It happens often in the middle of summer – off in the distance I detect a rhythmic, thump … thump … thump … thump ….

Then voices, chattering, laughing, music, merriment and singing. It gets louder and louder and finally passes by my house on the canal and then slowly fades and drifts away.

It’s a summer excursion on a canal barge. Sometimes with as many as twenty or thirty merrymakers on board. The style of music is clearly not to my taste, but seeing the barge float right past my living room window brings a smile to my face.

Music and barges may be something of a Dutch tradition. A notable English naturalist, John Ray in the mid 1600’s reported that canal barges with passengers left every hour from Rotterdam on the way to Delft and The Hague. Passengers were given song books and the impromptu choruses on board could be heard serenading the grazing cows along the way.

But not all journeys are so light-hearted, pleasant and “gezellig.”

Many journeys, while having the anticipation of great joy at the destination, may nevertheless be overshadowed by the stark reality of challenges and potential dangers along the way. Such was the journey that Ezra and the group of returning exiles faced when preparing to go from Babylon to Jerusalem with the purpose of restoring the people of God from the inside out.

This week we continue the series in Ezra-Nehemiah that I started last summer. We will pick up where we left off in Ezra chapter 8.

With last week’s sermon from Pastor Jos concluding the sermon series on 2 Timothy having some of the same themes as Ezra 8, I could think of no better title here that “Equipped for a Challenging Journey – Part 2.”

The Lord is Gracious!