The Journey

Day 25

Today I drove 7 hours through endless forests, passed rivers and lakes.  It's a blessing and a curse to live in the middle of no where.  It's beautiful, but it takes forever to get back into civilization.

Lately I have been struggling with temptation.  There is so many things that I can spend my time on.  I love to watch movies and TV series on Netflix.  I can be obsessed with computer games.  I love math and logic puzzles and then there is ALWAYS Facebook.  I could spend hours on Facebook.  It's so tempting, when things get overwhelming, to just check out, and spend hours entertaining myself, vegging out, and tuning out.

So what does that have to do with driving 7 hours?  Well, during this long drive, it occurred to me that we are all on a journey.  Eventually, at the end of our lives, we will come to the end of the road.  And while the destination is important, how we get there is just as important.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

How easy it is to get distracted from our true purpose in life.  I think our culture of entertainment is the most distracting and hindering.  And when I find myself taking my eyes off of Jesus, and putting them on myself, and my need to be entertained, it's like stopping along to side of the road.  Every time I stopped to let the kids go potty, or to get some coffee I postponed my arrival by 15 or 20 minutes.  The trip should take six and a half hours, but since we stopped 3 times, it ended up taking me seven and a half hours.

My life is a journey.  I am heading somewhere.  I can't get distracted from that.  I need to lay aside the things that weigh me down and sin that entangles me, and keeps me from my destination.  I need to keep my eyes on Jesus, the one who makes this journey even possible.  His sacrifice has brought me to this journey, and it will continue to lead me home.