of God.

‘Hazmat suits.  This is definitely going to take hazmat suits.’ That was the first thought that popped into my mind when I looked down into that dark, stank-filled hole.

The Father’s Heart, located in Alphabet City in the East Village, is our home of choice for our NYC bound Wonder Voyage teams. The surrounding neighborhood is classic Big Apple but the real advantage is our involvement with the Father’s Heart Ministry. FHM is an organization with a thirty-year history of ministering to hurting people through drug intervention, youth programs, and educational opportunities. FHM is the primary reason the surrounding neighborhood, once the drug center of Manhattan, is now a safe haven for families. Their key mission is feeding hundreds of homeless, low-income families and immigrants that live around their headquarters. Their Saturday morning all-you-can-eat hot breakfast is renowned.

In July of 2006, we brought a large team of High School students from Dallas, Texas. Nick, now one of our current directors, led the team. Nick loves the question we always ask before serving any organization.  We met with the founders of FHM, Chuck and Carol Vedral, and we asked them to give us the job nobody else wanted.  They exchanged a glance that looked like they wanted to say something but Carol veered off course.

“How about a painting project?”

I could sense Carol was holding back.  “Seriously Carol, what is the job you really need done? What is the job nobody else wants?”

I was not mentally prepared for her answer.  Carol decided to show us instead of explaining the project. She took us to the basement of the five-story building. We passed the food pantry, walked through the maintenance room, down an ever-darkening hall to a locked door.  Behind the door lay the job no one ever wanted. When Carol opened the door we began to gag.

The room directly under the kitchen was the size of a racquetball court. A few years prior a corrupt employee allowed the room to be used as a dumping ground for locals.  For a few dollars under the table he would unlock the door and look the other way as people ridded themselves of stuff the garbage trucks would not take. Junk stacked as tall as a man filled the room.  Old furniture, boxes of old clothes, bags of trash, car tires, and heavy mechanical parts lay scattered throughout the murky room. Over the years the roof leaked. The water, knee-deep and rancid, carried the aroma of rotting trash, pungent mildew and rusty metal. As the odor escaped up into the building we heard the complaints of people upstairs. To add insult to injury, the grease trap at an adjacent restaurant broke and leaked into the basement, leaving a ¼ inch grease slick on top of the water. This had to be the smell of hell.

We ran back up the stairs and out into the street. As Nick and I composed ourselves with deep breaths of fresh air, Carol started to laugh. “Are you sure you want the job nobody else wants?”

This was a dragon no one was prepared to battle.  I conferred with Nick. He spoke to the group, sharing the reality of the situation and the gravity of the work that must be done. And the toxic junk would have to be taken through a maze of stairwells and down the block. On top of that, the group would have to donate $1000 to rent a thirty-foot dumpster for the trash.   It took the students about three seconds to enthusiastically agree. They were in. This would be their act of worship to God.

We bought boots and waders, breathing masks, gloves and anything else necessary for those going into the cave of the dragon. They worked tirelessly for hours. Twenty-five students gave all their unselfish energy to clean the noxious wasteland.  The whole neighborhood stank in the sweltering ninety degrees.  After five hours the students had filled the dumpster to the brim and pumped out most of the water.

When the room was clean Carol and Chuck cried. “This is what it means to serve Christ sacrificially. This is what it means to carry the cross,” said Chuck.

And this is why we ask to do the jobs nobody else wants.

–

Last January, 2010, on the 10th year anniversary of Wonder Voyage Missions, we started a series of articles on the SSS blog called ‘The Wonder Years’.  The articles follow the story of our organization from conception to where we are today.

They are co-written by WVM assistant director Mike Flickinger (focusing on the major historical moves of a particular year) and moi, Shawn Small (focusing on the spiritual insights along the journey).  Throughout 2010 we covered years 1998 – 2004. (You can find all of these blogs under the Wonder Years category on this blog site).  They are fascinating reads into the origin and heartbeat of an unique organization.

We continue the series with 2005- a year of transition.  Follow this year as we cover the second half of our Wonder Voyage journey.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – Bilbo, The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

One of my favorite things about the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings is that they don’t want to be heroes. They’re either tooold or too young, the journey too far and the danger too great. They use these and other perfectly sane reasons to stay home. I also love how the Hobbits still long for a little adventure in spite of their comfortable routines. They’re just like us. And they go on to become truly heroic, once the right situations come along to push them out the door.

Though Shawn Small, Executive Director of Wonder Voyage, would not fashion himself a hero (and certainly not a Hobbit), his journey started a little bit like The Lord of the Rings. Wonder Voyage was founded by desire and a little push.

It was 1998. Shawn had just turned thirty and realized he had no idea where his life was headed. He was comfortable and safe but hungered for something more. His only recourse was to give himself completely to God. Shawn’s prayer, captured in one of his many journals, is intense: in it he asks God for brokenness, avows submission and allows for divine direction. It draws heavily from Psalm 51, in which the psalmist begs for God to recreate his entire existence. The entry ends with the innocuous and sincere request “to open the doors of adventure.”

At this point Shawn’s experience in leading groups of travelers was slowly growing: as a student minister he had guided couple trips to New Orleans, Ireland and a few other places. The desire to create a pilgrimage company started bubbling to the surface in his subconscious- though it was still a dream without form. There was no way Shawn could have seen the results of his words, but as he concluded his prayer, God started planting the tiny seeds of Wonder Voyage.

But before it could begin to form, Shawn needed to be out the door. He’d expressed his desire for adventure (though perhaps he didn’t know it), but Shawn was still far too comfortable.

So God started to push. Shawn attributes the loss of his job as a pastor as motivating the process: “It took about a year. I was just stubborn enough to hang on that long. First they took my benefits, then cut my pay, and then they started calling me into the office [. . .] Finally they fired me. If they hadn’t done that I don’t think I would have ever left.” God continued to push and push, answering Shawn’s prayer: strongly inviting him to have a real adventure.

And here we are. This an introduction to the 10 Years of Wonder Voyage, an organization that started with an open-ended prayer and now leads dozens of trips per year, employs several full-time staff members, and many (many many) volunteers and supporters. We are born out of a desire to have some real adventures, and in many cases healthy shove from God out of our comfortable Hobbit homes. We have stepped into the Road, and God has swept us to many unexpected and beautiful places. Shawn’s prayer started this journey, and it is our continuing prayer for God to meet us wherever He wants.

Mike Flickinger has been leading Wonder Voyage trips for four years and works full-time as Shawn’s administrative assistant.  He has been commissioned to write this series of articles to document the history of our organization. This articles covers the pre-Wonder Voyage year of 1998.

When someone first hears the name wonder-voyage it usually leads to one of a couple of thoughts. To those of an imaginative nature the name invokes adventure, mystery and hidden treasure. To the more practically minded, wonder-voyage sounds more like a new age aromatherapy session. Either way, the name Wonder Voyage stirs the heart. The decision to name our non-profit “Wonder Voyage” deserves an explanation.

As I prepared for my first trip to Ireland in 1996, I obtained a copy of the now-bestseller, How the Irish Saved Civilization. Through his charming prose, Thomas Cahill transports the reader into the Christian history of Ireland, beautifully painting a picture of God’s sovereign handiwork through these precocious and passionate Celts. I came across a particular term that caught my attention as I read. The immram (or “wonder-voyage” in Irish) is an ancient journey-tale in which the hero faces a series of adventures.  These quests become the catalyst of redemption for the hero or a people in need of deliverance. Think Homer’s Odyssey or C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

These adventures became a staple of early Irish literature.  Some of the best-known immramas were tales of holy men and women who departed their beloved island. They faced great dangers for the opportunity to bring God’s Good News to a foreign and often hostile people. Often times, they would set sail in their small boats, catch the wind, and pray: “Lord, take us wherever You desire.” Wherever their boat eventually landed they laid roots. Columcille’s Iona, off the western coast of Scotland, is a modern day location testifying to such a journey. Pilgrimage tales like Columcille’s captivated me. These stories became the inspiration for a play I wrote for that first Ireland trip. For the next four years, the play called Immrama traveled to arts and Celtic festivals throughout Ireland, the US and Canada.

In 1999I decided to start a travel company aptly named Wonder Voyage Adventures.  For various reasons I decided to take Wonder Voyage non-profit. A good friend, who was helping us through the legalities of becoming a non-profit organization, felt strongly that Missions was a more straightforward name than Adventures. In January of 2000, we incorporated as Wonder Voyage Missions.

Imagine a journey, a pilgrimage of sorts. A great adventure of extraordinary exploration into foreign cultures (the Voyage) where you encounter the face of God (the Wonder) through the eyes of strangers you will soon call friends (the Mission). The name Wonder Voyage Missions has become synonymous with matchless journeys that continue to stir the imagination of thousands.

Why the Name Wonder Voyage is a part of the article series covering the Wonder Voyage Years.   The Wonder Voyage name was adopted in 1999- a few months before the official launch of the organization.

Swamp Creature and Baby

It was the year Shawn potty trained his son Hunter.

By early 1999, Shawn was officially out of a job after ten years of pastoring. This catapulted him into what he called a “mid-life crisis twenty years ahead of time.”  The organization was still not yet technically named Wonder Voyage Missions. Shawn had started a travel company named “Wonder Voyage Adventures” until January 2000. It was a small operation comprised of a handful of staff.

Though it was not yet a recognizable entity, the pieces of Wonder Voyage’s foundation were coming together:

The mission of Wonder Voyage would be pilgrimage. Shawn drew heavily from his research into Celtic Christianity and Irish culture. Specifically, he took the Celtic tradition of the “immram,” a sea journey in which a hero adventures in search of the Otherworld, and applied it to the concept of pilgrimage.

Wonder Voyage’s ethos for travel would be well defined: each trip would have its own DNA (as opposed to the countless “canned” trips other companies offered). Shawn would take the “Indiana Jones hands-on approach” to exploration (treat everything as adventure), he would focus heavily on cultural exchange and service for mission work, and every traveler would have opportunity for in-depth cultural immersion. This differed greatly from what Shawn observed in many other missions organizations, where well-intentioned groups had limited brushes with their host culture. Shawn wanted to form genuine relationships with the real people he encountered as he discovered new places.

Those who’ve stood beside us through the years were also stepping into place. In February, Pam and Mike Gentry, the company’s first and most faithful supporters, wrote their first donation check to Wonder Voyage. They’ve donated every single month since. Around that same time, David and Kim Leeson bought the office its first computer. Others began to pray for the fledgling organization, and lending their support in countless little ways.

God put a lot of pieces into their places. As I read Shawn’s journal for 1999, I found what he considered to be his greatest accomplishment that year. He potty trained his son, Hunter.

Clearly Shawn accomplished much more: all the “big pieces” of the foundation were moving, the underlying structure of Wonder Voyage slowly fitting into place. Hunter’s potty training may initially be regarded as comical and out-of-place, especially among so many important milestones. But Shawn describes those moments with his son with a healthy sense of pride. As the organization formed, he became a better father. His time with his family trumped his need to accomplish something. This became a vital part of Wonder Voyage’s formation. Personal relationships would take precedence over policy or budgets or fundraising or advertising; and we would also be content in the day-to-day routine. Every day, every moment, ever breath is a gift from God to be treasured or squandered.

So many people drift from spiritual event to spiritual event, starving for God’s presence in the in-between moments. It’s an overly used expression: “it’s all about the journey- not the destination.” But it happens to be true. We spend most of our lives in those in-between moments. The little details and routines that fill our days generally don’t make it into the big sprawling epics, but every day becomes an opportunity for wonder and excitement. The journey is an every-day adventure.

Click here if you’d like to read more about Wonder Voyage’s history.

Mike Flickinger has been leading Wonder Voyage trips for four years and works full-time as Shawn’s administrative assistant.  He has been commissioned to write this series of articles to document the history of our organization. This articles covers the pre-Wonder Voyage year of 1999.

Ask anyone even years after their Wonder Voyage trip what they recall about their journey and chances are their answer will be an encounter moment. If not the most endearing quality of Wonder Voyage, Encounter Moments are unquestionably the most memorable.

Combining a variety of elements such as a unique location, storytelling or journaling, and encounter moment employs the full senses of the traveler. Sometimes planned but more often spontaneous, encounter moments are defining memorable events that illustrate to our voyagers that God is present and active in their lives. Often, these moments become face-to-face encounters with Christ that leave life-long transformation in their wake. Anyone who leads a Wonder Voyage has a multitude of encounter moment stories that keep them encouraged. But when was Wonder Voyage’s original encounter?

Ireland was the location of our first trips starting in 2000. Teams from the U.S. joined us throughout the summer exploring the beauty of south Ireland, serving a local church in the town of New Ross and learning about Celtic Christianity. Our first team from Dallas First Assembly arrived in Eire and we were a bit nervous. As the director of the organization, I knew we had to introduce the Wonder Voyage experience in an unexpected and dramatic manner. A split second idea spurred on by a piece of local history changed everything.

Close to where we housed the team sat the hidden entrance to the old Mount Elliot train tunnel. The bare limestone passageway ran a mile underground ending at a red bridge over the brisk River Barrow. It had been in disuse since 1963; the tracks were long ago stripped away, making it appear like the dark cavern of a mammoth troll. As the small group of students gathered at the entrance of the passageway, a curious hush descended. A musty smell like old wet clothes crept out of a hollow of darkness loosely covered by years of creeping vines.  The gaggle of teens, chattering like a murder of crows just seconds before, felt a wave a excitement and fear. Quite suddenly, the unknown sat just ahead.I explained that we would walk the tunnel in absolute darkness and complete silence.

As we staggered down that pitch black warren, the lack of sight enhanced every sound: a steady drip of water from the cavern ceiling; unsure echoed steps; the quickening breathing as fears of the unseen built in the group.  In three minutes all vestiges of the afternoon sunlight disappeared. We were totally blind to our surroundings. By the time we reached the middle of the tunnel, now a half mile under the earth, the majority of the group was unnerved. But they trusted that there was purpose to this odd exercise.  Stopping the group in the dark, I spoke about the power of unhindered worship. What would a song of praise be like without the distractions that normally barrage us?

Many on the team with beautiful voices started to sing in the darkness, unfettered. With no sight of another, all inhibitions were consumed leaving every person free to sing with their whole heart. Voices bounced off the yawning walls and echoed in angelic tones.  For the next half an hour the singing and praying continued unbroken, spontaneous and rapt with a fullness of joy impossible to describe. As our time of worship ended, and the flashlights burst on showing us the way to the Barrow Bridge, the group remained hushed, sheltered in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Michael Fleming, the pastor of the group whispered in my ear, “That is what I call a genuine encounter with God.” That conversation convinced me that moments like this should be common place on all our journeys.  Although we cannot orchestrate Go’s presence, we can surely invite Him to meet us any way He pleases. If we provide the opportunity, He might just show up. That day, in a dark musty Irish tunnel the encounter moment was born and the little team from Texas realized that their trip would be unlike anything they imagined.

The Birth of the Encounter Moment is a part of the article series covering the Wonder Voyage Years.   The Encounter Moment was created in 2000 on Wonder Voyage’s first official overseas trip.

2000 came to be the year that the word “pilgrimage” would define Wonder Voyage. The bulk of the year was filled with challenge after challenge and it could have easily been Wonder Voyage’s last. Although the voyages were successful for the churches, everyone on staff was emotionally and spiritually drained as they tried to create a new way to lead mission trips and pilgrimages. For all its difficulty, however, 2000 defined what Wonder Voyage would become as an organization.

Keith in the Comoros (Shawn is the camera man)

Up to this moment, Shawn had an idea in his head of what pilgrimage was: a sacred journey prompted by God. He felt the journey was transformational to the soul and the spirit. Somewhere along the road you would visit holy sites, learn from them, and return home with a new and healed heart. All of our pilgrimages today carry these elements, but a key ingredient was still missing.

Enter Keith Wheeler. For over 20 years, Keith has been visiting other countries carrying a huge, rough hewn, wooden cross. To date he has been to over 180 countries. He carries it on his shoulder from point A to point B. Many times he doesn’t exactly know where point B is. He simply walks, obeying Christ’s call on his life, and very literally “taking up his cross” and following Jesus. In 2000, Shawn was a member at one of Keith’s supporting churches, and Ken Janke (one of WV’s current board members) urged Shawn to travel with Keith on one of his voyages. Though reluctant because of the busy summer he had come through, Shawn agreed to leave for Africa for seventeen days, joining Keith and attempting to learn about pilgrimage.

With Shawn, Keith took the cross to the island countries of Africa, including: Seychelles, Madagascar and Reunion. Some of the places where Shawn and Keith walked were frequently unfriendly to Westerners. And worse, they were hostile to the cross. Their religions included Hinduism, Animism, ancestoral worship, and Fundamentalist Muslim. From day to day, Shawn never knew where he was going next, or where he would eat or where he would sleep.  For the first time in all his travels he felt like a complete foreigner. He ventured into places where he was not welcome. Following a guy carrying a cross made him feel even more strange and uncomfortable. But on this journey to Africa, Shawn discovered what Peter meant when he addressed the early Christians as “as aliens and strangers in the world” (1 Peter 2:11).

The Fairytale Landscape of Mauritius

In that place of complete discomfort, God was present in a tangible way. Shawn was forced to rely upon Christ for every single moment of every single day. Through the danger and hardship, Shawn heard from God in ways that strengthened his faith and helped him put the upcoming years in focus. Pilgrimage was no longer theory to Shawn.  It had become reality.

Shawn went from walking the path of a pilgrim to discovering a true pilgrim’s faith. In going on his own voyage to Africa, Shawn learned the meaning of what it was to be a pilgrim. This complete reliance upon Christ has helped define what makes Wonder Voyage so unique. We plan our trips, make our arrangements and calculations, but at the heart of what we do is the knowledge that we are aliens here and we are in God’s hands. We journey as pilgrims- all the time- not just when we’re out traveling.

Mike Flickinger has been leading Wonder Voyage trips for four years and works full-time as Shawn’s administrative assistant.  He has been commissioned to write this series of articles documenting the history of our organization. This articles covers 2000, the first year of Wonder Voyage 2000.