What's in a word?

So I'm taking greek this summer and my vocab studies and my translations have revealed a few things that are really getting my wheels turning theologically. There are two things in particular...one, just somewhat interesting, and the other rather spiritually transforming (at least to me.)

ODOS: Way, Road, Journey, Conduit
When I first came across this word I began to wonder if it is the same word used in John 14:6...(somewhat of the pinpoint of all modern evangelical thought.) "I am the Way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except by me." Sure enough it is. Now I am not challenging the theological construct that Jesus is the way to God (at least not yet completely)...but what I am saying is that perhaps our understanding of this concept changes a little when the word chosen to represent the greek is altered. What is the difference between:

"I am the way (or conduit), the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."
and
"I am the journey (the road), the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."

Many will say...well it's basically the same thing theologically. And for the most part I agree. However, I feel perhaps our destination centered American mindset almost changes what could be interpreted as the true meaning of the first part of the verse. What if it is not the person of Jesus who is our conduit (our ticket out of hell and into heaven) but rather our road trip companion. What if he isn't the car that gets us to our destination...but rather the entirety of the trip. He is the soft quiet moments of joy when the sunset approaches, he is the source of the laughter at the high moments, and even the frustrations of getting lost along the way. What if he is more than simply an intellectual portal through which we must pass...but rather the life long experience through which we find our greatest fulfillment?

PSUCHE: Life, Self, Soul
This one was really interesting to me...when you place each of the three words (particularly the last) into the translation of Luke 9:24 (to me) it really changes up the idea:

"For whoever desires to lose their life will save it, but whoever desires to save their life will lose it."

Obviously this is the more widely accepted translations of which we admire (rightly so) martyrs who have given their lives to God. But what happens when the other two concepts are injected?

"For whoever desires to lose their self will save it, but whoever desires to save their self will lose it."

or my favorite...

"For whoever desires to lose their soul will save it, but whoever desires to save their soul will lose it."

This last one completely blew me away. In the face of modern evangelical theology where the resounding anthem has seemed to become..."Do you know that you know that you know that you are saved?" That statement becomes more than heresy...when seen in this translation you almost emphatically want to answer NO! How transformed would the mission of our churches be if we truly adhered to the later translation. If every Christian would truly be willing to say "I believe in the teachings of Jesus, I have lived them out...and in the afterlife I desire to lose my soul if it means that another can come into a closer and meaningful relationship with their creator. If it is this degree of genuine sacrificial love to part with the very essence of who we are...the "reward" of the Christian life live...all because that sacrifice brings us into the very essence of the nature of God. Would you be willing to lose your soul?