I’m taking you on a surprise trip with me. You won’t know what the destination looks like till we get there get there, but there will be clues along the way. If you follow the clues and focus on the end, it will be fun and exciting, but if you get hung up on the ‘how longs’, ‘where’ and ‘hows’, it will take the fun out of the trip. Ready to begin? 

Our destination is heaven. I can’t describe it but I know it’s beautiful, I’ve read it in my guide book.  It’s going to take a lifetime to arrive, you may get there before me or after me, but if you read the ‘guide book’, you’ll find your way.  Like a scavenger hunt, we collect love, peace and joy and whoever arrives with the most will win a prize. We must also gather others and convince them to take the journey with us. You’ll never be alone, we each have a Teacher that goes with us, leading us into all truth, shining a light on the right path. It’s easy if we keep our focus on the light and not turn to the dark paths that will intersect with ours. There will be treacherous paths where we will be encouraged to take one step, than another until we’re on safe ground again. It’s ok, these are simply designed to build our trust in our Guide.

Won’t it be wonderful? To arrive together at our destination, feast at the table prepared for us? Meet and talk with Jesus and learn of the entire plan of God and our tiny role in that plan. I can’t wait, can you? There are times in life when we are so focused on getting through the day to day, the month, the year, that we forget about where we’re going. So many distractions come up, people, places, things that seem to detour us from our path to our eternal home. It just seems so distant, so obscure, so impossible. Ah, but with God, nothing shall be impossible.

So if our paths cross along our journey, we should encourage one another because we all get discouraged. Our pastors, teachers, friends, everyone needs a hand up, a smile and an encouraging word. So today as you travel your road, whether it’s an old dirt road with chatter bumps, a smoothly paved road or barely a visible path on a narrow rocky hill, I want to encourage you to stay focused on your destination. If you need to rest awhile, rest, but do it with joy. If you’re weary of carrying the load on your back, hand it off to Jesus, he’ll carry it for you. If you can’t see because it’s dark and the way is too hard, ask the Light of the world, Jesus, to light your path and carry you for awhile.

We’re almost there! Don’t give up! Don’t quit! We’re closer than we were yesterday, it’s just a little farther, you can do it. Soon, you will look and see Heaven in the distance, the golden glow of that city that cannot be hidden. Soon you will hear the words you long to hear, “Welcome Home good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 10:18 says it so well, “What people say about themselves means nothing. What counts is whether the Lord says they have done well.”