“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”
“And you know the way to where I am going.”
“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
John 14:1-6
“Are we almost there?” are words that sends every parent who has ever driven more than 20 minutes with a car full of children into a rage and rant of Mel Gibson or even , dare I say, Charlie Sheenesque proportions.
As I think back, on our recent move from Phoenix back home, I am flooded with great memories. Not memories of pulling back into town for the first time. Not memories of dropping off the U-haul and getting the keys to our house when we arrived. Not getting every box unpacked (partly because this still has not happened).
Even though I dreaded the thought of traveling 2,000 miles in a 24’ U-haul, towing my car behind, with my wife in the family van behind that, hindsight inundates me with amazing memories from the road.
Laughing with Maly and Will, sitting in the cab with me, making fart noises at passing vehicles and trying to get every semi driver to honk their horn. Replaying road scenes from Dumb and Dumber with Logan, “It feels like your running at an incredible rate Harry!” The hours I spent talking to Karleigh about what she most looked forward to seeing and doing when we got home.
These are the things that flood my recollection of the trip.
But through it all, I was riddled with anxiety. Through it all I was worried about whether or not we would have enough money for gas or food. I stressed that we could have a horrible breakdown in the middle of Oklahoma and get attacked by a vicious biker gang. The first thing they would do is end me and pillage the U-haul. Then they would outfit my family in studded leather and take them along with them to participate in many nefarious activities together while I lay there on the side of I-44 dead, cold and alone.
But obviously, and much to my surprise, that didn’t happen. We had enough money to make it home. The U-haul didn’t break down, and while we did see a lot of scary looking guys on motorcycles along the way, none of them seemed to be organized enough to form a gang. And they especially did not have the wherewithal to carry with them a sufficient wardrobe of studded leather to outfit a woman and three kids in order to be properly attired for committing crimes. (horrible run-on sentence, my apologies, Mr. Stein, you taught me better than that.)
The bottom line is, now that I know how the trip ended, the worry, fear and anxiety is eliminated from the equation. In fact, one could argue that had I trusted in the positive and more likely ending, the journey would have been even more amazing.
So often I doubt where God is taking me. I know where I am going, even when I, like Thomas, claim I don’t know where I am going.
When I was a kid I always envied those people who got to take long road trips in a luxurious motor coach. I remember one time I got to ride in one such vehicle care of a friend of my parents. I don’t remember where we were ultimately going but man do I remember the ride. No seat belts, no sore neck, no one laughing at me in the car next to us on the expressway as my face is pressed up against the window of the Ford Escort as I sleep.
Thirsty? Get something out of the fridge. Hungry? Make a sandwich in the mobile kitchen. Need to go potty? Got you covered. Just don’t flush it or the people in the car behind us will get ticked. (Don’t really know if it works that way but it makes the blog post funnier. See, I saw you chuckle a little.)
The point is this, when the vehicle is amazing the journey IS the destination. I know that sounds like some self help propaganda you get out of an article in Reader’s Digest or Redbook Magazine (No, I don’t have a subscription to Redbook, but Kara used to and sometimes it is all that was available to read. Plus you can learn a lot about exfoliation and moisturization from those magazines)
Christianity is not only about getting to heaven, as much as we want it to be about that. It is not only about bearing our cross and living sacrificially. It is as much about the ride as it is about the final destination. The worry, the fear, the anxiety will be gone soon. When I look back I will remember the conversations I had, the laughter I shared and the sights I saw along the way. Even when things do not go as planned I will be joyful through it because I am carrying a piece of my destination along with me on the journey.
When Christ is in me, it is as if I am experiencing a part of heaven on earth, however hellish it may feel at the time I am going through it.
Growing up I can remember singing an hymn written by Bill Gaither, called Because He Lives. It meant nothing to me as a kid. I had no worries, fears or anxiety. But now as a thirty-three year old man, with a wife and four kids, a job, a ministry, a house two cars and a Yorkie, these “uncool, and antique lyrics” mean more to me than anything meager attempt I make to maintain balance and order in my life.
I will give the chorus here but the hymn in its entirety holds so much truth that I would encourage everyone reading this to seek them out.
The chorus goes like this:
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!
I pray that he is alive in you today. I pray that you seek Him out along this journey;
“For we do not serve a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16
God is the destination. He is also the vehicle through his son Jesus Christ. While communion with God in heaven is the ultimate prize, communion with Him on earth is essential to living a truly fulfilled life.
No matter what happens, meditate and believe in this:
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:26
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:33-34
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
