Etrangers et Voyageurs sur la Terre

I'm thinking of a French song today. It is one my wife and I learned many years ago when we were working with the international community in Paris. The title, "Etrangers et Voyageurs sur la Terre", is drawn from a passage in the book of Hebrews which describes people who embraced the promises of God and confessed that they were "strangers and pilgrims on the earth". It comes to mind because my daughter, Sonja, left Paris this morning to spend more than three months in Cameroon, the country where we lived when she was a small child. "We go where God leads", the song says. And we never go alone. Even before she boarded the plane, a Cameroonian couple befriended Sonja and pledged to be her companions until she was safely at her destination. Those who cross North Africa by land know that this kind of companionship is essential. Cars arriving at the northen edge of the Sahara always stop and wait until there are enough others to form a small convoy. Before that chance encounter, they are all strangers, but in the journey across the desert they become a band of interdependant travelers who are ready to share precious resources like water, fuel, spare parts, or anything else necessary for survivial. Most passengers on today's Air France flight that crossed the Sahara may not feel the same comraderie, but I am thankful for the ones who do, and for this gracious couple who saw a new pilgrim and chose to walk by her side.